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

Abstract

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.