Beyond the decay? Positive patterns in the development of a large housing estate: the case of Olechów-Janów district in Łódź, Poland

ABSTRACT

A lot of attention in the academic and policy debate has been given to the process of transformation of large housing estates in Central and Eastern Europe post 1989. This included debate about their decreasing socio-economic status and the gradual deterioration of housing structures. Nevertheless, the transformation processes in various estates have not necessarily followed the same pattern and some districts, instead of decaying, have continued to grow during the capitalist period. This article discusses the case of one such estate in the city of Łódź in Poland, documents the ‘alternative’ format of transformation and discusses its implications for policymaking.

KEYWORDS:

• large housing estate
• social housing
• Central and Eastern Europe
• Lodz
• gated community

Acknowledgements

I would thank to dr Marie Glaser and dr Ivaán Tosics for the first comments to this paper delivered during the Vienna International Summer School 2018 – Transformation of Large Housing Estates (TU Wien/University of Vienna/IBA Wien)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.