Matjaz Ursic

• PhD
• Professor (Full) at University of Ljubljana

V članku ugotavljamo, kako se prostorske vrednote prek aktivne vloge kraja, neformalnega druž-benega in političnega nadzora ter drugih značilnosti teritorialno-kulturnega okolja povezujejo s političnimi preferencami in prostorskim sistemom Slovenije. Članek se opira na geoprostorsko analizo volilnega vedenja na osmih zaporednih državnozborskih voli...

On the declarative level, immovable (physical) cultural heritage is a convenient subject of a variety of programmes, conservation approaches and legislative processes supposedly tied to sustainability development plans. The declarativeness of immovable cultural heritage integration processes is often exposed in spatial antagonisms based on friction...

V članku so analizirane prednosti in slabosti, ki izhajajo iz uporabe avtomobilskega prevoza v turizmu. Pri tem je posebna pozornost namenjena analizi problemov odvisnosti turizma od avtomobilskega prometa. Predstavljeni so dejavniki, ki potencialno zavirajo razvoj novih oblik turistične ponudbe, ki bi temeljila na bolj trajnostni rabi potencialov...

Povzetek. Ob analizah kreativnih dejavnosti se pogosto pojavljajo problematična opažanja delovnih procesov zaposlenih v teh poklicih. Kreativni delavci so s tega vidika dojeti kot zelo prilagodljivi glede na način, kraj in plačilo dela. Zaradi tovrstnih značilnosti, ki jih ne uvrščajo med tradicionalne, tj. gospodarsko in socialno bolj stabilne obl...

This article demonstrates and explains the benefits accruing to communities that involve universities in their local community-based projects from the context of community-based work taking place in Europe. We include concrete arguments intended to stimulate the transfer of the universities' accumulated knowledge to local (urban) community projects...

Urbane kreativne dejavnosti so bile v tranzicijskem obdobju intenzivnih prostorskih in gospodarskih sprememb v Sloveniji pogosto predstavljene kot pomemben razvojni dejavnik, ki bo omogočil reurbanizacijo in revitalizacijo številnih območij opuščenih industrijskih dejavnosti. Pogosto so bili to razmeroma spontani, nenačrtovani procesi prostorskega...

In the transition that saw intense spatial and economic changes in Slovenia, urban creative activities were often regarded as an important development factor allowing the reurbanization and revitalization of several former industrial areas. These were generally relatively spontaneous unplanned processes to spatially and economically develop degrade...

In general, urban social sustainability has received little recognition in built environment disciplines. To comprehend the social dimensions of sustainable urban design, an understanding of urban planning features is required which takes into consideration the engagement of the local community. The article focuses on the impact that intense sustai...

The book offers a glimpse into the complex structure of necessary elements that providephysical and particularly socio-cultural support to the whole chain of creative actors in Tokyo. We presume that city creativity is equally influenced by financial support, accessible infrastructure (in terms of spaces, transport, digital technology), as well as...

This book focuses on overlooked contextual factors that constitute the urban creative climate or innovative urban milieu in contemporary cities. Filled with reflections based on interviews with a diverse range of creative actors in various local neighborhoods in Tokyo, it offers a rare glimpse into the complex set of elements that provide long-term...

This chapter delves deeper into the main theoretical and conceptual basis of the book. It attempts a holistic approach to creativity, encompassing its multiple influences and exposing less mentioned, yet constitutive, elements that contribute to its formation and preservation. The concepts of social and cultural heterogeneity, tangible and intangib...

This chapter addresses the micro-urban development in Tokyo on a more general level and analyzes how hospitable specific places are for different types of small creative actors. Although the analysis focuses more on the general social-physical elements of the creative ecosystem in which these actors are embedded, it stays local in its empirical app...

This chapter focuses on the cases of Bakurochō (including Okachimachi and Kuramae) and Kōenji, which are home to various new coworking spaces, art galleries and other new hybrid usages. They display familiar features of urban commons, which indicate that these areas have not just been rediscovered by different creative individuals but are also reco...

This chapter features the cases of Ichigaya and Kiyosumi Shirakawa. The first part focuses on creative practices found in a cultural quarter with strong cultural elements in Ichigaya. It explores how these aspects and resources influence the creativity of the area, which is also the breeding ground for new social initiatives that are needed to secu...

This chapter is the first of four chapters that introduce and analyze different case study areas in Tokyo. The chapter examines the cases of Hikifune and Kyōjima, especially the spatial, social and economic transformation of the neighbourhoods. It introduces local and creative actors whose diversity reflects how the spatial transformation of the ar...

