Socialist City Research Articles

Finding Symptoms of (Under)Privileged Urban Nature in a Socialist City: The Case of Pyongyang, North Korea

North Korean media refer to Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, as a “city in a park,” and urban researchers explore the potential for Pyongyang to become a sustainable city. Given North Korean media’s function as a propaganda organization supporting the Kim Jong-un regime and consistently producing positive content about the regime, we can employ alternative and more objective methods to assess Pyongyang’s sustainability. This article seeks to find unsustainable aspects of Pyongyang by analyzing satellite images while maintaining distance from North Korean media, which monopolizes the production of knowledge that defines Pyongyang as a green and sustainable city. In the socialist city of Pyongyang, there are politically, economically, and socially privileged areas, even if they are not as clearly evident as in capitalist cities. These areas exhibit privileged urban nature, as evidenced by a less polluted and higher quality natural environment. Specifically, I estimate hybrid spaces where the line between privileged and underprivileged blurs. Although they belong to relatively privileged areas, residents take certain risks, referred to as an (under)privileged urban nature. These (under)privileged urban natures could crack the dominant discourse on seeing Pyongyang as a sustainable city.

“Adaptive” and “Universal” Approaches by V.P. Kalmykov and V.A. Lavrov on the Example of the Architectural and Spatial Organization of a Quarter in the Projects of Central Asian Socialist Cities

“Adaptive” and “Universal” Approaches by V.P. Kalmykov and V.A. Lavrov on the Example of the Architectural and Spatial Organization of a Quarter in the Projects of Central Asian Socialist Cities

Recovering the past for the future: Racibórz after World War II

Abstract This article delves into the post-war urban planning of Racibórz (Ger. Ratibor), a mid-size city in Poland, shedding light on the socialist city’s historical roots and its adherence to socialist urbanism models. Using planning maps and other archival documents, it examines the reconstruction process that aimed at creating green spaces and quality housing, while at the same time revealing its medieval past. The article also investigates the city’s deviation from known recovery patterns and highlights a lesser known approach to creating a city with a national form and socialist content. Overall, this research offers a comprehensive exploration of a reconstruction process in a mid-size city, enriching the understanding of European post-war urban history.

The unfinished project for the socialist city and the legacy of its multiple ecologies

The transformation of socialist cities during the lengthy 20th century was closely integrated with the overall economic activities of the state and operated within a system where the means of production were nationalised and central governments were responsible for decision-making, be it spatial arrangement of the economy and political or military objectives of the country. At the same time, the transformation of cities during this period ideologically attempted to promote egalitarian society where access to assets and amenities, and allocation of commodities was consistent and equal to all. Somewhat surprisingly, as the topic has been relatively less discussed in previous literature, urban planning during the socialist era uncovers arguments for sustainable development. Yet, notions of priority during socialism also existed and this indicates some major constraints and dysfunctions in the transformation of cities under the centrally planned system of state socialism. This overview of the book “planning during socialism: views from the periphery” (2024 Routledge) offers some fresh support points to unpack the unfinished research challenges of studies of urban space of socialist cities through transversalities of political, economic and social phenomena that contribute to diverse spatial configurations.

Valuing the Hong Kong Northern Metropolis

The transformation of socialist cities during the lengthy 20th century was closely integrated with the overall economic activities of the state and operated within a system where the means of production were nationalised and central governments were responsible for decision-making, be it spatial arrangement of the economy and political or military objectives of the country. At the same time, the transformation of cities during this period ideologically attempted to promote egalitarian society where access to assets and amenities, and allocation of commodities was consistent and equal to all. Somewhat surprisingly, as the topic has been relatively less discussed in previous literature, urban planning during the socialist era uncovers arguments for sustainable development. Yet, notions of priority during socialism also existed and this indicates some major constraints and dysfunctions in the transformation of cities under the centrally planned system of state socialism. This overview of the book “planning during socialism: views from the periphery” (2024 Routledge) offers some fresh support points to unpack the unfinished research challenges of studies of urban space of socialist cities through transversalities of political, economic and social phenomena that contribute to diverse spatial configurations.

