Housing trends in Central and Eastern European cities during and after the period of transition

Abstract

The introductory chapter to this section of the book provides an overview of the housing trends in cities of Central and Eastern Europe during the crisis of the transition period in the early and mid-1990s and the subsequent boom of the housing construction industry. An overview of the market fluctuations since the late 1980s is followed by a discussion of the neo-liberal housing policies embraced by most post-socialist governments. The chapter concludes with a description of the spatial impacts on residential development patterns conditioned by market forces, public policies, and the pre-existing spatial structure of the socialist city.