Cultivated terraces distinctively mark the landscape and are a result of human adaptation to steep areas. Terraces were studied with regard to their morphometric qualities, ownership structure, and land use at eight pilot sites in various landscape types in Slovenia. Twenty-six detailed interviews were carried out with local residents and experts. In current agricultural practice, terraces mostly represent obstacles, and for owners they create a loss rather than profit; however, they represented an advantage in the past, when they were cultivated manually. Land use is intensifying on economically profitable terraces. Among those examined, the Jeruzalem terraces stand out because these are the youngest ones (created in socialist Yugoslavia around 1965). Because of their aesthetic value, they are the best known among the public. Profitability in particular will be an important driving force for the future maintenance of terraces.

Because of their compact layout and functional connection, Radovljica and Lesce function as a settlement cluster. Radovljica in Lesce zaradi strnjene lege in funkcijske povezanosti delujeta kot eno -stično naselje. We defined central settlements based on services of general interest and the population of an individual settlement, and developed the analysis further by using competitiveness indicators. We defined 360 central settlements at six levels of centrality, among which the significance of Ljubljana as a national center of international importance and the significance of intermunicipal, local, and rural centers are increasing. The significance of certain regional centers at the second and third levels of centrality is decreasing. The level of services of general interest supplied to Slovenian territory is relatively appropriate, but it should be improved by promoting competitiveness, especially in centers of national and regional importance.

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Densely and dispersedly settled areas in our sample of rural settlements are at a ratio of 1 to 3. In the period from 1992 to 2005 the index of change indicates that in all types of settlements, construction in dispersedly settled areas grew more rapidly than in densely settled areas (photograph: Maja Topole). Razmerje med strnjeno in nestrnjeno poseljenimi povr{inami v na{em vzorcu pode`elskih naselij je 1 : 3. V opazovanem obdobju je bila relativna rast novogradenj najvi{ja v nestrnjeno poseljenih delih naselij (fotografija: Maja Topole). ABSTRACT: We determined changes in the settled areas of rural settlements by means of aerial photos and orthophotos, statistical data, and data obtained through field research. The expert sample comprised 14 rural settlements with 500 to 1100 inhabitants from a variety of Slovene natural and statistical regions which in the past ten-year period have shown positive growth in the number of inhabitants, jobs, and houses. We identified how the following categories changed in settled areas in the period from 1991 to 2005: residential areas, areas with central functions (supply, service, and business), traffic areas and green and other open spaces. Most apparent were differences among the types of settlements. We related land use to the relief and type of settlement, to the geographical location of the settlement, to changes in its structure, and to trends in the number of jobs and extent of commuting. Contents