The Settlement System in Slovenia

Abstract

Slovenia’s settlement system is characterized by small settlements, a dispersed pattern of settlement, an absence of medium-sized towns, and small-scale (sub)urbanization of the countryside. This is the result of historical events, especially the agrarian character of Slovenian territory until the twentieth century and its polycentric development after the Second World War. The morphology of rural settlements is closely connected with natural conditions because it adapts to the features of four European macroregions. Under communism and during suburbanization, the countryside was “invaded” by semi-urban houses, and the towns experienced rapid growth, with apartment buildings often blending in with older rural and more recent houses. Growth is especially evident in settlements in the suburbanized countryside surrounding towns, where a mixed type of settlements (sub)urbanized on a small scale and rural settlements is emerging, whereas as a rule peripheral rural settlements are shrinking. The towns remain the centers of economic production: small towns have largely transformed themselves into modern industrial centers, and medium-sized and large towns have transformed into places of service and creative industries.