First Attempts of Socialist City Planning in Eastern Europe
However, in the process of socialist industrialization, industries were built not only near existing cities but also on new cites where only small rural communities existed. In such cases, new urban communities emerged in the vicinities of the industrial plants, to accommodate the workers. This is the case of Nowa Huta near Krakow, Poland started in 1949, Dunaújváros, Hungary started in 1950, and of Oneşti, later renamed Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, in Romania, started in 1952.
Other cases where new communities had to be created were related to the relocation due to the construction of storage reservoirs on big rivers. As traditionally villages were located near the water, they were flooded and had to be relocated. This created the need to design and construction of new villages. This trend is not specific to the post-war area nor to the communist system. However, the technological progress made the construction of big dams possible to a greater extent that in the prewar area. The harnessing of the big rivers was also extended, especially in countries, where space was not a problem and the flooding of great areas was acceptable such as the Soviet Union or Canada, but in smaller countries too. For instance, in Romania, the construction of the Izvorul Muntelui dam on the Bistriţa river required the relocation of several villages with a population of several thousand people.
These trends of the early post-war years were just a sign of what was to follow in the next decades when the constraints of the reconstruction had been overcome and such developments were undertaken at a much greater scale. However, the first projects highlighted the need of urban planning for the new localities. This included also the design of the entire infrastructure such as roads, water supply and power supply and also social studies as in many cases the life-style of the population was severely affected and. in the new conditions, the old occupation were not sustainable. The most frequent case was that of farmers whose farmland had been flooded and who could not get new farmland in the new locations.
All these required some urban planning, which was carried out without major difficulties.
Read more about this topic: Urban Planning In Communist Countries
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