Large Housing Estates

Although planned as the " City of Tomorrow " , the Bijlmer district in Amsterdam quickly became the quintessential symbol of urban decline. Today, even with half of the planned renewal of the Bijlmer completed, the alleged success of this urban revitalisation programme is questionable. Parts of the black middle class did not move out and some are even returning to the Bijlmer; the combination is producing a type of " black gentrification " , which forces the " undesirables " like drug users, homeless people and undocumented immigrants to leave. This revanchist renewal not only benefits the middle and lower-class population of the district, but it also serves the interests of private developers. European revanchism makes the city safe for corporate investment and aims to restore social order as well as stimulating the development of a strong middle class. This paper demonstrates how hard revanchist policies are demanded not only by private developers but also by the middle and lower classes, and they exist alongside soft " caring " policies, even for the " undesirables " . 
Keywords: revanchism, urban revitalisation, gentrification, Amsterdam, black middle class, homeless people, modernist urban planning, undesirables, drug use, public space, high-rise flats

Sakralizacja przestrzeni jest zjawiskiem złożonym i ujmowanym w wielu aspektach. Według R. Matloviča (2000) może ona być prezentowana w dwóch ujęciach, sensu stricto oraz sensu largo. W pierwszym ujęciu oznacza rozszerzanie się przestrzeni sakralnej przeznaczonej tylko do zaspokajania potrzeb religijnych, w drugim ujęciu oznacza rozwój obszarów o funkcji religijnej. Sakralizacja sensu stricto postrzegana jest w przestrzeni geograficznej jako po-wstawanie obiektów kultu religijnego, takich jak: kościoły, cerkwie, synagogi, meczety itd. Sakralizacja sensu largo ma większy zakres, gdyż obejmuje również inne obiekty kościelne, m.in.: sale katechetyczne, szkoły różnego szczebla, administrację, wydawnictwa, plebanie, obiekty gospodarcze. Proces sakralizacji w miastach jest stale obecny, a jego dynamika była zmienna i zależała od wielu czynników, głównie politycznych. Historycy wskazują na okresy, kiedy ulegał on przyspieszeniu i zahamowaniu, a także cofaniu. Spowolnienie, a nawet cofanie się procesu sakralizacji miało również miejsce w XX w. w krajach, które znalazły się pod wpływem doktryny komunistycznej. Pojawiło się ono w Związku Radzieckim, a następnie objęło kraje Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej, które były pod wpływem Rosji radzieckiej po II wojnie światowej. W zależności od warunków politycznych w poszczególnych krajach tzw. demokracji ludowej proces sakralizacji w latach 1945-2010 miał różne tempo dynamiki.

The article considers the character of social relationships in an urban high-rise settlements. It analyses the influence of time and physical space on the  level of inter-human relationships. A section of the largest settlement in Slovakia,  Bratislava-Petržalka, is the locality for author´s empirical qualitative research. Here  he identifies  social groups and opportunities; he analyses the influence of time and  physical space on the level and quality of inter-human contacts. He shows how  established contacts can contribute to raising of social capital and quality of life in  locality.

Key words: social networks, urban high-rise settlements, social capital

This article examines the crises of post-war modernist housing estates in West Germany and Austria, illuminating the key differences that emerged despite the strong similarities in terms of urban design and share in overall housing stock. With an analysis of the different framing and narration in the professional discourse between 1960 and 1990, the paper reveals that the estates served as a battleground for negotiating broader socio-political questions, resulting in different politizations of the estates. By deciphering the complex and partly contingent entanglements between the built form and politics, the paper contributes to research on post-war modernist housing estates and to the reassessment of these urban structures. It also enhances our understanding of the varied perceptions and performances of the ‘same’ built structures, thereby opening up new perspectives for the ongoing discussions about the revival of mass housing.

