Transformations of large housing estates in post-socialist city: The case of Łódź, Poland

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 changes in social and demographic structure of large housing estates in post-socialist Poland and their main determinants

“…In Warsaw, it was 600,000 of 1,671,700 inhabitants, and in Kraków 150,000 of 758,500 inhabitants (Węcławowicz et al 2003). In the third largest Polish city -Łódź (City of Lodz) -the estimated number of inhabitants in these housing areas was over 300,000 of 798,000 in the first decade of 21st c. (Szafrańska 2014). 1945-1970 1971-1978 1979-1988 1989-1995 Despite their similar physiognomy, the large housing estates built in Poland (likewise in other CEE countries) were different from those found in Western Europe.…”

“…As pointed as numerous authors (Węcławowicz et al 2003;Zborowski 2005;Gorczyca 2016;Szafrańska 2014Szafrańska , 2016) the most essential processes of social transformations of large housing estates in post-socialist Poland is the ageing of their inhabitants. Characteristically, this processes, observed in all housing estates built in state-socialist period, are synchronised with the time when they were built.…”

“…1945-1970 1971-1978 1979-1988 1989-1995 Despite their similar physiognomy, the large housing estates built in Poland (likewise in other CEE countries) were different from those found in Western Europe. They differed primarily in terms of the urban planning scale and the role played on the local housing market, the time of construction, the dominant form of ownership, and the socioeconomic status of inhabitants -and consequently their residential prestige and position in the ecological structure of the city in which they were located (Coudroy de Lille 2000; Musterd, van Kempen 2005;Węcławowicz 2007;Sýkora 2009;Kovács, Herfert 2012;Szafrańska 2014Szafrańska , 2015.…”

“…The factors that have enhanced this process over the last 27 years have been, first, the marked residential stability of the original occupants, and, second, a gradual outflow of young inhabitants, as many households enter the stage of the family life cycle called the "empty nest" phase, which starts when adult children leave home (Zborowski 2005). A closer analysis of selected large estates in three Polish cities (Warsaw, Kraków and Łódź) demonstrates that their ageing process, although it progressed rapidly in the 1990s and the early 21 st century, began to slow down with the onset of the 2010s (Węcławowicz et al 2003;Zborowski 2005;Szafrańska 2014). This ensued from an inflow of people in younger age categories (in their 20s and 30s) into the estates.…”

“…Their appearance and social perception are also changing (Szafrańska 2014). The emergence of more attractive housing areas in the city (suburbs, gated communities, new apartment buildings) lowered the prestige of these estates (Kovács, Herfert 2012).…”