Good practice:

Ljubljana - European Green Capital 2016

In 2007 the City of Ljubljana created, and started living, the sustainable strategy “Vision Ljubljana 2025”: IDEAL City (development with respect to its history), METROPOLIS (quality of life, safety & tolerance) and ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY CITY (city in harmony with nature). Ljubljana won the European Green City 2016 award becuase of the significant transformation in sustainability which has been made in the previous 10 – 15 years.
The sustainable strategy set the roadmap for a rapid progress, especially in sustainable mobility, public transport, the pedestrianization of the city, urban greening, and waste management. Progress has also been made in preserving & protecting the green areas which characterise the city and, in the revitalisation, & transformation of brownfield spaces. Ljubljana has also progressed in terms of waste and wastewater treatment and have committed to pursuing a zero-waste objective. Green identity of the City: 542 m2 of public green areas per capita, more than 46 % of the city area is covered by native forests, 75 % of the city is green area, 4 landscape parks, 7000 trees, drinking water comes from natural sources, requiring no prior treatment. Sustainable mobility: new traffic regime, refurbishment of the banks & bridges of the river Ljubljanica, BicikeLJ, P+R. It is the European capital with the largest share of separately collected waste.
The main beneficiaries are inhabitants, those who work in the city, as well as daily visitors and tourists.

Beside an 8-member working group, several departments within the City Administration & numerous partners were involved from public institutes & companies operating under the umbrella of the City, to NGOs, (secondary) schools, faculties, museums, private companies & citizens of Ljubljana.

EGC 2016 award has placed Ljubljana on the European map of the most sustainable cities. It has strenghtended the city’s brand and reputation, it has ranked Ljubljana among TOP100 Sustainable World Destinations. The award had big economic impact, as more and more tourist wanted to visit Ljubljana. Every year from 2015 till 2020 there were record number of tourists who were enthusiastic about green city for all generations.

The good practice was presented to the STAR Cities partnership & wider audience during the online webinar on “Environment & Sustainability”. It was very well accepted, as it is a good example of strategy implementation. Besides, it is a good starting point if a city wants to focus on sustainable tourism.
Since getting award in 2014 Ljubljana has become a role model to other cities & an important partner for discussion on a range of innovative green measures.
The practice encourages cities to shift towards sustainability & resilience and presents following principles:
- With a solid strategy & firm mindset (political support) changes can be quickly implemented & made in harmony with the environment & its citizens.
- Only by setting ambitious goals big changes are made.
- Acknowledging that cooperation with many various stakeholders from the beginning (strategy) to its implementation is vital.
- Recognising that the exchange of experiences & good practices between cities is vital.