Czechoslovak housing estates built in the last two decades of state-socialism can be viewed as a socialist spatial entity with its own uniqueness and local characteristics specific to the circumstances of socialist Czechoslovakia during the “normalisation” era. These housing estates appeared from the beginning of the 1970s in big cities such as in Prague and Bratislava provided a new kind of living space for the residents. The ideas behind the creation of these estates were not only related to their physical appearance which shows the direct connection to modernist architecture, but also the aspiration of socialist ideologues to make a positive change in the name of socialist modernisation. Although the post-war socialist centralization of the Czechoslovak state and architectural practice endorses the notion of collective endeavour, the construction of housing estates for all as a part of the “building of socialism” program was attacked by contemporary critiques as providing the premises for the citizens’ retreat into the private sphere. These estates could be argued to have caused a psychological impact and worked to shape a new lifestyle and mentality of the residents whose lives epitomized the main theme of normalisation-era: the quiet lives away from politics. Different poles of criticism to which large-scale housing estates were subjected during the late socialism (the 1970s and 1980s) can be perceived as a part of the dissident movement, with “velvet” tactics that culminated into the “velvet” end of socialism in Czechoslovakia in 1989, and therefore, can be placed within the context of the broader political and intellectual climate of their time (Post-modernism, and Neo-liberalism).

This paper focuses on large-scale housing estates in Łódź as an example of post-socialist city. The aim of the article is to describe the large housing estates in Łódź in the light of statistical data and to identify and clarify the social, spatial and functional changes which have occurred in transformation period in these estates. The study is based on the results of National Censuses (1988 and 2002) and on the data of unpublished materials of the Municipality of Łódź. The article consists of four parts. First part presents general information on LHE in Poland. The second describes the development of LHE in Łódź and its current situation in the light of statistical data. The third part presents the results of an analysis of social, spatial and functional changes that have been taking place in LHE in Łódź in transformation period. The fourth is a conclusion providing an answer to the question why LHE in post-socialist Łódź still seem to offer fairly satisfactory conditions (physically and socially) and why they are still attractive in comparison with other areas of the city.

Grocery Stores Location in Large Housing Estates within the Area of Bemowo District (Warsaw)

Thesis was defended at the Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Warsaw, in September 2014.

W pracy dokonano analizy rozmieszczenia sklepów z artykułami spożywczymi w obrębie wzniesionych w latach 70. i 80. XX wieku wielkich zespołów mieszkaniowych znajdujących się na terenie dzielnicy Bemowo m.st. Warszawy. Na podstawie rozmieszczenia sklepów podjęto próbę ustalenia dostępności mieszkańców dzielnicy do towarów żywnościowych codziennego użytku oraz wskazania najważniejszych czynników lokalizacji. Uwzględniono stan na rok 2014, łącznie z aktualnymi relacjami przestrzennymi względem zabudowy mieszkaniowej i układu komunikacyjnego. Za ważny element uznano dane demograficzne dotyczące Bemowa oraz charakter dzielnicy, będącej peryferyjną, rozwijającą się częścią stolicy Polski. Zwrócono uwagę na formę organizacyjną, wielkość, branżę, a także czas otwarcia poszczególnych sklepów.

"Socio-economic and physical change have visibly affected post-socialist cities, yet the state of decay of their inherited large housing estates has only deepened throughout the 1990s, despite the change in tenure through policies of large-scale  privatisation. Housing disrepair has now reached a critical stage that requires rapid private and public intervention. This paper examines the extent to which Romanian block residents have been able to improve in situ their housing conditions since 2000, the strategies they employed and the challenges they faced. It focuses on the often ignored private domain of housing, flats and blocks, where changes are also likely to be less visible. By analysing the process of individual utility metering and the practice of collective block management, I argue that besides economics, the unregulated housing context and a relaxed legal
culture have challenged individual and collective action and have generated a framework of housing privatism."

Prefabricated housing estates, which were created in the Czech lands between
the late 1950s up until the mid-1990s, have in recent years emerged as a subject of interest,
and not only for architectural history. An extensive interdisciplinary research project into
Czech housing estates, covered by the five-year grant “Prefabricated Estates in the Czech
Republic as Part of the Urban Living Environment”, has also included the participation of the
Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague.
In the over four decades of their construction, these housing estates underwent architectural
development, though this need not immediately be apparent on first view. For us
to deal with all of the theoretical as well as practical problems posed by the phenomenon
of the prefabricated housing estate, we need first of all to find a suitable terminology and
a basic periodicisation, which has been the aim of our work.
Because it has been found within the documentation of selected housing estates to be
impossible to accept any of the previous chronological and stylistic divisions of mass housing
without reservations, the article discusses a concept for periodicisation that would apply
on the level of the entire nation. The proposal is based on the architectonic and urban
analysis of the estates, the development of prefabrication and panel technology, as well as
on the era’s political and economic situations, which directly influenced the construction of
public housing. The housing estates of Prague have been selected as a model instance for
the reason that they provide the hitherto most thoroughly researched locality in the Czech
Republic, while the national capital at the same time acts as the nation’s most influential
cultural centre.

