Gastronomy as a social catalyst in the creative place-making process

This paper examines the integration of gastronomy in the creative place-making process. The study is based on the interviews with the organizers of five gastronomy events: a cooking workshop, a gastronomy festival, a series of gastronomy events at museums, a gastronomy theatre performance and an intimate dinner event. The contextual analysis shows that gastronomy events can contribute to five important features defining quality of place: diversity, liveliness, innovativeness, creativity and openness/tolerance. The final phase of our study brings comparison with findings in art-based place-making studies and discusses on diversity, integration in development policies and replicability potential of analyzed gastronomy events

Izzivi in odzivi na ranljivost druzin na podrocju predsolske vzgoje

Problems in vulnerable families are multilayered and include the intersection of physical, psychosocial and other forms of distress. The multidimensional nature of the problems of these families is closely linked to the fact that there are many institutions in the field of education, social welfare, health care and others, in which treatment and support are not satisfactory or adapted to their needs. The article presents the partial results of a large-scale qualitative research study, results that refer to the position of vulnerable families in the context of preschool education. The study examined how vulnerability is experienced by parents of preschool children, how the expert workers in the preschools involved in the study responded to the parents’ vulnerability, and how they cooperated with experts from other services outside the preschool. A qualitative research method was used in the study. Data was collected partly through semi-structured interviews with various expert workers employed in two preschools, as well as with the parents of children in the preschools; the interviews were conducted individually and in focus groups. Using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), we have identified four representative themes: amongst parents, the two recurring themes can be subsumed under the headings “from door to door” and “adaptation/flexibility”, and amongst experts, under the headings “powerlessness/incompetence/lack of information” and “power/innovation/sensitivity”. The study finds that the ability to effectively contend with vulnerability presumes a reconceptualisation of the attitude of institutional preschool education towards the family, including a change in the professional role of preschool teachers. (DIPF/Orig.

Gastronomy tourism: A brief introduction

The aim of this paper is to provide a theoretical and conceptual introduction for the special issue on the interactions between food and territory manifested in gastronomy tourism. We focus on four perspectives: sustainability, the role of heritage, the potential for rural development and the networking of stakeholders. The contributions critically examine the development potentials but also the weaknesses of the growing gastronomy tourism. The case study approach and qualitative methods provide a detailed and concrete insight into the emerging challenges of host communities, tourism businesses and farmers, public policy makers and visitors. The special issue also provides applicable results for stakeholders involved in the strategic development, creation and consumption of tourism offerings

Agriculture in modern landscapes: A factor hindering or facilitating development?

Agriculture plays an important role in both protecting and developing farmland. In Slovenia, the main reasons for this loss are urbanization and the implementation of large development projects that require the destruction of fertile farmland. About 3000 ha of farmland has been lost each year since Slovenia’s independence. The importance of agriculture and farmland is touched upon in this special issue of Acta geographica Slovenica. The authors focus on management of farmland, analyse the development potential for agriculture, observe the changes in the landscape by remote sensing, soil quality and its pollution, and land cover as an element of biodiversity. They draw attention to the lack of participation in spatial planning procedures and the question of the importance of agriculture and jobs in this sector in national economy. This introductory paper brings a short analysis of how the issue of farms’ spatial constraints and moving farm structures to new locations is perceived by municipal offices, nature parks, and the Slovenian Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry and its regional offices

The Alps: A physical geography, political, and program framework

In order to improve the understanding of the concepts featured in this special issue of Acta geographica Slovenica, this review article presents the Alps as a geographical concept, the Alpine Convention, and the Alpine Space transnational cooperation program. All three categories have a different spatial scope and thus must be clearly defined and distinguished from one another

Sustainable spatial development in the Alps

This special issue of Acta geographica Slovenica discusses selected topics in spatial development in the Alps from the perspective of spatial planning legislation, stakeholder engagement in spatial planning decisions, tools that enable the effective flow of expertise and exchange of instruments, and best practices across the Alps, as well as from the economic perspective using the example of Alpine regions’ reaction to the economic crisis that affected Europe and the rest of the world at the end of the past decade. By including articles written as part of the WIKIAlps project, which was financed through the EU transnational cooperation program Alpine Space, this special issue seeks to invigorate discussions on sustainable spatial development in the Alps and thus contributes to a greater familiarity with this issue and to more prudent decisions

Catalogue of Good Practices of Sustainable Culinary Heritage Experiences in Mediterranean Area

