This thesis examines the impact of a pedestrian zone on the local population, using the stepped terrace residential buildings in Koseze, Ljubljana, as a case study. The research is based on an understanding of urban public space as socially produced space, shaped not only by architectural and urban planning decisions but also by everyday practices, mobility, social relations, and the meanings attributed to space by its users. Pedestrian zones are therefore examined beyond their traffic function, as spaces of everyday life, social interaction, and the formation of relationships with the neighbourhood.
The study combines urban anthropology, anthropological approaches to space, mobility and walking studies, and the concept of pedestrian zones. Particular attention is given to the historical and architectural development of the stepped terrace residential buildings, which was originally designed to separate motor traffic from internal areas intended primarily for pedestrians. The empirical research is based on interviews with residents and other interlocutors, participant observation, and walking as a research method. Walking interviews, or the go-along method, made it possible to connect participants’ narratives with specific routes, spatial features, memories, and everyday experiences of the neighbourhood.
The findings indicate that restricting motor traffic has affected the ways in which the internal areas of the neighbourhood are used and experienced. Some residents associate the pedestrian zone with greater peace, safety, and quality of life, and the area has also become more frequented by pedestrians, young families, and visitors from other parts of the city. The area therefore functions not only as residential infrastructure but also as a broader recreational and social space. However, the benefits of the new traffic regime are not distributed equally among all users. Restricted car access, parking, the condition of pedestrian paths, and maintenance can create difficulties, particularly for older people, people with reduced mobility, and other users with specific accessibility needs. The research consequently shows that a pedestrian zone is not merely a traffic arrangement but a social space in which different needs, forms of mobility, and ideas about the fair use of common space intersect. Its meaning is continuously produced through the interaction between planned space and the everyday practices of its users.
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