During the last ten years Ljubljana, the capital city of Slovenia, has transformed itself from a sleepy post-socialist town into a contemporary European city, and an ever more popular tourist destination. The main street of the city is the Slovenska street, which crosses the city in the north-south direction. The street was always a place of urban progress: here the first skyscraper was constructed, the first modernistic housing block… It is also the stage for many important events in the city, such as the marathon and the annual cycling race, various demonstrations, and the record-breaking square dance of the city’s high-school graduates.
The transformation drew inspiration from typical avenues in large European cities, where avenues are always marked with two key elements – a vertical and a horizontal one. In this case these are the tree-line of manna ash trees (fraxinus ornus), and the geometric pattern of the pavement, which creates the impression of a fine carpet and increases the optical dimension of urban space.