Department of Human Geography
Head:
Maruša Goluža, Ph. D.
Research areas:
- Cultural landscapes and ecosystem services
- Socioeconomic dynamics of space
- Spatial planning, conflicts, and participation
- Centrality, peripherality, and regional development
- Mobility and transport
- Study of historical landscapes and their processes
- Environmental protection and the quality of living environment
About the department
The Department of Human Geography studies the relationships between people and space, as well as the changes that shape places, regions, and landscapes over time. As the largest department at the Anton Melik Geographical Institute, we bring together researchers with diverse yet closely related research interests, which is why we cover a wide range of topics within human geography.
Our research includes urban and rural landscapes, their identity-related aspects, changes, and governance, as well as social capital, common resources in the landscape, and ecosystem services. We also pay special attention to the ways landscapes change and to how people use, experience, and co-create them.
An important part of our work focuses on socioeconomic processes linked to globalization, economic and cultural change, tourism, creativity, and the transformation of industrial places. Among our central research topics are also demogeographic issues such as population ageing and the situation of vulnerable groups. In addition, we study equitable access to services, transport poverty, and public passenger transport, and we address the links between spatial and transport planning, multi-level spatial governance, just transition, climate change adaptation, and the conflicts that accompany these processes.
We devote special attention to processes of centralization and peripheralization, the development of smaller places, polycentrism, local and regional development, electoral geography, and spatial marginalization. We also study historical landscapes and the genesis of spatial processes, such as changes in borders, landscapes, and land use, drawing on historical cartographic and written sources.
The department’s research scope also includes the protection and quality of life. We conduct research on the management of protected areas, and explore degraded areas and options for their restoration. Our work also covers landscape interpretation, and the study of environmental awareness, behaviour, health and well-being, and how people experience different environments.
A distinctive feature of the department is that we connect research with local communities and other users of knowledge. Through inclusive and participatory approaches, we seek to contribute to more just, accessible, and sustainable spatial development, while also advancing geographical theory and empirical research and addressing questions that matter to space and to people.
Conferences:
• Slovenian Regional Days
• Geography Talk