Research: Making and managing Ljubljana's urban squats

Research summary

• June 2019 to July 2021

Researchers from Manchester Met are investigating the way that two squatted areas in Ljubljana, Tovarna Rog and Metelkova Mesto, are used and managed by both the official institutions and their communities.

The project aims to understand the power dynamics that emerge in their everyday running and the plans for their future. Place making and place management are emerging areas of academic interest, as researchers seek to bridge the gap between various and often opposing views about the use of place.

The project examines how regulatory uncertainty can be replaced by inclusive and participatory forms of management that do not jeopardise the places’ autonomous characteristics.

It also highlights the places’ status within the city and considers communicative attempts between the institutional channels and the squatters’ communities about the use and management of these places.

The research draws upon interdisciplinary areas of academic interest. Place management is evaluated through a socio-legal lens, with a particular focus on reflexive communications as a place management tool.

The study offers an innovative approach to place-specific research, showcasing place management not only as a process for strategic formation, but also as a contested political and socio-legal one that encompasses both reflexive communicative processes and regulatory uncertainty. These tensions have been well documented throughout the squatters’ practices and struggles with authorities, as well as in their conflicts and communication attempts.