Spatial planning: objects and tools

Spatial development

The settlement patterns largely follow the concentration of economic activity in towns and cities and the depopulation trend in rural areas. Two basic groups of settlement areas have developed: (a) settlements in heavily urbanized plains and valleys with extensive suburbs; and (b) settlements in peripheral areas where the population is shrinking and economic activity and cultural values are disappearing. Population growth is higher in the suburbs than in cities; in town centres the number of inhabitants is even on the decline. As a result of past industrialization and subsequent restructuring during the transition period and related migration from both urban and rural areas, the socio-economic structure of these areas has changed markedly during the last three decades.

More than half the suburban working population commutes daily to the main employment centres. The urban lifestyle dominates in suburban areas and the main type of housing is individual houses. Settlements with less than 200 inhabitants form another category. Such settlements occupy 10% of Slovene territory and 20% of the population live in them. Daily commuting is minimal since the residents have relatively good access to their jobs. Rural areas have been depopulated and are less developed in economic terms. Such areas are inhabited by 25% of the population and characterized by a high level of daily commuting (table 3.1). More than half the population of Slovenia lives near 1000 large settlements where more than 40% of jobs are located. The large number of relatively small settlements (6,000) is a particular feature of Slovenia, as is the traditional attachment of the population to its rural hinterland and houses. Slovenia’s largest city is Ljubljana with 300,000 inhabitants, followed by Maribor, which is less than half its size. Only these two towns have more than 50,000 inhabitants. The remaining fourteen major towns are smaller and have a population of 20,000 to

50,000 (table 3.2). The majority of towns along the border are too small to compete successfully with large cities in neighbouring countries such as Trieste, Gorizia and Zagreb.

Approximately 13.7% of all urban areas are in deteriorating environmental conditions. The renewal of settlements is slow because of a lack of financing and building regulations for renewal activities. The dynamic process of internal migration, which is a result of changes in the interregional division of labour, increases the pressure on the spatial development and calls for new infrastructure and housing investments.

Slovenia’s total surface measures 20,255 km2, of which 402.2 km2 is in residential and business use, 8,624.3 km2 is agricultural land, 91.2 km2 is taken up by transport infrastructure and 11,137.3 km2 by other uses. In the socialist era, 80% of the agricultural land was in private hands and the nationalization of urban land, which started in 1958, was not fully accomplished. Since 1984, the Fund of Building Plots has been the main institution through which local communities can acquire land for development, either by voluntary sale or by expropriation on the basis of adopted plans (since 1990, expropriation has been very rare). The emphasis of regional policies, which after 1971 aimed for balanced regional development by supporting economically weak areas, has recently shifted towards encouraging the development of demographically threatened areas and highlands. However, even though these areas occupy more than half the country’s territory with one quarter of its population, State assistance to improve their infrastructure and to promote economic development has been quite modest. In recent years, State intervention in the economy focused on specific economic sectors and its regional effects have not been studied or monitored. In addition, these regional development measures have not been accompanied by fiscal and real estate policies and instruments. As a result, little has been done to improve the demographic and economic situation in these regions.

Table 3.1: Types of settlements areas according to selected indicators

Indicators urban concentration

areas urbanized areas rural stagnation areas rural depopulation areas

No. % No. % No. % No. %

inhabitants 1991 (x000) 1,033 52.4 435 22.0 271 13.7 234 11.9

density (inhab/km2) 331.0 199.8 55.4 24.3

index of population growth 1961/91 171 120 95 67

index of population growth 1981/91 112 101 99 88

index of growth in number of settlements 1981/91 115 109 105 102 number of settlements 1991 1107 18.6 642 10.8 1493 25.1 2707 45.5 work places 1991 (x000) 546 63.0 210 24.2 55 6.3 56 6.5 immigrants 1991 (x000) 547 53.0 209 48.0 11 41.0 89 38.0 net migration 1982-93 +35795 15.0 +903 9.0 -833 0.0 -13619 -13.0 daily migrants 1991 (x000) 228 47.0 84 44.0 68 57.0 66 64.0

immigrants (per 100 inhabitants) 59.6 52.2 47.2 44.5

% of territory in Slovenia 17 10 24 49

Source: Slovene National Report to the Habitat II Conference.

