SDEb1110 Socialist City: From The Ideal to The Reality

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Petr Roubal, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Petr Roubal, Ph.D.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course primarily aims at understanding the current problems of Czech and Moravian towns and cities (e.g. lack of affordable housing) through discussion of their state-socialist past. Through analyses of wide range of audio-visual and written sources, such as contemporary documentaries, urban plans, historical photographs, architectonic manifestos, expert discussions, the course intends to understand the state-socialist city as a crossroad between radical Marxist visions and a reality of everyday practice of state-socialist dictatorship. The course will focus in particular on the issue of housing, i.e. the planning and construction of panel housing, as well as their contemporary criticism and representation (e.g. in the film Panelstory). The course aspires to locate the socialist urban development in a broader context of development of modern European city and to integrate an interdisciplinary perspective.
Learning outcomes
After attending the course, the students will: - understand the development of city under state-socialism and compare it with the west-European urban development - explain the impact of the state-socialist urban legacy on current state of the cities. - analyse various types of source material including urban plans - apply an interdisciplinary approach.
Syllabus
  • 1) Introduction: Was there a socialist city? Setting the research agenda, basic theoretical approaches to the study of cities 2) Modernist visions of contemporary city: Le Corbusier and Athens Charter 3) Radical visions of socialist city in the interwar period: Karel Teige, the influence of the Soviet Union 4) Post-war “national revolution” and the two-year plan in urban development: collective housing, first experimental housing estates 5) Sorela: Stalinist anti-modernism, Ostrava-Poruba housing estate 6) The 1960s as a golden age of state-socialist modernism: large housing estate projects 7) Redevelopment: destruction of the 19th century inner-city housing stock 8) Everyday life in state-socialist city: leisure, consumption, garden colonies 9) Public space in the city: architectonic heritage of state-socialism, current discussions on state-socialist brutalism 10) Contemporary critique of state-socialist modernism 11) State-socialist postmodernism in architecture and urban planning of late-socialism 12) Farewell to the plan: wild 1990s and the attempts at radical brake from state-socialist urban development.
Literature
  • ROUBAL, Petr: Krize urbanistické moderny v socialismu. Případ plánování Prahy od šedesátých do osmdesátých let 20. století. In: Soudobé dějiny, roč. 24, č. 3 (2017), s. 335–360.
  • HANUŠ, Jiří. Město a jeho symboly (The city and its symbols). In Město a jeho symboly. první. Brno: Centrum pro studium demokracie a kultury, 2021, 160 pp. ISBN 978-80-7325-519-0. info
  • Husákovo 3+1 : bytová kultura 70. let. Edited by Lada Hubatová-Vacková - Cyril Říha. Vydání druhé. Praha: VŠUP, 2018, 366 stran. ISBN 9788087989654. info
  • Paneláci 2 : historie sídlišť v českých zemích 1945-1989 : kritický katalog k výstavě Bydliště: panelové sídliště : plány, realizace, bydlení 1945-1989. Edited by Lucie Skřivánková - Rostislav Švácha - Martina Koukalová - Eva N. Vydání první. V Praze: Uměleckoprůmyslové muzeum v Praze, 2017, 350 stran. ISBN 9788071011699. info
  • SPURNÝ, Matěj. Most do budoucnosti : laboratoř socialistické modernity na severu Čech. Vydání první. Praha: Univerzita Karlova v Praze, nakladatelství Karolinum, 2016, 287 stran. ISBN 9788024633329. URL info
  • DOSTALÍK, Jan. Organická modernita. Ekologicky šetrné tendence v československém urbanismu a územním plánování (1918-1968) (Organic Modernity. Eco-Friendly Tendencies in Czechoslovak Urban and Regional Planning (1918-1968)). 1. vyd. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2015, 299 pp. EDIS, sv. 13. ISBN 978-80-210-7876-5. info
  • ZARECOR, Kimberly Elman. Utváření socialistické modernity : bydlení v Československu v letech 1945-1960. Edited by Alena Všetečková. Vyd. 1. Praha: Academia, 2015, 419 s. ISBN 9788020023087. info
  • FERENČUHOVÁ, Slavomíra. Meno, mesto, vec : urbánne plánovanie v sociológii mesta a prípad (post)socialistického Brna. 1. vyd. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, Mezinárodní politologický ústav, 2011, 275 s. ISBN 9788021055834. info
Teaching methods
lectures, small-group workshops, student presentations
Assessment methods
presentation (30 %), active participation in the workshops (30 %), exam (40 %)
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
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