Post-socialist Cities Research Articles

Rethinking the post-socialist city

ABSTRACT Research on the post-socialist city remains weakly connected to global urban debates. This contribution argues that a comparative research agenda can help the post-socialist city to overcome its isolation and to engage with urban theory (rather than simply supplying case studies for such). New comparative urbanism suggests that mechanistic, “genetic” comparisons may fail to offer new avenues for research, while “generative” comparisons that involve cities from across the globe can create spaces for conversation. Following this, there may be at least three areas of dialogue around the research on the post-socialist city. Firstly, protean post-socialist processes offer a harsh test for urban theories if they seek to claim global relevance. Secondly, the diversity of transition outcomes challenges the variegation of the liberal capitalism thesis because the latter has geographic limits. Thirdly, the emerging new state capitalism requires analytical scrutiny of its variants, including state-led and illiberal forms currently dominant in China and Russia.

The role of participation in the development of the smart city idea: frameworks, opportunities, mechanisms

The progressing urbanisation process and its visible effects are prompting local authorities to seek new solutions to contemporary development challenges, especially those identified in post-socialist cities, including in Poland. Nowadays, the smart city concept is becoming widely popular. This idea is grounded in the principles of sustainable development in all spheres of socio-economic life. However, in a comprehensive approach, it moves away from its strictly technological definition towards the social context and local conditions. Nowadays, there are more and more instruments supporting social and civic activity of the inhabitants of Polish cities. One extremely popular mechanism is the participatory budget. In order to trace its importance in the implementation of the smart city concept, an empirical analysis was undertaken in Bydgoszcz (a medium-sized city in Poland). According to the research, the participatory budget is asymmetrical, with infrastructure investments dominating. Support is needed for pro-social activities and those activating residents. Therefore, the diversification of projects in the budget, including setting aside a pool of funds for pro-social and cross-district projects, should be viewed in a positive light.

Transforming the Use of Agricultural Premises under Urbanization Pressures: A Story from a Second-Tier Post-Socialist City

Diverse aspects of de-agrarianization, which is manifested by the cessation or significant reduction in agricultural activities, have been clearly visible at the outskirts of large cities in Central Europe in recent decades. The key drivers behind this process include increased pressures to cover peri-urban agricultural land by new developments, inadequate protection of agricultural land, ineffective implementation of urban planning policies, low recognition of the importance of agriculture, and overall changes in people’s dietary habits. Urbanization pressures undoubtedly belong to the factors intensifying overall de-agrarianization, as urban farmers are usually not able to compete with other urban functions. This article focuses on more in-depth understanding of the driving forces behind de-agrarianization processes that are specific to post-socialist cities. As a case study, Brno, a second-tier city in the Czech Republic, was selected. In the first part, the conceptual framework and drivers of de-agrarianization are discussed specifically for the case of large Central European post-socialist cities. In the next part, we explore by means of a set of qualitative interviews the case study of the regeneration of the area of a former Cistercian monastery in Brno that was traditionally used for agricultural purposes, but recently was redeveloped for a university campus. Our findings signal procedural issues connected to the preservation of architectural heritage during the regeneration that frequently end up with only fragments being preserved. We also demonstrate a decline in the use of urban agricultural properties that are hastily transformed into a new urban environment under extremely strong urbanization pressures. We argue that even in economically prosperous cities with highly neoliberal competition between possible urban land uses, agriculture must be considered a relevant and highly important urban function and more protected by planning tools.

Suburb as a socio-spatial phenomenon and post-socialist city

The article analyzes the history of the emergence of the socio-spatial phenomenon of the suburbs in the Western world and in Ukraine. A comparison of suburbs in the Soviet Union (with regard to suburban villages, dachas and microraiony) and suburbs in the United States and Canada is presented. An understanding of the suburbs and its architectural / urban planning environment from the perspective of social theory is presented. It was found that the suburbs and their architectural environment were used in the propaganda of the United States and the Soviet Union to produce certain cultural meanings with economic and political consequences. The subtleties of using the concept of the suburbs in the post-socialist context were considered. Based on the main socio-geographical characteristics of suburban areas of Ukrainian cities, it was found that the use of the concept of suburbs requires theoretical analysis in the post-socialist context and its distinction with the concepts of suburbia (direct imitation, written in Ukrainian as “субурбія”) and suburban space (“prymiskyi prostir”). It is argued that the spatial criterion and the criterion of connection with the city (suitable for the allocation of suburban space and suburban area) are insufficient to define the suburbs and do not reflect the complexity of this phenomenon. Important criteria for the allocation of suburbs are also the social status of residents, their daily practices, place and type of employment and leisure activities, which can be summarized as the identity of residents, as well as the type of residential architecture and character of everyday landscapes. It was found that because Ukrainian suburban spaces are eclectic with a mixture of different social classes and housing, retain their rural face with the presence of farming, the concept of peri-urban or rural-urban fringe is a better term to describe the suburban area of post-socialist cities than the suburbs. Only certain parts of the suburban spaces tend to become American style suburbs with a predominance of single-family houses, one social class and car use. The theoretical features of understanding the phenomenon of the suburbs and more successful concepts for its definition in post-socialist conditions are important for the creation of more socially thought-out urban planning documentation and strategy for their development taking into account local characteristics.

