THE SOVIET UNION AS A DEVIANT CASE? UNDERURBANIZATION IN SOVIET ESTONIA

Abstract

Much of the discussion of urbanization in socialist countries has been focused on underurbanization, that is, lower rates of urban growth than would be expected from industrial expansion alone. The roots of underurbanization can be found in the workings of the shortage economy under central planning, where administrative allocation of resources and a strong preference for industrial investment are given priority over housing construction. However, analysts specifically concerned with urbanization in the former Soviet Union have by and large shunned or overlooked this framework. This is probably due to the extensive urbanization that took place there, which at first sight renders the underurbanization thesis less relevant. In contrast, this paper finds that the traits of underurbanization otherwise most closely associated with the socialist economies of Central Europe also could be found in the former Soviet Union, as the case of Estonia clearly reveals. [Key words: central planning, shortage economy, Estonia, externally imposed urbanization, underurbanization.]