The paradox of empty apartments and huge daily commuting in Ljubljana: Failures of the urban management

Abstract

Ljubljana as the capital city of Slovenia counts among smaller European capitals. With its population around 300.000 it yet represents a myriad of urban landscapes. The break-up of Yugoslavia radically changed the city population. Suburbanisation and deurbanisation resulted in the degrading city centre where already low-income population resided. Denationalization process shook the real estate market pushing thousands of users of ‘social flats’ into rent of newly formed quasi elite which participated in privatisation of public apartments. High rents drove the residents out and allowed for rebuilding or construction of villa-blocks. These reappropriations had a massive effect primarily on the loss of one sixth of urban population by 2000 and 25,000 uninhabited homes in the city centre. It is hypothesised that the cartel networks and the administrative apparatus use the urban planning as a tool of raising prices in order to gain more affluent population. We concluded that this idea failed. Most of the population live in their own apartments, while rented premises are settled mainly by lower income population with a high share of immigrants. The ecological and economic problem of daily commuters could be solved with an active urban policy of using the huge assets of empty apartments.