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Incomplete service networks in enduring socialist housing estates: Retrospective evidence from local centres in Estonia

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Scholarly literature frequently refers to the incompleteness of service infrastructure in socialist housing estates. This has been considered a major failing of socialist residential landscapes that were planned and built according to scientific principles offering a high quality of life to residents through rational and technical design standards. This chapter presents visual and context-based evidence to illustrate how compromises in the service networks of newly built modernist housing estates were made during the socialist years. To do so, we investigate contemporaneous circumstances and decisions that delayed or (indefinitely) postponed the construction of neighbourhood services and community infrastructure. We ground our arguments in the evolution of Väike-Õismäe, a 1970s-era housing estate in Tallinn, Estonia. Findings suggest that even in one of the most admired residential districts, recognised with a prestigious architectural award from the Soviet state, the initial visions of the architect were unrealised and adjustments to plans were made in the earliest phases of implementation before construction began.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationUrban Book Series
PublisherSpringer
Pages273-299
Number of pages27
DOIs
StatePublished - 2019

Publication series

NameUrban Book Series

Keywords

  • Estonia
  • Housing estates
  • Mikrorayon
  • Scarcity of resources
  • Service networks
  • Socialism
  • Urban planning

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