Space is a limited good, therefore it has to be planned in such a way to enable sustainable and non conflict use, which should properly respond and adjust to the diverse needs. In Slovenia the guide of how to plan the space is given in the Spatial Planning Strategy of Slovenia and other strategic and implementation documents of the spatial planning. In spatial planning it is necessary to consider both legal provisions and wishes of users of the space, and it should be directed according to the guidelines and trends of space. In the diploma thesis we analyzed the spread of built up areas and planned land use regarding to the urbanization trends in the selected municipalities - the Municipality of Maribor (MOM), Hoče-Slivnica Municipality and Miklavţ na Dravskem polju Municipality, which were both part of the Municipality of Maribor until 1999. The primary purpose of the diploma thesis was to establish the trend of spreading of the planning building areas regarding the demographic and economic situation of selected municipalities and consequently to establish changes of surface in spatial acts designed for agricultural areas, forests and building land. We studied the trends in line with the demographic and economic indicators. We compared the results of demographic and economic analyses with the spatial analyses, where we have established space changes of planned land use for individual categories in separate municipality over the selected time period (for the period from 1996 to 2004 or 2008). On the basis of space changes of the individual category of planned land use in the municipality we have determined the indicators of spatial development and tried to find out the connection of those with demographic and economic trends. In the conclusion of the diploma thesis we found that the trend of spreading of the planned land use does not necessarily follow the trends of demographic and economic development of municipalities