This introductory chapter elaborates on multiple perspectives on the relationship between creativity and spatiality. It starts by describing the role of context (local milieu) within the creative ecosystem. Next, important terms for the book such as social creativity and creative capacity are presented. Finally, the chapter maps the basic interdepe...

This chapter introduces Tokyo’s socioeconomic characteristics and the basic argument tools that are used in following chapters. It critically reflects upon the global and local contexts in which Tokyo’s creative sphere is embedded. Special focus is directed at the historic genealogy of specific urban policies that have had mixed effects on the city...

This chapter evaluates the role of small actors in Tokyo’s creative ecosystem. It starts by describing the challenges they face in Tokyo’s economic environment. Then, it continues with a critical reflection on creative precarity, the characteristics of the creative ecosystem, and specific aspects of behavioral economics in the form of cost-benefit...

This final chapter wraps up the essence and intent of the book with reflections on the category of duration and time. It attempts to deconstruct the existent hierarchies and categories on useful and redundant urban creativity by promoting new criteria and evaluation mechanisms. It seeks to contribute to the definition or production of new models of...

The merging of transport and virtual technologies that began in the 1990s has been radically transforming the concept of mobility in contemporary societies. Driven not only by the increased level of movement of people, things, and ideas, the introduction of virtual technologies in transport paved the way for new types of mobility patterns where bod...

Analysis of social networks in areas undergoing intense urban transformations are becoming an ever more important topic in spatial planning. The growing attention given to social networks is due to the rise of problems and conflicts stemming from disregard of the ‘soft’, i.e. social, components in the local environment. The problem of stakeholders’...

Like other East Asian countries, Taiwan has in the last decade experienced the transmission and adaptation of creative city policies, coming mainly from western urban planning models. This quite fast and at times insufficiently reflected adaptation of cultural and creative-led urban regeneration schemes has left marks on both the social and physica...

In the last decade, the Japanese authorities have invested considerable effort and economic resources into constructing developmental models that can help build a friendlier environment for the domestic creative economy. Due to Tokyo’s specific natural and sociocultural characteristics, these efforts have had mixed effects on small creative groups....

Along with the growth of creative economies, one can observe the phenomenon of increasing precarious work, which follows young individuals engaged in creative activities. The working process of creative individuals is very flexible in terms of schedules, place of work, and payment. As such, they often do not belong to the traditional (i.e., economi...

The article addresses occupational development in the field of sustainable urbanism. To this end, examples of sustainable neighbourhoods are analysed: Hammarby Sjöstad (Stockholm), Vauban (Freiburg), and GWLTerrein (Amsterdam). The introduction presents the issues of understanding the operation of occupational groups, their competencies, and occupa...

During urban redevelopment, it is not always completely clear which spaces and groups are the most valuable social and cultural amenities that support creativity and improve the general quality of life in the city. This article uses case studies from Slovenia and Japan to analyze why some spaces are perceived as socially and culturally important wh...

This article analyzes the key features of the spatial distribution of creative industries in Ljubljana and the Ljubljana urban region. Special attention is devoted to analyzing factors that influence the concentration of individual branches of creative industries in specific locations. GIS tools were applied to evaluate factors that influence the d...

This article analyzes the key features of the spatial distribution of creative industries in Ljubljana and the Ljubljana urban region. Special attention is devoted to analyzing factors that influence the concentration of individual branches of creative industries in specific locations. GIS tools were applied to evaluate factors that influence the d...

The transition from printed to online media has not only simplified and shortened the reporting process from the field but also improved access to news and ways for readers to react to reporting. The article focuses on an analysis of online news media that have opened up new possibilities for specific groups of readers interested in the urban devel...

Local urban development is not determined by a collection of non-political and essentially technical measures prepared by professionals and civil servants in municipalities, but in fact strongly depends on the political nature of policy decisions and organised local interests. The planning of local urban development is, therefore, significantly inf...

Despite being coined by international forums and promoted chiefly by international/supranational organisations and clubs, sustainable development is a concept that in essence rests on and is largely determined by the local level. The local level's primacy in terms of introducing the principles of sustainability is openly stipulated by Agenda 21, th...

The paper discusses the degree of normative sustainability achieved by selected regimes according to their sustainable development strategies. Focussing on Agenda 21, the Mediterranean Strategy of Sustainable Development, the European Union's renewed Sustainable Development Strategy and Slovenia's Development Strategy, the paper draws on Becker et...

Most cultural-led redevelopment projects in today’s global cities are devised with the clear objective of stimulating their economic growth. Redevelopment schemes usually aim to develop consumption services and urban settings to make the city more attractive for investors. In many cases, redevelopment has led to a diminishment in diversity of local...

