in the Casabella magazine (Casabella, 1963/280) an example of Mihevc's macro and micro urban design of the Slovene coast is described and given as an example to Italian planners.
Jasna Kralj Pavlovec, M.Sc. architecture, Ljubljana
A short biography of Edo Mihevc (1911-1985)
-	July 8, 1911 born in Trieste
-	1931 graduated from the Ljubljana grammar school
-	1931/32 Architecture department at the Technical Faculty of the Ljubljana University
-	August 1, 1936, graduated under the mentorship of Prof. Jože Plečnik
-	1937-1940 - employed at project and construction companies in Ljubljana
-	1940 - passed a professional examination as an authorized engineer
-	1941-1943 commander of the Gubec brigade, commander of a military school of the intelligence officers, head of the headquarters of operational units and member of the supreme staff of the National Liberation Army and POS
-	1943 economy commissioner of the FPRY (Federative People's Republic of Yugoslavia) in Trieste and the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region in Italy
-	1945 (June 16) head of the cabinet at the Ministry of Industry and Mining of the PRS (People's Republic of Slovenia)
-	1946 (November 11) associate professor for residential and industrial buildings at the department of Architecture of the Technical Faculty of the Ljubljana University
-	1949 the first award of the FPRY government, the Ministry of Education and Culture, for the implementation of the Litostroj industrial buildings (co-author Miroslav Gregorčič)
-	1950 the award of the Ministry of Construction of the PRS for the Belinka chemical factory development plan
-	1958-1981 professor, lecturing on residential buildings, industrial buildings, interior equipment; he also led the composition seminar
-	1965 the award of the City of Ljubljana for outstanding achievements in architecture
-	1969 the Prešeren award for Architectural urban solution of the Lucija complex
-	1981 retired, moved to Portorož
-	1985 awarded the title of Deserving professor for educational work by the Faculty of Architecture, Construction Science and Geodesy of the Ljubljana University
-	1985 (June 4) died in Portorož
Archive material
-	Edo Mihevc archive at the Faculty of Architecture, Zoisova 12, Trubarjeva 14, Ljubljana
-	Nuša Mihevc archive, Med vrtovi 3, Portorož
-	Marko Mihevc archive, Groharjeva 18, Ljubljana
-	The Architecture Museum archive, Ljubljana
Illustrations
Figure 1: The Slovenian coast regional plan, 1963, 1:10000 (source: E. M. archive)
Figure 2: The Slovenian coast and Northwestern Istria regional plan, 1965, 1:25000, (source: E. M. archive) Figure 3: The Koper urban plan, 1961, 1:2000, (source: E/W. archive)
Figure 4: The Simonov zaliv town plan, 1968, 1 : 500 (source: E. M. archive)
Figure 5: The Izola town plan, 1971, 1 :2000 (source: E. M. archive)
Figure 6: The Piran - Bernardin - Portorož town plan, 1973, 1 : 1000 (source: E. M. archive) Figure 7; The Piran - Bernardin - Portorož town plan; a sequence section of Piran, 1973, 1 : 1000 (source: E. M. archive)
Figure 8: The Bernardin town plan, 1968, 1 : 500 (source: E. M. archive)
Figure 9: The Portorož town plan, 1965, 1 : 1000 (source: E. M. archive)
Figure 10: The town plan of the Portorož marina water complex in Lucija, 1970, 1 : 1000 (source: E. M. archive)
Jože KOS
Cycling across borders^
1. Introduction
The role of cycling in most European countries as a mode of transportation has been increasing in the last years, especially in urban areas. Usually it is divided into utilitarian (to and from work) and leisure (recreational) cycling. The first is described mainly as cycling to work, schools, shops, sports grounds etc., over short distances, lasting for several minutes or even an hour. The time used for recreational cycling, done as physical or mental leisure, is much more flexible and can last even for a few weeks on cycling trips (holidays).
