SU G D AREAS OF 
LLAGE, LOCAL D 
ISTRICT C MUNITIES 
Jože Kos 
Zavod za urbanizem Maribor, Maribor 
Received for publication: 20 November 1996 
Prepared for publication: 18 March 1997 
Abstract 
During the reform of small local communities in the 
Municipality of Maribor, it was found that the content of 
certain swveyors' databases could be enriched. This paper 
therefore offers some suggestions: for example, conceming 
the city as a ncw official territorial unit in Slovenia; the 
definition of different types of human settlements; and about 
the building up of a specia/ archive for storing the results of 
political ref onns conceming local communities in Slovenia. 
Keywords: Geodetic day, Portorož, reform, sources of data, 
spatial communities, surveying, town, village 
1 INTRODUCTION 
In the City Municipality of Maribor, a reform of former local communities (LC) was performed from January 1995 to October 1996 with the participation of 
experts from the Institute of Urban Planning of Maribor and the author of this 
paper. Many points of interest for geodetic and other professionals who engage in 
spatial planning were established and are presented in this paper, which is above all 
oriented to the applicability of certain geodetic sources of data and opportunities for 
the extension of the content of these sources. 
reform of local self-management in Slovenia has been taking place since 1993, 
when the Law on Local Self-Management was adopted. It refers to three types 
of local self-managed communities: a) regions, b) municipalities, c) village, local 
and district communities. As the state has carried out reform of the system of 
municipalities on the basis of the above-mentioned law, the newly formed 
municipalities are also performing ( or will perform) a reform of previous local 
communities at two levels; however, the establishment of regions as the largest local 
self-rnanaged communities in Slovenia is still in a preparatory phase. 
Village, local and district communities (spatial communities - SCs) comprise three basic interlinked components: social, administrative and spatial. The first refers 
to everyday human contacts among a group of residents forming a social community. 
The second means that such a community can carry out certain administrative tasks 
assigned to it by its superior authorities. The third, the spatial component, refers to 
the extent of territory inside of which the community resides. If the first two 
Geodetski vestnik 41 (1997) 1 
components are above all analysed by sciences such as sociology, political science, 
law, history and ethnology, the spatial component is above all and also analysed by 
sciences such as geography, spatial planning, urban planning and geodesy. 
2 GEODETIC SOURCES OF DATA AND mE DEFINITION OF SPATIAL COMMUNITIES 
It was shown during professional activities within the reform of LCs in the City Municipality of Maribor that the geodetic service is the one providing the greatest 
amount of information for such purposes. These data are collected in topographic 
maps and plans, in the Graphical Review of Public Utilities Devices (GRPUD) and 
in the Register of Spatial Units (RSU). 
2.1 Topographic plans mul maps and spatial comm11.n1ities 
In addition to spatial traffic and relief connections, natural and artificially created dividing lines, the arrangement and size of human settlements and similar usual 
components of topographic maps and plans, data on the existence and location of 
buildings with activities in the tertiary and quarternary sectors (schools, post offices, 
banks, police stations, pharmacies, churches, restaurants and inns, etc.) are above all 
useful for the definition of SCs. The above listed buildings and their derivatives are 
specially marked on topographic maps. This does not apply to the following types of 
buildings and activities taking place in them: large shops, nursery schools, fire 
stations, cultural centres, village centres, sports facilities, LC centres, local offices, 
parish offices, etc. However, the designation of these types of buildings would 
increase the informative and analytical value of such maps. 
2.2 Graphical Review of Puhlic Utilities Devkes (GRPUD) and spatial communities 
T ocal puhlic utility networks indicate the infrastructural connections between 
.Lthese buildings and, therefore, the interest connections of their inhabitants. This 
applies primarily in cases when such networks were built by local communities or 
local inhabitants through their self-imposed contributions. The GRPUD is, therefore, 
also useful in defining SCs; it would be even more useful if it contained data on 
investors in building infrastructural lines. It may be worthwhile to consider data 
expansion of the GRPUD to include both the latter data along with data on 
managers of infrastructural lines. This would also be sensible because data on the 
ownership and management competencies and responsibilities are presently much 
more important at present than they were in the recent past. 
2.3 Spatial 1.mits 
The RSU and its spatial communities are one of the crucial data sources regarding the territorial aspect of the reform of local self-management. In the case of 
Maribor, described above, it turned out that not only the territories and boundaries 
of former LCs, new communal boundaries and the state boundary needed to be 
taken into account in defining new SCs, but also the territories and boundaries of 
human settlements, in order to define the boundaries between district communities 
( city districts ), village communities and local communities. In order to check and 
accurately locate any new boundaries between SCs, the territories and boundaries of 
Geodetski vestnik 41 ( 1997) 1 
lil 
II 
1 
cadastral communes, statistical districts and spatial districts (previously census 
districts) need to be considered. 
