Matej Nikšič and Breda Mihelič (Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana)
The Rings of Ljubljana - different in character, united in serving the city
Ljubljana has been built up upon the radio-centric morphological model with two ring roads. Both were constructed in the 20th century but are very different in their character. The historic ring was conceived over a hundred years ago after a devastating earthquake in 1895. The proposal followed the Viennese example of a ring road where a tree-lined road was walled with prominent public buildings. A growth of motorized individuals' traffic soon demanded a new high-speed ring road in the suburban areas. The presentation explains the very different characters of the two rings through the explanation of the main phases of the city's growth and the illustration of the economic, social and architectural mind sets of the times of their conception, which crucially influenced their unique however diverse characteristics. Any proper historical review of a development of Ljubljana and its rings can however not overlook a very peculiar circular structure of a 32 kilometres length that connects Ljubljana's neighbourhoods in a concentric manner - the so called Path of Remembrance and Comradeship. It's a linear park designed for unmotorised traffic as a remembrance of a wire-wall that was constructed during the WWII by the occupiers of Ljubljana to block the migrations from/to the city.