Uneven Peripheral Developments in Central and Eastern Europe: A Case Study of the Tirana City Region, Albania

AbstractThis paper traces residential and spatial urban transformations in Albania, one of the last post-socialist countries embracing neoliberalism. To do this, we employed a discourse analysis based on analogies of uneven urban peripheral developments in the regions of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), evaluating the impact of uneven (sub) urban development of settlements, with a particular emphasis on socio-economic aspects that need to be addressed in the process of extensive urban growth of the Tirana city region. Our empirical analysis reveals the inherent diversity of urban experiences across post-socialist countries in CEE with a particular reference to how the new post-socialist urban landscape in the Tirana city region produces geographically uneven socio-spatial development. Additionally, we highlight the dichotomy between the urban conditions of a ‘fortress landscape’ in the southern part of the capital of Tirana and its northern part of a new emerging small municipality lagging behind (in)formally with a new fringes identity. Our findings theoretically contribute to a post-socialist critique of urban studies due to urban theory’s neglect of post-socialist cities like Tirana.

Urban densification and sustainable mobility in a post-socialist city. Reconstruction of the science and business district development in Gdańsk

The transport land-use nexus lies at the core of the scientific debate on sustainable mobility. Researchers' insights suggest that densification can lead to better accessibility by reducing travel needs and distances, thus changing the modal split. However, lack of consistent transport policies, that accompany densification, can have side effects: increased congestion and pollution. Although analyses of the interaction between urban intensification and transportation planning have been conducted before, there is still a lack of knowledge of the form of that interaction in post-socialist cities. The process of emergence of the science and business district in Gdansk - a large, post-socialist city in Central Europe – provides an instructive subject for the analysis of this interaction. Descriptive and visual reconstruction of the land development and transport system performance, along with the analysis of strategic and planning documents, reveal inconsistencies in local policy and barriers to its implementation. A set of factors identified in the research indicates that the implementation of the accessibility and mobility strategies are deficient, leading to the disturbance of the balanced cycle model. On the one hand, these factors preserve an unfavourable modal split, but on the other hand, they may trigger bottom-up reactions and market initiatives.

Multiple transformations, coordination and public goods. Tbilisi and the search for planning as collective strategy

ABSTRACT Tbilisi has undergone spectacular changes which can be grasped by the concept of ‘Multiple Transformations’, characteristic of post-socialist cities. Along with the reform of legislative, institutional and social frameworks, an urban or spatial transformation took place. We distinguish different phases of Tbilisi's urban transformation, discuss the reasons and analyze the outcomes of the transitional process. We argue that the multiple transformations which occurred since the 90's jeopardized many collective goods essential to the quality of urban life, while that same multiplicity destroyed mechanisms of coordination in governance, mechanisms which would have been helpful in defining a new form of urban governance and urban planning. Transition thus created a need for collective strategy while rendering the formation and implementation of such strategy hard. The multiple transitions concept proved helpful not only in analyzing a particular instance of urban change but also in linking that change to contextualized options for future strategy. In the case of Tbilisi, the analysis highlighted the time needed to rebuild institutions, clarify false oppositions, find value in combining planning and market principles, and in the basic idea of coordinated action towards collective goals.

