Health-related lifestyle of individuals is a result of the individual's choices but it also depends on the opportunities offered in physical and social environment to implement these decisions. The objective of this study was to investigate the linkages between the outdoor space and the lifestyle adopted by the inhabitant. The research focused on new single-use residential areas, which have, compared to the older neighborhoods, little open space and poor landscape design. The results of field inventories, behavior observation and mapping and survey among the residents revealed that the lack of outdoor facilities correlates with poor variety of outdoor activities, limited to transition type, less time spent outdoors and lower satisfaction with their home environment. People living in such neighborhoods are likely to develop a less healthy life style, which especially refers to vulnerable groups such as small children and the elderly.
COBISS.SI-ID: 7972729
Chapter bases on comparative demographic analysis of ten Alpine regions which was done from a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative data collection. It can be generalised that in selected areas, municipalities can be found with negative and positive natural growth. A clear shift of childbearing to an older age is evident, likely caused by a longer education process, poor accessibility to housing, more demanding job conditions and other factors. The structure of age groups has dramatically changes in most of the regions since the late 1970s or early 1980s. In qualitative analysis, problems, such as job provision and housing for the youth were brought forward, so was the deterioration of services of general interest on one side, but also the introduction of innovative measures on the other. In addition the ways of tackling these issues through spatial planning have been examined. The results show that some of the regions have already started programmes or measures and in some cases incorporated them into policy documents. However, wider political promotion and recognition of the problem, especially on the local level, is still awaited for.
COBISS.SI-ID: 2584515
While the cultivation of nature was traditionally related to the exploitation of nature, it is today also applied in nature conservation policy. With little evidence of its success, the focus is on improving its technical feasibility and knowledge, while an in-depth, ethical reflection is missing. Biodiversity offsetting is used as an example to illustrate the ethical dilemmas, and to propose an alternative approach based on integrating nature conservation with design and sociological aspects. It was tested by designing a landscape plan for the area of two consecutive hydro power plants in Slovenia. The plan integrates 18 biodiversity offset sites in the area with the recreation and education facilities connected with a looped path. The proposal was verified by interviewing a group of 14 experts and decision makers. Their answers show a divergence of opinions regarding the effectiveness and justification of biodiversity offsetting, but a consensus on the expected positive effects of the proposed multifunctional landscape.
COBISS.SI-ID: 8009337
Brownfield sites are a common feature in many European old industrialised regions. While many regions favour technical, 'erase-all-treases' solutions, others have realised the potentials, which brownfields and interconnected industrial legacies (buildings, infrastructures, etc.) posess for the regional development such regions. Both the European Union's territiorial cooperation projects ReSOURCE and SHIFT-X have dealt with the utilisation of such potentials. One project result is a database on different utilisations in post-mining regions across central Europe, showing the variety of valorisations possible. Drawing also on other projects results, the paper will thereby highlight the importance of active brownfield development, not only for the regional economy, but also for the social identity of the regions involved.
COBISS.SI-ID: 8056441
Over a 20-year period, the Slovenian government consecutively adopted three spatial planning laws, which also resemble approximately 25 types of planning documents that are currently valid. While the first Spatial Planning Act was only the transitional law, the second legislation in 2003 introduced comprehensive and more strategically oriented planning. Although the second law set the firm grounds for the three-tier planning system, the third version of planning legislation steered the whole concept of planning towards the Mediterranean style of urbanism. Contrary to the previous approach, the fourth and latest reform, initiated by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Spatial Planning in 2013, is more publicly open. Facing problems similar to those of other East-Central EU countries and presuming that legislation might only produce results if supported by the assessment of the current situation and by its implementers, the author performed a regulatory impact assessment in 2010, which included six selected criteria. This article focuses on four criteria – comprehensibility, legitimacy, transparency and openness, and sustainability – to show the actual planning culture. The authors argue how all relevant stakeholders should participate in an in-depth reflection on the planning system and decide on the concept they want to adopt, and only afterwards should they come forward with the new legislation proposal. Only such an elaborated approach can yield long-term and sustainable results.
COBISS.SI-ID: 8008313