II. MOBILITY
3.3 Internal migration at municipal level – the case of the Municipality of Ljubljana (MOL)
of daily commuting includes Grosuplje, Vrhnika, Polhov Gradec, Medvode, Brezovica, Škofljica, Litija, Ivančna Gorica, Domžale, Kamnik, Logatec, Cerknica, Škofja Loka, as well as Šenčur, Radovljica, Tržič and Bled; near Celje:
Žalec, Šentjur and Slovenske Konjice; near Maribor:
Slovenska Bistrica and Hoče-Slivnica, etc.
The main hypothesis is that in modern socio-economic conditions, the creative labour force does not migrate in order to find a job (people follow jobs) but moves where the residential conditions are creativity-friendly (jobs follow people). Florida (2004) thus agrees with the promoters of the new development theory pointing to a decisive role of those cities and urban agglomerates that have a decisive role in the competitiveness of national economies. A particular emphasis is placed on interrelation and human contacts where tolerance is high (and also for ethnic diversity). Such background levers encourage new combinations of creative skills and innovations, and the creation of new companies and new creative jobs.
3.3 Internal migration at municipal
these migration flows were ten times stronger than at the regional level. In this case, however, inter-regional migration flows can not be assessed since only 3 out of the 25 municipalities lie outside the Osrednjeslovenska region. If the local government reform of 1995 and the consequent fragmentation of municipalities were not taken into account, Ljubljana’s negative net migration would be lower by 5,000 i.e. by the number of people who moved to the new municipalities established on the territory of what were once 5 Ljubljana municipalities (10 out of 25). Thus, these are very strong yet territorially limited internal migrations.
Since its establishment as an urban municipality in 1995, Ljubljana has lost over 20,000 inhabitants owing to emigration to neighbouring suburban municipalities.
The standstill recorded in major Slovenian cities indicates that this is not an exception. Yet, because inter-regional migration is weak, most migration seems to Ljubljana was a classic area of immigration from the
Second World War to the early 1980s, when the period of construction of great neighbourhoods came to an end.
This urban municipality therefore seems the perfect case for our analysis. The life expectancy of the population has significantly increased to date, and the large housing stock built in Ljubljana in the 1960s and 1970s can not be transferred to the new generation as the units are too small to accommodate two households and the “parents are too young” to leave the home to the young. Thus, given elevated housing prices, the young educated population is moving out of Ljubljana, and these migration flows are very strong. For example, Ljubljana’s negative net migration with Domžale in the period 1995–2005 was over 2,000. Table 61 indicates inter-municipal migration balance between Ljubljana and 25 municipalities where negative net migration is the highest. In only seven years (1999–2005), Ljubljana’s negative net migration amounted to almost 12,000, meaning that
Table 62: Net migration between Ljubljana and other municipalities in the periods 1995–1998 and 1999–2005 Period 1995–1998 (147 municipalities in Slovenia) Period 1999–2005 (193 municipalities in Slovenia)
25 municipalities Net Yearly 25 municipalities Net Yearly
Domžale –703 –176 Domžale –1.299 –186
Škofljica –561 –140 Grosuplje –1.149 –164
Grosuplje –530 –133 Škofljica –1.146 –164
Vrhnika –509 –127 Vrhnika –860 –123
Brezovica –440 –110 Brezovica –723 –103
Ivančna Gorica –412 –103 Medvode –632 –90
Medvode –408 –102 Ivančna Gorica –622 –89
Logatec –358 –90 Ig –590 –84
Litija –337 –84 Kamnik –588 –84
Kamnik –320 –80 Logatec –484 –69
Ig –241 –60 Dol pri Ljubljani –455 –65
Škofja Loka –234 –59 Litija –432 –62
Dol pri Ljubljani –186 –47 Dobrova - Polhov Gradec –427 –61
Velike Lašče –183 –46 Trzin –398 –57
Kranj –178 –45 Trebnje –306 –44
Dobrova - Horjul - Polhov Gradec –177 –44 Velike Lašče –300 –43
Trebnje –148 –37 Mengeš –268 –38
Mengeš –97 –24 Vodice –216 –31
Postojna –91 –23 Cerknica –196 –28
Trbovlje –89 –22 Dobrepolje –158 –23
Cerknica –84 –21 Borovnica –142 –20
Vodice –83 –21 Lukovica –142 –20
Ribnica –74 –19 Piran –128 –18
Moravče –63 –16 Moravče –124 –18
Lukovica –59 –15 Komenda –90 –13
TOTAL –6,565 –66 TOTAL –11,875 –68
Source: SORS; calculations by Dolenc, Jakoš.
be directed towards nearby suburban municipalities.
