Demographic characteristics of creative workers: under-activated development potentials in Slovenia?

The purpose of the article is to present the key demographic characteristics of the creative labour force in Slovenia and bring attention to some opportunities for a more effective activation of the creative potential. We analysed data from the Statistical Register of Employment. The results indicate that creative workers in Slovenia are not only heterogeneous from the aspect of the employment structure, but that they also differ significantly in terms of gender, age, education, and ethnicity. Even though Slovenia can be compared to the most developed countries in the scope of the creative labour force, it will have to work on stimulating additional development potentials to make it to the top of the list. We conclude that, in the future, a more prominent role should be given to the female creative labour force, young bohemians, and foreign creative people

City-region or urban-rural framework: what matters more in understanding the residential location of the creative class?

This paper addresses the key question as to what matters more in understanding the residential location of the creative class in Slovenia: the city-region or the urban-rural framework? Our analysis shows that differences in residential concentrations of the creative class vary more within city-regions (on an urban-rural framework) than between city-regions. Moreover, the creative class is moving out of densely populated urban areas to more sparsely populated suburban / rural areas within all city-regions. There also are significant differences between more developed western Slovenia (denser settlement structures) and less developed eastern Slovenia (sparser settlement structures). We conclude that new models of living promote dispersion

Življenjsko okolje ustvarjalnih ljudi v Sloveniji

Living environment of creative people in SloveniaThe book attempts to answer two key questions: where do creative people reside in Slovenia and why do they choose to live there. The findings show that creative people in Slovenia adhere to a similar percentage of the work force as in other highly developed countries~this is also the occupational group that has increased in number the most compared to others in the last decade. The spatial distribution analyses show that, similar to other countries, creative people in Slovenia are unevenly distributed. A lower concentration is typical predominantly for economically less developed regions in Eastern Slovenia, while a higher concentration occurs in more developed regions of Western Slovenia. With time, the differences between the regions increase, but decrease within the regions themselves. Contemporary settlement processes run towards a deconcentration from heavily urbanized settlement types to more sparsely populated suburbanized and rural settlements. The most important spatial distribution factors for creative people in Slovenia are: living environment quality with a great emphasis on access to nature, identity or close connections to people and places, and workplace proximity. Additionally, some important differences were identified from the aspect of the selected regionalization as well as the settlement urbanization level.Knjiga poizkuša odgovoriti na dve ključni vprašanji: kje v Sloveniji ustvarjalni ljudje živijo in zakaj ravno tam. Ugotovitve kažejo, da ustvarjalni ljudje v Sloveniji predstavljajo podoben delež delovne sile kot v najbolj razvitih državah sveta, hkrati pa je to poklicna skupina, ki je v primerjavi z ostalimi v zadnjem desetletju pri nas najbolj narasla. Analize prostorske razporeditve kažejo, da so ustvarjalni ljudje v Sloveniji tako kot drugod neenakomerno razporejeni. Manjša osredotočenost je značilna predvsem za gospodarsko slabše razvite regije vzhodne Slovenije, večja pa za razvitejše regije zahodne Slovenije. Sčasoma se razlike med regijami povečujejo, znotraj regij pa zmanjšujejo. Novejši poselitveni procesi potekajo v smeri dekoncentracije iz bolj urbaniziranih tipov naselij v smeri redkeje poseljenih suburbaniziranih in podeželskih območij. Med najpomembnejšimi dejavniki prostorske razporeditve so kakovostno bivalno okolje z velikim poudarkom na bližini narave, identiteta oziroma osebne povezave z ljudmi in kraji ter bližina delovnega mesta. Obenem so opazne nekatere pomembne razlike tako z vidika izbrane regionalizacije kot z vidika stopnje urbaniziranosti naselij

Transport accessibility to regional centres in Slovenia

The article deals with the transport accessibility of regional centres in Slovenia, which was determined with the analytical model of transport accessibility. In this case the accessibility was defined as the travel time which the inhabitants of Slovene settlements spend driving their cars to the nearest regional centre. The results show areas of various levels of accessibility and the regionalization process of Slovenia according to the criterion of transport accessibility. With the help of statistical correlation analysis we also determined the measure of correlation of the accessibility factor to regional centres with the laying out of major transport routes and the diversity of the surface

