Blaž P. Kosovel
Blaž P. Kosovel is a researcher, editor, cultural worker and licensed tour guide. He grew up in Nova Gorica and has been researching and writing about its history, urban development and identity for more than a decade.
He is the project manager of the Ab Initio – Urban Utopia project, and the principal researcher of the Digital Archive of Nova Gorica and New Towns, which you are currently exploring. The project was part of the official programme of the European Capital of Culture Nova Gorica–Gorizia 2025.
In his work on Nova Gorica, he combines research into the city’s history, urban development and identity with writing, documentary work and the development of historical and urban routes and guided tours. He is the author of the guidebook Nova Gorica – A New City on the Border, the first historical and urban route through Nova Gorica, and the documentary series Goriški sprehodi, in which he explored overlooked and lesser-known aspects of the Goriška region.
He has expanded his research on Nova Gorica to other new and planned cities. In 2024, together with the Goriška Humanists Association, he curated the exhibition Nova Gorica – A New City on the Border, which placed Nova Gorica within the broader international context of new towns and border cities. He also participated in the European project New Towns, New Narratives, led by the International New Town Institute (INTI), which connects 17 European new towns. In 2025, he hosted the project's final international meeting in Nova Gorica and curated an exhibition presenting all the participating towns. The exhibition is also travelling to other cities in the consortium.
He received his PhD from the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Primorska. In 2013, as a Fulbright scholar, he conducted research at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. His research focuses primarily on intellectual and social history, cultural and urban geography, the history of cities and urban planning, new and planned cities, modernism, borders and border societies, and cultural policy.
He is the author of the scholarly monograph Zakaj ZDA nimajo ministrstva za kulturo – od agrikulture do kulturne industrije, od mesta Rim do ameriške civilizacije (Why the United States Does Not Have a Ministry of Culture – From Agriculture to the Culture Industry, from the City of Rome to American Civilisation, ZRC Publishing, 2022), the chapter Why There Is No European Dream? in the Routledge Handbook of the American Dream (Routledge, 2022), and the afterword to the Slovenian translation of David Graeber's Bullshit Jobs (Založba /*cf., 2024).
He was a founding member of the editorial board of the journal Razpotja (Crossroads) and served as its editor from its establishment in 2010 until 2025.
He is a founding member of the Goriška Humanists Association and one of the founders of the Mesto knjige (City of Books) literary festival.
He is also the director of the Magistrala Institute, under which the Ab Initio – Urban Utopia project is carried out.
He also appeared as an expert contributor in RTV Slovenia documentary film Ideal Cities (director: Amir Muratović) presenting the origins, urban development and particularities of Nova Gorica in comparison with other planned cities in the region.
As a licensed tour guide, he leads original historical and urban tours in Nova Gorica, Gorizia, the wider Goriška region and elsewhere in Slovenia, particularly Ljubljana. Tours are available in Slovenian, English and Italian.
Goriški sprehodi
Blaž P. Kosovel is the author of the documentary series Goriški sprehodi, dedicated to overlooked and lesser-known subjects from the Goriška region. Through specific places, people and stories, individual episodes uncover less visible layers of the region's history, identity and everyday life.
Razpotja Nove Gorice
Together with Miha Kosovel, Blaž P. Kosovel edited the special anniversary issue Razpotja Nove Gorice, published to mark the 70th anniversary of the beginning of Nova Gorica's construction. The nearly 150-page volume brought together 23 Nova Gorica authors who explored the city's development and identity from historical, urban, social, cultural and personal perspectives – from its construction to the question of what Nova Gorica is and what it could become.
Selected Media Coverage
A walk through Nova Gorica – Sunday feature for Radio Slovenia's First Programme
RTV Slovenija – radio feature
Meeting of representatives of European new towns in Nova Gorica
MMC RTV Slovenija – presentation of the final meeting of 17 European new towns
Nočni obisk / Odprto za srečanja – Blaž Kosovel
Radio Koper
Guided tours attract the first visitors to Rafutski Park while restoration is still underway
MMC RTV Slovenija
Presentation of the guidebook Nova Gorica – A New City on the Border
Primorske novice / Svet24
Presentation of Razpotja Nove Gorice
Primorske novice – O »uspelo faliranem« mestu
Feature on the historical and urban walk through Nova Gorica
MMC RTV Slovenija – “They were supposed to build something great, something proud …”
Selected International Coverage
As a local researcher, author and guide, Blaž P. Kosovel has also introduced Nova Gorica and the wider Goriška region to international journalists, guiding them through the city and providing insights into its history, urban development and the wider context of the region.
In Le Routard Slovénie 2025/2026, the leading travel guide for French-speaking travellers, Blaž P. Kosovel is recommended as a local guide to Nova Gorica.
Nova Gorica was also the subject of an extensive feature in BauNetzWoche, the magazine of Germany's largest architecture portal, BauNetz, and one of the central platforms of the German-speaking architectural scene. Nova Gorica was the cover story of issue 673, with a multi-page feature examining the city, its urban history and the Ab Initio project.
Following guided visits to Nova Gorica and conversations with Blaž P. Kosovel, substantial features also appeared in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), Le Figaro and Dream of Italy, with Kosovel contributing as a local expert and guide to the city and region.