As is the case with other modes of transportation, cycling also has its fans and opponents. The central international organisation promoting cycling, as an everyday transportation mode, is the ECF - European Cyclists' Federation. One of the constants in its operation is the organisation of Velo-City conferences. These conferences are the most important cycling meeting for planning and development, that has since 1989 almost every two years regularly attracted a globally representative assembly of all individuals interested in any possible theme involving bicycles as a transportation vehicle. They are a diverse group of interested cycling activists, traffic and urban planners, spatial planners, engineers, politicians, academics, economic enterprises involved with cycling, individuals pronnoting a healthy way of life etc. The main purpose of the Velo-city conferences is to speak out about newest achievements in various areas connected to cycling. The organiser of a particular conference is a town selected by the ECF, an honour not simply granted, but won in competition with other candidate towns.
The eighth Velo-city conference was held in 1995 in Basel, Switzerland, the ninth, in 1996 in Freemantle, Australia and the tenth in 1997 in Barcelona. It was attended by a record 512 delegates from 42 countries and five continents. The eleventh Velo-City conference was held in two towns, for the first time in its history, in Austrian Graz and Slovenian
Maribor, between 13. and 17. April 1999. It was attended by 412 delegates from 37 countries and six continents. Besides the towns of Graz and Maribor, the ECF, the 11'^ conference was co-organised by the provincial government of Steiermark, the Maribor cycling network (MKM), Argus (Austrian Steiermark and Vienna) two traffic university institutes (Vienna and Graz), the Civil engineering faculty in Maribor and nine other, mainly governmental organisations from Austria and to a lesser extent from Slovenia.
2. The Passage to the Conference in Graz and Maribor and Pre-conference Activities
In 1996 ECF delegates at the annual general meeting in Budapest had to decide between three candidates wishing to organise the 1999 annual meeting - Antwerpen in Belgium, Trondheim in NonA^ay and the pair, Graz-Maribor -selecting the latter as the most attractive. There decision was undoubtedly driven by the basic idea behind the joint candidacy, which was „the bicycle crossing frontiers". Velo-City '99 (VC'99) was dedicated to surpassing various boundaries and limitations: narrow-minded, isolated approach to cycling, barriers between „traditional" traffic planers and specialists for cycling as a traffic mode, one-sided „mono-centric" systems of the majority of towns and other settlements in central and eastern Europe and of course, the border between Austria and Slovenia, until recently belonging to two different, somewhat even antagonistic groups of European countries.
The author of the basic idea for the organisational and contextual concept of the Graz-Maribor VC'99 was prof. dr. Gerd Sammer, a traffic expert from the Graz university, who was well aware of where and how Austria can benefit from the planned expansion of the European Union and inter-regional co-operation between countries on both sides of communities border. He gained the partnership of his colleague dr. Danijel Rebolj from the Faculty of civil engineering in Maribor and under their joint leadership, preparation of the conference began.
One of the more important goals of the VC'99 conference was to stimulate cycling and its further development, mainly in the host countries of the conference. Thus in the time before the conference (unfortunately very few) improvements to the cycling infrastructure were carried out in Graz and Maribor, marking of the cycling connection between the two towns, an international expert cycling traffic workshop in Maribor, preparation of the Graz-Maribor resolution on cycling traffic policy, assured constant free transport of bicycles on certain trains of the Slovenian Railways for members of the ECF, animation of various organisations in Slovenia to carry out projects, that could be shown to VC'99 participants and a few others.
2.1 The Graz-Maribor Resolution on cycling traffic policy 2
To conclude the conference, the delegates adopted the resolution, to which another title was added; „Cycling for a more sustainable World!" The initiative to prepare the resolution came from the university in Kaiserslautern (Germany).
Prof. Topp and his associates carried out a survey before the conference and gathered data from relevant experts from 23 countries. They also prepared the draft of the resolution. At a workshop at the VC"99 conference it was given its final contents. It is worth a glance, also because of the number of people involved in its preparation and its clarity.
