The Evolution of Multifamily Housing: Post-Second World War Large Housing Estates versus Post-Socialist Multifamily Housing Types in Slovenia

Abstract

The academic discourse on post-Second World War (post-WW2) multifamily housing complexes has mostly focused on their negative aspects, related, especially, to their high population densities, poor quality of construction and social problems, due to the dominance of low-income residents. In reaction to these and other negative characteristics, alternative multifamily housing types started to emerge, first in Western European countries in the 1970s, and later in Eastern European countries, following the adoption of the market economy system at the beginning of the 1990s. The transformation that has occurred in mass housing types has been particularly distinct in Eastern European countries. Motivated by the lack of focused analyses of the important characteristics of these transformations, this article adopts a rare approach to the mass housing debate by focusing on examining the merits of post-WW2 large housing estates as compared to those of the post-socialist era. With a focus on Slovenia as a case study, a comparative analysis is performed by conducting a detailed review of the literature and other relevant sources. The comparative analysis shows that post-socialist multifamily housing types have many advantages over the post-WW2 housing estates, a finding that leads us to deduce that the transformations in mass housing typologies that have occurred in Slovenia (and other Eastern European countries) may have serious implications on the future of large housing estates. It is thus suggested in the conclusion that suitable regeneration policies need to be urgently implemented in post-WW2 housing estates in order to create more attractive living environments and prevent the potential degradation of these neighborhoods, which would, in turn, result in spatial residential segregation with concentrations of low-income households in post-WW2 housing estates.