This phenomenon is negative in terms of the utilisation of space at the national level as the population moves from areas of high concentration to areas of dispersed individual buildings. The city is also losing its functions.
Given the geographical position of the largest cities (Ljubljana, Maribor, Celje, etc.) on flat (basin) land, migration from areas of high concentration also means loss of some of the best agricultural land, as well as increased commuting since jobs stay in the cities.
The situation in internal migrations has changed considerably in Slovenia. People no longer move to the cities to follow jobs, but rather stay at home and commute on a daily basis. Housing has practically replaced employment as a motive for migration. While in past periods, people moved to follow jobs, they now move to follow housing. The population is in fact moving out of large cities and the opposite course of migration is seen. This expands the volume of commuting and increases housing problems shown in both emigration and immigration areas.
4 Daily mobility
Daily mobility is a form of spatial (horizontal) mobility that distinguishes itself from migration by the fact that it refers to regular travel (every day or several times a week) from the place of residence to another place, with the place of permanent residence remaining unchanged. Most often, it relates to daily commuting to work or school and back home. In addition to daily mobility, there are other forms of mobility such as temporary mobility, seasonal mobility or mobility based on tourist, recreational or other motives.
The beginnings of daily mobility date back to early industrialisation, when jobs were no longer linked to the place of residence (as is typical for farming activities), but to the place where industrial activities were pursued. The birth of large employment centres and the overpopulation of the countryside on the one hand and the development of the transportation infrastructure on the other resulted in daily streams of workers from their place of residence to their place of work. The first widely used means of transporting commuters was the train, followed by buses and later by the automobile. The latter fundamentally changed the patterns of daily mobility:
automobiles became generally accessible and the distances commuters travelled greatly increased. Study of the flows of daily commuters is important as it covers several important geographical fields: the labour market, regional development or regional flows, the hierarchy of central settlements, the distribution of the working population, economic characteristics, the educational structure, and last but not least, it is important from the point of view of traffic arteries and balanced regional development.
The characteristics of regular daily mobility are thus a reflection of economic, spatial, and cultural conditions in the society. The patterns of daily mobility are closely related to the overall social development and can be interpreted from this point of view. The employment structure of the population indicates that Slovenia entered the post-industrial socio-economic stage two decades ago, and in some regions and cities even earlier.
The above socio-economic conditions also influence the daily mobility of the population. Overcoming distance in space has become more frequent, as the contemporary, “individual” lifestyle calls for greater daily mobility than in the past. In addition to the need for travel, the spatial structure has also changed, which leads to ever-increasing separation of activities in space, thus enhancing the need for travel. This was explained by the German town planner T. Sieverts (2003) with his scheme of daily activities. In industrial cities, the majority of all activities (labour, education, care, recreation, etc.) are carried out in the city centre, while in modern cities these activities are spatially more dispersed. Shopping centres are built in the suburbs, business and industrial
In foreign literature, the expression daily mobility is unambiguous and clearly differs from related and similar expressions. For specific historical reasons, Slovenian geographical science equates this phenomenon with a number of expressions, the majority of which touch on the phenomenon of migration. Articles mentioning the spatial mobility of the population thus include various studies of population movement, i.e. migration. In this chapter, the term mobility is used in connection with overcoming distances in space by an individual or a group whose permanent residence does not change. Migration, on the other hand, denotes the change of residence of individuals or groups of people (Bole 2004). Taking these concepts into consideration, the terms “daily migrant” and “daily migration” are less suitable, in spite of the fact that forms of work today are very diverse. Therefore, English geographers use the term commuter, while Germans use pendler to name a person travelling to work or school on a daily basis.
According to statistical definitions, a commuter is a person travelling to work or school every day, while the place of residence and the place of work/schooling differ (Population census, 2002). A commuter is not a person who resides and works/studies in the same place, but one who needs to cross the border of his/her settlement to comply with the statistical definition of daily commuter. There is also some confusion as to the definition of “every day” travel. Given the instructions used for the census, a daily commuter is a person who travels to work/school regularly, at least two times a week or more.
zones appear in rural suburban areas, satellite towns strengthen their residential role, while administrative services stay in city centres. Such separation of activities, also known as “decentralisation and de-concentration of living and working functions” requires a high level of mobility and creates greater needs for travel than in the past (Ravbar 2002).