New Town: Nova Gorica, Slovenia
Organisation: Association of Humanists from Goriška region

Blaž is an independent researcher, editor of the quarterly journal Razpotja, tourist guide, and cultural worker. He holds a PhD in Cultural Studies and explores intellectual and social history, as well as cultural and urban geography. As the project manager of Ab Initio, an urban utopia within Nova Gorica - European Capital of Culture 2025, he investigates the town’s history and urbanism. Nova Gorica is the first town built from scratch to receive this prestigious title. That is why other European new towns are also presented in the project. He created the first urban-historical trail through Nova Gorica. In his publication ’Why the US has never had a Department of Culture’ (2022, ZRC SAZU - Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Arts and Sciences), the author offers insights into the role of institutional culture in European nation-building processes and its absence in the American context. as published by.
Blaz will also act as the bridge to the organisation of Nova Gorica European Capital of Culture 2025.