In the early 20th century, before the collapse of the Austro Hungarian Empire, what is nowadays Slovenia was predominantly rural. Industry developed slowly. Entrepreneurial drive in the new country of Yugoslavia after World War I was interrupted by the beginning of World War II . The communists seized power in 1945 and called for modernization and in the first five-year plan they put forward industrialization, economic self-sufficiency of the state and the exploitation of natural resources. The new authorities used modernization to legitimize the regime in the eyes of the people as well as to impress their international allies. Above all, the communists tried to compensate for the delay in the development of a predominantly agricultural country. This was the time in which both the economy and social reality were managed by ideological interests, a time of large projects that left a major mark upon Slovenia.

Industrialization was accompanied by accelerated urbanization and the small Slovenian cities also expanded markedly. Between 1947 - 1950 three projects were created for three practically new cities: Nova Gorica, Velenje and Kidričevo. There were different reasons for creating each of them and they have been developed and built in the different circumstances, in the three different geographic parts of Slovenia and they also respond differently to the new development. Nova Gorica was designed for the new border between Italy and Yugoslavia, which cut the rural hinterland off from the previous urban focus, Gorizia, nowadays in Italy. Velenje was developed because of the lignite mine. The reason for the planning of Kidričevo was the half-built German aluminum factory. Indeed none of the three sites was embedded in totally empty space untouched by pre-war urbanization. All three sites were developed as political and economic projects according to the basic concepts of comprehensive planning, inspired by the international paradigm of modern functionalism.

Today Nova Gorica and Velenje have developed into major regional centers and each of them in its own way radiates vitality, hosts comprehensive development of business, tourism and trade. Kidričevo has remained a small village in which the aluminum factory remains the largest company. All three sites are phenomena of the times; on the verge of the new millennium, after transition to a market economy and the shift from classical industries, they found themselves in a specific situation in which they had to restructure and also search for a formula of development for themselves.

In the study we want to find out how these cities, as urban tissues, have survived the transition, what their potential for development is as well as what the role of the “ideological” concept of urban development of cities was, how resistant it is to time and to the socio-economic changes and what has been passed on to the present as specific urban quality, element of identity and a stable urban tissue for future urban development.