Life in the "socialist cities" of the early 1930s

The article examines new, previously unresearched archival materials containing the results of a survey conducted in 1936 of four well-known “socialist cities” – new housing developments at large industrial enterprises. The uniqueness of this work lies in the critical approach to the process of implementing in practice of the main urban planning concept, which was formed in the late 1920s in connection with the adopted course of forced industrialization of the country. During the survey, all the components of the concept of “socialist cities” were carefully analyzed, including planning features, typology of housing and principles of “socialization of life”, social composition of the population, departmental affiliation, etc. The boundaries of the implementation of these policies imposed by life itself were revealed, which ultimately led to the actual destruction of the concept. At the same time, the article shows that the authors’ attempts to formulate their own principles of organizing people’s lives, based on the changed “spirit of the times” of the second half of the 1930s, already contained new boundaries of unrealization.

Lifestyle and home

Home is a special place where time flows in a very special way. At home, the walls help, and the past never dies. Home is my fortress and a place where I meet my loved ones. Home is both a protective cover facing the outside world and a reflection of the most personal, deep and secret recesses of the soul. In the section devoted to housing, we present the materials of two round tables held with young people in Novosibirsk and Irkutsk. How do representatives of the next generation imagine their home?They will tell us about it. The problem of co-housing was already solved a hundred years ago within the concept of Socialist City (and brought extremely controversial results), but today this theme is returning, while attracting the attention of architects and sociologists on a new digital design platform. Similarly, there is a renewed interest in traditional materials for residential housing, especially, wood. How to teach young architects of the “era of concrete, glass and metal” the skills of designing in wood? This section contains articles devoted to it.

Industrial areas of the city as a phenomenon of communication

The object of the study is the industrial areas of Russian cities, the subject of the study is the communicative aspect of their functioning. The communicative approach to the city (and urban loci in particular) is based on semiotic, hermeneutic, phenomenological traditions. In this case, the city appears in its "middle" being as a multi-layered semantic phenomenon that is born as a result of reading and understanding it by a person. The communicativeness of the urban locus in the work is proposed to be assessed through cognitive, value-semantic and behavioral components. Using the example of the industrial district of Samara – Bezymyanka, the complexity and ambiguity of communication processes unfolding between the industrial district and the citizens is shown. Bezymyanka is considered in the work as a typical phenomenon characteristic of a number of Russian cities. Similar districts appeared in the 1930s as a result of industrialization processes, in attempts to implement the urban planning concept of the socialist city. Being, in fact, "points" of growth, they were initially rejected by the urban community, being evaluated in the context of a "non-city". The post-industrial reality has made significant changes in their existence, raising the question of the state and content of modern communicative experience. Based on the results of a survey of city residents conducted by the author (the number of respondents is 250 people, the sample is targeted), the work showed the selective nature of the "reading" of this area, which steadily reproduces its negative imagery. The revealed differentiation of communication practices depending on the place of residence does not remove, but on the contrary, dictates the need for the district to develop a new symbolic language that allows it to actualize its potential positive meanings and images that can form the necessary identification mechanisms.

The role of landmarks in shaping Tirana’s urban identity: the shift from socialist to post-socialist city

ABSTRACT This study examines the change of urban identity from the socialist period to post-socialist Tirana, evaluating the role of landmarks. The continuously changing city image in the post-socialist period, associated with the construction of new high-rise buildings, is the commencement of this research. The aim is to measure to what extent the change of the landmarks in the post-socialist period impacts Tirana’s identity. To achieve this goal, we interviewed Tirana citizens (N = 209) about the socialist/post-socialist period landmarks representing city identity. The methodology includes surveying, mapping, visualization, and clustering. Through a conceptual diagram, the study emphasizes the role of landmarks within the urban identity concept by utilizing their salience-providing features, which are visual, semantic, and locational. The results reveal that the socialist city identity is represented by landmarks that possess a strong image and semantic values. In contrast, post-socialist city identity is represented by new landmarks, which are reported as many and emphasize the rise of experience-oriented landmarks in an entertainment district. The study found a location shift in the landmarks representing Tirana’s urban identity from the socialist to post-socialist city. However, in both periods, the majority are on the city’s main Boulevard (city spine), which works as a mental skeleton.