Table 3.2: Distribution of population by type of settlements number of residents number of settlem. total pop. in 1961 total pop. in 1981 total pop. in 1991 % of total pop. 1961 % of total pop. 1991 index 1991/61 index 1991/81 1-50 1671 66422 48751 43802 4.2 2.2 66% 90% 51-100 1318 120275 100909 96624 7.6 4.9 80% 96% 101-200 1366 223464 199046 195678 14.1 9.9 88% 98% 201-500 1105 337545 329153 336969 21.2 17.1 100% 102% 501-1000 287 164786 184759 195161 10.4 9.9 118% 106% 1001-2000 104 95689 127951 143851 6.0 7.3 150% 112% 2001-5000 53 100569 156140 170638 6.3 8.6 170% 109% 5001-10000 23 86407 138150 153928 5.4 7.8 178% 111% 10001-50000 14 189583 276797 292997 11.9 14.8 155% 106% over 50001 2 205717 330208 345191 12.9 17.5 168% 105% TOTAL 5943 1590457 1891864 1974839 100 100 127% 104%

The basis for spatial planning is the concept of polycentric development, which was introduced in Slovenia before the Habitat I Conference in Vancouver (Canada) in 1976. This concept is still valid and proved to be very instrumental in revitalizing many towns and villages, and distributing employment, infrastructure and services more equally. There were, however, some shortcomings, particularly in regard to the methods and instruments used to implement policies based on the concept and the coordination between different levels. This led to a large number of poorly equipped and organized regional centres in the human settlements system and polycentrism at the local level, with the disintegration of some municipalities.

The traffic between regional centres is not good due to the landscape configuration, the lack of transport infrastructure and the high level of daily commuting of residents of rural areas. The planned transport infrastructure has two goals: good transport connections within Slovenia and with the outside world. Better use should be made of the existing infrastructure by modernizing it.

Tourism is concentrated in large tourist centres and has already reached the level which requires special spatial planning measures to protect the environment there.

In Slovenia, there are approximately 307,800 residential buildings. The housing stock consists of more than 650,000 housing units, of which about 225,000 are single-family houses. The average age of the housing stock is about 37 years and 46% of dwellings were built after 1970. A large number of dwellings and residential buildings are in need of major repair, especially the installation systems, which put pressure on the urban ecology. At the same time, provided some modernization work is carried out, many dwellings could provide a higher living standard, lower exploitation costs and a reduction in energy consumption; but the owners cannot afford to modernize them.

In the 1970s, international cooperation in the field of spatial planning between Slovenia, Austria, Italy, Hungary and Croatia led to the formal establishment of the Alpe-Adria Working Commission and later to the Central European Organization, the highest form of transborder cooperation in the region. Slovenia is a signatory to the Alps Convention of 7 November 1991. In 1995 it also signed its Physical Planning and Sustainable Development Protocol (see chapter 2). It is represented in the programmes on spatial planning of the Council of Europe and will participate in the Forthcoming Interregional Programme of the EU.

Land administration system

There is a land cadastre for the entire territory. Its records were established at the time of the Austro- Hungarian monarchy. Approximately 13% of the country (basically economically developed areas) has been measured again over the past 40 years. In 1981, the Register of Territorial Units and the Register of House Numbers were established, and territorial units and house number locations were registered on 1:5000 scale maps. By 1990, all locations of house numbers and the borders of the territorial units of the Register of Territorial Units and the Register of House Numbers had been digitized. The two registers were integrated into the Register of Spatial Units, which contains the basic data on house numbers, spatial district, statistical district, settlement, cadastral district, municipal and State administration unit, etc. The Register of Spatial Units makes it possible to arrange data by defining individual units (e.g. town or village communities and city districts) according to spatial districts and to link these units directly to house numbers and data provided by the Statistical Office and other services. Links are also possible with other national registers such as the central population register, the business register, etc. The goal now is to make new numerically based cadastre plans for the entire country. The attribute part of the land cadastre (area, land use) is fully computerized, but only about 10 per cent of the graphic part is. The land register has not yet been modernized and is still maintained manually.

The land cadastre is used for the following purposes: (a) regulation of ownership (land cadastre provides data on size, type of use of land parcels, while land register gives data on ownership); (b) taxation of land; (c) planning and execution of construction; (d) legislative basis (the borders of local communities, national parks and nature protection areas are determined in the land cadastre); and (e) preservation of the cultural heritage.