The resolution begins with a list of benefits, that cycling brings to individuals, families, communities and the whole society (less emissions, energy consumption, noise, from the point of health care, it is functionally and economically accessible to a very wide spectre of people - here one could mention, that in 1994 for example, 42 % of households in The Netherlands and Denmark, didn't own a car, while in Portugal and Greece it was 45 % 3, investment into cycling infrastructure is highly efficient; cycling supports neighbourhoods and compact urban structures with mixed use and adds to the quality of urbanity and social interactions; in conjunction with public transport a cyclist can cover greater distances etc.). The resolution established, that cycling is often confronted with physical and psychological barriers, consequentially leading to differences in bicycle use between European countries and cities (a few years ago the share of cycling trips among all trips was 27 % In the Netherlands, 0,7 % in Spain, 31 % in the town of Ferrara and 1 % in London). Barriers of the psychological variety are low social status of cycling, image (probably) of poor bicycle users, various cultural constraints, while the number of physical barriers is immense. The resolution warns, that surpassing these barriers demands constant efforts and co-operation between cycling organisations, planners and politicians. Cycling organisations on the national, regional and local level should use their knowledge and experience and structure cycling programmes, while at the same time including different sectors (for regional and urban development, creating public opinion, education and training, traffic regulation, finance, infrastructure, technology, bicycle workshops). The resolution also calls political organisations on all levels to support cycling as a sustainable transport vehicle, prepare cycling programmes for areas they are responsible for, and include cycling traffic in all transport plans and programmes in the limits of their full (today seldom reached) potentials and benefits.
Possible partners in the above mentioned activities are environmental organisations and groups, various societies of citizens, health care organisations, urban planners, traffic planners, bicycle producers, public transport companies etc.
In the resolution emphasis is given to international networks for exchange of ideas and experience, that should give promoters of cycling more power in the political arena. For several years at least three such international networks have been operational in Europe: Car-free cities, Campaign for sustainable towns and Cities for cyclists.
In its action part the resolution states ten key points or tasks:
•	Rise in public consciousness to benefit cycling;
•	Promoting the use of bicycles in education and training programmes and in training of experts, who will be employed by public agencies;
•	Urban and regional planning of land use that pays respect to usual distances of daily cycling;
•	Decrease in traffic accidents involving cyclists by annual degree of 10 %;
At least 3 % of all traffic investments should be dedicated to cycling;
The urban traffic network should benefit cycling; Optimisation of transfer between bicycles and other traffic vehicles;
Strengthening connections between public transport and cycling;
Including bicycle garages in regulations on building; (Cross-border) connections between settlements and towns with long distance cycling networks.'^
2.2 The section of the Amber Euro-Velo cycling connection between Graz and Maribor
On the last day of the conference the international cycling connection between Graz and Maribor was opened, which is also a part of the long distance cycling route between Maribor and Šentilj and a part of the emerging European cycling network or more precisely, the Amber Euro-Velo connection Baltic-Adriatic. Activities tied to this route on the Slovenian side of the border started two years before the conference, but didn't bring more than the erection of signposts and several ground markings between Maribor and Šentilj. Here one has to point out, that the latter was done just before the conference, a witness to „seriousness" and „enthusiasm" of some of the co-organisers of the conference.