Представлен анализ коллективной инициативной деятельности ак-тивных горожан-жителей большого жилого комплекса «Северная долина» в Санкт-Петербурге. Становясь видимыми друг для друга, они сталкиваются и вступают в стратегические взаимоотношения, представляя собой индивидуаль-ных или комплексных «игроков», действующих на «аренах»-онлайн-и офлайн-платформах взаимодействия. Для анализа повседневных практик самоуправле-ния и заботы об общих пространствах и инфраструктурах на уровне соседства автор обращается к концепции городских совместностей (urban commons). В управлении территориями района и общими пространствами крупного жилого комплекса важную роль играет сеть цифровых площадок, созданных жителями на базе социальной сети VK.com. Показано, как эти цифровые площадки участвуют в процессах создания и поддержания границ сообществ производителей совмест-ностей (commoners) и в производстве самих городских совместностей. Предло-жен концепт распределенного производства совместностей (distributed com-moning), который помогает увидеть множество элементов, вовлеченных в их (вос) производство, и учитывать технологические особенности устройства цифровых площадок и их влияние на практики заботы о районе и характеристики возни-кающих сообществ. Исследование показывает, что формирующиеся сообщества производителей совместностей множественны, неоднородны, текучи и зачастую конфликтны. Ключевые слова: городские совместности, самоуправление, соседство, сообще-ство, конфликт, онлайн-инфраструктура, большой жилой комплекс.

Deindustrialisation has severely hit Finnish suburban housing estates of the 1960s and 1970s, and socio-economic differences between neighbourhoods have increased. The social disorganisation theory suggests that neighbourhood disadvantage is a risk factor for problems related to social order. This article compares perceptions of social disorder in suburban housing estates compared to other kinds of neighbourhood. Perceived social disorder appears to be most common in the suburban housing estates built in the 1960s and 1970s, somewhat less common in other high-rise neighbourhoods, and clearly least common in low-rise areas. Neighbourhood disadvantage predicts perceived social disorder, which partly explains these differences. Keywords: Social disorder, housing estate, deindustrialisation, social disorganisation

Greenery at housing estates forms a large part of public green spaces in Slovak towns. It was usually planted without designing and its maintenance is also often neglected. Currently, it is necessary to solve many problems of green spaces at housing estates, such as poor general condition, high maintenance costs, poor design qualities or loss of green spaces due to an expanse of the static traffic (parking). The aim of this paper is to evaluate the results of the tree inventory conducted at the residential complex Párovce in Nitra, Slovakia. The tree inventory and the management programme for tree maintenance in the residential complex Párovce was conducted in 2013. The document was intended for an evidence of trees, the tree maintenance planning, issuing regulation of construction activities and planning of compensatory tree plantings. The tree inventory includes identification data, dendrometric values and quality assessment (landscape value of trees and vitality). Based on the tr...