Metro Girl: The Alliance of Art and Architecture in the Visual Aesthetics of the Modern Georgian City of the 1960s

Abstract This article explores the way a new specifically Georgian post-Stalinist art form (cheduroba, metal engraving) that emerged in the 1960s became a commonly encountered emblematic feature of the equally new urban spaces of the rapidly changing modernist Tbilisi cityscape. This new, and yet seemingly old, art form, which frequently featured the face of a traditional Georgian girl, usually a Khevsur girl from the mountains, came to be a diagnostic part of the modern urban assemblage of Tbilisi in the 1960s. This traditional face from the Georgian past became a paradoxical figure for the alliance of art and architecture in the visual aesthetics of the modern Georgian city in the 1960s, and the art form became the stereotypical “face” of a specifically Georgian post-Stalinist “traditional-modernist” public urban art. This art form soon became diagnostic of modern Georgian urban spaces, like the Tbilisi metro, which also opened around the same time in the 1960s. The recurrent distribution of this face across newly-created modernist urban spaces together formed a Georgian version of “socialist modernism,” producing a visually-experienced “brand of socialism” for urban spaces, a procession of images traditional or national (in style or theme) in socialist modernist spaces connecting the traditional architecture of the city to the modernist architectural spaces of the new socialist city of the 1960s.

Shared Streets: Choreographed Disorder in the Late Socialist City

This article examines the local self-governance of streets and sidewalks in Hanoi, the capital of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Streets and sidewalks are shared among diverse actors for various activities while being formally managed by the state. Since the passing of the <em>Đổi Mới</em> economic reform program in 1986, which paved the way for the development of a private sector economy, street trade has been flourishing in Hanoi. Private individuals, mostly women, temporarily occupy sidewalks and streets to sell their goods. This form of petty trade caters to urbanites’ everyday demand for fresh products and food. While many Hanoians are actually in favor of street trade, the municipality seeks to undermine and regulate street trade, as it contradicts some state administrators’ vision of a modern and civilized city. Drawing inspiration from Jacobs’ (1961) “sidewalk ballet,” this article particularly examines the social norms governing public space. As they constantly need to negotiate their right to the city, street traders develop tactics to circumvent the municipal sidewalk order. Following the rhythms of regular crackdowns on street trade, the emergence and vanishing of mediation spaces, and urbanites’ tactics, this contribution seeks to understand modes of urban governance over these shared spaces. This study draws on ethnographic data collected during one year of fieldwork, local newspaper analysis, and secondary literature.

Havana's Transnational Gentrification: Highest and Best Use from Elsewhere

AbstractThis article addresses the two processes of market making and transnationalization in Havana through the lens of gentrification theory. Using a case study situated between Global South and East, this article looks more closely at transnational families and migrants as agents of gentrification in Havana, analysing how they create and exploit the rent‐gap. Returning to the central ideas of ‘highest and best use’ and ‘circulations’ in N. Smith's rent‐gap theory, I analyse how increased transnational mobility has affected the commodification and potential use of housing in Havana. Based on interviews with transnational owners who purchased housing to upgrade and convert into an Airbnb, this article shows how the “highest and best use” of a property is evaluated from elsewhere. It also demonstrates the complexities of transnational gentrification in a southern socialist city and insists on the need to understand more broadly the gentrification–migration nexus.

