Housing Estates in the Czech Republic after Socialism

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to identify ongoing changes in post-socialist large housing estates and to clarify their main factors, using a case study approach. The paper examines the transformations of nine housing estates in the third largest Polish city -Łódź. The transformations were analysed in two dimensions: social (socio-demographic changes) and physical (changes in the spatial and functional structure and changes in the physiognomy). The key question was whether the changes occurring in large housing estates in Łódź protect them before the development of the social and physical degradation, identified in many estates in Western Europe, referred as the "large housing estate syndrome". Research has shown that in examined housing estates there are no symptoms of physical or social degradation. Moreover, processes found there contribute to the prevention of the negative phenomena leading to the development of the "large housing estate syndrome".

The Social Transformation of Large Housing Estates in Poland at the Turn of the 21st Century

“…In large housing estates, ageing is the result of limited residential mobility, and, for that reason, the period in which an estate originated is signifi cant for the development of an estate community. The results of the analysis confi rmed the conclusions of research conducted in the post-socialist housing estates by other authors [Kabisch and Grossmann 2013;Temelová et al 2011], who found that the ageing process was the result of the distribution of fl ats to people in a selected age group when the estate was built. The ageing of the communities in the housing estates means that the infrastructure needs to be adjusted to the needs of the elderly-for example, by installing access lifts in fi ve-storey buildings or remodelling public services.…”

“…The process of ageing of large housing estates was analysed in some comparative studies on European cities [Filius and van Kempen 2005;Dekker et al 2011] and on some Central and Eastern European cities [Kabisch and Grossmann 2013;Temelová and Slezáková 2014]. The ageing of estates relates to the time when estates were built and to the fact that estates fl ats were mainly assigned to young families [Kährik and Tammaru 2010;Temelová et al 2011;Kabisch and Grossmann 2013].…”

“…However, most studies of large post-socialist housing estates have highlighted the maintenance of heterogeneity of residents and the relatively high social stability of large housing estates, fi ndings that were refl ected in surveys conducted in Tallinn [Kährik and Tammaru 2010], Leipzig [Kabisch and Grossmann 2013], Łódź [Marcińczak and Sagan 2011;Szafrańska 2010;2014], Kraków [Zborowski 2005], and Prague [Temelová et al 2011], along with St Petersburg, Budapest, Sofi a, Leipzig, and Vilnius [Brade, Herfert and Wiest 2012].…”

“…Large housing estates have also been analysed in terms of the changes resulting from the evolution of the estate's life cycle [Hirt and Stanilov 2007;Gentile and Sjöberg 2010;Temelová et al 2011;Temelová and Slezáková 2014]. Some studies have described the possible future directions of estate development in the Czech Republic [Špaček 2012; Šimáček et al 2015] or others have discussed the prospects for high-rise estates in Slovakia [Divinsky 2004] and Slovenia [Dimitrov ska Andrews and Cernic Mali 2004].…”

New Municipal Housing Construction, Decision-making, and Risks of Segregation: A Case Study in Rudoltice

“…Tradičně je mezi "nevyhraněnými" lokalitami (sociálně-prostorovými formacemi) věnována významná pozornost panelovým sídlištím, kde byl na základě srovnání s vývojem urbanisticky a architektonicky podobných čtvrtí v západní Evropě předpokládán rychlý úpadek -zhoršování fyzické-ho stavu a pokles sociálního statusu obyvatel. Empirické výzkumy sice ukazují určitý pokles sociálního statusu (zejména vzdělanosti) v agregátu sídlišť, zároveň však konstatují rozmanitost trajektorií sídlišť v různých městských a regionálních kontextech [Temelová et al 2011], a to jako možný důsledek kombinace řady ekonomických i kulturních faktorů [Špaček 2012].…”