The article is a summary of scientific and research work aimed at determining the
possibility of transforming one of the selected so-called large-scale housing estates in Bielsko-Biała in Poland. One of the final work’s effects was the concept of the spatial development of a new housing estate in the area and in the neighborhood of the existing one. The research work was ordered by Cavatina & Partners Company, which in its offer has a rare combination of leading experience in the design and construction of a wide range of real estate. The company's goal is to create modern facilities and places of daily use for the dynamic needs of people, communities and companies. In its activities, it focuses on the innovative thinking, the latest technology and the sustainable development. The aim of the scientific and research work was to prepare scenarios and explore spatial possibilities in the event of the need to demolish a large complex of multi-family buildings, so-called blocks of flats. The research was based on the assumption that the lifecycle of buildings was completed due to their technical condition.
The scenarios presented variant possibilities of shaping the concept of development of the selected area and should serve as a basis for starting social consultations regarding the future development of the above-mentioned area. Scenarios and concepts are to take into account the improvement of housing conditions of the housing estate residents. The development options are to show different possibilities of changes in the area taking into account: 1 – the results of social research on existing housing conditions, 2 – the records of strategic city documents such as the city development strategy, study of conditions and directions of spatial development and local spatial development plan, 3 – the stage options investment. The formation’s history of blocks of flats in Poland dates back to the 1950s. Currently, about 12 million people live in them, which is about 30% of the population of Poland. Hence, all problems related to this type of building are in fact becoming national problems. That is why discussions and questions arise: if the first of them were created more than 60 years ago, should they be demolished due to the technical condition and based on similar decisions? And maybe renewed and revitalized?
If they constitute such a significant percentage of urban development and despite negative aesthetic impressions, should they be removed from the spatial structure of cities? The answers to this question often depend on the individual characteristics of the blocks with which their residents and users have to deal with. Even the most accurate answers do not often match individual cases.

Paneláci [I] Padesát sídlišť v českých zemích Kritický katalog k cyklu výstav Příběh paneláku. Uměleckoprůmyslové museum v Praze Obsah 1 Dřevní fáze 9 Rozumět sídlištím 38 A Zlín -Obeciny a východní část města 128 Proměna obyvatelstva vybraných obytných celků fáze socialistického realismu Petra Špačková, Lucie Pospíšilová 3 5 Pionýrská fáze Technokratická fáze 140 A Zlín -Dům G 40 a experimentální domy 326 A Praha -Jižní Město Ladislava Horňáková Michaela Janečková 146 B Plzeň -Experimentální dům PL 60 338 B Brno -Bohunice a Starý Lískovec

The paper focuses on the new urban spaces - housing estates, which are at the moment accommodating approximately one third of all inhabitants of Slovakia. The author examines the changes ongoing during the last 15 years in the largest Slovak housing estate of Petrzalka. He emphasises the improvement of the living environment, in particular the development of infrastructure, possibilities for free time activities, numerous green places etc. These factors the author identified as causes of the satisfaction, the author's informants expressed when talking about the estate. He pays attention to the developing activities of non-profit organizations as they are among the factors improving and enriching the inhabitants as necessary for achieving a satisfactory quality of the living environment. In the conclusion the author expresses his fears that further development of the estate could be limited to the technocratic solutions giving a way to a force of the developers without participation and on the expense of its inhabitants.

На окраинах крупных российских городов с середины 2000-х годов растут районы новостроек, многие из которых реализованы по программе комплексного освоения территорий. В массмедиа и публичных дискуссиях новые жилые районы критикуют за множество проблем, связанных с социальной и транспортной инфраструктурой, высотностью зданий и качеством общественных пространств. Медиа и эксперты по развитию городской среды используют применительно к периферийным жилым комплексам в больших городах категорию «гетто», указывая на уже существующие проблемы и предполагая перспективы деградации подобных территорий, ассоциируя их с западными модернистскими жилыми комплексами, которые постигла печальная судьба стать районами с «плохой репутацией».В статье рассматривается появление и трансформация академического понятия «гетто», а также анализируются практики производства новых периферийных жилых районов как гетто (в локальном значении) на примере исследования жилого комплекса «Северная долина...

Magyarországon minden ötödik ember panellakásban, lakótelepen él. A lakótömbök technológiai korszerűsítése megkezdődött, de a lakhatás műszaki feltételeinek javulása nem képes megoldani az ott lakó társadalom problémáit. Van egy alapvető fizikai és virtuális hézag, mely akadályozza az eredményes beavatkozást: a földszint. Tanulmányomban szakirodalomra, katalógusokra és helyszíni bejárásokra alapozott vizsgálatok útján elemzem a panellakó-társadalom közösségi életterét, a földszinti zónát. Városépítészeti, külső és belső építészeti elemeket keresek, szintetizálom azon tényezőket, melyek hatottak a földszint kialakítására, befolyásolják mai használatát. A hazai középmagas paneles lakóházak földszinti térrészeit forma, külső és belső használat szempontjából tipizálom. Elemzésekre alapozva kimutatom, hogy az átmeneti zóna alul értékelése a panelházak működésének és sikeres revitalizációjának is gátja. A kialakított tipológia segíti a házak fizikai és társadalmi megújítását, egy komplex megközelítést igénylő szakmai szemlélet megalapozását.

