Projects / Programmes
Sociological aspects of sustainable sociospatial and manpower development of Slovenia in Europe
January 1, 2020
- December 31, 2027
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 5.03.00 |
Social sciences |
Sociology |
|
| 5.01.00 |
Social sciences |
Educational studies |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S210 |
Social sciences |
Sociology |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 5.04 |
Social Sciences |
Sociology |
| 5.03 |
Social Sciences |
Educational sciences |
Socio-Spatial Fluidity; Sustainable Structuration; Sustainable Spatio-Environmental Development; Sustainable Urbanism; Migrations; Human Resources Development
Data for the last 5 years (citations for the last 10 years) on
April 24, 2024;
A3 for period
2018-2022
| Database |
Linked records |
Citations |
Pure citations |
Average pure citations |
| WoS |
56 |
286 |
245 |
4.38 |
| Scopus |
79 |
469 |
413 |
5.23 |
Researchers (10)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
In the next period, the research programme will focus on analysing multi-level and integral sustainability, which includes the development of settlements, mobility, transport policy, migration, tourism, management of natural resources and human resource development. The research activities will be based on a unique tradition of researching spatio-environmental phenomena and human resource development that will yield an excellent combination of experience and knowledge for future research activities. We can divide the main research fields into five parts:
(1) Conceptually connecting the environmental and spatial concepts of socio-spatial development with the design of practical applications for strategic planning on various levels of territorial organisation (local, regional, national and supranational). We will draw on sociology’s capability as an inclusive, connective, and analytical scientific discipline to enable different science languages to be ‘translated’ for the purpose of making progress in the cross-disciplinarity of sustainability research.
(2) One research field will focus on researching the multi-directionality of communication between the subsystems while ensuring the tensions between the producers, planners, authority structures, and actual users of the space remain at a minimum. We will research the functional limits of including actors in spatial planning for it to still productively improve the quality of spatial interventions.
(3) Regarding sustainable urbanism, the goals are mostly connected to formulating a strategy for the first socio-spatial transformation of a sustainable neighbourhood in the CEE region, a region in which no larger sustainable settlements have so far been established. The result will be a tangible sustainable urbanistic strategy that includes innovative social perspectives on sustainable urbanism so as to improve the local inhabitants’ quality of life. (4) The goals of researching the ‘migrations–environment–digital’ junction call for an interconnected analysis of the local and global factors influencing the processes of diversified mobility. We will research the complexity of influences on migration movements (immigration and emigration) in Slovenia in light of EU policies on migrations and asylum that provide the crucial frameworks for integration practices on the local, national and European levels.
(5) The goals of human resource development are connected to the area of employability and graduates’ transition to the labour market. We are interested in the developmental dialectic between the concepts of employability and employment, and will thus follow the developmental context of the creation of ‘national modules for following graduate employability’ at home and abroad. In the area of the professionalisation of academic professions, we will research the challenges they face with regard to their institution, the wider institutional environment, and the professional networks.