Selitve prebivalcev z ustvarjalnim poklicemv Sloveniji

The article presents the basic temporal and spatial characteristics of the migration of inhabitants in creative occupations in Slovenia. While it has been already stated that an educated and more creative workforce has been moving out of the country recently and that incoming migrants are mostly low-skilled workers from the former Yugoslavian republics, the content of this article refers mainly to internal migration. The completed analytical work can be summarized as indicating that inhabitants in creative occupations in Slovenia are very immobile and by this criterion quite similar to other occupational groups. If we use the same criterion to compare them with inhabitants in creative occupations from abroad, we can conclude that they are most similar to those living in southern and eastern Europe – groups considered to be among the least mobile on the old continent. Further analysis showed that the inhabitants in creative occupations that live in more developed regions generally intensely migrate and are also more willing to relocate. Both characteristics are equally valid for the more urbanized settlements.Selitve so kompleksen globalen pojav, s katerim se srečujejo praktično vse države sveta. Ljudje so se zaradi različnih dejavnikov odbijanja in privlačenja (push-pull teorija) vedno selili. V osnovi selitve delimo na priselitve in odselitve. Oba procesa za seboj navadno potegneta številne posledice tako na individualni osebnostni kot na kolektivni družbeni ravni. Za območje odseljevanja to ponavadi pomeni siromašenje in izgubljanje človeškega in socialnega kapitala, lahko pa tudi vrsto rešitve zaradi prenaseljenosti in pomanjkanja življenjskih virov. Na drugi strani priselitve za ciljna območja največkrat pomenijo novo delovno silo, kar pa lahko zaradi kulturnih, verskih, rasnih in drugih razlik vodi v konfliktne situacije. Kljub temu so selitve po mnenju Jakoša (2008, 74) praviloma označene kot pozitiven proces in odraz vedno večje mobilnosti sodobne družbe

Prometna dostopnost v Sloveniji

Transport accessibility to jobs, education, supply, and public services, which are usually most concentrated in large regional centers, has an impact on lower economic costs (savings in time and energy consumption), greater social justice (better and more equal access to jobs and education), and lower pressures on the environment (reduction of harmful emissions and noise, and increased road safety). Transport accessibility as a spatial component affects the widest range of development opportunities in an area, and it should therefore represent a significant component of regional and spatial planning. This book presents the main features of transport accessibility to regional centers as the central pillars of regional and spatial structure in Slovenia. Attention is focused on addressing the situation in accessibility planning itself, followed by modeling geographic reality using spatial analyses in a geographic information system. Emphasis is placed on the state of spatial equilibrium of regional centers. This study also examines the spatial differences in their accessibility, the main reasons for these differences, and the correspondence between regional borders in various regionalization proposals for Slovenia and their centers’ borders of accessibility.Knjiga obravnava poglavitne značilnosti prometne dostopnosti do regionalnih središč kot osrednjih nosilcev regionalno-prostorske strukture v Sloveniji. Prometna dostopnost kot prostorska komponenta vpliva na najširši spekter razvojnih možnosti nekega območja, zato bi morala predstavljati pomembno sestavino pri urejanju regij oziroma prostora. Pozornost je najprej usmerjena v preučitev stanja na področju načrtovanja dostopnosti, nato pa so s pomočjo prostorskih analiz v geografskem informacijskem sistemu modelirane razmere v geografski stvarnosti. Te prikazujejo stanje prostorske uravnoteženosti in dostopnosti regionalnih središč ter ujemanje meja regij v različnih predlogih regionalizacije Slovenije z mejami dostopnosti njihovih središč

Variety of industrial towns in Slovenia: a typology of their economic performance

The aim of this paper is to make a typology of industrial towns according to their economic performance and to establish place-specific local factors influencing the typology and their territorial distribution. We collected 15 indicators of economic performance for 23 small industrial towns in Slovenia, and with the method of Principle Component Analysis with k-means clustering made a typology of small industrial towns. The results show a great variety of small industrial towns, with many of them having a strong economic performance. In discussion, we are relating the findings with overall transformation of industry in the post-socialist context, the re-industrialisation tendencies and place-specific factors such as peripherality and specific historic events (polycentric policies). We conclude with the call to continue studying small industrial towns through the prism of opportunities and to address their weaknesses and maximise their place-specific strengths

