Ljubljana Green Tour

Slovenija, a green country. Ljubljana, a green city. A myth or a reality? Welcome to a virtual green tour, where we will discover Ljubljana, take a walk among hidden blades of grass, and explore bushes.

But before we set off on a journey through the hidden and less hidden corners of Ljubljana’s streets, make sure to turn on location tracking on your mobile devices to be able to follow the planned route visible in the application. Once you arrive at a certain point, the app will automatically start playing an audio story of the place you are at. Have a pleasant, instructive and green experience, regardless of the colours currently painted by the landscape.

Instructions for use: Your smartphone will play an important role throughout today’s experience. The interactive tour, developed as part of the European youth project My Revolution, will touch upon a wide range of environmental topics from both natural and social science point of view. Using your smartphone with location tracking mode turned on, follow the designated route shown in the application. When you arrive at a certain point, the app will automatically start playing an audio story. We recommend using a headset. We wish you a pleasant and instructive experience.

What is your first association when you hear the words ‘environmental protection in Slovenia?

It all began with the first initiators of environmental protection in Slovenia, experts and artists, who founded the Society for Environmental Protection in the early 1970s. At the beginning, they opposed the planned construction of new hydroelectric power plants on the Soča river, which was the first opposition to the huge energy projects in the SFRY. In general, the environmentalists perceived Yugoslav socialism as unproblematic, which was unjustified. Many Yugoslav republics were underdeveloped by capitalist standards, so the federal state invested heavily in their development through large infrastructure projects, heavy industry, and increased production. All this, however, had negative consequences for the environment. By doing so, the state wanted to achieve economic growth comparable to capitalist economies. Thus, it could eventually beat the capitalist system in terms of the material prosperity it would provide to the people. However, socialism does not require economic growth, it can survive without it, while it is absolutely necessary for capitalism.

With economic development, the need for energy also increased, leading to new interventions in the environment, and with it, a true resurgence of the environmental scene in Slovenia in the 1980s. The main emphasis was on the Šoštanj Thermal Power Plant and air pollution with sulphur dioxide emissions. Today, thirty years later, the Šoštanj power plant is still causing quite a stir and emits a lot of greenhouse gases. It is one of the most controversial investments in Slovenia.

However, our predecessors dealt not only with the issue of thermal power plants; it turned out that all methods of producing electricity carry risks and cause damage to the environment. The Chernobyl accident in 1986 (justifiably or not) prompted the establishment of an anti-nuclear movement, which called for the closure of the Krško Nuclear Power Plant. And already back then, there was some opposition to the construction of hydroelectric power plants on the Mura river.

In the Yugoslav context, Slovenia was the republic with the strongest environmental movement, and environmentalists from other republics also came here to learn.

1968 was a turbulent year in many parts of the world. Slovenia was no exception.

Today, when we stand behind the Faculty of Arts rising above us with its brutalist architecture, it is hard to imagine the riots that took place here some fifty years ago. As mentioned, post war Yugoslavia witnessed rapid development. The cities grew, the population increased, and the standard of living rose. All of this, however, had unforeseen consequences that erupted in unrest at the transition from the 1960s to the 1970s. The 1968 unrest in Yugoslavia was the result of growing inequalities due to the introduction of capitalist elements and opening up to the West, poor accommodation and low capacity in study centres, poor accessibility to higher education for students from the periphery, and declining opportunities for the young. Discussions about these problems began. These issues were already discussed in 1964.

In 1968, the student movement focused primarily on housing issues. They managed to negotiate the construction of new student dormitories and prevented the introduction of changes that would make it harder for the students to stay in them. The next year, they founded Radio Študent, which provided students with new possibilities to communicate and organize, as well as to inform the public about current events. This was their first victory. Economic development also led to increased traffic. Back then, Aškerčeva street was Ljubljana’s main traffic artery, as there was no bypass at that time, and most of the traffic ran along it. Huge trucks and a growing number of motor vehicles caused an unbearable noise that echoed through the area around the road. For this reason, students of the surrounding faculties organized the first public protest against the noise on Aškerčeva street on April 14, 1971. They believed that the noise was detrimental to their health and ability to concentrate in class. They closed down Aškerčeva street. There was a festive atmosphere on the blocked road, students sang, played musical instruments, played cards, etc. The more radical among them set off towards the assembly, today's National Assembly Building, where they were stopped by a police corridor. This quelled the fire, but only for a short while. The protests continued with the occupation of the Faculty of Arts from May 26 to June 2 of the same year, following the prosecution of two students – Milan Jesih, who played an important role in the occupation of Aškerčeva street, and Adam Frank, who was arrested for “too much free expression”. In a way, the occupation of the Faculty of Arts was an artistic activist experiment. There were lectures, recitals, a disco with music, poetry, skits, theatre events, performances, an orchestra where students played instruments that they could not play … A kind of left wing criticism of the authorities was formed, which demanded, above all, that Yugoslavia return to its socialist origins, introduce student participation in the management of the university, and release the arrested students. The power and energy were short-lived, however. The occupation ended with the beginning of the university holidays.

Separate from these developments, the students of the Faculty of Architecture also took action, protesting against the felling of trees on Vegova street.