At this point the Euro Velo project (EV) needs some clarification. Recreational and touristic cycling trips in some European countries are carried out on so called national networks of cycling connections. Some other long distance cycling connections serve the same function, for example the Danube route through Germany and Austria and the North sea route along the Atlantic Ocean in The Netherlands, Belgium and part of France. We respect to the mentioned and with awareness of the growing use of European trekking connections, within the EOF an idea emerged in 1995 to connect selected cycling routes into a European network. A special work group with the EOF then formulated a proposal for a network of twelve trans-european cycling connections, criss-crossing Europe in the North-South and East-West directions ^ and simultaneously a list of directions and criteria for locating and constructing these EV connections. The project is supported by the European Union and a series of national, regional and local organisations and communities from government, traffic, tourism, environmental protection and bicycle production. The latter largely stems from the contents and benefits of the Euro velo project, that are numerous: stimulating cycling as a possible. But still seldom recognised type of long distance transport; stimulating tourism as a žsoft' variety of tourism, that doesn't affect the environment, space and culture of a particular country, as much and as negatively as žindustrial' tourism can; strengthening local economies and opening of new employment possibilities (in tourism, catering, retail, manufacturing, services, maintenance of cycling routes ...), all of which are very important for border and depressed regions; including local initiative groups and stimulating their work and new projects etc. We should also add the political and cultural dimensions of the EV project. It can give additional stimulus to European integration on the elementary, human level. As opposed to passengers in motor cars, that are always directed to the same highways and large out-of-town shopping centres, thus separated from experiencing particularities of day to day life of the local inhabitants, cy-
clists can ride right up to the small shops, inns and meeting places, used by the „locals". Contacts between tourists on bicycles and the local inhabitants are therefore immediate and direct and the individual and community culture of those that meet is in the forefront.
Revelation from the EV project, i.e. that the neighbouring country is not more than one bicycle ride away, will be brought to Slovenia. Two of the proposed twelve EV routes run across our territory: the second, Mediterranean, from Cadiz in Spain to Athens in Greece and the already mentioned ninth, Amber route, from Gdansk in Poland to Pula in Croatia on the Adriatic sea. Part of the second route runs from Trieste to Rijeka and crosses part of the Slovenian part of Istria, a part of the ninth route runs from Graz to Šentilj, Maribor, Celje, Ljubljana ... up to the Slovenian coast.
2.3 International cycling workshop „Traffic revolution square"
In 1999 at the beginning of the year, as an introduction to VC'99 a workshop was carried out in Maribor in which five experts from Maribor and two foreigners, experts in traffic and spatial planning, exchanged experiences and knowledge concerning planning for cycling needs. The' topic of the workshop was the Revolution square in Maribor, lying directly next to the South access to the old (formerly main) bridge across the river Drava and the old town centre. The square has had the same problems for many years, a consequence of uncontrollable growth of car traffic in the town and the recent technical-project oriented adaptations of traffic solutions to meet such growth.
We, the participants of the workshop proposed solutions in variations: (a) „trend", had to propose an improved traffic situation on the square with respect to the present trend of growth of motorised traffic flows in the town (in Maribor the growth is a worrying 5 % annually, we can expect a complete traffic collapse in a year or two); (b) „soft" had to point out the best solution for the square following measures of sustainable traffic policies, i.e. limiting motorised traffic and the structural redistribution of car use by citizens to benefit pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. The „trend" variation brought about several possible traffic-technical improvements, that concern better guidance and increased traffic safety of cyclists and pedestrians, coupled with traffic calming. The features of these improvements are quick execution without high costs and (unfortunately) without visible changes in the prevailing traffic regime. In the „soft" variation the most important innovation was the roundabout in the square and the exclusion of motor traffic from the old bridge (except for taxis). The solution brings: signifibant increase in available space in the square for pedestrians and buildings with central activities, relocation of the nearby bus stations to the centre of the square and also urban design concerns about the (in) admissive introduction of a roundabout in an old town area. One of the goals of the solution was to connect or integrate cycling, motor car and bus traffic.