This article considers the character of social relationships in an urban settlement and their significance for the quality of life in the residential area. It analyses the influence of time and physical space on the level of inter-human contacts and shows, taking specific examples, how established relationships contribute to the improvement of life in the locality. To address this issue the author chose the theoretical approach of social capital, which deals with the significance of social networks. A section of the largest settlement in Slovakia, Bratislava Petržalka, is the locality for his empirical research. Here he identifies social groups and opportunities; he analyses the influence of time and physical space on the level and quality of inter-human contacts. On the basis of specific examples he shows how established relationships contribute to raising the quality of life in the locality. The article outlines an applied approach in the renewal and development of settlements by means of social networks and social capital.

На окраинах крупных российских городов с середины 2000-х годов растут районы новостроек, многие из которых реализованы по программе комплексного освоения территорий. В массмедиа и публичных дискуссиях новые жилые районы критикуют за множество проблем, связанных с социальной и транспортной инфраструктурой, высотностью зданий и качеством общественных пространств. Медиа и эксперты по развитию городской среды используют применительно к периферийным жилым комплексам в больших городах категорию «гетто», указывая на уже существующие проблемы и предполагая перспективы деградации подобных территорий, ассоциируя их с западными модернистскими жилыми комплексами, которые постигла печальная судьба стать районами с «плохой репутацией». В статье рассматривается появление и трансформация академического понятия «гетто», а также анализируются практики производства новых периферийных жилых районов как гетто (в локальном значении) на примере исследования жилого комплекса «Северная долина» (Парнас) в Санкт-Петербурге. Автор показывает, как возникает imarginality, или воображаемая маргинальность жилого района, которая аналитически может быть представлена через два связанных воображения — гетто-в-настоящем и гетто-в-будущем. В статье подробно рассматриваются их компоненты, созданные медиа и экспертами по городскому развитию. Исследование показывает, что воображение гетто-в-настоящем не имеет эмпирических оснований в случае ЖК «Северная долина». В статье также рассмотрены перформативные эффекты функционирования категории гетто: воображаемая маргинальность (imarginality), которая формируется вокруг жилого района, может «действовать» и в том числе приводить в движение механизмы, которые заложены в описываемом процессе геттоизации.

Noch vor einigen Jahren galten die von Hochhäusern dominierten Großsiedlungen am Rande vieler deutscher Städte als überkommene Produkte einer mehr oder weniger gescheiterten Stadtplanungs-und Wohnungs-baupolitik. Doch während aktuell in zahlreichen Städten die Proteste gegen steigen-de Mieten und eine wachsende Ungleichheit im Wohnen zunehmen, ändert sich auch die Sicht auf frühere Stadtpolitiken. Der Ruf nach mehr öffentlich subventioniertem Wohnungsbau wird lauter, und eine wachsende Zahl an Ausstellungen, Konferenzen und Publikationen zeugt von einem neuen Interesse am baulichen Erbe der Nachkriegsmoderne. Dieses Interesse ist nicht auf den deutschen Raum beschränkt. Schließlich war es eine global verzweigte Planungsbewegung, die im Namen der funktionalen Moderne das Aussehen vieler Städte nachhaltig änderte. Zum internationalen Aufstieg des modernistischen Massenwohnens und speziell der Großsiedlungen trug diese Planungsbewegung entscheidend bei. Daher beschränkt sich die neue Aufmerksamkeit für die Großbauprojekte der Nachkriegszeit auch nicht auf die historische Forschung. Mindestens ebenso stark interessieren sich dafür Stadtplaner/innen und Architekt/innen.

