Rethinking the role of land privatization in peri-urban transformations in Ukraine: the case study of Sokilnyky, Lviv oblast

R Lozynskyi

doi:10.26565/2076-1333-2019-27-06

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to find out how the distribution and further privatization of land have affected the changes of peri-urban villages in Ukraine since the 1990s, based on the case of the village of Sokilnyky near Lviv. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the redirection of Ukraine's economy from a planned centralized to a market-oriented crony-capitalism, the peri-urban areas of largest cities have become complex, dynamic and contradictory spaces with drastic changes in demography, housing, infrastructure, and land use. The shift of land policy in Ukraine in the 1990s with the weakening of planning regulations and the way land was distributed are the main triggers of how peri-urban areas have been transforming. The analysis of changes in land ownership, household farming/agriculture, detached houses’ number and size, household income and urban morphology (street network, location of houses and commercial units) in Sokilnyky since 1990s reveals three key consequences of privatization and commodification of land in post-socialist cities’ environs: a) land privatization provided the opportunity for small-scale household farming/agriculture for one class of people as a survival strategy, especially during the economic crisis of the 1990s, and a place for housing and commercial construction for another, causing the eclectic nature of peri-urban settlements with mixing different classes of people with different lifestyles; b) land distribution and privatization were crucial in the emergence of chaotic, fragmented and ad-hoc housing and commercial units, since land division into plots in the 1990s preceded urban planning and master plan development; c) privatization has also created a condition for biased land-development for profit, resulting in shrinkage of public spaces, communal lands and green open spaces. The study is based on statistics from local government, historical map analysis, informal interviews/personal communication with urban planners and officials, and fieldwork visual analysis.

Highlights

After the collapse of the Soviet Un-The purpose of the study is to understand how the ion in 1991, Central and Eastern European cities experi- distribution and further privatization of land have affectenced significant changes in demography, land-use, housing, and infrastructure
The research question is – how land distribution and privatibecame places of especially drastic transformations, ex- zation have affected peri-urban villages in largest ceeding those in Western Europe to the extent that some Ukrainian cities since the 1990s? Answering this quesauthors have called it a post-socialist suburban revolu- tion and finding new insights will assist urban planners, tion [27]
Howev- with focus on one case is determined by the nature of er, in post-socialist countries, especially in former Soviet research question and methodology that requires deep countries, capitalism took different than in Western analysis of how land distribution impacted on peri-urban countries specific form known as crony capitalism with village and especially on it urban morphology

Summary

Roman Lozynskyi

RETHINKING THE ROLE OF LAND PRIVATIZATION IN PERI-URBAN TRANSFORMATIONS IN UKRAINE: THE CASE STUDY OF SOKILNYKY, LVIV OBLAST. ПЕРЕОСМИСЛЕННЯ РОЛІ ПРИВАТИЗАЦІЇ ЗЕМЛІ У ТРАНСФОРМАЦІЯХ ПРИМІСЬКИХ ТЕРИТОРІЙ В УКРАЇНІ: КЕЙС-СТАДІ СЕЛА СОКІЛЬНИКИ, ЛЬВІВСЬКА ОБЛАСТЬ. Метою дослідження є з’ясувати, як розподіл та подальша приватизація земель впливають на зміни приміських сіл України з 1990-х років на основі кейс-стаді села Сокільники під Львовом. ПЕРЕОСМЫСЛЕНИЕ РОЛИ ПРИВАТИЗАЦИИ ЗЕМЛИ В ТРАНСФОРМАЦИЯХ ПРИГОРОДНЫХ ТЕРРИТОРИЙ В УКРАИНЕ: КЕЙС-СТАДИ СЕЛА СОКОЛЬНИКИ, ЛЬВОВСКАЯ ОБЛАСТЬ. Как распределение и дальнейшая приватизация земель влияют на изменения пригородных сел Украины с 1990-х годов на основе кейс-стади села Сокольники под Львовом. Ключевые слова: постсоциалистические трансформации, пригородная территория, жилье, морфология поселения, земельная политика, приватизация, городское планирование, критическая социальная теория

Introduction

Ukrainian cultural anthropologists recently started to

Number of houses and apartments

Findings

Conclusion and discussion