This study assesses how the growing availability of working from home (WFH) shapes office employees' preferences to move to the suburbs and pinpoints potential factors that drive those intentions. We focus on Poland, where the housing market is shaped by exceptionally high home-ownership rates and specific suburbanisation patterns. We surveyed city-dwelling office employees (living in municipalities of 100,000 or more) to gauge their willingness to relocate. Logistic-regression estimates then linked those intentions to respondents’ demographics, job attributes, commuting patterns, and WFH and on-site work-related factors. The results indicate that preference for remote work, its perceived impact on productivity, and private-sector employment are the strongest predictors of relocation willingness, while older age and high commuting convenience reduce such interest. Overall, the evidence suggests that remote work, especially in hybrid form, could become an additional catalyst for suburban expansion in markets characterised by scarce affordable rentals and a strong preference for home ownership, such as Poland.

Studies on small and medium-sized towns have begun to focus on the role of agency in shaping industrial transformation outcomes. Local agency plays a key role in determining the direction of transformation of industrial towns, yet it is unclear how they shape transformation paths in the context of smallness and multiscalarity. By comparing six industrial towns in Switzerland and Slovenia, we explore how local actors bridge scales, particularly through the lens of institutional work. This study contributes to a nuanced understanding of smallness as both an opportunity and a limitation for local change agents.

Narratives of industrial heritage significantly shape post-industrial urban transformation. Drawing on concepts from spatial planning and economic geography, this study examines how spatial and historical contexts influence perceptions of industrial heritage in Trbovlje, a former mining town in Slovenia. The study explores how actors mobilise these perceptions to legitimise competing narratives and thus navigate urban development trajectories. The findings make a significant contribution to the fields of economic geography and planning theory by offering a novel perspective on industrial heritage, portraying it as a dynamic and contested resource for urban development, which is especially pertinent in smaller post-industrial contexts.

The aim of this article is to better understand the relationship between industrial culture and human agency and how it influences development outcomes. The study is set in the geographical context of three small and old industrial towns, where traditional industrial practices are embedded in the material and institutional environment and people's behaviours that form a distinctive industrial culture. Conceptually, we use a relational perspective to investigate the dialectic between human agency and industrial culture: we examine how industrial culture can guide human agency–through motivation, legitimation, or specific behaviour; and how human agency reshapes industrial culture through its actions–destruction, modification, maintenance of cultural assets. The results show that a strong industrial culture implies a more reproductive type of agency and a pronounced collective behaviour of actors, aiming at a more incremental development that reflects the existing place-based culture. In the case where industrial culture is thinner, new development relied on individual agents completely altering development paths. Our research places particular emphasis on collective assets and collective agency in the context of smaller towns with strong industrial culture and their ability to influence the direction of future development. In addition, we emphasise the simultaneous role of (individual) change and (collective) reproductive/maintenance agency, which can lead to stable development without major disruptions to the institutional or cultural context. Our findings are important for understanding small industrial communities and how the collective aspects of industrial culture require that new development initiatives are aligned with industrial traditions and place-based culture.

Previous studies of the locational patterns of European creative workers typically neglect their lower mobility, focusing on a simplistic "attraction and retention" logic. They largely fail to consider the heterogeneity of places and people, disregarding the basic human functions that connect people to their environment. Our objective is to propose a system of locational values that adds depth to the dynamics between creative people and places. The model developed encompasses 37 indicators, creating a large dataset (N = 4,823) via a postal questionnaire of creative workers in Slovenia. A set of statistical methods was conducted to analyse the differences in locational values, with the urban-rural dichotomy employed as the key test. The results show that the type of place, rather than demographic factors, determines distinct urban and rural sets of locational values. This illustrates the heterogeneity of interactions between creative workers and places that should be considered by future research and policymaking.

Underestimated and not well covered by academic literature, youth outmigration in small and medium-sized industrial towns and regions is a pressing development issue. As a highly selective process, it is often layered by gender and education, which calls for a better understanding and improved policies to be devised. Drawing on a mixed-method research approach, this article analyses two European case studies. It reveals a lack of integrated and cross-sectoral policymaking and advocates for a broader understanding of the reasons for youth leaving even economically successful industrial towns and regions. Additionally, next to economic factors, the significance of social and cultural aspects in such processes is emphasized.

The article examines the transformation of a mining town to an industrial powerhouse by focusing on relations between specific agents and assets in the community. The objectives of this research are 1) to outline how human agency in a mining town mediated key transformation events, 2) to identify skills or specific capabilities of these agents which enacted changes, and 3) to recognize which (mining-related) assets were used or altered in the process. We take a closer look at Idrija, a former mercury mining town in Slovenia that has been transformed into a successful industrial town, also home to two multinational firms. The study is based on desk-based research, 12 semi-structured interviews with key agents and thematic interview analysis. We discover that the transformation of Idrija has been a gradual process, spanning four decades and consisting of several critical junctures where different types of human agency were required to make changes to existing mining assets. Interpersonal and institutional trust, loyalty, paternalism of incumbent firms, strategic thinking of agents, external market orientation and smallness are some of the soft assets that have proven time and again to be crucial for human agency at critical junctures. These soft assets, especially in institutionally thick post-mining areas, could become a tool for designing visions for the future, matching the expectations and capabilities of mining communities.

