1st Edition

Post-Utopian Spaces Transforming and Re-Evaluating Urban Icons of Socialist Modernism

Edited By Valentin Mihaylov, Mikhail Ilchenko Copyright 2023
246 Pages 50 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

246 Pages 50 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

246 Pages 50 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

Featuring up-to-date and insightful analyses and comparative case studies from a plethora of countries, this timely book explores ‘ideal’ socialist cities and their transformation under new socio-economic and political conditions after the fall of communism. With contributions from leading scholars in the field, this book prioritises objective scientific knowledge and presents expert... Read more
List of figures

List of tables

List of contributors

1. Introduction: Socialist Urban Utopias and their Continuing Transformations

Mikhail Ilchenko, Valentin Mihaylov

2. Rises and Falls of New Socialist Cities

Valentin Mihaylov

3. Uralmash: Re-Imagining Utopia, Re-Constructing Urban Space

Mikhail Ilchenko

4. Zaporizhzhia: The Socialist City as a Cultural Model

Pavlo Kravchuk

5. Tychy: From a Dormitory Town to a Large Industrial Centre

Jerzy Runge

6. Eisenhüttenstadt: Urban Heritage in Transformation

Carola Neugebauer

7. Ostrava-Poruba: A ‘Pure’ Socialist City in Change and Permanence

Daniel Topinka

8. Dunaújváros: Transforming and Re-Branding the Largest New Town of Hungary’s State-Socialist Era

Kornélia Kissfazekas, Melinda Benkő

9. New Belgrade: From a Socialist Ideal to a Fragmented Space of Fashionable Architecture

Zlata Vuksanović-Macura

10. Dimitrovgrad: a Bulgarian Construction of the 20th Century

Valentin Mihaylov

11. Velenje: A Local Community’s Quest for Its Town Heritage and Identity

Ana Kladnik

12. Conclusion: Post-Utopian Spaces in Search of Alternative Urban Policies

Valentin Mihaylov, Mikhail Ilchenko

Index

Biography

Valentin Mihaylov works in the Institute of Social and Economic Geography and Spatial Organisation at the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. His scholarly interests are focused on national and territorial identities, urban studies, political geography, and geopolitics, with particular attention to the Balkans and East-Central Europe. He authored scientific publications in Bulgarian, English, Polish, Russian, and Serbian, including six books. Dr. Mihaylov recently published the collective volume Spatial Conflicts and Divisions in Post-Socialist Cities as an editor.

Mikhail Ilchenko works as a researcher at the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe in Leipzig. His studies focus on various aspects of urban transformations in Eastern Europe and social history of architecture, with particular interest in changing perceptions and public attitudes towards the modernist architectural heritage. His articles on post-socialist transformations and modernist urban heritage are published in various journals and edited volumes in English, Russian, Ukrainian, and Polish languages.