Implementation of Green Infrastructure in Existing Urban Structures: Tracking Changes in Ferencváros, Budapest

Understanding the resilience of urban forms as a latent force that drives a place’s physical characterization and social cohesion is essential for defining successful adaptive processes of pre-existing urban fabrics. Budapest’s ninth district (Ferencváros) is an outstanding example of transforming a complex historical urban context, which underwent renovation strategies guided by maintaining and enhancing essential morphological elements. Courtyards have great relevance in conditioning the well-being in areas of high occupational density, especially in terms of accessibility to urban green infrastructure. In the case of Ferencváros, they were reframed to add new layers of use and to improve territorial integration by unifying smaller private courtyard unities into more extensive communal areas, creating a comprehensive urban green network, preserving urban heritage, and increasing green coverage. This study assesses how this recent re-urbanization phenomenon is related to political changes in a post-socialist city. The conjuncture found in Ferencváros is unique, yet it can be applied in other similar contexts. The methodology applied to this study is supervised classification for the quantitative analysis of remote-sensing image data with GIS software assistance—a procedure rarely applied in medium-scale urban analysis. However, it was verified to be precise and effective in tracking morphological changes. The preliminary results indicate a significant intensification in greenery in the urban pattern, especially in the core areas of the blocks: the courtyards. After the intervention, green areas became more predominant, cohesive, and articulated.

Impact of post-socialist vertical extensions of buildings on outdoor microclimate in collective housing areas: A study of Niš, Serbia

Extensive transformations of large housing estates in postsocialist cities have been the subject of many studies. However, the effects of transformations resulting from urban densification, upon local microclimate, have not been fully determined. This paper addresses this issue by investigating the implications that vertical extension of residential buildings had on microclimatic parameters of thermal comfort (air temperature, mean radiant temperature, wind speed, relative humidity, solar radiation) in three large housing estates in the city of Niš, Serbia. By using ENVI-met software, outdoor microclimate is simulated in two scenarios: (1) original urban setting and (2) current urban setting, after the upgrade of existing buildings with additional floors. For the scenario with upgraded buildings, results indicate a small decrease in daytime air temperature, and small increases in mean radiant temperature and nocturnal air temperature. The effects on air temperature, relative humidity and solar radiation are more visible when upgrading low-rise structures, while the upgrade of high-rise buildings mostly affects wind speed. Research identifies tools and strategies of urban design that help in adapting inherited urban settings to temperature increase, such as positioning vertical extensions to exploit the effects of shading, conceptualizing open space in regard to building form, wind speed and solar radiation, and capitalizing on the cooling potential of trees.

Post-Socialist city in the mirror of global governance transformation

In the last thirty years, questions about the future of urban development have been discussed in the world. Global agents and organizations (the World Bank, the UN) set the vectors of planning policy and set goals for the development of cities around the world. The role of the state in the management of urban development is changing. There is a transition from state regulation to "management", which includes new subjects in the management process: investors, businesses, citizens. The transformation of management models is explained by economic globalization, the emergence of a global economic sector. Cities are starting to compete with each other and focus on attracting investment. Governments of different countries are looking for suitable ways to manage cities. In this context, post-socialist cities that are facing the consequences of the transition from socialism to the market are of particular interest. The object of this research is the transformation in the management of a post-socialist city in the context of global changes. The subject is the ways of conceptualizing transformation in the management of a post–socialist city. Tasks include: 1) identification of the main approaches to the analysis of transformations in the management of a post-socialist city under the influence of global changes; 2) description of the conceptual discussion around the concept of "post-socialist city" and the theoretical possibilities of its application; 3) discussion of these approaches in relation to the study of post-Soviet cities. The article presents an overview of theoretical and methodological concepts describing global transformations in city management. The scientific novelty consists in the expansion of the categorical apparatus for describing and conceptualizing the transformation in the management of post-socialist cities in the context of globalization, the ways for describing the transformation in the management of post-Soviet cities are outlined.

An ideological perspective on street names: Socialist political symbols in the post-socialist City of NIŠ

The topic of this paper is the ideological perspective on the names of city streets in a post-socialist context. Studies of post-socialist cities have indicated that the symbolic deconstruction of the socialist identity was an important part of the legitimization of new elites. Renaming the streets of the cities of Serbia was also a segment in the process of the symbolic revision of the past, with aim to erase the memory of the Yugoslav and anti-fascist tradition. What is interesting, however, is that the opposite ideological contexts during the post-socialist period in this region formed a specific, ambivalent cultural memory, and so despite the renaming, anti-fascist and socialist symbols in the street names have remained in great numbers. The final outcome of the policy of renaming is a city text which reflects the ideologically heterogenous image of socialism and anti-fascism on the one hand, and the retraditionalizationist, nationalist currents on the other. The paper presents a case study of the City of Niš with the aim of presenting the historical-ideological portrait of the city by analyzing 1355 street names. The main source of data for this study is publication based on the official data from relevant city institutions.