Green creative environments: Contribution to sustainable urban and regional development

The aim of this paper is to provide a theoretical and conceptual introduction for the Special Issue on the role of green creative environments in sustainable urban and regional development. The idea is based on the assumption that concepts of creativity mostly address economic issues and to a lesser extent social issues, while green concepts predominantly deal with environmental aspects. Therefore, we lack a deeper insight into the interrelations between creative and green environments in urban and regional development. This special issue addresses this research gap through investigating 1) the residential preferences of the creative class in city-regional, urban and rural settings, 2) participatory urbanism as a tool for creative interventions in urban planning, and 3) the importance of green amenities as spatial attraction factors for small creative actors. We argue that green creative environments can contribute to sustainable urban and regional development

The impact of territorial policies on the distribution of the creative economy: tracking spatial patterns of innovation in Slovenia

The creative economy as an alternative pathway for industrial decline was first introduced into practice in metropolitan regions of the Global North. Since then, it has gradually spread out to other highly urbanized areas of the Global South and transitional areas such as post-socialist European countries. Numerous studies tried to explain structural conditions and suggested policies to attract, retain and release creative potentials. However, the focus on promotion of the creative economy is still on large cities and sectoral policies by emphasizing economic, social and legislative issues of the creative labour. There is little evidence about how territorial policies shape the development of the creative economy, especially in medium-sized and small towns outside the reach of the agglomeration areas. The aim of this paper is to study the impact of territorial policies on the distribution of the creative economy in Slovenia as an example of the post-socialist country. By analysing spatial-temporal trends of patents, we track patterns of innovation between 1975 and 2014 in the urban system. A central focus is given to examine changes in urban hierarchy, i.e. relationships between Ljubljana as the capital and the only large city in the country, regional centres and small towns. The spatial-temporal analysis of patents granted in Slovenia confirmed the linkages between territorial innovation systems and policies. The main findings show that innovation has become more evenly distributed across space, which can be attributed to long tradition of polycentric spatial development in times of Yugoslavia and more recent territorial policies favouring further dispersion of the local self-government system in Slovenia

Geografski pogledi na družbo znanja v Sloveniji

Studies on the knowledge society and regional innovation systems and their contribution to economic growth are already well established in research literature. This book ('Geographical Perspectives on the Knowledge Society in Slovenia') is based on a geographical analysis of connections between technological knowledge, competitiveness factors, and economic effects. It proceeds from the hypothesis that economic effectiveness in a region originates from the quality of human capital, in which innovations are the precondition for social progress, competitiveness, and developmental success. This article analyzes the spatial expansion of the knowledge society based on socioeconomic and development indicators in Slovenia. The key finding is that these areas are unevenly distributed. The high share of centers of national importance and neighboring suburban municipalities in emerging urban regions stands out in particular. Areas with a high percentage of creative professions are more innovative and their economic and social development is more successful.Raziskave o družbi znanja, regionalnih inovacijskih sistemih in njihovem prispevku h gospodarski rasti so v znanstveni literaturi že uveljavljene. Pričujoča knjiga temelji na geografski analizi povezanosti med tehnološkim razvojem, faktorji konkurenčnosti in gospodarskimi učinki. Izhaja iz predpostavke, da gospodarska učinkovitost v pokrajini izhaja iz kakovosti človeškega kapitala, kjer so inovacije predpogoj za družbeni napredek, konkurenčnost in razvojni uspeh. V publikaciji analiziramo prostorsko razprostranjenost družbe znanja na podlagi socialno-ekonomskih in razvojnih kazalnikov v Sloveniji. Ključna ugotovitev je, da so ta območja neenakomerno razporejena. Z največjimi deleži izstopajo predvsem zaposlitvena središča nacionalnega pomena in okoliške obmestne občine v nastajajočih mestnih regijah. Območja z velikim deležem ustvarjalnih poklicev so bolj inovativna, njihov ekonomski in družbeni razvoj pa je uspešnejši