From Cotton and Smoke: Łódź—Industrial City and Discourses of Asynchronous Modernity, 1897–1994

From Cotton and Smoke: Łódź—Industrial City and Discourses of Asynchronous Modernity, 1897–1994

Municipal socialism and the impact of urban decay: the case of Nevers, a mid-sized town in Central France (1971–2020)

Nevers, a medium-sized city of 33,000 inhabitants in the centre of France, has long been regarded as a laboratory for municipal socialism as well as for the union of the left. The socialist party has dominated the local political scene for more than four decades. In 2014, however, a list without any party label put an end to this hegemony by winning the election. The 2020 municipal election confirmed the changeover: the outgoing list won the election, this time in the first round. How to explain this lasting change in a city that has long been a socialist city, in favour of an "apolitical" list that does not benefit from partisan resources? If this change is part of a more general movement, characterized by the decline of the “Parti socialiste” (PS) and the “Parti communiste Français” (PCF), we will show that it is also rooted in the socio-demographic transformations that the city has undergone in recent decades. Such as many medium-sized French cities, Nevers is indeed confronted with a long-standing phenomenon of urban decline, particularly marked in the central districts. The departure of managers and middle-level professions and the arrival of precarious populations has contributed to the transformation of the electorate, while the theme of decline has become one of the main issues of the last elections. This article thus proposes to examine the evolution of the local political field in the light of the social, economic, and demographic transformations of the territory. To do so, several databases are used in order to quantify and map these transformations: the results of municipal elections since 1971 and census data at municipal level since 1968 and at the neighbourhood level (Iris) since 1990. These data will be put into perspective with archives relating to municipal elections from 1971 to 2020 as well as interviews and observations conducted during the 2014 and 2020 campaigns. In conclusion, the urban decline, in the case of Nevers, has contributed to bring down municipal socialism in two ways: (1) by weakening its electoral base, (2) by imposing a political agenda that the socialist municipal team cannot keep, which will be blamed on them in 2014.

Review: Spatial Revolution: Architecture and Planning in the Early Soviet Union

Review: <i>Spatial Revolution: Architecture and Planning in the Early Soviet Union</i>

Circular Utopia(s): Alfred Wellm’s Morisco and the Socialist City

Abstract In the context of the German Democratic Republic’s longstanding aesthetic and political discourse on social utopianism, this article will discuss Alfred Wellm’s novel Morisco (1987) and Halle-Neustadt as a key to understanding the relationship between the socialist new town and the East German cultural imaginary. Through Wellm’s novel, the article will argue that the construction of modernist new towns provoked a cultural response engaging with the rift between built reality and the utopian imagination/ambition of the classless, socialist city in different literary and visual media. Evoking Tommaso Campanella’s utopian City of the Sun (1602), the novel critically positions Neustadt within a cyclical Marxist eschatology, simultaneously expressing frustration with and hope for the progress of the socialist project. It therefore also represents the post-Stalin aesthetic shift from grand socialist realist narratives to subjective everyday perspectives, and the revived interest of authors in utopian themes in the 1980s against the backdrop of the Socialist Unity Party’s (SED) claim that socialism had already been achieved.

Wybrane problemy mieszkańców Nowej Huty na podstawie listów do „Głosu Nowej Huty” z lat 1956–1970

In 1949, the communist rulers of Poland decided to build Nowa Huta, the steelworks and city near Kraków. According to the propaganda, it was supposed to be the first model socialist city in Poland. Residents were to experience social promotion, comfortable apartments, cultural institutions, and rest in their home space. In addition to housing, well-stocked shops, high -quality services, assistance in daily activities such as food preparation, health care and childcare were offered. However, the reality differed from this propaganda vision. In the local press such as the weekly Budujemy Socjalizm, later transformed into Głos Nowej Huty, letters to the editorial office complained about housing problems, insufficient supplies, queues, difficulties in organizing holidays, or low quality of the cultural offer. Letters to the editor are an important source for research on the everyday life of the Polish People’s Republic. They reflected the small and big problems of the inhabitants seeking help from journalists, believing that the press had substantial influence on the ruling class.

Architecture of the workers' settlement of the Kuibyshev metallurgical plant in the 1950s

The history of construction and features of the architectural and planning organization of the workers' settlement Metallurg, which was formed near the industrial district of Bezymyanka on the basis of the largest metallurgical plant in the 1950s, are considered. Its architecture reflected the features of Stalinist architecture and corresponded to the prevailing guidelines of that time for the development of the classical heritage. As a result, another version of the socialist city was implemented, based on attaching workers to production. The planning organization of the working settlement was based on the identification of the main highway with social and consumer services, the quarterly principle of residential development with courtyard spaces, and a single style of buildings.

