Geographia Polonica (2015) vol. 88, iss. 4

Transformations of large housing estates in Central and Eastern Europe after the collapse of communism

Ewa Szafrańska

Geographia Polonica (2015) vol. 88, iss. 4, pp. 621-648 | Full text
doi: https://doi.org/GPol.0038

The main purpose of this paper has been to identify ongoing changes in post-socialist large housing estates and to clarify the main factors underpinning them. The transformations in question were analysed in two dimensions: a social dimension encompassing structural socio-demographic and socio-economic changes among inhabitants, and a spatial dimension relating to socio-spatial, functional and physical (morphological and physiognomic) changes. The main question concerned the ways in which large housing estates built during the communist era have changed under the new socio-demographic, political and economic conditions emerging following the collapse of communism. The study was thus based on a review of the available literature.

Keywords: large housing estates, CEECs, post-socialist city, collapse of communism

Ewa Szafrańska, University of Łódź Kopcińskiego 31, 90-142 Łódź: Poland