How did planners design Soviet cities?

Resources:

A. This video is a synthesis of the following sources:

- Pille Metspalu & Daniel B. Hess (2018) Revisiting the role of architects in planning large-scale housing in the USSR: the birth of socialist residential districts in Tallinn, Estonia, 1957–1979, Planning Perspectives, 33:3, 335-361, DOI: 10.1080/02665433.2017.1348974

Produced by Dave Amos in sunny Sacramento, California.
Edited by Eric Schneider in cloudy Cleveland, Ohio.

[lendglif]

as one who live in a khrushchevka, when i first launched The Sims i was very confused that kitchen and dinner should be two different room, lol

[dia]

Ngl the micro-district hits really different when you're a kid. I remember it being so fun when all of the kids gathered in the park in the middle and we would play.

[FuchsiaShocked]

"Kitchens were tiny" *shows a kitchen twice the size of the one I share with four other tenants here in the UK*

[PoznanPiatkowo]

Important thing was that the blocks were all unfenced, if you left the house you found yourself immediately surrounded by open alleys and greenery like in a park, wchich always was close by. The streets were never in the way, only small ones to get to the parking lots, so you didn't really worry about cars. I never had more than 5 minutes way to the store, to school, to the park, to any playing field. And we kids all knew each other even from different blocks because we were running around all over the place. I only appreciate it now that I'm older and living in a deeply fenced part of town favoring cars and streets above all else. It's a nightmare.

[nikitasuchkov]

I'm a Russian urban researcher focusing on constructivism and living in Moscow. Your narrative is surprisingly exact, neutral and not ideologically coloured about the Soviet architecture like other American stories. I really appreciate it. Your example with the movie is very useful to understand the Soviet approach. It was a real solution of the housing deficit at that time.

[ElisabethHarmand]

I live in a rather small soviet style neighborhood in Tallinn, Estonia and it's very interesting to see in here how the older side of the neighborhood has Stalinka style buildings and how they gradually change to the Khrushcheyovka style and in the other end of the neighborhood there are also some high rise towers. However most of these houses are now very nicely renovated and don't look anything like the ones showed in the video!

[KalleKlovn]

I think it is important to mention that a huge part of the Soviet union was in total ruins after the war. Building a lot of identical and pragmatic buildings probably was the best solution to get dwellings to everyone fast. I would think so anyway. I really don't know.

[ilia]

Hi from Siberia!) will add two things: 1) in the Soviet microrayons each house has a yard - a place with many trees for children to play and adults to communicate. Now many yards are filled with cars, but in my childhood, children played different games in the yards - there were slides, horizontal bars, a sandbox, etc., and adults played chess, dominoes, just talked; 2) on the territory of Soviet schools there is always not only the school building - there is a stadium, alleys, horizontal bars, etc - children and adults could walk and play, in winter they went skiing on the school grounds. Visiting cities in Europe and the USA, I was surprised that parents are forced to take their children to a park by car so that they can play - because there are no such yards and schools near the houses.

[Vitaly__-hqoq]

We have so much land in Russia - we build skyscrapers HORISONTALLY

[AN-nree]

A Russian here. The cities and such planning really give your place a unique atmosphere, it is hard to explain. Imagine coming outside of your house and wishing 5 minutes of walking you can get to your school, play soccer with your friends outside, and go grocery shopping

It is very common for kids to play soccer outside and then hear your mom calling you out of the window for dinner :)))

[MasterPetrik]

Wow, being Russian myself I was surprised by this video neutral non-political view and factual correctness of all data. You can literally see how deep digging work autor did here. This is really a great overview, thanks!

[TheMattastic]

When I compare this to the state of housing in the UK this kind of urban planning honestly sounds like a dream.

[Michas]

-This sounds familiar...
**looks out of the window**
-Oh yeah, that's why!

[derekgorin]

I was a little disappointed this video didn't touch on "dachas" - Russian country houses. People were expected to stay in their little city apartment during the week and have a small plot of land out side of the city to relax and have a garden. At times, a personal garden was an important part of the food supply

[elweewutroone]

“Kitchens were tiny”
HK Resident: *LAUGHS IN HONG KONG*

[llythes]

From the video, it may seem like living in such environment would be a dream to this day, but since the collapse of Soviet Union, some governments of the newly independent republics had no resources and time to maintain those buildings, and people still live in 50 to 70 year old houses without any renovation. Source: I live in a former soviet state, Kazakhstan.

[williamduke]

Imagine having your kids go to a school that's only five minutes away, by foot! Unthinkable in the US. It's crazy how we don't even realize how much valuable life time we waste with driving and traffic.

[andyvalentine]

The key thing here is that they promised housing for everyone, and kept their promise. The houses were not pretty, but they served their purpose.

[davidfeltheim]

Mid century Soviet Union: Duplicated apartment blocks
Mid century United States: Duplicated suburban houses

[merkur]

I grew up in Yugoslavia, which had similar housing policies, now living in the West. The apartments in Eastern Europe were equal size as the ones in the West of that time, and bigger than the newly built Western ones. Also, in the socialist countries I never saw an apartment without a hallway/entry room, which is so widespread in the West (entering directly into the living room). Next, no building put a shade to another, even if you lived on the first floor you had sunshine...nowadays, with urban mafias, it's all stack next to each other. I'm grateful to have experienced that lifestyle, new generations will never know what they missed.