Abstract
ABSTRACTIn Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union, housing estates are often associated with inhumane architecture and unwelcoming public space, an outcome that can be attributed to strict design requirements in a rigid centralized system. Due to the uniformity of residential housing produced during socialist times, both the design process and its master – the architect – are believed to have played only minor roles in shaping townscapes. This study, situated in the large housing estates of Tallinn, Estonia, challenges these assumptions using analyses of archival material (relating to planning procedures during state socialism) and articles in specialized magazines. The study also explains – through first-hand interviews with senior architects who were key players in building socialist cities – the relations between Soviet regulations and vital elements of the city-building process, including creativity, power, and artistry. Analysis of primary source materials highlights an oversimplification of socialist modernism, which suggests more nuanced explanations for town planning outcomes. Findings suggest that regulations issued in Moscow for Union of Soviet Socialist Republic-wide planning played a less important role than previously assumed in town planning outcomes in Estonia. International modernist city planning ideals, combined with local expertise, strongly influenced town planning practice in the Soviet ‘West’.
Highlights
State socialism provided unique opportunities to experiment with new models of city planning
We provide a detailed analysis of the three Tallinn housing estates – including their conception, design, and implementation – which we use to explore the role of architects in city planning
We synthesize our findings to conclude that, in undertaking these enormous challenges, architects in socialist Estonia can be considered visionary city-builders who, when handed standard building designs for residential space, seized opportunities to innovate in site design and layout, embracing possibilities to create unique built environments in vast housing estates that influenced urban landscapes
Summary
State socialism provided unique opportunities to experiment with new models of city planning. The Estonian Soviet Republic Council of Ministers issued the initial task for planning Mustamäe; an official planning process was launched in 1958 with an architectural competition, organized by the Executive Committee of Tallinn City, the State Architectural Board, and the Architects Union, in which 11 prospective architectural teams envisaged the structure, layout, and composition of the new residential district. This was unique in the USSR, it was matched to a certain degree in Latvia (in Āgenskalna priedes in Riga) and Lithuania (in Lazdynai in Vlinius) and to some extent, in Russia Both Estonian and Lithuanian housing districts received awards from all-Union architectural and planning competitions and Estonia and Lithuania were the only republics that regularly fulfilled new housing construction quotas required by Soviet authorities in Moscow.. Undisturbed by voices of the public nor landowners, the chief architect of Soviet Tallinn was solely responsible for all decisions with spatial dimensions
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