Industrial towns are often framed as marginalized and less innovative compared with service-oriented urban agglomerations. Their specific trajectories create both opportunities and constraints for new concepts, such as social innovation. However, little is known about their innovative capacity in relation to societal and cultural norms and social capital. The objective of this article is therefore to analyse the capacity of an industrial town to generate social innovation on the case study of Velenje, Slovenia. By employing a concept of industrial culture and an interactive process of research and action with the local community, we try to link territorially embedded norms, values and social capital to producing past, present-day and possible future social innovations. Velenje can be described as 'innovative milieu' since many social innovations, strongly territorially and historically embedded, were developed in the town. The main drivers of these innovations seem to be socialist and industrial values, which largely persist in the modern era, also due to very engaged youth. The town's capacity to produce social innovation is further enhanced by a culture of collaboration. The article challenges contemporary notions of non-innovative (post-socialist) industrial towns and highlights the capability of industrial culture to unlock the local innovation potential.

Definition of transport poverty in SloveniaTransport poverty is a relatively unstated and poorly articulated concept.It has come to the fore in the current energy and climate crisis and is included in Social Climate Fund, which aims to achieve a socially just climate transition.This paper summarises the first findings of the project Mobility Poverty in the Republic of Slovenia.We found that transport poverty is a contextual, contextually complex and multifaceted phenomenon that takes many forms and has a spatial dimension.We have developed a definition of transport poverty, adapted to the Slovenian context, as well as a methodology and a set of indicators.Two of these indicators, accessibility to public transport and transport expenditure in relation to disposable income, are also presented in more detail, highlighting regional differences in access to adequate transport.

The European Union's Green Deal aims to make Europe climate neutral by 2050, boost the economy with green technology, create sustainable industry and mobility, and reduce pollution. Alongside environmental and economic goals, it also emphasises social justice and inclusion for all. The Green Transition is particularly important at regional level, as it is strongly linked to regional resources and its success depends on the potential and capacity of regions to transform themselves into green, sustainable and socially just environments with thriving economies. This monograph ('Green Transition at the Regional Level') is a contribution to this. The authors address the spatial aspects of the energy transition and the issue of local energy concepts, assessing the role of revitalising functionally degraded areas for the green transition and undeveloped building land in the light of sustainable mobility. In the area of mobility, the focus is on mobility poverty and the role of cycling for the green transition, two chapters deal with agricultural adaptation and area branding as an approach to rural development, and the last chapter presents the experience of strategic development and innovation partnerships, using the circular economy as an example.

This article examines the contemporary industrial semiotic landscape in the town of Velenje, Slovenia, to determine the (positive or negative) collective imaginaries and discourses about industry in the local community. To this end, the semiotic landscape is mapped for signs and symbols of past and present industry, 33 randomly selected short interviews are conducted to understand the residents’ attitudes towards industrial symbols and industrial development in general, and a content analysis of official strategic documents is conducted to determine how industry is represented by officials and whether there are efforts to reimage the town. We found that the industrial past and present are well represented by industrial symbols and are a matter of pride and collective identity for the residents. However, the industrial tradition is hardly represented in official documents: Influenced by the prevailing post-industrial discourses, local authorities have begun to construct new territorial identities in order to increase the town’s attractiveness and economic growth. Currently, both ideas seem to coexist in Velenje. We argue that industrial symbols can become a reference point to create an alternative perception of a modern consumer society based on past industrial values, such as collective well-being, solidarity, and equality.

The prevailing image of small and medium-sized industrial towns (SMSTs) is inextricably negative. In the media, in politics and in research, they are often described with adjectives such as "depressed". Yet they represent a significant part of national urban systems in terms of population size and economic output. The aim of this chapter is to highlight possible new and exciting avenues of research that would add to the body of knowledge on the development of industrial SMSTs. The premise is that we should know more about their limitations on the one hand and their development opportunities on the other. The first section of the chapter examines the problems of identification and proposes two approaches to the selection and study of industrial SMSTs: systemic-quantitative and interpretative-qualitative. The second section looks at socio-economic performance and transformations and critiques the prevailing academic account of their unfavourable performance. The third section discusses deindustrialisation and shrinkage and suggests exploring emerging concepts such as the foundational economy and inclusive growth. The fourth part is devoted to single-company towns and their surprising resilience, and sets the future research agenda to uncover their inherent qualities. The fifth part addresses the underestimated socio-cultural aspects of small industrial towns such as industrial heritage and culture, social innovation and industrial values. The conclusion presents the future research agenda for the development of industrial SMSTs based on three thematic areas.

This study explores the role of stakeholders in creating and managing food tourism experiences. The main aim was to discover who participates in this process, why, and how. The research is based on interviews and participatory observation of twenty-two case studies mainly located in rural areas in eight Mediterranean countries. The paper focuses on two types of food experience: food events and food services with additional subtypes. The results reveal three models of stakeholder collaboration: one typical for events, one typical for services, and one emphasizing more direct interaction between visitors and local communities. The findings show diversity in the connections among stakeholders, who have different motives and roles in food experiences.

