Tržič is a pleasant old alpine town, famous for its tradition of

craftsmanship. The town itself has 3.811 residents, while the

population of the whole Municipality of Tržič is 15.058. There have

been busy trade routes in the area since the time of ancient Rome

and they have helped the residents to develop outstanding and

ambitious artisanal workshops – they were tanners, ironworks,

shoemakers, wheelwrights, clothmakers, and especially shoemakers.

Today, the old town of Tržič is protected as a cultural monument.

Positioned in north Slovenia, Tržič is nestled beneath the slopes of

the Karavanke mountain range on the Austrian border, and opens

towards the Ljubljana Basin to the south. Ljubljana, the Capital of

Slovenia is 50 km away and the national airport 28 km.2

The urban area consists of the old town centre of Tržič, situated at

the confluence of Mošenik and Tržiška Bistrica rivers, and the newer

suburban settlement of Bistrica pri Tržiču. In between, there is

extensive industrial area of former shoe (Peko) and textile (BPT)

factories, currently only partially functional. The decline of

industries in 1990s significantly marked the socio-economics of

town, resulting in redundancy.

Over the last two decades the town is steadily re-covering by small

entrepreneurship, services and tourism however still twice as many

people commute to work to Kranj and Ljubljana than work within

municipality. This contributes to Tržič shifting from being a

historically employment-intensive center to becoming more of a

residential environment. In the last years a trend of an upward

migration is observed, including economic migrants of Albanian,

Bosnian, Serbian origin settling in the old historic centre.

The fact is, that the area of Tržič possesses a high potential in

terms of its natural environment, alpine mountain landscape, and

cultural ambiance, making it ideal for living, tourism, recreation,

and other sustainable economic activities. Residents in survey

(2021) have expressed a high level of satisfaction with the quality

of the natural environment and recreational opportunities. A

significant part of the municipality is covered with forests, of

which almost 80% falls within Natura 2000 areas due to its

exceptional biodiversity. The number of overnight stays by tourists

grows steadily, demonstrating the attractiveness of the area,

particularly in hiking, mountain biking, and other outdoor

activities.

The municipality has got 13 local communities spread across three

alpine valleys and the lowlands, but has nevertheless remained a

unified entity and has strengthened its network of local public

institutions, providing citizens with affordable and timely access

to all essential life services (kindergartens, primary schools,

healthcare, social services, pharmacy, elderly care, library,

museum, adult education, cultural and sports infrastructure,

municipal and regulatory services).

A variety of social leisure activities are available to children,

youth, and seniors in both institutional and civil forms. Tržič

residents can participate in 124 associations that operate in the

fields of sports and culture, firefighting, mountaineering,

humanitarian, and other activities. 73% of respondents are satisfied

with the quality of life and the quality of public services. The

municipality's development efforts are reflected in the Golden Stone

award, which places the Municipality of Tržič among the most dynamic

Slovenian municipalities according to the ISSO index.

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WHY REVIVE IN TRŽIČ OLD TOWN?

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Thus, REVIVE is an important development initiative placed in the

historic town of Tržič which is currently facing the serious

challenges:3

1.  Decline of economic activity in the town, shops, services and bars closing down

2.  Lack of new and quality housing and living spaces in

3. Multicultural community

4. Traffic issues (lack of parking space, transit location)

5. Losing the former historic image and ambiance

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The town administration is preparing several regeneration projects

making the main public spaces more attractive however this solely

cannot revive the soul and spirit of the town. In this respect the

REVIVE experiment is seen as an important initiative that is

expected to add freshness to the existing structures, uncover

perspectives, engage residents for joint action and help accelerate

the process of regeneration of the old town Tržič.

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GARDEN CHALLENGES FOR THE REVIVE TEAM OF YOUNG TALENTS

 

The REVIVE experiment deals with one of the open green public spaces

in the northern part of the old town, in need for revitalisation and

citizens engagement -  garden of Tržič museum. Until last october the

garden was overgrown with bushes and other vegetation, than cleaned

up and is ready for new use.

The aim of the REVIVE experiment in Tržič is through co-creative

process prepare and partly experimentally implement a proposal for

revitalisation of these new surrounding open space of the Tržič

Museum, i.e., the museum garden, which will complement the exterior

of the museum (Pollak Mannor) and functionally enable the area for

conducting museum and community activities. The new green area will

be part of Tržič's cultural and tourist infrastructure, offering

opportunities for the development of social, cultural, tourist, and

educational activities and interactions of/for the residents and

visitors.

Tržič Museum, as a manager of the site, constantly explores new ways

to incorporate it's unique and diverse collection into wider

community and educational institutions. The innovative initiative of

the REVIVE project brings further ambitions to offer an even deeper

engagement with history and heritage and is poised to transform the

museum garden into a vibrant hub where history, heritage, art, and

nature harmoniously converge.

 

Based on the current state and heritage associated with the Tržič

Museum, Pollak cottage and the surrounding area, and in line with

the needs of local residents and visitors to the area, it is

necessary to redesign and shape the current space in a way that

ensures the preservation of the area and its sustainable

development, but at the same time enhance new the opportunities for

the museum development and the interaction of citizens.

 

The experiment of the revival of the Museum garden has 5 main

challenges:

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1. Comprehensive garden design (incl. long-term vision)

2. Social role of the garden (inc. engagement of the neighbourhood

and citizens)

3. Garden fence

4. Small garden house

5. The Sun house

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PAST AND NEW USE OF THE GARDEN

In the past, the already revitalised areas of the museum garden were

used for various purposes of the Tržič Musuem:

• Music evenings

• Workshops for children

• (kindergarten and elementary

• school)

• Traditional games

• Meetings

• Medieval days

Before cleaning the area some southern parts of the garden were leased out to residents for vegetable and herb gardening.

Museum garden before cleaning, summer 2023, Google Maps

There were numerous ideas and attempts to revitalise the garden and

use it in it's full potential. For various reasons those ideas never

came to life. After October, when the garden was cleaned and the

fences of the vegetable garden were removed - it is a high time the

ideas start to flow in and for the creative and hard work to begin.

It is however important to learn from the past experiences.

 

FACTS TO BE CONSIDERED

In visioning the new space the REVIVE project will need to overcome

the following facts and threats:

• Informal gatherings in the garden lead to littering and safety

issues

• The unstable condition of the soil after cleaning the area lastautumn (note: the grass will be sowed in spring 2024)

• Coordinating the activities in the garden (experiences with galleries)

• Conflict of interests in the community (they are looking for

• more parking spaces and are reluctant to use the garden as a green public space

• Asking locals how they want to use the space led to serious conflicts

• Limited budget and personnel capacities (maintenance)

• Fencing off the garden: the balance between protection and Invitation

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Selected young talents will use their creativity throughout the REVIVE project and Tržič live experiment and  try to address all these challenges with the purpose of finding the most effective solution for revitalisation of the garden.