YOUTH 2020 - The position of young people in Slovenia

Young people, housing, and sustainable environment  207 low domestic and international mobility (Kesselring, 2008; Hočevar, 2017). In the Slovene context, this is based on the proverbially rigid (lo- cal-autarkic) territorial organization, a dispersed settlement pattern, and a markedly low share of rented and spatially compact multi-dwellings (Uršič, Hočevar, 2007). For example, in a survey, a large proportion of young people state that they would be willing to move to another Euro- pean country (73.5%) or another place in the country (73%) if offered suitable living and working conditions. At the same time, this group of young people have little experience with studying, living, or working conditions in other countries. The vast majority of young people stated that they only had vacationed in or travelled to other countries. Young people’s relatively low practical (in terms of study, work, life), na- tional, and international mobility indicates a specific perception of their declarative readiness tomove abroad, which is also reflected in the data on their “desire to emigrate from Slovenia for more than six months”, where most young (52.3%) at the same time state that they do not have an exces- sive desire to move out of the country for a long period of time. The men- tioned specifics of young people’s housing and mobility preferences, de- scribed in this chapter, indicate the adoption of living patterns according to the principles of strong attachment to the local environment and locally acceptable social living practices, which presuppose the acquisition of their own housing as a basic platform for further independence (according to a Slovenian proverb – “First the stable, then the cow”). The notions of a suitable way of living are thus reproduced in young people to a somewhat lesser extent than in the older population (Uršič, Hočevar, 2007; Hočevar et al., 2004–2018) through established living patterns, and are associated with the need to live in one’s own, larger apartment or house outside larger (compact) settlements with higher settlement densities. Owning apartment or house is an extremely strong value orientation among young people, which is associated with reproduction and with the transfer of long-term housing patterns in Slovenia, which in turn are based on a specific dispersed settlement pattern, a low share of rental housing, and a pronounced local-territorial organization.