Kranj, the regional centre of Gorenjska in the northwest, has made great strides in sustainable mobility, energy efficiency, and smart communities in recent years, winning acclaim as the most dynamic Slovenian municipality.

The city, Slovenia's third largest, has renovated a number of public buildings, installed rooftop solar, and upgraded the public transit fleet.

It is also part of a European initiative of climate neutral and smart cities, as part of which it is developing innovative measures to foster a greener, cleaner and safer city environment.

Kranj was honoured with the Golden Rock award for the most development-minded municipality at an annual meeting of local communities on 11 March

Accepting the award, Mayor Matjaž Rakovec describing local communities as engines of development. "If municipalities do a good job in sustainable development, Slovenia will perform well too."

"We have close ties with our residents, act as contact points for business, and are adept at joining forces at regional and state level," he said.

While Slovenian municipalities are mostly hard to compare with Ljubljana, this year's winner has outperformed the capital city in some of the most important aspects, the judging panel said.

"Kranj has come the furthest in implementing smart city technologies in the country ... they are introducing new ways to involve residents in decision-making," the judges said, adding that the city was also a pioneer of sustainable energy management.

"They do not shy away from experiment - even if they sometimes fail. Smart neighbourhoods with digital twins, artificial intelligence and machine learning, buses as travelling measuring devices, the most advanced smart card, cooling public spaces, raising environmental awareness of primary school children," the panel listed some of the municipality's achievements.

Kranj used to be a pioneer of industrialisation in the country. "It is now characterised by innovation and boldness. And it seems that Kranj can once again go where no Slovenian municipality has gone before."

The Golden Rock award was started more than a decade ago to recognise the most economically dynamic local communities in the country. Last year it went to Murska Sobota and the year before to Ankaran.