Post-Socialist Cities

Abstract

Post-socialist cities are cities in transition. Urban environments formed under socialist regimes are being adapted and remodeled to new conditions shaped by the political, economic, and cultural transition to capitalist society. In the first instance, systemic government-controlled transformations established basic rules for democratic policymaking and market economy. The market principles of resource allocation, privatization of state assets to a vast number of private actors, and the growing exposure to an international economy formed conditions for the development of spontaneous societal transformations of economic, social, and cultural environments. Urban change has been especially influenced by internationalization and globalization, economic restructuring in terms of de-industrialization and the growth of producer services, increasing social differentiation, new modes of postmodern culture, and neoliberal political practices. The main transformations in the spatial organization of former socialist cities and their metropolitan areas included the commercialization and expansion of city centers, the dynamic revitalization of some areas within the overall stagnation in inner cities, and the radical transformation of outer cities and urban hinterland through commercial and residential suburbanization. The post-socialist urban developments have brought the reemergence of some pre-socialist patterns, transformations in some areas from socialist times, and creation of new post-socialist urban landscapes.