3 CHANGES l!N THE BOUNDARJ[ES OF LOCAL COMMUNITl!ES l!N PODRAVJE 
The reform of LCs in twelve municipalities in Podravje showed that the territories of former LCs were mainly preserved as the territories of the new LCs. In eight 
rnunicipalities, LCs were preserved in their previous number and extent, while in 
three rnunicipalities LCs were transforrned into village comrnunities. In this process, 
one or two LCs were divided into two or three village communities. The City 
Municipality of Maribor was an exception, since one city district was created, on 
average, 3,5 former city and suburban local communities. This mainly involved 
uniting the territories of forrner LCs, while in two cases the territory of one former 
LC was made part of the territories of two city districts. 
4 CHANGES IN THE BOUNDARJ[ES OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES AND THE REGISTER 
OF SPATIAL UNITS 
T~rritori~l ch~ng~s of ~Cs in the City Municipality of Maribor brought certain mterestmg fmdmgs w1th reference to the content of the RSU (see below). 
4.1 The relationships between tl:1.e bmmdaries of spatial commu111ities and the bou111daries of 
spatial districts, statistka! districts and cadastrnl communes 
There was no need for discord between the boundaries of newly formed SCs and the boundaries of other units listed above, with one exception: the territory of 
the former city road as a marked spatial and social dividing line. In this case, the 
boundary between the SCs was determined with regard to this road and not to 
different courses of the boundary of the relevant cadastral commune and the 
boundary of the relevant statistical district. 
4.2 'fhe relationships betwee111 the territories of spatial communities :md territories of 
settlements and cadastral comm1.1.111es 
It turned out that in places these three types of units are quite disharmonious; that is, they divide the space in different ways. It follows from figure 1 that to date, the 
inhabitants of Brezje belonged to Maribor regarding administrative matters, but were 
connected socially with Dogoše and historically with Zrkovci. This solution was not 
the best one, as proven by the LCs reform. With the reform this entire area was 
classified under city districts, and Brezje was united with Dogoše and Zrkovci into 
one city district. The following finding of the LC reform in the City Municipality of 
Maribor is worth mention: the boundaries of cadastral communes in many areas 
(still) play the role of the boundaries of SCs. This is certainly not unusual regarding 
the historical origin of cadastral communes, but in the Maribor Municipality, which 
experienced major changes in settlement in its area over the last fifty years, it turned 
out that about one fifth of newly formed SCs overlapped or almost overlapped with 
the territories of cadastral communes. This speaks to the stability and layered 
structure of the content of cadastral communes as spatial units, which - not in spite 
of their age, but because of it - in places prove to also be the spatial extent of a new 
SC. Regarding the above, it would be beneficial to study the connections between 
Geodetski vestnik 41 (1997) 1 
SCs and cadastral communes in an interdisciplinary research project and to include 
the results of such a project in the curricula of the Faculty of Geodesy and Civil 
Engineering and the Faculty of Social Sciences. 
4.3 Spatial unit city 
Iocal community 
Brezje - Dogoše 
(former) cadastral commune Zrkovci 
Figure 1 
One of the central professional findings within the reform of LCs in the City Municipality of Maribor refers to deficient interdisciplinary definition of the 
spatial unit city and the consequent absence of this unit from the RSU. In this paper, 
the term city means the part of space which represents the greatest possible 
territorial harmonisation of the understanding of the term city in different disciplines 
(geography, spatial planning, urban planning, geodesy, sociology, economy, etc.). The 
previously mentioned interdisciplinary definition of the unit city caused tbe situation 
in the City Municipality of Maribor which is presented in figure 2. 
The incoherence of the views of different professional and political subjects about the territory which is supposed to belong to Maribor speaks at least of the 
absence of common criteria for its definition. This results in a deficient definition of 
the City of Maribor, which has several negative consequences. It is impossible to 
unarnbiguously establish the nurnber of its inhabitants, including all other per capita 
data ( e.g., GDP and other economic and social indicators). This leads to a deficiency 
in comparison of such data between cities. In Maribor, problems also appear in 
determining the tariff for local bus fares and the price of telephone impulses at the 
outskirts of the city. There are also numerous doubts as to where and how much the 
city boundary of Maribor should be extended due to spreading of development. The 
same also applies to problems in determining the territory to be analysed in the 
Geodetski vestnik 41 (1997) 1 
conceptual design of urban planning for the City of Maribor. Additionally, taking 
into account that the Law on Local Self-Management has introduced the distinction 
between municipalities and city municipalities and village, local and district 
communities, a sufficient number of reasons have probably been listed for a 
(re )definition of the spatial unit city and its actual introduction into the RSU. 
hen the spatial unit city is.included into the RSU, the question of how to 
define and delimit its territory appears. The approach and results of defining 
city districts in the City Municipality of Maribor ( and naturally, also in other 
Slovenian city municipalities) and other already prepared professional bases for 
spatial planning can be of great help in this. An accurate methodology should still be 
prepared, and the Surveying and Mapping Authority of Slovenia may be an initiator 
for this markedly interdisciplinary task. I believe that the unit city should, in 
principle, consist of selected settlements which surround a mother city settlement. It 
would be less suitable or even unsuitable to design the city by extending the territory 
of the mother settlement, because in so doing a part of the suburban territory would 
be taken away. This would be problematic, especially in the case of historic 
settlements with relatively original spatial development and marked local character of 
the inhabitants. In addition, by changing the boundaries of settlements, difficulties 
could be caused to the statistical service and the comparability of data for 
settlements for different periods would be reduced. 