Songs about the City of Sverdlovsk (1940s—1960s) in the Context of the Formation of the Image of Place

This article examines the lyrics of songs about Sverdlovsk created in the second half of the 1940s—1960s, to analyze the formation and consolidation of the image of the city in the context of the literature about Sverdlovsk of this period. By the 1940s, a stable image of Sverdlovsk had developed in literature as a major center of industrialization, a socialist city with an original history born “from the will of the Urals, labor and energy” (V. Mayakovsky). In the 1940s, the image of the city finally took shape — the “pantry”, “arsenal”, “fortress” — in a word, the “pillar” of the state. In 1948, three songs about the city were written in different stylistic registers by N. Kushtum, K. Murzidi, and E. Ruzhansky. All of them conveyed the “state” point of view emphasizing the formation of the audience’s sense of pride in their place of residence and in the population labor contribution to the development of the country. Nevertheless, being created as intended for the masses, these songs never became mass. One of the reasons for this, apparently, was that the inhabitants of Sverdlovsk had a different idea of their city — the former Ekaterinburg, the center of the region with a specific way of life. This image was formed, among other things, by literary texts about Sverdlovsk. In the 1960s, in the songs of O. Gadzhikasimov / B. Karamyshev and G. Varshavsky / E. Rodygin, the tone changes to lyrical, embodied in plot models of “returning to the city of youth” and “walking around the city”. The eclectic imagery of the first song deprived its content of the necessary universality. Sverdlovsk Waltz is emphatically “simple”, but at the same time innovative in content. The song is based on the everyday positive experience of the listener. The text contains important “Sverdlovsk” signs, demonstrating that the song was written by a resident of this city. The song lacks drama and irony, and the authors emphasize the hidden poetry of unostentatious city life. The image of the world materialized in the songs of the “Thaw” period, turned out to be effective, because the authors refused to create the image of a city with well-known and non-specific features of the “support” of the state, which their listeners should be proud of. The imaginary transformation of the city into a place that can, thanks to the resources at its disposal, provide a person with psychological comfort — the feeling of satisfaction from belonging to the city, the creation of a common emotional and value background that unites the townspeople, turned out to be more attractive.

ПОЛІТИКА ПРОСТОРУ, СОЦІАЛІСТИЧНИЙ УРБАНІЗМ І ТРАНСФОРМАЦІЇ: АНАЛІЗ ПЕРЕТВОРЕНЬ АДМІНІСТРАТИВНОГО ЦЕНТРУ КРИВОГО РОГУ

The urban spaces in Ukraine have been dynamically changed over the past decades, and the politics of space has also been transformed as a result of the changing imaginations on different types of the production of space – the socialist and the market one. During the transition period, the ideology of spatial development and politics that determine the goals, priorities and regulations in urban development have changed dramatically; as well as institutions and actors involved in the production of space. Thus, we observe today the process of not only physical transformations of urban areas, but also notions of them, priorities for their development, specific purposes, functions and regulation of their changes, spatial organization and its concepts, public involvement in the planning of urban areas. Post-socialist transition, in fact, denotes two completely different ways of producing the space – the socialist and the postsocialist. In this paper, we analyze the politics of space and spatial transformations, illustrating spatial restructurings through the changes of socio-political context - ideologies, institutions, actors and tools that shape it. We suggest that changes in the ways of the production of space and shifting from socialist to postsocialist urbanism are related specifically to the changes of these key dimensions. We consider the idea of Kryvyi Rih administrative center development through the several planning projects from the early 1930s (in relation to planning the socialist city in Kryvyi Rih) until the end of the 1980s (when project was partly implemented) in order to highlight the socialist urbanism as a spatial, social and ideological phenomenon. We analyze this urban space through the lens of socialism and post-socialist transition to illustrate how it transformed spatially, functionally and conceptually.