The study deals with community development as one of the possible approaches to the application of anthropological knowledge in practice. In the introduction the author characterizes the development and its connection with the quality of life, which is part of the broader cultural and social context. For the theoretical understanding of this fact it is helpful the concept of social (and cultural) capital of locality, based on the quality of human relationship as the premise for the regeneration and development of towns or villages. Practical application then offers the model of community development, based on the most important resource – residents themselves. This approach can be implemented in a variety of environments; one of them is a housing estate as the specific urban area. The author reflects his several years of experience in the NGO Center for community organizing (development) in a position of community worker on the largest Slovak housing estate - Petrzalka. The NGO was trying to build active citizen groups by community organizing in the first. This model is based on the strengthening of the residents, on pressure and conflict between stakeholders. After review of this approach (divided) NGO has passed to the cooperation model based primarily on collaboration and building partnerships – community development. The author offers a few examples of both approaches, and highlights the dilemmas which he met in the work. He concludes with potential contribution of graduates of Ethnology to this area.
Keywords: development, social capital, community organizing, community development, housing estates

This book provides a theoretically informed, empirically rich account of the development, causes and consequences of public housing (council/local authority/social) estate regeneration within the context of London’s housing crisis and widening social inequality. It focuses on regeneration schemes involving comprehensive redevelopment – the demolition of council estates and their rebuilding as mixed-tenure neighbourhoods with large numbers of market properties which fuels socio-spatial inequalities via state-led gentrification. The book deploys an interdisciplinary perspective drawn from sociology, geography, urban policy and housing studies. By foregrounding estate residents’ lived experiences – mainly working-class tenants but also working- and middle-class homeowners – it highlights their multiple discontents with the seemingly never-ending regeneration process. As such, the book critiques the imbalances and silences within the official policy discourse in which there are only regeneration winners while the losers are airbrushed out of history. The book contains many illustrations and is based on over a decade of research undertaken at several London council-built estates. The book is divided into three parts. Part One (Chapters 2-4) examines housing policy and urban policy in relation to the expansion and contraction of public housing in London, and the development of estate regeneration. Part Two (Chapters 5-7) analyses residents’ experiences of living at London estates before regeneration begins. It argues that residents positively valued their homes and neighbourhoods, even though such valuation was neither unqualified nor universal. Part Three (Chapters 8-12) examines residents’ experiences of living through regeneration, and argues that comprehensive redevelopment results in degeneration, displacement, and fragmented rather than mixed communities.

The forced relocation—displacement—of social housing residents resulting from estate regeneration involving demolition has been the subject of considerable academic and policy debate. While some scholars and policy makers regard such displacement as having harmful outcomes in relation to loss of homes and community relations, others argue that residents benefit from relocation as they move to ‘better places’. This paper contributes to this debate, and to the wider ’post-displacement’ research agenda, by providing an experiential perspective on residential relocation with reference to in-depth interviews with social housing residents in London who returned to new-build flats at the redeveloped mixed-tenure estates. The paper employs a multi-scalar approach to place attachment which is illustrated and analysed at three spatial scales: domestic (home/dwelling), intermediate (block of flats) and neighbourhood (estate). The home scale is the most positive albeit not unequivocal aspect of residents’ post-displacement experiences, whereas place attachments at the block and neighbourhood scales are characterized by extensive and intensive disruptions and losses.

The article is a summary of scientific and research work aimed at determining the possibility of transforming one of the selected so-called large-scale housing estates in Bielsko-Biała in Poland. One of the final work's effects was the concept of the spatial development of a new housing estate in the area and in the neighborhood of the existing one. The research work was ordered by Cavatina & Partners Company, which in its offer has a rare combination of leading experience in the design and construction of a wide range of real estate. The company's goal is to create modern facilities and places of daily use for the dynamic needs of people, communities and companies. In its activities, it focuses on the innovative thinking, the latest technology and the sustainable development. The aim of the scientific and research work was to prepare scenarios and explore spatial possibilities in the event of the need to demolish a large complex of multi-family buildings, so-called blocks of flats. The research was based on the assumption that the lifecycle of buildings was completed due to their technical condition. The scenarios presented variant possibilities of shaping the concept of development of the selected area and should serve as a basis for starting social consultations regarding the future development of the above-mentioned area. Scenarios and concepts are to take into account the improvement of housing conditions of the housing estate residents. The development options are to show different possibilities of changes in the area taking into account: 1-the results of social research on existing housing conditions, 2-the records of strategic city documents such as the city development strategy, study of conditions and directions of spatial development and local spatial development plan, 3-the stage options investment. The formation's history of blocks of flats in Poland dates back to the 1950s. Currently, about 12 million people live in them, which is about 30% of the population of Poland. Hence, all problems related to this type of building are in fact becoming national problems. That is why discussions and questions arise: if the first of them were created more than 60 years ago, should they be demolished due to the technical condition and based on similar decisions? And maybe renewed and revitalized? If they constitute such a significant percentage of urban development and despite negative aesthetic impressions, should they be removed from the spatial structure of cities? The answers to this question often depend on the individual characteristics of the blocks with which their residents and users have to deal with. Even the most accurate answers do not often match individual cases.

