We cannot solve modern transport challenges with outdated approaches

A discussion on the transport paradigm shift was organised by the Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia on the 16th January 2025

The Transformative transport planning research group  at Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia presented the policy paper "We Cannot Solve Modern Transport Challenges with Outdated Approaches". Over the past 30 years, Slovenia has built numerous new roads to facilitate the country's development and make car travel faster, more convenient, and safer. While road safety on long-distance routes has significantly improved, paradoxically, our quality of life has deteriorated: we spend more time on roads, travel longer distances, and often find ourselves stuck in traffic. Slovenia stands at a crossroads: will we continue with onesided investments in the road network, which are proven to exacerbate societal issues?

Members of the UIRS Transformative transport planning research group  Aljaž Plevnik,  Tom Rye, Luka Mladenovič, Mojca Balant, and Andraž Hudoklin presented the key messages from the policy paper:

1. Slovenia needs a new transport paradigm to improve quality of life.

Current transport planning, focused on road expansion and accommodating the growth of car traffic, results in greater congestion, longer travel times, and reduced accessibility to key destinations. Planning paradigm shift is needed to manage private motorized traffic and prioritize public transport, cycling, walking, as well as digital and spatial accessibility.

2. Implementing a new paradigm requires changes in values and planning methods.

The new paradigm focuses on ensuring accessibility rather than mere mobility. It calls for a shift from a sectoral to an interdisciplinary approach, new values and practices, the adoption of comprehensive and integrated transport planning, and its integration with spatial planning.

3. The transition to the new paradigm is hindered by outdated planning practices and resistance from key stakeholders.

The old paradigm, based on road and parking capacity expansion, dominates due to esteblished beliefs and practices within the profession, financial interests, and distrust in new approaches. The shift requires new knowledge, international experience exchange, awareness-raising, and collaboration among professionals and the public to demonstrate the benefits of a paradigm shift.

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About STPN:       

Committed to a paradigm shift in traffic planning and management, we operate both domestically and internationally, collaborating with leading experts and stakeholders from the public and private sectors. With over 20 years of experience, we deliver professional recommendations and solutions grounded in research, practical testing, and real-world insights. We provide training for both domestic and international experts, decision-makers, and the next generation of specialists in the field.

The event was as part of the CARE4CLIMATE project.

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CONTACT AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

E-mail: stpn@uirs.si

Website

Recording of the event

Policy paper

New issue of Urbani izziv/Urban chalange journal scientific edition

Volume 35, Issue 2, December 2024

We are pleased to announce the publication of the latest edition of Urbani izziv / Urban Challenge (Volume 35, Issue 2, December 2024). This edition features six scientific articles, with the editorial highlighting the importance of green spaces for relaxation and relief from everyday stress.

We invite you to explore the latest research and encourage scholars to submit their scientific contributions for consideration in upcoming issues.

We wish you a pleasant reading.

Remote Places, Public Spaces: designing with care in rural areas – European and Slovenian perspectives

Invitation to the Lecture in English

“Human Cities / SMOTIES” is a participatory design project focused on community engagement in co-designing public spaces and transformations across ten European rural areas. Over four years, project partners have explored local narratives, nurtured social imagination, and envisioned potential regenerative transformations. The project seeks to understand how rural contexts can inspire meaningful shifts in place-centred regeneration, offering a different path than the one typically suggested by urban models. What if the radical innovation lies in these non-mainstream approaches? Should we prioritize a dominant futuristic drive or embrace sensitive, caring interventions that honour enduring relationships, as demonstrated through our relational, narrative experiment fostering dialogue with local communities? One European project, four years, and ten stories for ten small and remote places.

Special emphasis will be given to the Slovenian pilot project that took place in Polhograjski Dolomiti Landscape Park and its communities. This project challenged the questions of empowering local communities through the participatory design of public spaces and reconsidering possible new roles of local heritage in fulfilling the demands and responding to the dynamics of contemporary society.

 

Annalinda De Rosa is an Assistant Professor of Design and member of the Polimi DESIS Lab, focusing on social innovation and sustainability. From 2020 to 2024, she co-coordinated the Creative Europe project “Human Cities / Smoties.” Her research emphasizes participatory design and fostering social cohesion in urban and rural communities.

