YOUTH 2020 - The position of young people in Slovenia

Young people, housing, and sustainable environment  197 MATJAŽ URŠIČ 5. YOUNG PEOPLE, HOUSING, AND SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT 5.1 INTRODUCTION – KEY CHANGES IN YOUNG SLOVENIANS’ LIVING AND HOUSING CONDITIONS The analysis of living and housing conditions is one of the key areas that can explain changes in young people’s value orientations. From this point of view, many changes in young people’s daily life practices are of- ten perceived as a consequence of the social and physical “production of space” (Lefebvre, 1991), i.e. as an interweaving of the socio-spatial cir- cumstances (context) in which younger population groups are involved. The context of housing and living sets the conditions not only for youth socialization, but also processes of personal growth, independence, and demographic reproduction (Mandič, 2009; Lavrič, Klanjšek, 2010; Iacov- ou, 2010; Kins et al., 2013). In the Slovenian context, due to the populations’ relatively low housing mobility (cf., e.g., Hočevar et al., 2004, 2018), the influence of primary living and housing conditions, in relation to other EU countries, is even greater. A person’s living quarters and their immediate surroundings form the basic axis of their activity, and are further closely correlated with their life course and with their involvement in many social net- works (familial, professional [work], recreational, etc.). An important fea- ture of Slovenian social networks is their strong integration within their local environments (cf., e.g., Filipović et al., 2005; Filipović, 2007, 2016), which is directly related to their place of long-term residence or original (birth) residence. Lowhousingmobility is complemented by an extreme- ly high share of owner-occupied housing in Slovenia compared to other