Post-socialist Development and Rehabilitation of Large Housing Estates in Central and Eastern Europe: A Review

Abstract

In the socialist times, large housing estates in the Central and East European (CEE) cities were praised for effectively resolving the housing crisis, providing good and homogenous housing conditions at reasonable costs and enabling rapid urbanization. Following the collapse of communism, they have met with various consequences of low-cost construction based on prefabrication, lack of repair and upgrading investments and neglected or deferred maintenance, and the Western experience drew attention to the socioeconomic outcomes of further physical downgrading. As the flats located in these estates make up almost half of the total urban housing stock in the CEE region, thus having a significant impact on the overall housing quality, this paper discusses the post-socialist context of development of these estates based on the existing literature and an interdisciplinary analytical approach, with an emphasis on their rehabilitation. The research questions relate to the problems they have been affected by, mechanisms and methods of interventions and multifaceted differences between the CEE and West European estates. The aim of the paper is to analyse the development and rehabilitation challenges that these estates have encountered during post-socialism and thus join the discussion on future prospects and feasible and sustainable upgrading related policies and programmes.

Temporary Uses of Urban Brownfields for Creative Activities in a Post-Socialist City. Case Study: Timișoara (Romania)

“…As in the case of other post-socialist cities, such as Ostrava [79] or Novi Sad [45], the present study highlights the importance of small entrepreneurs and spontaneous initiatives in asserting the potential of creative activities to capitalize on the potential of former industrial spaces. A common element seems to be related to the inertia and outdated mentality of the authorities, for which only large-scale projects matter and their inability to perceive the multiple beneficial valences of creative activities in this field.…”

“…In Poznań, for example, one of the major innovative projects launched after 1990 was the rehabilitation of an industrial ensemble, the former brewery, and its transformation into a cluster of artists, young entrepreneurs, architects, and designers [43]. The same is true of New Belgrade, today one of the main areas of concentration of creative activities in Belgrade [44], and of the city of Novi Sad, where the post-industrial transformation of the Kineska neighborhood on the banks of the Danube has been achieved by means of a spontaneous and informal culture-based movement [45].…”

The Evolution of Multifamily Housing: Post-Second World War Large Housing Estates versus Post-Socialist Multifamily Housing Types in Slovenia

“…The shift in the political system was, logically, accompanied by the introduction of new policies in all spheres of government, including housing. As was the case in many other former socialist countries [38], the shift to a market economy system was readily accepted by the citizens who, at the time, entertained high expectations of future prosperity. But the euphoria did not last long.…”

“…And in order to realize the egalitarian doctrine, dwellings in large housing estates were allocated to all employees, i.e., functionaries of the Communist Party, middle class public employees (including university professors and medical doctors) and industrial workers, regardless of social status. Nedučin et al [38] (p. 1854) have suggested that "as a result, the socio-economic composition of large housing estates in the CEE cities presented a spectrum of various statuses and professions, making social heterogeneity their most distinguishing characteristic. "…”

“…It has been argued [38] that the low-cost construction methods and poor quality of materials used for producing prefabricated buildings later generated technical problems that, by the end of the 1980s, manifested themselves through partial physical deterioration and low energy efficiency. The work of van Kempen et al [25] showed that a large proportion of post-WW2 mass housing exhibits signs of decay, especially in buildings where poor-quality building materials were used.…”