Significance for science
The research programme group »Sociological aspects of sustainable sociospatial and manpower development of Slovenia in Europe« considerably contributes to the development of science in several thematic areas, on theoretical as well as on more concrete "practical" level. In both the Slovenian and international contexts, the programme group’s work is vital for the integration of fundamental sociological areas like sociologies of environment, space, work, and education to form a distinctly cross-disciplinary field of physical space and environment that spans the reaches of geography, ecology, economics and politics. Since the group members are often included in interdisciplinary teams and consortiums, they are capable of internalising natural science and technical logics of thinking. We are speaking of ‘sociologisation’, of the incorporation of natural science, technological and technical concepts of sustainable socio-spatial development (‘conceptual dialogue’), as well as of the ‘translation’ of abstract concepts into the research of specific sustainability problems (water, waste, nuclear energy, transport/circulation, etc.). It must be underlined that social processes including work and education are not well understood in theory or in practice. This brings to life socio-technical combinations that overcome the established division into two fields: the social sciences/humanities and the natural/technical sciences. In this context, we will continue the tradition of analysing the reflexivity of socio-technical combinations connected to sustainable development. In the field of human resource development, the described interdisciplinarity is connected to chosen aspects of human resource development via concepts of employability, case studies of the professionalisation of occupational groups that gravitate to sustainable development, and the development of academic professions. In the field of sustainable urbanism, the most relevant impact by way of advancing science will be the comprehensive model of sustainable urban development that will represent a tangible urbanistic tool for sustainable town planners in the wider region. As such, it will indirectly accelerate the formation of new ‘green cities’ in the EU. The resulting comprehensive (cross-disciplinary) innovative method of integrating the excellence (comparative advantages) of Northern European sustainable neighbourhoods into Slovenian (and, later on, CEE/Mediterranean) sustainable neighbourhoods will open a new perspective on development processes of sustainable urbanism. European sustainable urbanism will be enriched by a new excellent reference from the field of sustainable urban modelling. In the field of migration processes, the programme contributes to science especially with its continuous analysis of local migration trends and specific target group studies. Combined with theoretical reflections, these offer a set of data representing the basis for forming public policies on various levels (EU, local, national).
The programme is harmonised with international research flows. It considers the plurality of approaches to sustainable development and human resource development, and problematises the fact that the reflection on development problems is less and less convincing among the scientific and laic public. It strives for continuous development in connecting theoretical research with useful aspects of ‘research matter’. In this way, it contributes to cross-disciplinary research, especially to understanding the science of space/environment in Slovenia. Too often, we namely notice that foreign concepts of solving socio-spatial problems are adopted by or transferred to Slovenia non-selectively, without any critical distance in terms of culture or values. The key emphasis and relevance of the research for advancing the science/profession is therefore directed to acquiring the necessary data for elaborating different, new concepts of urban development that would be systemi
Significance for the country
In the majority of development strategies, sustainable development remains a top development priority that directly and indirectly shapes a considerable share of social (cultural), environmental, spatial and economic measures. The programme’s primary goal is to contribute to better individual and institutional reflections on sustainable development which, on one hand, is connected to the motivation of civil society and, on the other, to the activities of various human resource management subsystems (education, training, employment). Consequently, this will increase the legitimacy of political decision-makers’ actions. As concerns sustainable socio-spatial development, the programme will potentially influence new methods of raising awareness of sustainability in local environments and about changing values connected to ways of sustainable living in agglomerations.
The data acquired during the programme could be used to develop urban policies connected to the possibility of implementing specific socio-economic measures. These would then help with the prevention of potential risks and the conflicts between social groups and public actors that are becoming more frequent. Often equated with local and civil initiatives, such conflicts point to acute problems with a lack of established adequate communication channels on the level of society–culture–sustainable development values. We assume the programme results will add to the development of sustainable urbanism in the wider region. Following the role model of Northern European good practices, the divulgation of concrete, feasible sustainable spatial solutions will lead to ‘green’ socio-cultural activities, e.g. pedestrians’ associations, car-sharing associations, community-owned solar cooperatives, environmental initiatives (“clean up the neighbourhood”), curricular and extracurricular activities focused on raising environmental awareness, community spaces for local inhabitants, etc.
The research of the migration–environment–digitality intersection also brings multiple influences on the development of social and cultural activities: a) it provides an analytical tool for NGOs active in protecting human rights and defending migrants, as well as NGOs active in environmental protection; b) the research results are in line with an active social integration approach and as such provide support to both governmental offices and migrant communities in forming a proactive integration policy; and c) using a bottom-up approach, it takes the direction of solidarity practices in local communities (via informal/activist networks in certain urban spaces and centres in which asylum-seekers and vulnerable migrant groups are accommodated). In the area of human resource development, the programme will contribute to the establishment of concepts needed for understanding the development of educational programmes and graduates’ transition from education to the labour market.
