engleski

A POST-SOCIALIST VIEW ON SOCIAL MIX IN ZAGREB’S LARGE HOUSING ESTATES – QUANTITATIVE INSIGHTS

Social mix, defined as the presence of diverse social groups within a neighborhood, has been a burning topic in academia and public policy in recent decades. In Western and Northern Europe, post-war housing estates stand out as areas of segregated, minority-populated and cheap housing, and have been the site of numerous attempts of reconstruction with the idea of social mixing. Large housing estates (LHEs) in Central and Eastern Europe had different developmental pathways. In line with the socialist ideology, the new neighborhoods were inhabited by various social strata, from working class to nomenclature. According to research in other CEE countries, the diverse structure of these estates has persisted to this day, but due to the systematic neglect and aging, the estates are threatened by physical and social deterioration. Based on the results of a survey conducted in Croatia in the spring of 2022 on two types of housing estates (socialist and post-socialist), in this paper two research questions are analyzed at the level of Zagreb estates (N=657). Firstly, the objective and perceived level of social mix in LHEs of the socialist period are compared to those from the post-socialist period. Secondly, based on types of residential satisfaction and residential mobility, it is assessed whether the existing composition in the estates is endangered in the long run. The results confirm that the social composition in both types of estates is mixed, with a predominance of middle-class residents and without pronounced social differences. The residential satisfaction at the building and estate level is high in both types of estates, and the majority of residents would like to continue living there. Nevertheless, the population of the socialist LHEs is aging, which could jeopardize the present social mix, so certain regeneration policies should be adopted.

social mix ; post-socialist large housing estates ; quantitative research ; residential satisfaction

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