Republic Square is a place where most protests take place in Ljubljana. Before the coronavirus pandemic, it was also the site of Youth for Climate Justice protests which took place every Friday. They were small gatherings, but the intention of the young was to show up, regardless of the weather, time of year, or the current political leadership. In doing so, they pointed to the need for urgent action against the climate crisis and the inaction of political leaders. With the onset of the pandemic, the Friday protests moved online. You can follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

As we stand on this open concrete space, it’s hard to imagine that there was a giant garden here until the 1960s, full of mighty trees. Yes, this was the location of the Nun Garden, or the Ursuline Grove, as they used to call it. Namely, the garden was owned by the Ursuline Monastery, whose church bell can still be seen behind the Maxi building, looking in the direction of Ljubljana Castle. This green garden also included a children’s playground and an Ursuline kindergarten. Today, the only potential resemblance of the garden are the straight parallel lines stretching dully across the square like some kind of cement garden patches. The post war socialist regime decided that the centre of Ljubljana needs monumental bureaucratic architecture right here, with a huge parking lot and a shopping centre. The project was named The Revolution Square. Interesting, right? Because there is usually not much revolutionary spirit in office work, parked cars and supermarkets. Good thing that a 20-tonne Monument to the Revolution was also placed on the square to clear the confusion to some extent. The monument was made by Drago Tršar and was erected in 1975, on the thirtieth anniversary of the victory over fascism. With a bit of historical distance, one could argue that this concrete creation, which was renamed to Republic Square after Slovenia’s independence, is best suited for skating and protesting. The latter, protesting, is the only thing that is somewhat reminiscent of revolution today. Indeed, the square was the site of protests already during the socialist era, most notably in the winter of 1987 with the week long strike of the Litostroj factory workers. But there were many more protests after 1991. Most recently, the 2020 anti government protests, were certainly among the largest, and also had a strong environmental note. Namely, the coalition government of the time, led by the far right Prime Minister Janez Janša, adopted legislation that prevented all important national environmental organizations from participating in the supervision of the unsafe constructions in the natural environment.

The vintage, friends, is over, And here sweet wine makes, once again, Sad eyes and hearts recover Puts fire into every vein. Drowns dull care Everywhere And summons hope out of despair.

Prešeren Square is one of the distinctive features of Ljubljana and Slovenia. It is unusual for a main square of a country to host a monument to an artist instead of a military leader. Zdravljica (“A Toast”), whose 7th stanza is the Slovenian national anthem, is also special, singing praise to peace and grapevine instead of celebrating our glorious past. This plant, which plays an important role in our culture, is already feeling the effects of climate change in Slovenia. Spring frosts of young vine sprouts are becoming more frequent, and due to the general warming of the atmosphere, the growth of vines is expected to be possible even in areas where it is too cold for them today.

Since the 13th century, the location of today’s Central Market was the site of a Franciscan monastery. The Franciscans followed the teachings of Francis of Assisi, a patron saint of nature and all living beings living in it .

The hustle and bustle of Ljubljana's main market, which is unfortunately desolate during the epidemic, makes it clear that the market is not only a place for shopping but also a meeting and socializing spot for the residents of Ljubljana. The Central Market includes an open air market, an indoor market between the two squares, and Plečnik’s Covered Market along the Ljubljanica river. The markets are much more than just shopping places, they are places for connecting communities and making new acquaintances. They are also places where one can often find locally grown food, which is healthier and more organic than those imported from the other end of the world. Besides, it is a way to help local growers not to drown in the flood of capitalist globalization.

Welcome to the green paradise! Yes, this was the site of an excavation where construction work stopped, and today, it hosts a green community garden. And for over ten years now! Congratulations! There are at least ten suspended construction sites in the centre of Ljubljana or nearby, a result of real estate speculations before the financial crash in 2008 and the ensuing economic recession. It covers an area of 1,000 square metres. For several years, the excavation was left desolate, with no workers or machinery after the investor abandoned the project. But, in 2010, a concept of alternative land use was born in collaboration with the local residents. The cultural association Obrat suggested a gradual transformation of the site into a community space reserved for gardening, socializing, education and culture. At least until the owner, the City of Ljubljana, decides what to do with the land. And they did it! Within the framework of the Mladi Levi Festival, they obtained all land use permits and started gardening in 2010. Shortly afterwards, they managed to sign an agreement with the City of Ljubljana on the free use of the space. The contract is now renewed every year. Since it used to be a construction site, the space is now simply called “Beyond a Construction Site”. It is therefore an alternative approach to the use of seemingly useless urban areas. The project promotes a more active role of local residents in planning, organization, and management of urban areas. In practice, this means that children and adults socialize on the site, organize different community events, and – most importantly – grow their own vegetables and fruit. There are about 100 active participants in the project who cultivate about 40 garden patches. They have established a flexible system of rules that regulate the common use and management of space, but are also subject to change according to the needs of the community.

You must have noticed the growing popularity of urban gardening. However, urban gardening is not new in Slovenia or globally. On the contrary, urban gardening has been known since antiquity. In Slovenia, the industrialisation in the first, and especially the second part of the 20th century brought along the cultivation of many urban areas in the vicinity of workers' settlements. Yes, workers found little patches of earth in their new urban settlements and began to cultivate them. It was the beginning of the “gardening” phenomenon. In the past, the gardeners used to occupy their small patches of land illegally, but today this is mostly regulated by city authorities. There is even a TV series (named Gardeners, of course), which includes a hit single by Ana Pupedan with the title – you guessed it – Gardeners.