The Catalogue of Good Practices of Sustainable Culinary Heritage Experiences in Mediterranean Area provides a detailed description of 18 culinary experiences from 8 different Mediterranean countries: Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Greece, Cyprus and Slovenia. The good practices cover various types of culinary experiences, namely tourist sites networks dedicated to food or culinary products, services connected to food products, professional activities linked to food highlighted through a touristic activity, culinary events, specific tourist sites dedicated to food or culinary products. The Catalogue reveals how culinary experiences work, who is involved, and what are the “ingredients” which make them successful. Each culinary experience is described through a story in which you will find valuable information on: local (territorial) anchoring and relationship to heritage, organising and managing aspects, relation to existing policies and strategies, sustainability aspects, innovative aspects, monitoring and stakeholders’ views.Katalog dobrih praks trajnostnih kulinaričnih doživetij v Sredozemlju ponuja podrobne opise 18 kulinaričnih doživetij iz osmih različnih držav: Italije, Francije, Španije, Portugalske, Hrvaške, Grčije, Cipra in Slovenije. Dobre prakse predstavljajo naslednje vrste kulinaričnih izkušenj: mreže turističnih ciljev, ki se posvečajo hrani ali kulinaričnim produktom~storitve, povezane s prehrambnimi izdelki~profesionalne aktivnosti, povezane s hrano, ki so poudarjene v turistični dejavnosti~kulinarični dogodki in posebni turistični cilji, posvečeni hrani ali kulinaričnim produktom. Katalog pojasnjuje, kako kulinarične izkušnje delujejo, kdo je vključen in kakšne so sestavine za uspeh. Vsaka kulinarična izkušnja je opisana z zgodbo, v kateri je mogoče najti neprecenljive podatke o lokalni vključenosti in odnosih do dediščine, o organizacijskih in upravljavskih vidikih, odnosu do trenutnih politik in strategij, trajnostnih vidikov, inovativnosti in pogledih udeležencev

Models of stakeholder collaboration in food tourism experiences

This study explores the role of stakeholders in creating and managing food tourism experiences. The main aim was to discover who participates in this process, why, and how. The research is based on interviews and participatory observation of twenty-two case studies mainly located in rural areas in eight Mediterranean countries. The paper focuses on two types of food experience: food events and food services with additional subtypes. The results reveal three models of stakeholder collaboration: one typical for events, one typical for services, and one emphasizing more direct interaction between visitors and local communities. The findings show diversity in the connections among stakeholders, who have different motives and roles in food experiences

Evaluating the development potential of farms on urban outskirts: methodology

This article presents a methodology for evaluating the development potential of farms on urban outskirts, which forms an important basis for long-term (spatial) planning of the development of Slovenian agriculture. It uses publically available spatial and statistical data, and analyzes and evaluates the characteristics of farms that show their future development potential and tendencies: vitality and stability, potential to expand, potential for conflicts, quality and structure of farmland, and effects of spatial planning and special protection measures on their development potential. This methodology is used to evaluate farms on urban outskirts, where development factors differ from those in areas with less favorable farming conditions

The role of part-time farms in the economic, environmental and spatial transformation of the urban fringe

The doctoral dissertation focuses on the role of part-time farms in the economic, environmental and spatial transformation of the urban fringe. On the basis of the sample of Slovene suburban farms, the impact level of the proximity of workplaces on the mobility of the agricultural workforce can be determined. It can also be determined if socio-economic characteristics of suburban agricultural economies reflect in the characteristics of farm management and in the environment. This consequently stresses the role of part-time farms in the strengthening of multi-layered agriculture.\ud From the perspective of spatial planning, it is important to learn about the development potential of farms in the planned area and to put greater emphasis on the most vital and stable farms, whether they be pure farms or part-time farms. As an answer to the question in what way should the development potential of farms in the selected area within the acceptable temporal and financial scope be evaluated, a methodology for evaluating the development potential of suburban farms from the perspective of socio-economic and spatial conditions was formed. The evaluation was divided into four segments: the evaluation of the stability and vitality of farms; the evaluation of the expansion potential and the conflict potential among farms; the evaluation of the quality and structure of agricultural land; and the evaluation of the impacts of spatial planning and protective measures on the development potential of farms. The methodology may be employed for the evaluation of all socio-economic farm types. It was tested on the case of sample farms on the Kamniška Bistrica plain \ud The end of the dissertation offers suggestions for spatial site selection of farms and agricultural activities in urban settlements or other planned areas. These suggestions comprise some hypothetical examples of site selection of farms in the environment to guarantee a more efficient performance of farms and only minimal conflicts with the rest of the population.\u