Types of suburbs in post-socialist Poland and their potential for creating public spaces

Abstract

The aim of this article is to distinguish types of the suburbs that are typical for post-socialist European countries. The typology organizes the variety of suburban forms according to the degree to which they favour the creation of public spaces, or the access to such spaces in the city or nearby town. A new typology is based on six criteria: (1) the level of neighbourhood (spatial scale), (2) the time when the neighbourhood was erected, (3) spatial interaction with the nearest town/city, (4) the prevailing type of investment, (5) street layout, (6) access to the city centre by public transport. Suburbs are diversified in terms of their potential for the establishment of public spaces. It has been proved that individual housing in the form of neighbourhoods which are planned, densely populated and based on street grid is the most preferred type from the perspective of building social capital. The typology was developed for Warsaw Metropolitan Region, although it may be applied also in the research of post-socialist countries other than Poland and urban regions within them.