David Bole

Daily Mobility of Workers in Slovenia

The paper deals with the phenomenon of commuting to work in Slovenia and describes the basic patterns, causes, and consequences of the daily mobility of workers. An important part of the study is establishing the areas of employment attraction of selected urban settlements and their consequences on the phenomena of regional identity, suburbanization, and motorization.

Cultural industry as a result of new city tertiarization

The article introduces a new form of economic activities, which has attracted much attention during the past years. This new form is cultural industry, a term which defines a certain part of tertiary activities, the importance of which is rapidly gaining in importance within cities. The term cultural industry includes all highly specialized services, which provide products and services, that have a higher symbolic than material value and trade with intellectual property rights. The article provides precise definitions of cultural industry and an empirical presentation in the case of Ljubljana. Furthermore the article also implies possible consequences of cultural industry on the economic and spatial development of cities.

Changes in Employee Commuting: A Comparative Analysis of Employee Commuting to Major Slovenian Employment Centers from 2000 to 2009

This paper discusses changes in employee commuting in the ten largest Slovenian employment centers from 2000 to 2009. Based on analysis of the SRDAP database, changes are presented in employee commuter routes between source and target municipalities. The results show a significant increase in both the scope of employee commuting and number of routes. Reasons for these changes are explained by the construction of freeway infrastructure, which has made it possible to travel faster from one municipality to another and to commute to employment centers. The scope and direction of commuting also depend on changes in the socioeconomic structure of the urban system, especially suburbanization, the economic crisis affecting local employment centers, and changing job locations within the regions themselves.

A creative milieu and the role of geography in studying the competitiveness of cities: the case of Ljubljana

The article is composed of two parts. The first is based on theoretical geographical-devel-opmental factors of balanced competitiveness of cities (regions) in conditions of globalization and the emphasized role of a creative milieu as fundamental development impulses. The second one explores the importance of Ljubljana and its role in the system of innovative urban centers in contrast to the metrop-olis agglomerations in the wider surroundings employing empirical findings. We support its position using the geographical dimensions of innovative dynamics as the fundamental development generator for the entire national urban system and evaluate its developmental research potential as well as investment, eco-nomic, and population capacities from the viewpoint of the opportunities offered by its central position and function as a capital city.

Spatial and functional changes in built-up areas in selected slovene rural settlements after 1991

We determined changes in the settled areas of rural settlements by means of aerial photos and orthophotos, statistical data, and data obtained through field research. The expert sample comprised 14 rural settlements with 500 to 1100 inhabitants from a variety of Slovene natural and statistical regions which in the past ten-year period have shown positive growth in the number of inhabitants, jobs, and houses. We identified how the following categories changed in settled areas in the period from 1991 to 2005: residential areas, areas with central functions (supply, service, and business), traffic areas and green and other open spaces. Most apparent were differences among the types of settlements. We related land use to the relief and type of settlement, to the geographical location of the settlement, to changes in its structure, and to trends in the number of jobs and extent of commuting.

Integrated Planning of Public Passenger Transport between the City and the Region: The Case of Ljubljana

This article draws attention to the connection between transport planning and the settlement pattern and consequently the need for comprehensive planning of both the settlement and transport system. It primarily focuses on the suburbanization of Ljubljana and the state of public passenger transport in the Ljubljana Urban Region. Certain topical transport studies and measures are discussed from this perspective. The analysis shows the need for comprehensive planning that could be realized in the form of the concept of a polycentric layout of the region with interconnected centers as the main bearers of residential and business functions.

The Life of Slovenian Exonyms and Their Familiarity in the Professional Community

This article examines the lifecycle of Slovenian exonyms in which the characteristic stages are the creation of an exonym, its increasingly frequent use, its frequent and general use, its increasingly rarer use or dying out, death, and being forgotten. The findings of a similar Czech study on exonyms are briefly presented. The presentation of familiarity with Slovenian exonyms is based on an online survey that was carried out in September and October 2010. We received over 160 correctly completed questionnaires. Analyzing them increased our knowledge of familiarity with exonyms for European cities, European islands and archipelagos, and archaic exonyms for European cities that people no longer use today. We also analyzed the degree of familiarity by respondent’s ages and professions.

Central settlements in Slovenia in 2016

This article presents central settlements in Slovenia and their main characteristics in 2016. We defined central settlements based on services of general interest and the population of an individual settlement, and developed the analysis further by using competitiveness indicators. We defined 360 central settlements at six levels of centrality, among which the significance of Ljubljana as a national center of international importance and the significance of intermunicipal, local, and rural centers are increasing. The significance of certain regional centers at the second and third levels of centrality is decreasing. The level of services of general interest supplied to Slovenian territory is relatively appropriate, but it should be improved by promoting competitiveness, especially in centers of national and regional importance.

Geography of Daily Mobilities in Post-Socialist European Countries: Evidence from Slovenia

The recent shift towards recognizing the significance of mobility for society has seen various authors report on both the quantitative increase in people’s mobility within space, and on the new mobility patterns which have emerged over the last few decades (Sheller and Urry 2006; Latham et al. 2009). As cars came into general use in North America and western Europe, for example, largely due to technological development (e.g., the steel and petroleum industries) and governmental measures that promoted the growth of automobile infrastructure (Urry 2007), public (or collective) transport has experienced a significant downturn and now accounts for an average of no more than 20 per cent of all passenger travel in Europe, and even less in North America (Eurostat 2010). Correspondingly, researchers have become increasingly interested in the rise of ‘automobility’ in western society, and its cause and effect.

European capital of culture: residents' perception of social benefits and costs – Maribor 2012 case study

This study assessed Maribor residents’ attitudes towards social impacts of the European capital of culture, using FSIAS scale. The results showed that residents perceived more social benefits than social costs of the event. They agreed that the event had positive impacts primary on the promotion of Slovenia, as well as on community cultural life and image in general, which is also consistent with the purpose and the aims of the event. In residents’ opinion the event did not cause any negative impacts. The results provide residents, event organizers, and local authorities with important community perceptions pertaining to the event.