The Pilot Project Karst was initiated in 1998 and was completed in 2002.

The Karst region in south-western Slovenia gave its name to the Karst phenomena which describes a soil mainly of limestone with very slow water retention capacity so that water vanishes rapidly and accumulates underground, forming subterranean beauties of exceptional natural value such as the Skocjan caves. In the undulating Karst landscape of meadows, pastures and black pine forests, with a specific flora and fauna and rich biodiversity, man has shaped an unique cultural landscape of compact settlements with specific vernacular architecture such as the picturesque historical Town of Štanjel, and of vineyards articulated by the suhozid dry-stone walls for the famous viniculture of the Teran wine. This rural territory is dominated by small mixed farms of agricultural exploitation and animal husbandry, guaranteeing more the preservation and maintenance of this cultural landscape than the financial survival of families. Besides the network of very small and medium-sized businesses and a few large enterprises, the transport and logistic sector is highly developed as the region is located at a geostrategic position bordering Italy.

This fragile landscape was threatened as local inhabitants turned their back to their natural and cultural heritage. The modern lifestyle often causes a gap between the desire to preserve natural and cultural heritage and to create new business opportunities. The subterranean drinking water was exposed to various sources of pollution as no functional sewage system for waste water existed; caves served as dump sites, illegal waste disposals. Dangerous substances penetrated through the highly permeably ground, polluting the underground water and indirectly the health of local inhabitants. Ancient historic settlements were abandoned by their inhabitants in search of modern more comfortable houses. Opposite of the old Town of Štanjel, a new settlement developed in an uncontrolled urbanization pattern with scattered buildings. While ancient settlements were dying out, architectural heritage deteriorated; historic structures were neglected or suffered of inappropriate interventions. This whole process was inscribed in a context of demographic decline, the structural discrepancy between the number of job-seekers and the number of jobs available pushing the young quality labour workforce to migrate towards urban centres in neighbouring centres, mainly in the capital of Ljubljana. Traditional agricultural activities were almost abandoned so that the cultural landscape risked disappearing. The Slovenian institutional context did not allow addressing in a comprehensive manner such complex development problems. National Ministries barely cooperated in regional development; they did not implement their policies in a concerted approach, their activities being sometimes in competition or conflict. Spatial planning tools and interventions for instance did not sufficiently take into account the vulnerability of the environment. There was furthermore no intermediary regional administrative level between the centralised state administration and the local administration which lacked moreover of human and financial resources to fulfil its recently assigned responsibilities. The decentralisation process led indeed to the overlapping of competences at national and local administration level. As both had never cooperated before, misunderstandings prevailed about the work assigned to the public service, often not done such as the delivery of building permits or the control of construction and renovation activities. Development problems in the region were addressed through uncoordinated and partial procedures. Cooperation and coordination of activities, joint actions among local stakeholders such as tourist service providers, were not developed. Almost no cooperation existed between municipalities and private businesses.

The Pilot Project Karst offered as a comprehensive instrument a perfect opportunity to assist the reorganization of the institutional structures in Slovenia, putting forward legislative solutions corresponding to Slovenia’s particular needs, influencing changes in policies and project management procedures, impacting on the redaction and revision of laws; to improve inter-sectorial cooperation among national Ministries; to provide experience and transfer knowledge to local authorities for their newly gained responsibilities, contributing to the capacity building of local and regional institutions; to experiment a new methodology in addressing an integrated and multidisciplinary approach in spatial planning, considering the preservation of cultural and natural heritage as an asset for a sustainable local social and economic development; helping to guide urban policy and to frame the development policy via the elaboration of the Community Development Plan CDP, adopted by the Slovenian Government; to promote partnerships and cooperation between public and private actors, the participation and consultation of the population for the elaboration of projects. The regionalisation process represented a considerable challenge to Slovenian institutions. An inter-ministerial commission was established to define an integral regional development policy as well as to coordinate sectorial policies and activities in between different Ministries, institutionalized by the Council for Structural Policies and the Council for Sustainable Development. The Steering Committee at local level was meant to anticipate the creation of a regional decision-making and -taking level, promoting a bottom-up approach in development policies. The Project Implementation Unit brought forth the concept of regional agency as institution for implementing a balanced territorial development. A project vision was elaborated as consensus achieved among local and national stakeholders, introducing into the process different interests, a place-based development process initiated at the local level with private businesses; compared to regional development programmes which previously only focused on logistics of equipment and installations in the territory decided by the central state administration.

The Pilot Project Karst served as a reference when the Local Development Pilot Projects programme (LDPP) was set up and launched in South-East Europe in 2003.

An ex post evaluation was carried out by the Council of Europe.