Post-Utopian Spaces

Book excerpt: Featuring up-to-date and insightful analyses and comparative case studies from a plethora of countries, this timely book explores ‘ideal’ socialist cities and their transformation under new socio-economic and political conditions after the fall of communism. With contributions from leading scholars in the field, this book prioritises objective scientific knowledge and presents expert rethinking of the historical experience of urban planning in the former socialist countries of Eurasia. It draws on carefully selected examples of iconic cities of socialist modernism, from the post-Soviet space, Central Europe, and the Balkans. The book explores the ongoing transformation of these cities: from uniformed urban environment to chaotic post-modernist planning, from industrialisation to touristification, from deideologisation to making new and still highly contested heritage. Written in an accessible and engaging style, this book will be of interest to students and scholars in urban studies, human geography, sociology, social anthropology, spatial planning, and architectural practice.