Matej Nikšič is a researcher from Ljubljana who specializes in urban design and community engagement. He coordinated the Slovenian team of the “Human Cities / Smoties” project which aimed to empower local communities through participatory urban design and reinvention of cultural heritage.

 

At the end of the project »Smoties - Creative works with small and remote places« , the book "Remote Places, Public Spaces" was published by Birkhäuser and is available at the following link.

Join us at 6 PM for the opening of the exhibition HOUSE ON THE HILL / TOGETHER, prepared by Zavod CCC.
The House on the Hill/Hiša na hribu has become recognised as an example of good practice in creating or strengthening public and social spaces on the outskirts of a city, in the rural environment of the Polhov Gradec Hills. As such, it has been part of the EU project Smoties – Human Cities in the last three years. Its partner from Slovenia is the Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia.

New issue of Urbani izziv/Urban chalange journal scientific edition

volume 35, issue 1, June 2024

The latest edition of Urbani izziv / Urban Challenge has been published, featuring six scientific articles. We invite you to read it here and encourage you to submit your scientific contributions for the upcoming issue. Enjoy your reading!

New issue of Urbani izziv/Urban chalange journal scientific edition

volume 34, issue 2, December 2023

Before holidays, the new issue of the Urban Challenge was published, featuring five scientific articles.  You are kindly invited to read it (link) and submit your scientific contributions for the next issue. Wishing you a pleasant read! 

1st national event of the project “SPOZNAJ – Supporting the implementation of Open Science principles in Slovenia”

Thursday, 5 October 2023, from 9:00 to 15:00 in the ZRC SAZU Atrium, Novi trg 2, 1000 Ljubljana and via Zoom with simultaneous interpretation from Slovenian into English

You are cordially invited to the 1st national event of the project “SPOZNAJ – Supporting the implementation of Open Science principles in Slovenia”, which will mark the beginning of the project and, together with the most important stakeholders, outline the guidelines for the implementation of the national open science policies. We will also present some successful practices of this kind in the European Research Area.

Within the framework of the SPOZNAJ project, the Central Technical Library at the University of Ljubljana and 20 Slovenian public research organisations will align their practices with the Resolution on the Scientific Research and Innovation Strategy of Slovenia 2030, the Scientific Research and Innovation Activities Act, the Public Information Access Act, the Regulation on the Implementation of Scientific Research in Alignment with the Principles of Open Science, and the practices and principles of open science in the European Research Area. Open science encompasses open access to research results, the adoption of responsible metrics for assessing the quality and impact of scientific research, and the engagement of citizens in scientific research activities. The project receives co-financing from the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation and the European Union – NextGenerationEU through the national Recovery and Resilience Plan.

The 1st national event of the SPOZNAJ project will take place on Thursday, 5 October 2023, from 9:00 to 15:00 in the ZRC SAZU Atrium, Novi trg 2, 1000 Ljubljana, according to the attached programme. The event will also be live-streamed via Zoom with simultaneous interpretation from Slovenian into English.

Financira EU, NextGenerationEU ; NOO Načrt za okrevanje in odpornost ; RS Ministrstvo za visoko šolstvo, znanost in inovacije

REAL CORP 2023

LET IT GROW, LET US PLAN, LET IT GROW Nature-based Solutions for Sustainable Resilient Smart Green and Blue Cities

From 18th until 20th September 2023 the Faculty of Architecture will host a REAL CORP CONFERENCE  LET IT GROW, LET US PLAN, LET IT GROW – Nature-based Solutions for Sustainable Resilient Smart Green and Blue Cities (REAL CORP 2023 28th International Conference on Urban Planning and Regional Development in the Information Society GeoMultimedia).

Partners of  REAL CORP-a 2023 are:

• CORP – Competence Center of Urban and Regional Planning
• UIRS – Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia, https://www.uirs.si
• University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Architecture, https://www.fa.uni-lj.si
• ISOCARP – International Society of City and Regional Planners, https://www.isocarp.org.

More about the programm and the conference.

Project SPOZNAJ - Support for the Implementation of Open Science Principles in Slovenia

Autumn Series of Presentations on Open Science (September and October 2023)

In September and October, the SPOZNAJ project consortium will organise a series of presentations on open science, which will take place every Thursday from 10:30 to 12:00 via Zoom. Additional events will also be organised by the University of Ljubljana and the University of Maribor. More information and links to the registration forms can be found here (in Slovenian). The consortium presentations will be held in Slovenian. They will be recorded and uploaded to the Arnes Video platform for later viewing. Subtitles will be added in English and Slovenian in due course. If you would like to receive news about the SPOZNAJ project, you can sign up for email updates (in English). We look forward to your participation!

