Eastern and Central Europe in Film and Print

Click to edit Master title style

Soviet Microdistricts

Subdivision of residential districts

• Government-dictated urban planning

• Response to forced industrialization and urbanization

• Integrated with public transportation plan

• Schools and shops

Subdivision of residential districts

• “Ideal housing for our collective society”

• “Housing for a new way of life”

• Standardized, panel block construction

• Faceless grey rectangular boxes

• No pride of ownership

Contrast with the “American” dream

Estonia

Soviet Living Conditions

• 160 sq ft/citizen

• Inexpensive (subsidized by the state)

• 10-15 year waiting list

• Extended families crammed in small apartments

• Stated-owned or state-run cooperatives

• 1991: Right to personal property

Poland

Soviet Apartment Complexes

Soviet Apartment ComplexesSoviet Apartment Complexes

Soviet Apartment ComplexesSoviet Apartment Complexes

The Disincentives of Common Property

• 160 sq ft/citizen

• Inexpensive (subsidized by the state)

• 10-15 year waiting list

• Extended families crammed in small apartments

• 1991: Right to personal property

• Now privatized

• “Everyone owns, no one cares”

• No incentives to improve value or “productivity”

• Slackers get the same rewards

• Unbalanced market/supply chain

• Managers have control, susceptible to bribes

• Deterioration of equipment and assets

• Increased pollution

Transition to a Market Economy

• Initially, party managers took advantages of influence to seize real state, oil fields, etc.

• Rise of the oligarch (Tycoon)

• Commercial and contractual laws were not fully in place

• Housing: most desirable units sold first

• Few could afford mortgages

• Housing was 2-10%, now 25-30% of annual income

Source: Marhkam, Harvard University, 2003

Transition to a Market Economy

• Government continues to subsidize

• Stimulants for construction and development

• Heating and hot water subsidies

• Not yet true market pricing

• Still building apartments

• A few old microdistricts have become Roma ghettos (Slovakia)

Transition to a Market Economy

• Poor condition of “unsold” complexes

• Persistent housing shortages

• Unaffordable mortgages

• Need to demolish old complexes (would increase shortages)

• Poles holding on to current units

• Housing no longer a “social right”

Poland Today:

• Member of EU

• Attracting foreign investors

• Courts are flooded with restitution claims for private property seized by Germany and the Communists.

Poland Today:

• Member of EU

• Attracting foreign investors

• Courts are flooded with restitution claims for private property seized by Germany and the Communists.

Poland Today: •People in Poland work 1966 hours a year, higher than the OECD average of 1739 hours.

•In Poland, nearly 59% of the working-age population aged 15 to 64 has a paid job. This figure is lower than the OECD employment average of 65%.

•Only 36% of Poles believe that their communities are tolerant of migrants, ethnic minorities and gays and lesbians, well below the OECD average of 61% and the 3rd lowest in the OECD after Turkey and Estonia.

SOURCE: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Poland Today: •In Poland, the average home contains one room per person, less than the OECD average of 1.6 rooms per person. (US = 2.3)

•In Poland, the average household earned $13,811 USD in 2008, less than the OECD average .

•When asked, 35% of people in Poland said they were satisfied with their life, much lower than the OECD average of 59%.

•At 54% of the eligible population, Poland has one of the lowest voting rates in Parliamentary elections in the OECD (average 70%).

•SOURCE: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Religion in Europe: Belief in God

GDP Per Inhabinant

GDP Per Inhabinant