This article aims to review some of the main features of the large housing estates (LHEs) in Bucharest and to reveal the main challenges to future planning for those areas. We show how the management of the buildings has evolved since the massive and almost complete privatization of the early 1990s. We also address the land use regulation for public and common spaces. While investigating how public facilities are managed within LHEs and reviewing the quality of the buildings in those areas today, we also highlight the fact that some of the problems that we have identified are innate. Moving from the larger picture to details, we weigh the problems that define the real scale of LHEs and might help us to draw a meaningful comparison with similar situations in other former communist countries. Finally, we aim to bring together extant policies and ones that are yet to be worked out by connecting the major determinants that constitute the legacy of the past with the uncertainties of the ...

Major Cities of East Central Europe from World War II to the 2000s: On the Post-War Roots of Today’s Urban Development

Abstract in English:

This article was conceived as the introductory article of a thematic bloc. It summarizes the main phenomena of European urban development in the second half of the 20th century, focusing on major cities of East Central Europe. Starting out from a general European context, the author investigates the ways in which Europe-wide urban processes took shape in East Central European metropolises between 1945 and the 2000s and attempts to capture the specific features of the region's cities.

The effects of World War II and its direct as well as indirect political consequences had a significant impact on both the physical and social makeup of East Central European cities after 1945. The differences among today’s cities and their architectural characteristics can often be traced back directly to the war, i.e. to. the varying extent of war damages and to the ways individual cities were reconstructed after the war.
Furthermore, World War II and the immediate post-war years led to a very high degree of societal discontinuity in several parts of East Central Europe. War casualties, the Holocaust, forced migration – flight, deportation, the expulsion of certain ethnic groups, and population exchange – affected several million people and put an end to many cities’ former ethnic, linguistic, denominational, and cultural diversity.

The Soviet system also left a lasting mark on East Central European countries and their major cities after 1945, although not every urban trait commonly attributed to state socialism can be explained solely by Soviet influence. For example, surprising parallels can be found between Western, North-Western and Central Eastern European countries in terms of their application of technocratic urban planning principles, their architecture of new housing estates, or later their universal openness toward the philosophy of urban renewal. At the same time, the housing principles and social policies of state socialist systems had a lasting and still perceivable impact on the metropolises of Central and Eastern Europe. Although spatial inequalities did exist in socialist cities, segregation remained relatively moderate until the political transition of 1989-1990; the immigration of foreigners was also minimal compared to Western Europe and remained limited even decades after the collapse of state socialist regimes.

The establishment of new systems of municipal government, the return to market economy, and the onset of privatization triggered off processes in East Central Europe which unfolded decades later than in Western Europe but with all the more vigour. These processes included suburbanization, deindustrialisation, the crisis and functional transformation of former industrial areas, and the penetration of investment capital into urban politics and the real estate market – phenomena which all posed serious challenges to city- and district-level municipal governments after 1990.

Absztrakt magyarul:

Ez az írás egy tematikus blokk bevezető tanulmányaként íródott. A tanulmány az európai városfejlődés főbb jelenségeit tekinti át a 20. század második felében, Kelet-Közép-Európa nagyvárosait a fókuszba állítva. Az európai kontextusból kiindulva arra keresi a választ, hogy az Európa-szerte jellemző folyamatok mikor milyen formát öltöttek Kelet-Közép-Európa nagyvárosaiban, és miben ragadhatók meg a régió városainak sajátosságai az 1945-től a 2000-es évekig tartó több mint fél évszázad során.

