Importance of Social Networks in Revitalising Former Industrial Urban Areas – Renewal of the Former Tobacco Factory in Ljubljana

Abstract

Analysis of social networks in areas undergoing intense urban transformations are becoming an ever more important topic in spatial planning. The growing attenti- on given to social networks is due to the rise of problems and conflicts stemming from disregard of the ‘soft’, i.e. social, components in the local environment. The problem of stakeholders’ participation and empowerment in spatial planning is, in fact, one of ignoring or not recognising the importance of the social networks that exist between actors in space. The article analyses the roles and meanings of social networks with respect to the development of certain types of socio-economic activities in former industrial areas. Using data collected from semi-structured in- terviews in the area of former Tobacco Factory in Ljubljana, it analyses the types, intensity and expansion of social networks.

Keywords

• social networks
• revitalisation
• former industrial areas
• social spatial nodes
• tobacco factory ljubljana