TRANSITION AND URBAN TRANSFORMATIONS IN POST-SOVIET PERSPECTIVE: APPROACHES AND CONCEPTUALIZATION

Abstract

This paper explores current debates on post-socialist transition and transformations, focusing on their spatial dimension and conceptualization of the urban transformations. We analyze the evolution of approaches and current discussions around transition as such and post-socialist transition in particular, the relationships between transition and transformations along with their spatial outcomes, and define the main types of restructuring in the course of spatial transformations. In this paper, we illustrate transition as temporal and methodological frame and provide an overview of ideas on its ending, relevance and usefulness, interpreting post-socialist transition as fundamental societal changes of political regime, economy, institutions and space, which are taking place simultaneously. We argue that urban transformations as spatial projection and outcome of the post-socialist transition could be interpreted through the lens of restructuring – the process of socialist structures updating under which old structures are transforming, supplementing with new elements, and therefore new structures are gradually developing as a reflection of the new ideologies and spatial practices. We distinguish and analyze three main types of urban space restructuring in the post-socialist perspective - functional, morphological and institutional, which, interacting, illustrate the key changes of the post-socialist urban spaces. Such interpretation of spatial transformations could be useful for understanding different dimensions of spatial dynamics, providing deeper contextualization and giving comparative perspective on spatial outcomes.