Green BTC City

The BTC city is a former degraded warehouse area which was transformed first into the largest shopping area BTC city and later into the largest shopping and entertainment area with more than 500 shops and a wide range of services and activities (sport, business, culture, etc.). The extensive urban planning project continuously improves its environmental conditions, as it is recognized as a large urban heat island in the City of Ljubljana. The mission of the BTC City is to bring nature back into its urban landscape, aiming to become a greener and more climate-resilient business district. To achieve this goal, the focus has been on green interventions such as parks, green roofs, green walls, and tree planting to support biodiversity, enhance the microclimate, and improve the comfort and well-being of visitors, employees, and business partners.

• High level of awareness of owners about high environmental standards for improving the quality of the area.
• Involving experts from different backgrounds (urban heat island, architects, landscape architects, urban planners, universities, etc.) from the planning to implementation phase.
• Establishing different communities with different target groups to foster engagement, collaboration and raising awareness among different stakeholders about the importance of implementing sustainable development solutions in the area.

• Implementing green roofs on the main business building of the BTC city, the large warehouse of the INTERSPAR, bus stations, etc.
• Implementing green walls along shopping buildings.
• Planting trees that are best suited to the local climate conditions.
• Implementing a large park in the middle of the area.
• Other small green acupuncture solutions.

• The Urban Development Concept adopted by the City Council in 2002 emphasized community engagement through public workshops, exhibitions, and discussions.
• Various stakeholders, including experts from different backgrounds such as urban heat island specialists, architects, landscape architects, urban planners, and universities, have been involved during the transformation process of the area.
• Within the Desire project - Designing the Irresistible Circular Society project (a New European Bauhaus lighthouse demonstrator), the BTC city organised several events and activities in 2023 and 2024:
o A co-creation workshop was organised in Ljubljana gathering stakeholders from various sectors (academia, creative industry, NGOs) to envision a sustainable future for the BTC City area in 2050. The main aim of the workshop was to foster innovation, sustainability and community engagement in reimagining the BTC area as a vibrant and environmentally friendly urban space.
o A separate workshop for business partners was organised with the focus on energy efficiency, mobility, buildings and renewable energy.
o A greening campaign was launched, and they planted 72 trees, heat-resistant plants and vertical gardens for creating green acupuncture interventions to mitigate high summer temperatures and stormwater runoff.
o A conference on urban decarbonisation was organised to stimulate collective action to achieve decarbonisation goals.
o A Hackathon for the BTC City 2050 was organised for young people to create ideas for the shared sustainable vision of the BTC City 2050. All together 6 groups of 30 young people created ideas for building and open spaces of the area and to find innovative solutions based on sustainable development principles.
o An exhibition was organised with the main aim to raise awareness of citizens about the decarbonisation benefits of the city and to get feedback, gather ideas and suggestions for improving the quality of life in the City of Ljubljana.
o Based on developed ideas, feedback from visitors, local and foreign mentors, several development concepts were created. All solutions were presented, and at the end, a jury of experts awarded prizes for the three best ideas.

• A common vision for BTC City 2050 was created.
• Stakeholders’ involvement in the co-creation process was improved.
• Implementing green interventions improved biodiversity and microclimate conditions in the area.
• A park with a size of 12,000 square metres was implemented where around 270 trees and various shrubs from 20 different species were planted.

• BTC City Ljubljana is recognised as a great testing area for implementing new and innovative solutions that can demonstrate how to improve the quality of living and reduce the impact of cities on climate change.
• Managing the green transformation process of the BTC City area can become an example of good sustainable practice in the city and region, also through international cooperation.
• Different workshops with various stakeholders served as important tools for the co-creation process.
• The involvement of various stakeholders and interdisciplinary collaboration is crucial in designing sustainable greening strategies.
• Stakeholder mapping for identification and engagement of key stakeholders can support the successful implementation of development goals.
• Environmentally friendly practices and collaborative partnerships are key success factors to address climate change challenges like the urban heat island.
• Empowerment of employees as “green agents” is a successful factor to efficiently integrate sustainable practices into different areas of the BTC City.

• Involvement of different stakeholder groups is crucial for the successful implementation of desired goals.
• Using different participative tools (workshops, exhibitions, expert meetings, round table discussions, etc.) is are useful tool to engage different target groups in the process.
• Good management of the process and monitoring can improve the effectiveness of the whole process from the beginning to the implementation phase.
• Empower key stakeholders to become “ambassadors” of solutions jointly developed by different target groups.

(other websites:

https://www.delo.si/gospodarstvo/novice/smo-testno-obmocje-za-resitve-urbanega-ozelenjevanja
https://www.btc.si/novice/2021/09/z-ozelenitvijo-treh-avtobusnih-nadstresnic-se-btc-pridruzuje-projektu-mestne-obcine-ljubljana/
https://novi.btc-city.com/sl/novice/intervju-dr-joze-bavcon-in-dr-blanka-ravnjak-botanika-ki-ozelenjujeta-mesto
https://www.irresistiblecircularsociety.eu/news/btc-city-picking-up-great-ideas-to-support-the-sustainable-future-of-the-btc-city-area-in-ljubljana
https://www.irresistiblecircularsociety.eu/btc-city-ljubljana-slovenia
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-76059-4_7