A háború hatásai, közvetlen és közvetett politikai következményei Kelet-Közép-Európa városainak mind fizikai, mind társadalmi arculatát jelentősen befolyásolták az 1945 utáni évtizedekben. A ma általunk ismert különbségeket, városépítészeti sajátosságokat sok esetben közvetlenül a háborúra, a háborús pusztítás városonként eltérő mértékére, illetve az újjáépítés mikéntjére lehet visszavezetni. A második világháború és az azt követő évek Kelet-Közép-Európában sok helyütt igen nagy mértékű társadalmi diszkontinuitáshoz is vezettek. A háborús emberveszteségek, a holokauszt, a kényszermigráció – menekülés, kitelepítés, egyes etnikai csoportok elűzése, illetve a lakosságcsere – sok millió embert érintettek, és számos városban véget vetettek a korábbi etnikai, nyelvi, felekezeti és kulturális sokszínűségnek.

Kelet-Közép-Európa szovjet érdekszférába került országain és azok nagyvárosain tartós nyomott hagyott továbbá a szovjet rendszer. Ugyanakkor számos, a hazai köztudatban a szocializmusnak tulajdonított sajátosság nem vagy nem kizárólag szovjet hatásra bontakozott ki a régió nagyvárosaiban, és meglepő párhuzamok mutathatók ki Nyugat-, Északnyugat- és Kelet-Közép-Európa között például a technokrata várostervezés elveinek alkalmazása, az új lakónegyedek építészete, vagy később a városrehabilitációs gondolat iránti fogékonyság terén. Az államszocialista rendszerek lakás- és társadalompolitikája ugyanakkor erős és máig ható helyi jellegzetességeket eredményezett Közép- és Kelet-Európa nagyvárosaiban. Bár léteztek térbeli társadalmi egyenlőtlenségek, a rendszerváltásig viszonylag mérsékelt volt a szegregáció; a kontinens nyugati felének nagyvárosaihoz képest minimális volt a külföldiek bevándorlása is, sőt, a bevándorlás a rendszerváltást követő évtizedekben is sokkal csekélyebb mértékű maradt, mint Nyugat-Európában.

A rendszerváltás után az új önkormányzati rendszerek létrejötte, a piacgazdasági átalakulás és a privatizáció nyomán Kelet-Közép-Európa nagyvárosaiban több évtizedes késéssel, de annál nagyobb erővel jelentkeztek azok folyamatok, amelyek Nyugat-Európában már évtizedekkel korábban megindultak: például a szuburbanizáció, a dezindusztrializáció, az ipari területek krízise és funkcióváltása, illetve a befektetői tőke behatolása a város- és ingatlanpolitikába – csupa olyan jelenség, mely komoly kihívások elé állította az 1990 utáni városi, illetve kerületi önkormányzatokat.

Social mixing has been part of government policies regarding estate renewals in many countries. It is mostly achieved through tenure diversification, such as introducing privately owned and rented dwellings. Concurrently, in many residualized social housing sectors, larger shares of tenants now have high and complex needs, including recently settled refugees. Therefore, social and spatial manifestations of multiculture have become more complex. Consequently, a non-tenure-related form of social mixing, primarily one of cultural difference, occurs. This article considers the unintended effects of wider policies around resettlement of refugees in the context of estate renewal. Considering Wacquant et al.’s (2014 Wacquant, L., Slater, T. & Borges Pereira, V. (2014) Territorial stigmatization in action, Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 46, pp. 1270–1280.
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, Territorial stigmatization in action, Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 46, pp. 1270–1280) discussions of dissimulation and microdifferences, it reflects on the experiences of residents living on estates that are currently undergoing renewal in suburban Adelaide, South Australia, and reports on tensions that sometimes emerge between long-established and more recently settled residents as well as efforts (by managing authorities, support services and the residents) to foster cross-cultural engagement and cultural sensitivity on these estates.

The main task of the paper is the relationship between the space in urban- architecture meaning and the social communication, social processes. This problem is resolved at a housing estate, which is specific urban place with mostly residential function, absent of typical street, a lot of dwelling-houses etc. The author chose for his ethnological research a smaller part in neighbourhood of Petrzalka. The residents of this part are visibly more active in citizen life than those who live in other part of housing estate. The first author premise was due to its specific urbanism (a lot of green places, majority of low-storied dwellings), but research exposed that the main factor is age of this part.