The main purpose of this paper is to explore the changes that have occurred in the work of academic researchers. It also addresses particularities and changes affecting the professionalisation processes in the last five years. Within the framework of the sociology of professions, it complements analyses of statistical data with a qualitative study...

exploratory workshop on political culture

Papers of the European Conference on Political Attitudes and Mentalities (ECPAM'2012)

Papers of the Eastern European Exploratory Workshop on Political Attitudes and Mentalities (EEEW-PAM'2012)

Cultural‑led renovation projects are often directed toward the formation of new art facilities, services, products and urban settings based on which the city could become distinctively different and economically profitable. However, often during the course of urban redevelopment, it is not completely clear which renovation strategy is to be used an...

Cities have become increasingly autonomous economic and political actors which actively respond to the pressures and opportunities of globalisation. Consequently, the urban management of any particular city is often based on the assumption that the city can improve its position against rival cities by efficiently managing its strategic resources an...

Many classics of sociology regard ethnic and cultural diversity as an important element of the so-called city ‘urbanity’ or ‘urbanism’. Lefebvre (1991, 1996) describes urbanity as a form of “urban centrality” or a wide spectrum of elements that include numerous personal encounters, contacts, cultural and ethnical heterogeneity, arts and artistic ar...

The study presented in this publication has emerged as a result of the commission by the Regional Development Agency of the Ljubljana Urban Region in the framework of the project Creative Cities, funded by the European Union. It contributes an important insight into the spatial distribution of creative industries in Ljubljana and its urban region a...

Historically, Mediterranean towns located on the Slovene Littoral have always been considered archetypal images of densely populated towns with a high degree of urban complexity and social diversity. Having begun after WWI and intensified in the last twenty years, the process of spreading traffic infrastructure and urban areas to the hinterland not...

Basic purpose of the majority of cultural-led renovation projects is to set up a clear frame for the economic growth of the city. Renovation schemes are directed toward the formation of new art facilities, services, products, urban settings based on which the city could become distinctively different and profit from its advantages. In this context,...

Formal spatial planning procedures tend to neglect the importance of socio-cultural elements that are inherently present as part of 'soft infrastructure' and are constituted from traditions, lifestyles, wishes, and the routines of individuals that form a local community. In contrast, the concept of cultural sustainability is closely linked with the...

New communication and transport technologies importantly influence the understanding of time-space relations in the micro context of local communities. These influences, usually placed under the common denominator of globalization, seem to affect i.e. transform spatial values and challenge the established interpretations of what is perceived to be...

During the last 15 years, Slovenia passed through various phases of economic and socio-political transformation. Each of them has left its contribution in the organisation of urban space. Focusing on the “dialectic” of central and edge city development, the text will first expose the transformations made to the city centres in the light of new cons...

Most large multi-apartment housing estates in Ljubljana that were mainly built in the period 1960�1985 are in dire need of comprehensive physical renewal and ipgrading of utilities. The social-political transformations and events, such as adoption of the new housing law, denationalisation, practical termination of construction of social apartments,...

In the relatively short period of post-socialist transition in the 1990s, various (capital) interest groups i.e. “urban managers” became an important factor in Slovenian spatial planning. In order to ensure legitimisation and to gather sufficient public support for their interventions in space, the developers tend to use a vast spectrum of communic...

V obdobju po osamosvojitvi Slovenije je v strokovni in poljudni publicistiki s področja prostorskega načrtovanja mogoče opaziti več instrumentalnih, marketinško motiviranih prepričevalnih dejavnosti. Medijsko močno podprti partikularizmi so problematični predvsem z vidika izključevanja oz. zmanjševanja vpliva vsebinskega, argumentativno-substancial...

Summary The main intention of the paper is to analyse the relationship between different groups of migrants and urban (public) spaces/places and environments in which they live. Some of the basic and simplified questions that could be formulated at this point are: How do the migrants 'use' urban space, for which purposes, with what intentions and w...

V članku je v obliki pregleda posameznih etap industrializacije oz. industrijske urbanizacije Slovenije predstavljen razvoj ključnih transportnih sredstev in vzorcev mobilnosti, ki so jim sledili. Pregled se začne z analizo modernizacije prometa v drugi polovici devetnajstega stoletja, nadaljuje z obdobjem po prvi in drugi svetovni vojni ter konča...

The paper focuses on urban transformations that began in the late 1980s and were accelerated after the change of political system in 1991 (proclamation of Slovenian independency) and introduction of free-market economy. Contrary to the majority of Western European countries, which experienced intense urban growth after the Second World War, Sloveni...