The Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia was established in 1955 as a research and consultancy agency in the fields of urban and regional planning and related disciplines. In 1993, the Urban Planning Institute became a public research organisation, recognised and partly financially supported by the Slovene Government

The main focuses of the large interdisciplinary team of architects, landscape architects, urban planners, art historians, ethnologists, geographers, economists and other experts are theoretical research in spatial and regional planning and sustainable urban planning and design. But the Institute is also largely involved in the studies of preservation and promotion of cultural heritage and urban renewal.

In recent years, it has been particularly engaged in researching cultural heritage of the 19th and 20th centuries and dedicating special attention to Art Nouveau heritage. Since 1999, the Institute has been a partner in the Réseau Art Nouveau Network and organised the international exhibition "Art Nouveau in Progress" and the international conference "National Identity and International Trends in Art Nouveau" in 2006.