The “Legitimized Architecture” of Minsk World: Primitive Accumulation through Housing under Authoritarian Neoliberalism in Belarus

Abstract

Analysing the contemporary housing development Minsk World as a paradigmatic case of the authoritarian neoliberal shift in housing delivery in Belarus, this paper focuses on the intersections of law, finance and architecture. This paper makes three contributions to the debate on the neoliberal shift in housing delivery and the role architecture plays within it. First, it challenges the widely held opinion that the neoliberal shift in housing delivery never happened in Belarus. Second, it explores how building codes and regulations governing certain aspects of housing delivery can be overcome through political intervention by an autocratic head of state. In so doing, the paper introduces the concept of “legitimized architecture” as a way of describing the spatial dimensions of laws, codes and regulations. Third, it highlights the role of architecture, as professional practice, in normalizing the legal reforms that have facilitated the commodification of urban housing in Belarus.