Previous state
The area situated at the doorstep of Ljubljana’s central cemetery Žale had been used for illegal allotment gardening for decades prior to its transformation to a new park. However disturbing these disordered urban gardening plots appeared to be in front of protected memorial buildings, the media reports portrayed it as a prospering activity which peaked in the spring time for decades. This non-formal landuse spread spontaneously in several parts of the city mainly due to the fact that formal landuse regulations of what appeared to be ‘‘no-man’s land’’ areas are quite restrictive to other uses for many reasons. The main reasons are the proximity of the cemetery as well as different existing and planned infrastructure corridors crossing the area.

For unknown reasons the city authorities paid almost no attention to urban gardening for decades. So the citizens were forced to find their own solutions and managed to create their own allotments in different areas, from a context of formerly planned gardens in the sixties and the seventies to all kinds of leftover spaces. In 2006, Ljubljana’s new Mayor finally abandoned the mistaken belief that new developments will simply erase urban allotments from urban tissue and people’s minds and launched a process of systematisation and legalisation of urban gardens in Ljubljana. By clearing the elite location next to the city’s main cemetery and transforming it into a park he set a model example for the new policy.

Aim of intervention
The main purpose of the intervention pursued by Ljubljana City Council was to remove the remains of illegal plot gardening from the area which is largely exposed to public interest. Therefore a whole set of problems regarding further development of the area into a public space was set aside and a first intervention was put into practice in late winter of 2007.

LUZ, d.d. Landscape Architects participated in the activities from the first steps on and provided field consultancy, ideas for the first reclamation works, programme development, design proposals and possible alternatives. So far work progressed in three key steps: 1) clearing the area and providing a fresh, new, simple but large public space; 2) development of park programme and master plan design; 3) first phase of landscape construction, fine tuning and completing the design for the planned playground. In the meantime, numerous consultations with the local community and representatives of the City Council took place, as well as negotiations with a private partner who was invited to join the project contributing a park pavilion.

The highest expectations today lie in the construction of children’s playground and the pavilion.

Description of intervention

The transformation of the area into a new public park began with the Mayor’s final decision to clear out the existing illegal plot gardens. In the meanwhile a team of professionals including the Deputy Mayor Mr. Koželj and the director of Ljubljana botanical garden Mr. Bavcon managed to protect all healthy adult trees from demolition, leaving them as pillars for a sustainable, co-natural public space reclamation process. This first step provided almost immediate public use of the area for reasonable costs. 

The first park design ideas started emerging in the following year, causing a discussion with the Mayor’s office about further development of the area. The outcome was a set of key design principles: keeping it modest, respecting the contemplative character of cemetery surroundings and strictly controlling the investment and maintenance costs from the design phase on. These guidelines led us to a simple design proposal which combined a softly modulated grassy landscape with a formal grid of footpaths following most frequently used directions in area. The vegetation layer included groups of indigenous shrubs and trees which are there to host birds and other animals, provide learning opportunities and offer very much needed natural shades to park users. The playground is planned to be located in a sheltered side of the park, close to the only possible location for a pavilion. Together with new lights, benches, wooden platforms and pergola the area will slowly transform into a unique urban park.