In geography, industrial culture is a surprisingly understudied concept. Even when it is considered to play a role in the transformation processes of industrial cities or regions, it is not only terminologically diverse, but also lacks a firm theoretical and conceptual basis. This study conceptualises industrial culture and relates it to ongoing debates in various fields of geography by examining a range of literature from geography and related disciplines. This review structures the existing knowledge into four theoretical approaches: social class (Bourdieusian view), anthropological, institutional and evolutionary. Industrial culture is defined as a dynamic phenomenon in which past and present industrial production is embedded in the human physical environment, social structures, cognitive abilities, and institutions that may influence the future development choices of (post)industrial communities. This concept brings a more nuanced view of the less tangible aspects of culture to economic geography to strengthen its theoretical and empirical basis. This study explores how this concept can be integrated into current geographical research, focussing on the interaction between industrial culture and regional development through different approaches in economic geography (e.g., studies of regional assets, evolution of development paths, agency, deindustri-alisation, innovation, entrepreneurship).

We analyzed planning mechanisms and evaluated their performance in achieving legitimacy in infrastructure planning in Slovenia. Planning mechanisms were divided according to the concept of input, throughput and output legitimacy. We conducted a document analysis and interviews to assess their effectiveness in achieving legitimate decisions. Although the analyzed decision-making process declaratively promoted democratic principles, the mechanisms failed to satisfactorily enhance the legitimacy of decisions. The study revealed inadequate communication approaches, both in the decision-makers' relationship with the public and within the expert discourse. Accordingly, the study argues for more genuine communication with the public and within academia to address legitimacy challenges in increasingly conflictual decision-making processes.

In the last two decades, the creative city agenda has evolved into a predominantly neoliberal policy instrument, which seems to hide rather than reduce urban inequalities characterised by gentrification, unaffordability, precariousness, and segregation. Scholars have only recently started to search for alternatives for understanding and developing the creative city of today by highlighting the usefulness of older concepts of urban development. However, nobody has yet focused on the modernist city of public well-being as a historical city from the industrial age, where culture serves as the articulation of shared values in everyday life. The main objective of this paper is to elevate the discussion on the creative city and its socially regressive urban policies by promoting the forgotten values of the industrial city not only as its predecessor but also as its contemporary offering development alternatives. We conducted 23 semistructured interviews with key stakeholders in the industrial town of Velenje, Slovenia, which rapidly grew as a socialist town after WWII in Yugoslavia. Our results suggest that collective knowledge, memories, emotions, and reflections maintain the inseparable values of industrialism and socialism on which the town was founded. Industrial development has shaped a specific cultural environment, a concentration of tacit knowledge, attitudes, values, and traditions related to solidarity, mutual respect, multiculturalism, comradery, equality, and diligence. These values are in line with socialist nostalgia as a retrospective utopia, desire and hope for a safe world, solidarity, and prosperity. We conclude that creative cities could learn from their industrial counterparts by establishing a more inclusive urban governance and promoting social innovation. However, the industrial city is also endangered by endogenous lock-in effects that can be overcome with the ideas of the creative city, which implies a mutual learning between both urban concepts.

According to the economic indicators, Velenje has a successful, export-oriented economy with high added value per employee. But like all industrial cities in Europe, Velenje is very vulnerable. This book ('Velenje, an industrial city in transformation') seeks to shed light on the aspects of Velenje's transformation in the past, present and future. The purpose of the book is to provide an overview of Velenje's developmental factors. Emphasis is placed on social, cultural, spatial, environmental, economic and other aspects of the city, as well as a critical evaluation of future development resources and their actions. The second emphasis is on the originality and specificity of certain activities and phenomena that contribute to greater creativity and resilience of Velenje. We present 16 diverse contributions to the book that critically evaluate the current and future developmental resources of Velenje and its surroundings. Articles are written by locals and experts working on the BRIGHT FUTURE project dealing with small industrial towns across Europe. Two main messages emerge from all the contributions: the importance of using our own (endogenous) development resources and a participatory way of making decisions in the future.

The socioeconomic performance of industrial small and medium-sized towns (SMSTs) in comparison to that of non-industrial SMSTs, is subject to evaluation in this paper, to see if the presence of industry has adverse effects on socioeconomic factors. We studied 32 variables accounting for dimensions of socioeconomic performance in Slovenian SMSTs and conducted various statistical tests. We found only minor differences between the two groups, pertaining mainly to some elements of economic structure and demography, and some mixed relations of industrial employment and socioeconomic performance. The results demonstrate that industrial SMSTs should not be labelled automatically as ‘disadvantaged’. We discuss why our results differ from general research expectations in the literature: in the local context, we outline the “egalitarian syndrome” and policies of polycentric spatial development; in the global context, we discuss the “failed tertiarisation effect” and the differences between post-socialist and “Western” countries. We conclude by proposing that research should be re-oriented towards the more place-sensitive issues of industrial towns across Europe.