At the traditional meeting of municipalities and mayors of Slovenia, the City of Ljubljana received the Golden Rock 2016 award for the most propulsive municipality in Slovenia in terms of development.

“Ljubljana has won the award due to three compelling reasons. Firstly, an impressive list of achievements in sustainable mobility. Ljubljana is the only capital city which won the European sustainable urban mobility award twice. In this year, special attention has been given to environmentally friendly traffic solutions, and we cannot avoid the fact that Ljubljana is the only municipality in Slovenia which allocates such a large share of its budget to sustainable mobility. Secondly, an enormous progress the city has made in one year. Thirdly, implementing shared space areas, which is a breakthrough in how we perceive the city. Moreover, the three main evaluations of Ljubljana for this year’s Golden Rock award overlap. The winner has the highest ISSO index, the most points in analysis of strategy, political culture and activities, as well as all possible points of the Expert Council. In five years, this has not happened yet. Ljubljana is no longer a quiet provincial city, but has become a modern European capital and a fast growing tourist hit in two decades. The development is huge also in environmental field – next to all arguments for the European Green Capital, Ljubljana is the only capital which has adopted the Zero waste strategy. The opening of the largest regional waste management centre in Slovenia is a giant step forward. Without the vision and targeted strategic leadership this would not be feasible. Also, it would not be possible without many talented and hardworking people in the city service network.” Those were the words of professor dr. Andrej Černe, the head of the Expert Council.
After receiving the award, the mayor Zoran Janković said the City of Ljubljana has achieved great changes in sustainable development in the past nine years, which improved the quality of life of its citizens and has led to the prestigious title, the European Green Capital 2016. “I am happy that we were awarded the Golden Rock award as well, since it means recognition of our work also on the national level. It confirms that our efforts are right, since sustainable development provides solidarity also for our future generations, leaving them the environment that we can enjoy now,” said the mayor.