Breathing life back into the suburbs
Long after the collapse of communism, crumbling housing and apartment blocks from the era still litter the Polish landscape. Housing estates built in the communist era constitute 35 percent of all residential reserves in Poland, and 56 percent of all households in Poland are in housing estates. Blocks of flats are the standard of living in this part of Europe, with some 34 million Central and Eastern European citizens living in a housing estate.
Many of these old blocks are run down and in a state of disrepair. Despite this, there are no integrated plans to modernize them and there is also no general residential policy, which could encourage building new and cheap flats. Currently, residential blocks are created by developers that build as they see fit, and are able to change the rates of the allowed construction density. According to Warsaw architect Henryk Drzewiecki, nowhere in Europe do developers have such profits as in Warsaw, and building for profit in the capital has led to the emergence of the so-called Warsaw standard, namely selling flats without floors and basic equipment.
The Warsaw district of Ursynów is a case in point. The dour blocks that blight much of Warsaw were mostly put up in the 1970s, and this is the case in Ursynów, whose northern part is 30 years' old. The district was a kind of urban and social experiment. Architects cooperated with psychologists and sociologists and as a result their projects included citizens' clubs and model schools. Unfortunately, not many of them were completed and those that were, soon ceased to exist.
Despite this, other suburbs could learn much from the area's layout. "Ursynów will remain a positive example of urban thinking in the 1970s," says Warsaw urban planner, Krzysztof Domaradzki. Indeed, the assets of the area are the green parks, the inner structure of streets separated from the busy communication routes, and the metro, which shortens the distance between the district and the city center.
At the same time, Ursynów has plenty of open space, which is being used in a chaotic way, with the basic spatial rules violated. New, separate residential areas are being created, that have a strikingly higher standard than the old blocks. Interestingly, Warsaw has more than 200 so-called gated communities, the biggest number in this part of the world.
Some claim that the contrast between old blocks and the modern complexes seen in Ursynów and other housing estates highlights a change in society, namely that residents are becoming more alienated and unwilling to engage in projects that benefit a community as a whole. Ursynów's most basic problem in this respect is that the district falls under the jurisdiction of the Chief Architect's Bureau, rather than the district authorities.
"We have to make politicians take care of residential policy," says the president of the Polish Architects' Association, Ryszard Jurkowski. In fact, there is a chance to use structural funds to renovate housing estates and dilapidated blocks of flats. It seems the only barrier is time and effort on the part of housing cooperatives and local governments.
Many of these old blocks are run down and in a state of disrepair. Despite this, there are no integrated plans to modernize them and there is also no general residential policy, which could encourage building new and cheap flats. Currently, residential blocks are created by developers that build as they see fit, and are able to change the rates of the allowed construction density. According to Warsaw architect Henryk Drzewiecki, nowhere in Europe do developers have such profits as in Warsaw, and building for profit in the capital has led to the emergence of the so-called Warsaw standard, namely selling flats without floors and basic equipment.
The Warsaw district of Ursynów is a case in point. The dour blocks that blight much of Warsaw were mostly put up in the 1970s, and this is the case in Ursynów, whose northern part is 30 years' old. The district was a kind of urban and social experiment. Architects cooperated with psychologists and sociologists and as a result their projects included citizens' clubs and model schools. Unfortunately, not many of them were completed and those that were, soon ceased to exist.
Despite this, other suburbs could learn much from the area's layout. "Ursynów will remain a positive example of urban thinking in the 1970s," says Warsaw urban planner, Krzysztof Domaradzki. Indeed, the assets of the area are the green parks, the inner structure of streets separated from the busy communication routes, and the metro, which shortens the distance between the district and the city center.
At the same time, Ursynów has plenty of open space, which is being used in a chaotic way, with the basic spatial rules violated. New, separate residential areas are being created, that have a strikingly higher standard than the old blocks. Interestingly, Warsaw has more than 200 so-called gated communities, the biggest number in this part of the world.
Some claim that the contrast between old blocks and the modern complexes seen in Ursynów and other housing estates highlights a change in society, namely that residents are becoming more alienated and unwilling to engage in projects that benefit a community as a whole. Ursynów's most basic problem in this respect is that the district falls under the jurisdiction of the Chief Architect's Bureau, rather than the district authorities.
"We have to make politicians take care of residential policy," says the president of the Polish Architects' Association, Ryszard Jurkowski. In fact, there is a chance to use structural funds to renovate housing estates and dilapidated blocks of flats. It seems the only barrier is time and effort on the part of housing cooperatives and local governments.
