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30 Years On
30 Years On
In neighbouring country: Poland, after the 30-year mark of the end of communism, the country has “undergone a remarkable transformation” overcoming many issues such as widespread poverty (Kapur 2018). Author and journalist: Akash Kapur spoke to citizens of a Polish town, Gdansk, to discuss the local Soviet housing blocks, called Falowiecs, that were to have housed collectively an “estimated 12,000” residents. The current residents of Falowiecs spoke about how much their town has developed and over that period the previous residents who had left the town, following an idealised “American Dream”, had gradually started to return once again as the Soviet housing had inevitably been a “better thought-out living space” in comparison to the suburban housing. The process of improving the reputation of communist housing, in Poland, has been difficult, it has taken a new generation of Poles to show the detachment of the Soviet regime, that they do not conform to the history that is left behind and the citizens are “less agonized” by the history, as well as the architecture. The generational factor is a very interesting component in the “transformation” as it reminds the previous generation of residents that there is no longer a communist regime intact, as obvious as it is, for many residents who remained to live in Soviet housing are daily reminded of the history and it is the young people who are changing the overall perception of what these buildings are to what they could be. Lithuanian Historian: Marija Dremaite also talks about the “generational detachment” of the people born after the fall of communism, that she noticed through her students, where they were upfront about their opin-
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ions of the regime and the architecture juxtaposed to the later generations who were overall more hesitant to share (Dremaite 2017).
The future of Soviet housing blocks is very uncertain, without demolishing, what can be done to save millions of homes? Following Hess’s lessons, ‘renovating’ is the most optimistic of all, however, added to that factor, younger generations need to be a part of that process, as that has been proven successful in Gdansk (Kapur 2018).
15. Revitalised Soviet housing blocks, Gdansk, Poland 2018