Alongside the described results of the workshop, it also provided the background for very interesting exchange of information. We established, that traffic experts from Austria and The Netherlands, as opposed to delegates from Maribor, think differently, above all less prejudiced by traffic trends and with mush more variety in conceiving solutions. Both
expressed the tight bond between proposed solutions for the market on one side, and traffic policy, plus the general traffic plan for the town, on the other. The Dutchman De Jong pointed out, that when planning cycling as a traffic mode, it is necessary to think simultaneously about the tight connections with motorised traffic (e.g. the traffic problems of a proposed cycling connection, can be solved with the gradual change in hierarchy of traffic routes (lanes), along which the cycling connection will run). The main noticed difference between traffic planning starting points between The Netherlands and Slovenia, besides the more diverse use of sustainable regulation measures, is above all, wider and more consistent public participation in traffic planning. The Dutch actively involve the local inhabitants, leaders of local businesses, special social groups (children, women, the elderly, functionally hindered ...) etc. For example, two years ago the Dutch Traffic minister organised a week long working meeting of 400 high school students from the entire Netherlands, where they creatively exchanged ideas about traffic development in the future and presented the eager listeners from the ministry with their visions on traffic. When pursuing public participation De Jong cautioned on consistent respect for the following course of activities:
-	debate on issues followed by agreement on what the real problems are and concordance on established priorities in their solution;
-	debate on reasons for problems followed by concordance on reasons;
-	definition of goals + concordance;
-	definition of possible solutions + concordance;
-	evaluation of realised solutions (and if necessary, return to phase 1). De Jongs' cautioning about necessary participation of different expert profiles in traffic planning was enlightening, especially because in Maribor even co-operation of experts of the same profile - the traffic planners - is a known problem.
3. The Core Conference Programme 6
It was divided into the plenary part and thematic workshops,
in which almost 180 professional papers were presented.
These focused on the following leading topics:
-	across limits of municipal, national and trans-national traffic policies and plans for cycling (local and national strategies for cycling traffic);
-	breaching divisions between cycling and other traffic modes;
-	breaching the limitations in relations between users of traffic services, politicians, traffic planners and other decision makers towards cycling;
-	surpassing achieved qualities of cycling infrastructure;
-	surpassing achieved levels of traffic safety;
-	surpassing social boundaries: increasing the compatibility of cycle usage with social perception, expectations and needs of bicycle users;
-	surpassing limits of leisure and recreation: national and international cycling tourism;
-	surpassing limits of sustainable mobility: the contribution of cycling to improving traffic sustainability (environment and economy);
-	bicycle friendly traffic regulation and directives;
-	travel customs of cyclists.
In view of the mass of presented information and simultaneous execution of six thematic workshops it was almost im-
possible to compose a picture about the contents of all the matter, presented at the conference. After all, the distribution by type and in-depth expert dealing with cycling topics for quite some time, doesn't allow the individual to assume the status of „know-all". So, we the delegates of the VC'99 moved from one thematic workshop to another, from one room to another in the old Graz conference centre and (for a day) to the SNG building (Slovenian national theatre) in Maribor, with our ears cocked to receive various renditions of the English language from various parts of the World. The cycling menu was indeed rich: from the white paper on the future of cycling in Great Britain and two-lane cycling in one-way streets of Bonn, across the evolving Dutch standards on bicycle parking and cycling treks in western USA unto the role of cycling organisations in the hopelessness of traffic in Sao Paolo etc. Even experts from Slovenia participated in the conference, with a respectful number of papers. M. Lep and R. Perunović spoke about the role of cycling infrastructure in the promotion of public transport, S. Eržen, a student, presented a smartly devised immersable bicycle stand, V. Smaka-KincI and D. Bedek analysed trends of air pollution in Maribor in view of the traffic policies in the town, A. Cvar and I. Kaićič presented a case study of cycling infrastructure in Ljubljana etc.
4. By-Conference Activities
The contents of the conference touched the day-to-day humdrum of Graz and Maribor. Both the towns gained new shining metal bicycle stands on selected sites, in Graz a large inviting tent on the main square charmed passers by to visit a temporary cycling exhibition, while in Maribor most surprised faces were caused by policemen and urban monitors riding new official bicycles. The passengers on bus line No. 4 asked themselves, even a week after the conference was concluded, what is the purpose of the bicycle carrier on the nose of their bus, brought to Manbor by a dilligent businessman from distant Scotland. On the last day of the conference, many suburban citizens of Maribor had the opportunity to witness a colourful parade of cyclists from all over the World, who cooled their overheated heads on a cycling trip to Ptuj, Šentilj and even further, to Graz. This trip will remain in the lasting memory of an Englishman Sam Webb, unintentionally presented by the noble builders of the road through Dupiek: because of a badly built ramp between the pavement and road, Sam took a fall and broke his arcade. A typical Slovenian cycling experience!
