Evolution of Spaces between Buildings in Polish Mass Housing Estates in the Eyes of the Inhabitants

[摘要] The author investigates into the state of public and semi-public spaces in the Polish housing estates erected in the times of mass housing projects (1960-1980). The character of these estates is special. On the one hand, the buildings were accompanied by lavishly designed open spaces with elaborate material infrastructure: urban design followed the ideas that time-And strict regulations-That, in theory, prevented creation of substandard spaces. Provision of affordable housing was given a priority in the centrally controlled economy, so vast greenfield areas were devoted to housing. Moreover, the estates often stay under one management of housing cooperatives for years. The assets are relatively modern and usually conveniently located within the city/town infrastructure. This gives the areas advantage over contemporary housing schemes affected by constraints imposed by prior development and commercial approach to the provision of housing. On the other hand, technical wear and tear, functional obsolescence, years of underinvestment, natural demographic changes in local communities, changing ownership structure, and weakening social bonds make the large housing estates with their too lavishly designed public areas an ungrateful object of management. Recent availability of the European Union funds for modernization of public spaces increases the numbers of municipal projects and individual initiatives to activate communities by improving public and semi-public spaces. A question arises whether the money and effort is spent reasonably. Do people actually use the new facilities? Are they encouraged to affect the form and function of their surrounding? Does the public space change according to some passing fancies, or according to the changing needs? To juxtapose the development of technical condition of infrastructure and functions offered by the space between buildings with the expectations of users, the author repeatedly views the scene and conducts structured interviews with the inhabitants of the estates. The paper presents the results of two interdisciplinary surveys, held five years apart in the same estate, and based on the same questionnaire. Its results confirm that user expectations evolve. The interest in the development of green areas, and availability of recreational facilities in the proximity of home is growing as people observe that changes are possible. Some people declare some form of active participation in improvements. Preferences towards functions and accessibility of the areas reflect changes in the demographic structure. Surveys of this kind may be regularly used in defining guidelines for further improvement measures, and raising user awareness of the personal responsibility for the condition of the neighbourhood.

[发布机构] Lublin University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, ul. Nadbystrzycka 40, Lublin; 20-618, Poland^1

[学科分类] 土木及结构工程学

[关键词] Affordable housing;Demographic changes;Development of technical conditions;Improvement measure;Mass housing projects;Ownership structure;Personal responsibility;User expectations