The SPOZNAJ Project will introduce the principles of open science to Slovenian research organisations

2nd August 2023 marks the beginning of the project "SPOZNAJ - Support for the Implementation of Open Science Principles in Slovenia". This initiative involves the Central Technical Library at the University of Ljubljana and 20 Slovenian public research organizations, all of which will align their practices with the Scientific Research and Innovation Activities Act, the Regulation on the Implementation of Scientific Research in Alignment with the Principles of Open Science, and the practices and principles of open science within the European Research Area. Open science encompasses open access to research results, the adoption of responsible metrics for assessing the quality and impact of scientific research, and the engagement of citizens in scientific research activities. The project receives co-financing from the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation and the European Union – NextGenerationEU through the national Recovery and Resilience Plan. 

The project consortium consists of:  

• Central Technical Library at the University of Ljubljana as the project coordinator,   

• Agricultural Institute of Slovenia,  

• Educational Research Institute,  

• Geological Survey of Slovenia,  

• Institute for Ethnic Studies,  

• Institute for Hydraulic Research, Ljubljana,  

• Institute of Contemporary History,  

• "Jožef Stefan" Institute, 

• National Institute of Biology,  

• National Institute of Chemistry,  

• Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts,  

• Rudolfovo – Science and Technology Centre Novo mesto,  

• Science and Innovation Centre Pomurje,  

• Science and Research Centre Koper,  

• Slovenian Forestry Institute,  

• Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute,  

• Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia,  

• Faculty of Information Studies Novo mesto,  

• University of Ljubljana (under its umbrella, the Slovenian Social Sciences Data Archives coordinates one of the work packages),  

• University of Maribor (under its umbrella, the University Library Maribor coordinates one of the work packages) and  

• University of Primorska. 

 

The project's objective is to raise awareness, educate, and empower the consortium partners' staff by providing them with relevant knowledge and skills in open science. This includes developing educational materials, establishing support structures, and adapting the operational mechanisms of the consortium partners to align with the principles of open science. In addition to the consortium partners, the project aims to engage other significant stakeholders in scientific research activities, such as private research and higher education organizations, independent researchers, public agencies (ARIS, NAKVIS), other public institutions (e.g., Arnes, libraries), business entities, and the wider interested public. 

By the project's completion on 30th June 2026, the consortium will organize a minimum of 30 public lectures on current topics related to open science and four national events with international participation. It will also define the profiles of support experts specializing in open science and research data management, creating a catalogue of their competencies. Specialised training sessions will be conducted for initial specialists in this field, including consortium partners and other interested institutions. Support structures will be established to assist these specialists as they commence their activities. Educational materials on practical applications of open science principles, with an emphasis on research data management, will be prepared in both online and printed formats. Existing documents and processes at consortium partners will be evaluated, proposing formal bases of operation in line with the principles of open science, and pilot adjustments will be implemented. The project will strive to raise awareness about the significance of open science among professionals and the general public. 

The "SPOZNAJ" project is aligned with the broader European development of open science. Namely, open science has been identified by the European Union as a key measure in the Research and Innovation Pact for the period 2022–2024 and was also written into law with the revised Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on open data and the re-use of public sector information. Slovenia has adapted to these new European guidelines by enacting the Scientific Research and Innovation Activities Act in 2021, adopting the Resolution on the Scientific Research and Innovation Strategy of Slovenia 2030 in 2022, and implementing the Regulation on the Implementation of Scientific Research in Alignment with the Principles of Open Science and the Action Plan for Open Science in 2023. These legislative acts mandate those engaged in scientific research activities to ensure open access to research results, practice responsible evaluation of research work, and involve citizens in research activities. 

 For further information about the "SPOZNAJ" project, please contact NOO.spoznaj@ctk.uni-lj.si. 

New issue of Urbani izziv/Urban chalange journal scientific edition

volume 34, issue 1, June 2023

In June, the new issue of the Urban Challenge was published, featuring five scientific articles.

You are kindly invited to read it (link) and submit your scientific contributions for the next issue. Wishing you a pleasant read!