5. Post-Conference Hangover
For us in Slovenia, the VC'99 was an excellent opportunity to compare the state of (planned) cycling in our country with the state in other countries. Again it was made clear, that we are lagging behind developed countries (The Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Germany, Norway by some 10 to 15 years. We couldn't use the conference to show our achievements in cycling usage, after all, there are very few. P re-conference animation of a large number of organisations and experts from Slovenia, intended for execution of real projects involving cycling, that could be shown at the VC'99 conference, unfortunately didn't achieve corresponding response. Other than the (co)organisers themselves only a few organisations and individuals responded to the call (speakers from universities and professional envi-
ronments, Ministry of traffic and communication, Slovenian railways, Society of friends of the youth from Maribor ...). Since the Velo-City conference was held for the first time in Slovenia, the p re-conference preparation phase remained an underutilised opportunity to connect all those interested individuals in Slovenia promoting cycling as a traffic mode. Similarly the opportunity for using Maribor for expert, traffic and many other kinds of networking with other settlements and towns in Slovenia and abroad (not only with Graz), was underestimated. Nevertheless, the fact stands, that during the preparation of the conference and with its execution, a lot of energy inclined to cycling was activated, that has definitely left Maribor and a certain part of the Slovenian traffic some lasting traces.
Jože Kos, geodesist, ZUM d. o. o., Maribor
Useful addresses
-	ECF: http://www.ecf.com/
-	Velo-City conference: http://www.ecf.com/html/velocity.htm
-	good European practices: http://europa.eu.int/comm/urban
-	local transport: http://www.eltis.org
-	Traffic info of the EU: http://europa.eu.infen/comm/dg07/tif/
-	http://www.bikenews.org
-	http://cyclery.co
-	Car-free cities: e-mail cfc@eurocities.be
-	Campaign for sustainable towns: e-mail: campaign.office@skynet.be
-	Cities for cyclists: e-mail dcf@inet.uni2.dk
-	The European Association of „green" ways: e-mail: aevvegwa@gate71.be
-	other addresses: Jože Kos e-mail: zummb@amis.net
Notes
1	11. Velo-city conference 1999 Graz - Maribor, 13.-17. April 1999, titled: Cycling Across Borders / The bicycle crossing frontiers.
2	Ulrike Ruwer, Mary Elizabeth Gonzalez, Hartmut H. Topp (1999), Let's bike for a more sustainable world! The Graz/ Maribor International Bicycle Policy Resolution. 11. Velo-City conference, Graz - Maribor.
3	Data of the Eurostat and other international and national organisations, valid between 1991-1995
4	Information relevant to the Graz-Maribor resolution can be found in the more elaborate and analytically better supported publication: European Commission, DG XI - Environment, Nuclear Safety and Civil Protection (1999), Cycling: the way ahead for towns and cities. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg (information and distribution: Claude.bochu@dg11 .cec.be).
5	Jens Erik Larson (1997), The EuroVelo Project - European Cycle Route Network. Pecikl, Mariborska kolesarska mreža, Maribor, št. 4/97.
6	Gerd Sammer et al. (1999), The Bicycle crossing frontiers. 11, Velo-City Proceedings, Graz - Maribor,
Illustrations
Figure 1: The bicycle, by Tomaž Vrlič Figure 2: The official logo of Velo-city conferences Figure 3: The official logo of the Velo city i99 conference Figure 4: Parked bicycles of the conference delegates in front of the Graz conference centre
Figure 5: A view of Maribor below the „Piramida", along the Tito bridge across the river Drava
Figure 6: The number of people crossing a 3,5m wide space in an urban environment in one hour (source: Botsma and Papendrecht, Traffic operations of bicycle traffic, TU Delft 1991)
Urbani izziv 2000
June 2000 Regional networks
December 2000 Different housing