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Janez Nared, PhD
Deputy Head, Principal Research Associate

+386 1 470 65 48

janez.nared@zrc-sazu.si


Janez Nared is a geographer and researcher at the Anton Melik Geographical Institute of the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU). He received his PhD in geography from the University of Ljubljana (2007) and his master's degree in law (European Faculty of Law, 2009). His research areas include regional and spatial planning, regional development and policy, economic geography, mobility, territorial governance, and participatory planning. He pays particular attention to local self-government, relations between centers and peripheries, and inter-municipal cooperation. Recently, he has been focusing on spatial mismatch and transport aspects of spatial organization. He is committed to transferring scientific knowledge into practice and leads or participates in applied and basic research projects.


Janez Nared's main areas of research are the effects of policies in space, changes in spatial structures, and the resulting spatial imbalances. He devotes considerable attention to territorial governance and strategic planning at various territorial levels and to the transfer of scientific knowledge into practice.
Key research topics include regional development and the relationship between centrality and peripherality, the integration of spatial and development planning, and spatial imbalances between different spatial structures, which are reflected in the centralisation of jobs and services, the decentralisation of settlement, and consequently greater traffic flows.

Among the more important achievements are the organization of the Slovenian Regional Days symposium, the co-creation of doctoral study modules in Regional Studies and Human Geography, the design and editing of the book series Regional Development and Capacities, leading basic and applied projects, and contributing to the development of policies in the field of regional and spatial development and mobility.
Internationally, he serves as ambassador for the Regional Studies Association and as a member of the International Scientific Committee for Alpine Research (ISCAR), which he also chaired for two years. For seven years, he led the SMART-MR project, which addressed transport in metropolitan regions, and he was also co-editor of the book Participatory Research and Planning in Practice (Springer).

His further research goals include the study of spatial structures, spatial imbalances, and related challenges for regional development and sustainable spatial management.

Teaching
  • Assistant profesor at the University of Primorska, Faculty of humanities
Awards and recognitions
  • Faculty of Arts Prešeren Award for students, University of Ljubljana, 2001
Professional memberships
  • president of the Steering committee of the symposium “Slovenian regional days”
  • co-editor of the Regional development book series
  • member of the Acta geographica Slovenica and Folia Geographica scientific review editorial boards
  • chief editor for regional planning of the Acta geographica Slovenica
  • ambasador of the Regional Studies Association for Slovenia
  • member of the Committe for the Economy of the Regional Development Council of the Ljubljana Urban Region
  • member of the International Scientific Commitee on Alpine Research
  • member of the ZRC SAZU Board of Directors
Section
Department of Human Geography
Keywords
regional planning
regional development
spatial planning
economic geography