THE CULTURE OF SETTLEMENT AREAS IN SLOVENIA

To study and grasp the contemporary rural areas in Slovenia, the students of the Faculty of Architecture carried out a public opinion survey on the subject of the culture of settlement areas, with a particular reference to the visual image of the experiential space of the settlements. Today, human needs and living values are an integral part of all documents, as they represent the starting-point of designing new concepts of living. Personal quality of living is explained by Mandič [1999] through the use of Allard's classification of human needs; however, Mercer's Quality of Living ranking is often used to measure the quality of the living environmentThe paper represents the results of the study, which included two target groups: The experts in spatial management and planning employed at municipal administrative offices; and the senior years’ students at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Ljubljana. The study represented here addressed the values of the living environment. The study was triggered by the 'colourfulness' that knows no limits in Slovenia. Putting the everyday indignation over the variety of all possible shades aside, it has become evident that the tiny elements that are also destroying the image of our settlements are all too often neglected: billboards, log cabins complementing garages and decorative elements, stalls during celebrations and fairs, fountains, monuments, mix of exotic plants, the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs etc. The study included a survey to obtain a more objective approach to the studying of the quality from the viewpoints of the changing living culture and the use of communal external space in Slovenian settlements. The key question that resonated in most of other questions was: What would improve the quality of life in the settlement