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Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia, the small state (2 million inhabitants) between Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia. It is an important national economic and cultural, as well as science and educational centre. It has a great concentration of cultural institutions, scientific and research institutes. It's University has 20 faculties and 3 academies of arts with more than 45.000 students, who bring a special atmosphere into the city. On achieving independence after the collapse of the former Yugoslav Federation in 1991, Ljubljana acquired a new political and economic role. This situation has presented the city with new challenges, especially regarding an international integration and determining its role among the major European cities and the formulation of an appropriate strategy for future city development. The city has an important traffic position on one of the major routes from central Europe and the Danube Area towards Italy and the northern Adriatic ports which has been a transit route since prehistoric times. For this reason history of urban development is very rich. The city itself is very recognisable due to its medieval castle on the top of the hill and the old part of the city with lots of very attractive ambiences. The two rivers, Ljubljanica and Sava, different streams, various landscapes and the closeness of the hinterland create large potentials for an effective "green system". As a capital city, Ljubljana offers a rich variety of happenings and activities, on the other side; its smallness enables inhabitants to move around the city on foot and accordingly various uses of open spaces. Surrounded by a greenbelt, with green fingers coming right to the city centre and with numerous smaller green areas in the city centre, Ljubljana looks as a very green city. That makes possibilities for the high quality of life. But on the other hand there are no large "created" green areas on the basis of elaborated plans; the green spaces are rather consequences of the natural (especially topographic) condition and efforts of certain individuals. This reflects in today's appearance of the city: some parts and residential areas are really green while elsewhere the greenery is very rare. Therefore the structure and quality of green spaces are more problematic than its quantity.
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