Post-socialist city: the visual experience of everyday life as a factor of nation-building

The collapse of the so-called "socialist bloc" of states at the turn of the 1980-1990s. raised, among other things, the question of the formation and / or reformatting of national, regional and local identities in Central and Eastern Europe. This question turned out to be relevant in the context of rethinking the image of a post-socialist city. In this article, we plan to address a number of aspects of processes and practices related to architecture and cultural heritage policy, urban planning and identity in the post-socialist city. Warsaw, Budapest, Prague, Bratislava, cities of the former GDR and others, which developed for several decades under the conditions of the socialist (with all possible remarks) regime, at the new stage retained a number of visual features that referred to the socialist past. The surviving monuments, elements of toponymy, urban space planning, recognizable buildings (such as, for example, the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw), on the one hand, create a common space of historical memory in the region of Central and Eastern Europe; on the other hand, the new nationalizing projects of post-socialist societies have set and are setting the contours of singularity, national and local selfness, redefining the political and cultural maps of cities. While exploring the city as a political text, we plan to take a closer look at how the visual experience of everyday life influences the formation of post-socialist national identity and determines the commemorating practices of residents of such cities.

Conceptual model for measuring and predicting residential satisfaction in housing-led urban regeneration in post-socialist cities

Residential satisfaction is a multi-dimensional concept that is the degree to which residents feel their place of residence helps them achieve their desired goal. The research aims to develop a holistic model that can predict and measure residential satisfaction in regenerated housing in post-socialist cities. The holistic model for residential satisfaction postulates objective and subjective measurements after a brief review of theories and research gaps within the literature. This paper reports on the conceptualization of the model, with findings to validate this model being reported later. It is anticipated that the results of this model will assist key stakeholders to consider variables that are important in ensuring residential satisfaction within post-socialist cities.

Borderlands of housing neighbourhoods as residual or liminal spaces: Comparative study of cases in Budapest

This paper aims to analyse and classify urban borderlands. The formation of urban boundaries is influenced by natural, infrastructural, property (social), and urban design principles. Based on the categorisation of urban residual space, the spatial configurations of three regular homogeneous residential areas (historical, socialist-modern, contemporary) in Budapest are presented by combining a quantitative and qualitative approach. The role and presence of their boundaries in the city are explored through map-based and SpaceSyntax analysis. In addition, their qualitative attributes ? such as lost space, neglected space, liminal space, and border vacuums ? are introduced based on the literature and fieldwork. The objective of this research is to draw attention to under-represented and under-managed urban situations, in order to better understand the impacts of borderlands on the use of space and their role in creating spatial segregation. Moreover, in post-socialist cities like Budapest, the analysis of these spaces is crucial for further complex and successful urban development.

Coordinating planning with the market in post-socialist Sofia, Bulgaria

Although the interaction between planning and the market in urban development has been the subject of extensive research, its treatment in the literature is still problematic and controversial. Issues regarding this interaction remain topical for post-socialist urban planners, who are still lacking sufficient experience with planning in market conditions, especially when it comes to practice. The contribution of this study is that it identifies two practical approaches, through which urban planners can coordinate plans with markets. First, when setting planning goals, planners must critically assess the relationship between these goals and market demand. If market demand is distorted by market deficiencies, planning must look for opportunities to counteract and rectify distortions, but if market demand properly reflects the interests of stakeholders in urban development, planning must critically reassess its definition of the public interest. Second, when developing urban plans, planners must employ fiscal (financial, monetary) and market-oriented tools for their implementation. To study these relationships, the paper explores different aspects of development in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, as Sofia is a relevant example of the urban trends in post-socialist cities.

The city as a palimpsest: the phenomenon of “empty places” in the urban environment

The article attempts to analyze, within phenomenological optics, the phenomenon of "empty places" in the city, which, in turn, is understood as a specifically organized space of human life. In an interdisciplinary way, at the intersection of theoretical urban studies, memory studies and political philosophy, the relationship between space, place and emptiness in the urban environment, is considered. Based on the concepts of Simmel, Heidegger, Bachelard and others, the author comes to the conclusion that the city is a kind of "palimpsest", the memory of which arises under the influence of not only those elements of the environment that exist in the actual visual experience of everyday life, but also remain only in the format of “ruins” or “spectres”, which at the same time have significant symbolic content in the context of the everyday urban landscape, including the landscape of a post-socialist city.

