Decentralised Mass Housing Policy in Socialist Yugoslavia

Abstract

The unique experiment of socialist state in the second Yugoslavia (1945-1991) had a profound impact in housing policy. Differently than in other socialist countries, decentralisation played a significant role. Housing followed this policy - it was heavily decentralised to regional and local tier. Therefore, these tiers developed and used their own housing norms and standards and thereby had different spatial reflections on urban fabric across Yugoslavia. However, Yugoslavia was still based on socialist ideology. Accordingly, multi-family neighbourhoods were often built for proletariat in Yugoslavia as the most advanced housing type. But, the aforementioned policy also caused decentralisation-led patterns in housing at urban level – these neighbourhoods were more numerous, but also smaller in size and scattered throughout urban area. The aim of this paper is to explain this process and spatial outcomes in multi-family housing through relevant theory and multi-case study. The study is carried on 6 medium-size cities in the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina. They share similar historic and spatial development. Thus, they are an adequate “polygon” to research separate approaches in situ, caused by decentralised housing policy. It is expected that the research will embrace how these approaches were reflected in concrete cases and which spatial characteristics can be usable for current trends in Serbian cities.