engleski

The transformation of housing and household structure in Croatian cities

This paper examines dynamic changes of households and housing stock in Croatian cities during 1990s associated with socio-economic transformation that accompanied collapse of socialism. The process of transition from a centrally planned to a market economy has brought to the former socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe both overriding socio-spatial change, as well as structural economic changes. Substantial changes in the housing stock and in household structures occurred, especially in larger cities. Housing sector experienced changes, such as privatization of socially-owned dwellings, diversification of housing types, and problem of maintenance of the old housing stock, especially in central parts of the cities. In areas of old pre-socialist housing stock new housing construction is taking place rather than renovation of the existing one. Gentrification process is very limited only to high-grade areas of old housing stock. Housing sector in Croatian cities is characterised by high housing demand (especially in four largest cities), low level of housing construction, high prices of dwellings, low housing standards and poorly organized rented housing market. After Homeland war, rising costs of housing and the housing affordability problem emerged so especially young and better-educated households move from big cities, either to much more affordable surroundings or to smaller cities. The paper examines influence of socio-demographic processes on the transformation of households during past decades. Changing patterns of marriage, rise of divorce, delayed child-bearing, declining fertility, improved life expectancy and ageing have resulted in fundamental changes of traditional family and household structures, especially in larger cities. All processes mentioned have resulted in reduction of average household size, increase of the share of one-person households as well as two-person households and decline in all other households size, diversity of household living arrangements destabilization of kinship etc.

Croatian cities; household structure; housing

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