| 1. |
- Gentile, Michael, et al.
(författare)
-
Housing allocation under socialism : the Soviet case revisited
- 2013
-
Ingår i: Post-Soviet Affairs. - : Taylor & Francis (Routledge): SSH Titles. - 1060-586X .- 1938-2855. ; 29:2, s. 173-195
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Social or public housing is an important component of the housing supply in most European countries. Nowhere, however, has the notion of social housing been taken as far as in the countries that formerly were ruled by socialist regimes, most notably the Soviet Union. For this reason, it may be argued that the development of theorizations on housing has much to learn from this large but inconclusively studied example. One of the avowed virtues of socialism was that the system, in theory, guaranteed its subjects equal rights to housing. That this was not quite the case is well known in the literature, but in fact no robust evidence to support this view (or the contrary) has been presented so far. Therefore, this paper's aim is to investigate the functioning of the Soviet system of housing allocation, assessing its claims to social equity and justice. Based on a detailed case study of about 3500 Soviet-era housing allocation decisions made in Daugavpils, Latvia, at five points in time covering various stages in the development of Soviet power (full coverage of decisions made in 1953, 1960, 1970, 1980, and January-April 1990), we illustrate how much living space was allocated to whom. In addition, we detail the characteristics of the waiting times involved. We apply both descriptive and regression methods on our data-set, making a significant contribution to what is known about the outcome of housing allocation under socialism and, at a more general level, under strictly supply-constrained conditions.
|
|
| 2. |
- Gentile, Michael, et al.
(författare)
-
Soviet housing : who built what and when? The case of Daugavpils, Latvia
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Journal of Historical Geography. - : Elsevier. - 0305-7488 .- 1095-8614. ; 36:4, s. 453-465
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Throughout much of the Soviet period, access to housing was a major consideration, both for individual citizens and employers intent on increasing their number of employees. Because of the heavy emphasis on industry, and despite the progress made within the area since the late 1950s, Soviet urban residential provision never managed to fully recover from the acute housing shortage that characterized the Stalin years. In this paper, we address the quantitative side of housing construction during the socialist era. Using the mid-sized diversified industrial town of Daugavpils (Latvia) as a case study, we set out to investigate the extent to which employers were involved in decisions concerning housing provision. To do this, we consult a large volume of archival records, our focus being on documents tracing entries indicating that new living quarters were ready and could be allocated to employees of sponsoring organizations and enterprises.
|
|
| 3. |
- Gentile, Michael, et al.
(författare)
-
Spaces of Priority : The Geography of Soviet Housing Construction in Daugavpils, Latvia
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Annals of the Association of American Geographers. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0004-5608 .- 1467-8306. ; 100:1, s. 112-136
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As a result of the absence of a land market, socialist-era cities tended to look different from their market-economy equivalents. The difference was made more pronounced by the fact that the command economy also favored industrial investment over infrastructure and housing. Yet, with an increasing appetite for additional labor, needed by production units to ensure plan fulfillment, housing became a means to recruit and retain employees. Not all employers could afford to put resources into such ononproductiveo investment, however, and the literature suggests that the notion of priorities allows for discriminating between those enterprises that enjoyed soft budget constraints, and therefore could afford to spend money on worker welfare, and those that could not. As a heuristic framework based on the economics of shortage, the priority model is compelling, but as yet it lacks empirical substantiation. Setting out to test the landscapes of priority model of urban development, this article details the developments of housing construction in Daugavpils, Latvia, during the Soviet period. Based on extensive archive and field research covering all newly constructed or converted housing projects over the period from 1951 to 1991, it yields considerable, if not unqualified, support for the model that until now has not been made subject to systematic empirical tests.
|
|
