A Chronotopic Evaluation of Autonomous Rog: The Spatiotemporalities of a “Quasi-Public” Urban Squat

Abstract

The paper explores an urban squat in Ljubljana, Slovenia, following a chronotopic narrative approach. Urban squats often represent a manifestation of alternative notions of who belongs where, when, and why, questions that matter when issues pertaining to their legal status are raised. We examine the case of Autonomous Rog, a formerly squatted bike factory area in the city centre of Ljubljana that the Supreme Court of Slovenia described as “quasi-public.” The paper welcomes the Slovenian Supreme Court's ability to appreciate the social, spatiotemporal, and material elements that make up this idiotropic type of urban space, moving beyond the confines of human-centred legal analysis. We present the journey of Autonomous Rog through three distinctive chronotopic viewpoints, in order to accentuate the subversive human and material properties that found their way into the Slovenian legal system, as we reflect on the law's ability to embrace spatiotemporal representations in an urban context.

The culture of urban space occupation in Ljubljana or how do the citizens appropriate the city through bottom-up approaches

“…However, it has not been possible to meet with actors from this squat as it has been evicted in January 2021. This squat has been studied by researchers from diff erent countries, and will be presented through the literature review, including "The Value of Autonomous ROG" (Ntounis et al, 2021) and "A Chronotopic Evaluation of Autonomous Rog: The Spatiotemporalities of a "Quasi-Public" Urban Squat" (Kanellopoulou & Ntounis, 2023).…”