Urban Planning in Communist Countries - Urban Development in The 1960s and 1970s

Urban Development in The 1960s and 1970s

In the big cities few new housing units were constructed and the existing unit were overcrowded. Towards 1960 the Soviet Union changed its policy and started extensive programs for the construction of new apartment buildings. This trend was immediately followed by all communist countries in Eastern Europe. The development of new neighborhoods in order to extend the housing capacity of cities required an important urban planning effort. In most cities, the development took place on the outskirts of the existing cities, incorporating suburbs or undeveloped land into the city. Also, in cities in which slums existed, the area of these slums was developed with modern housing units.

While the actual design and construction of the apartment buildings is not part of the urban planning exercise, the height and type of the buildings, the density of the buildings and other general characteristics were fixed by the planning exercise. Besides, the entire development of the infrastructure had to be planned. This included the transportation system and the roads, water supply, sewerage, power supply, shopping centers, schools and other infrastructure. Flood control was also a concern for cities located in flood prone areas. The planning also covered the industrial zones where new industries were to be located.

In some parts, urban problems were raised also due to other infrastructure, mainly to the development of waterways. The construction of reservoirs on big rivers in the proximity of cities created new waterfronts which had to be developed. This happened mainly in the Soviet Union, but also in other countries. Also some urban planning was required in the inner cities in the areas where new official buildings were constructed. An example in this respect is the development of the area of the congress hall attached to the previous royal palace in the center of Bucharest.

While the main urban planning effort was concentrated on the newly developed areas, they also had to cover the old city, as many of the utilities were linked to the existing infrastructure. After the first developments were completed, it became apparent that the cities had emerged in having new buildings at the periphery, while the center of the city had old buildings which were frequently decaying. While similar developments also happened in capitalist countries, private enterprise also made construction in the inner cities possible, both by replacing older buildings with new structures and by renovating the existing ones. This process was practically inexistent in the communist countries, where the maintenance of the old houses was extremely poor. Therefore the difference between the inner and outer cities became quite visible.