This paper uses findings from sustainability studies to present the development of environ-mental urban geography in Slovenia in recent decades. Modern European cities, of which Ljubljana is no exception, depart significantly from sustainable development concepts. Compared to other similar cities, Ljubljana has an effective green space system, which its residents also perceive as offering a better quality living environment. The major, poorly addressed problems are primarily inherited issues, such as gravel pits, illegal dumping sites, and unregulated gardens in suburbanized water protection areas on which residents depend. These, however, show a large gap between claimed and actual environmental awareness.
COBISS.SI-ID: 46064429
The article highlights the need to rethink and reconceptualise the accepted concepts of smart cities and villages by shifting the attention from technology and technological solutions and moving it towards understanding the significance of communities and sustainability. The conceptual framework combines four essential features—community, village, city and sustainability—and analyses the links and relationships between them. A new community-centred approach to development is suggested in order to emphasise that sustainable living cannot be achieved only through technological solutions. Instead, we suggest that to ensure social sustainability, appropriation, and effectiveness of new solutions in the long term, the process has to start, be adapted and led by people and their needs. In this light, the article analyses three dimensions of smart living—energy, mobility, waste—through the prism of rural–urban linkages and the role of ICT. Core principles and recommendations (calm technology, community size, identification of community leaders, surveillance and control issues, community building) for designers of ICT solutions and developmental projects in smart cities and villages are presented. These principles take into account people and communities and combine findings of engineering and social sciences, especially anthropology, psychology, and sociology.
COBISS.SI-ID: 15026691
The purpose of ethnography is not only to understand the social worlds and their cultural specifics, but also to develop technological solutions that enable the transformation of human practices. The article focuses on the development of such solutions which are based on ethnographic findings. It presents the development of a smartphone application for promoting sustainable mobility and compares the app with other technological solutions designed with similar approaches. The article also presents the options for involving people who will be using the solutions in the development processes and describes how a move from the expert-oriented to the people-centered development can be made.
COBISS.SI-ID: 44522797