4.4 Types of seUlements am:l! tbe RSU 
In the RSU, information on the types of settlements could be introduced for spatial units. For about 6 000 settlements in Slovenia, only the statistical data on whether 
or not a settlement is a city is presently available. From the viewpoint of spatial 
planning this data is problematic, since, for example, in the territory of the City 
Municipality of Maribor, settlerrients which do not belong even to narrow suburban 
areas are defined as city settlements. In addition to a trne city settlement, i.e., one 
which would be classified under the spatial unit city, it would also be possible to 
define suburban settlements, villages, hamlets, tourist villages, mountain villages, etc. 
This extension of data in the RSU would increase the informative value of the 
register. Its value should also be assessed in the light of new capacities enabled by 
GIS technology. Easy linking of the RSU with a series of other territorially defined 
and geo-coded data ( e.g. various types of territories defined in the spatial plans of 
municipalities and the nation, demographically endangered areas, homogeneous 
landscape areas, architectural regions, potential market areas of companies, etc.) 
enables the generation of analytically very useful information which would be of 
interest to clients from different areas. 
4.5 Arcbives of tbe results of political and territrnrial reforms 
In the territory of present Slovenia, a series of political/administrative territorial reforms has taken place over the past 100 to 150 years. One has an imprcssion that 
frequent changing of the boundaries between administrative and community units is 
a political-historical feature of the society in this area. I myself believe that this 
special feature will sooner or later produce another political territorial reform. For 
such cases, high quality archive materials which would include the results of such 
Geodetski vestnik 41 ( 1997) 1 
WHERE ARE THE BORDERS OF CITY MARIBOR? 
LEGEND 
---- SETTLEMENT MARIBOR BORDER (Register of spatial units, 1995) 
"" ·" ..... , REGULATION DISTRICT BORDER OF SETTLEMENT MARIBOR 
(physical planners and community Maribor assembly, 1993) 
OUTSIDE CITY DISTRICT BORDER 
(Maribor city City coucel, 1996) 
PROPOSED BORDER OF CITY MARIBOR (Dr. Vrišer, 1992) 
CITY SETTLEMENTS OUTSIDE BORDER (Krajevni leksikon Slovenije, 1995) 
_ CITY MUNICIPAUTY MARIBOR BORDER (State assembly of the Republic 
of Slovenia, 1994) 
Kos, Lenarčič - ZUM - 1996 
Figure 2 
Geodetski vestnik 41 (1997) 1 
reforms in the territory of the present Slovenia for the period of, for example, the 
past 100 years would be very beneficial. Such a mapping archive, which could be 
established by the Surveying and Mapping Authority of Slovenia, would, if used 
thoroughly enough, contribute to quality territorial delimitation results of subsequent 
reforms. In this manner, the geodetic service would contribute considerably to a 
feature which Slovenes unfortunately (still) do not have, but very much need: a stable 
territorial organisation of our society, which is one of the conditions for cost-efficient 
and stable social development. 
5. PROFESSIONALS IN SPATIAL PLANNING • POLITICIANS · CITIZENS 
In conclusion, I would like to add a word or two on our experience in the mutual co-operation of spatial planning professionals, local political represenfatives and 
citizens in the reform of LCs in the City Municipality of Maribor. 
"If the neighbouring village is our centre, we will be their milking cow." 
(citizen of Dobrovce, April 1996) 
The quote illustrates the context in which spatial professionals are attempting to 
enforce their views about SCs. Citizens emphasise their empirical criteria, which they 
believe are superior to the criteria of professionals. On the other hand, local 
politicians remain silent, co-operate with professionals only partially, do not desire 
the participation of professionals in crucial activities for defining SCs, do not explain 
why the professionals' proposals are not taken into account, and so forth. What can 
professionals do about such a method of social consensus? Above all, it would be 
beneficial if they took everything from their own work range that is also subject to 
political decision-making as very changeable, and could adapt to constant changes as 
efficiently as possible. In spite of their possibly negative experience, or even because 
of it, they should constantly strive to participate as much as possible in 
decision-making on social matters. 
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Review: Irena Ažman 
Davorin Raškovič (in progress) 
Geodetski vestnik 41 ( 1997) l