Functional dependence of settlements and its demographic component in the transition phase of the daily urban system

The transition period of post-socialist cities brought significant demographic and spatial changes within their daily urban systems (DUS). Functional transformations of the core, as well as functionally dependent settlements in the mentioned systems, had a significant impact on the daily mobility of the population. For the purposes of this paper, the example of Belgrade was taken as the core of the most significant DUS on the territory of Serbia, and beyond its borders. As a research time frame the focus is on the first intercensal period of the 21st century, taking into account social and economic changes in that period. The daily mobility of the labor force was used as a relevant indicator of the functional manifestation of the work center and the functional direction of the residential settlement. A model of the spatial manifestation of the workforce daily mobility was used as a basis for researching the structure, changes, and determining the boundaries of the territorial scope of the DUS. Based on the presented results, dynamic changes within the DUS of Belgrade were determined, which are manifested through an increase in its spatial and population coverage, as well as through the changes in the degree of functional dependence of the settlements that participate in it. Conclusions were drawn on the connection between the transformation of the DUS and its demographic component, as well as the factors that initiate the investigated changes.

Urban shrinkage in post-socialist countries

The article has two main tasks. On the one hand, it attempts to perform a comparative analysis of the shrinkage process of post-socialist cities in an international perspective and to formulate generalisations and recommendations. On the other hand, it presents the specificity of this process in various national, regional and local contexts. The analysis covers selected countries located in post-socialist Europe (with emphasis on East-Central and Southeast Europe), Russia and China and is focused on three issues: 1) geography of the shrinkage process of post-socialist cities; 2) common and country-specific factors responsible for urban shrinkage; 3) comparative analysis and conclusions in the context of managing urban shrinkage. The article points to the fact that urban shrinkage (especially in terms of demography) is one of the world challenges (with its scale being particularly large in post-socialist Europe), and the COVID-19 pandemic has started to affect its course and spatial distribution. The following key problems associated with the shrinkage of post-socialist cities are identified: 1) overcoming the demographic crisis; 2) demographic compensation for the migration outflow of the population; 3) overcoming the negative consequences of deindustrialization; 4) the problem of “wild” uncontrolled suburbanization, etc.

Invisible Traces of Islam in the Urban Space of Rustavi: Interpreting the Religious Diversity in Post-Soviet Georgia

The article discusses the revelation of the religiosity of the Azerbaijani community in the postSocialist city of Rustavi and their visibility in the urban space. The subject of research is how their religiosity is expressed in the city space. The article pinpoints the attempt by the Muslim community to build a mosque in the city. This unsuccessful try is forgotten by both members of the community- the Azerbaijani and the Christian population. Everyone has forgotten about it, and the topic has become a subject of taboo. In the article, the search for the invisible traces of Islam in the urban space of the city can be linked to two pasts of the city; one is the experience of the Soviet multi-ethnicity and the more distant, historical past of the city interpreted by the Communists. It is also influenced by the peculiarities of the region, the ethno-confessional composition, and the state's attempt to control religious groups and their activities, which has a corresponding impact on the self-perception and self-representation of the Azerbaijani community in the city. Findings presenting in the article based on the ethnographical research done in Rustavi 2019-2020.

A kelet-közép-európai városrégiók átalakulása a posztfordi korban – elméleti alapok

The post-Fordist and post-socialist transition had a significant impact on the development of cities in East Central Europe. One of the most spectacular processes in the development of postsocialist cities has been the transformation of the inner areas and outskirts of the urban regions. In the inner areas, after the regime change, urban regeneration gained momentum and thanks to the prevailing neoliberal urban policies almost without exception triggered gentrification processes in the neighbourhoods. Outside the administrative boundaries of the city, in the agglomeration zone and in the more remote areas of the urban region, suburbanisation and urban sprawl have determined the development process. As a consequence, the previously compact urban fabric of post-socialist cities slowly disintegrated and cities became more and more fragmented. The aim of this theoretical study is to explore the most important processes of urban transformation in the post-Fordist era. We briefly introduce the theoretical background of metropoliszation, suburbanization and urban sprawl, as well as the main characteristics of commuting and land use. The role of urban regeneration and fragmentation in the urban fabric will be highlighted as well.