Geographia Polonica (2014) vol. 87, iss. 1

Transformations of large housing estates in post-socialist city: The case of Łódź, Poland

Ewa Szafrańska

Geographia Polonica (2014) vol. 87, iss. 1, pp. 77-94 | Full text
doi: https://doi.org/GPol.2014.5

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to identify ongoing changes in post-socialist large housing estates and to clarify their main factors, using a case study approach. The paper examines the transformations of nine housing estates in the third largest Polish city – Łódź. The transformations were analysed in two dimensions: social (socio-demographic changes) and physical (changes in the spatial and functional structure and changesin the physiognomy). The key question was whether the changes occurring in large housing estates in Łódź protect them before the development of the social and physical degradation, identified in many estates in Western Europe, referred as the “large housing estate syndrome”. Research has shown that in examined housing estates there are no symptoms of physical or social degradation. Moreover, processes found there contribute to the prevention of the negative phenomena leading to the development of the “large housing estate syndrome”.

Keywords: housing transformation, large housing estates, post-socialist city, Łódź

Ewa Szafrańska, University of Łódź Kopcińskiego 31, 90-142 Łódź: Poland