IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v10y2021i12p1359-d698371.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Problem of Densification of Large-Panel Housing Estates upon the Example of Cracow

Author

Listed:
  • Eliza Szczerek

    (Faculty of Architecture, Cracow University of Technology, 31-155 Cracow, Poland)

Abstract

The paper focuses on the phenomenon of intense, uncontrolled densification of large-panel housing estates in Poland. Despite the fact that such housing estates as a legacy of the Modernist concept of segregation of functions are often burdened with problems, they still have considerable potential, which results predominantly from their urban advantages, such as functional and spatial logic, large amounts of open public space, and abundance of greenery. Unfortunately, this potential is being destroyed by introducing new buildings, ignoring the existing urban layout of the housing estate along with its original compositional assumptions. This type of densification results from—without limitations—the pressure exerted by developers in the free-market economy, and it often leads to problems such as the devastation of urban layouts of these housing estates, breaking the continuity of public spaces, appropriation of green areas, strengthening of monofunctionality, etc. This problem is becoming noticeable in the scientific debate, although it is still difficult to obtain reliable data illustrating the densifications of such housing estates. The goal of this paper is to present the scales and character of such densifications of the large-panel housing estates, which pose a threat of devastation of their urban layouts often considered as urban heritage. The paper proposes a method of a quantitative analysis of the housing estates with reference to the increase in the built-up area and a qualitative analysis of the character of development with reference to its distribution. This method comprises a sequence of subsequent steps with relevant criteria. In the results, it demonstrates the scale of the problem, which in many cases is already big and still growing. The resultant threat of devastation of the urban layout and its consequences are presented upon selected examples of housing estates in Cracow, Poland. This paper is a voice in a discussion devoted to the current status, but most of all to the future of large-panel housing estates, particularly in terms of their protection as valuable achievements of urban planning of the second half of the 20th century, and to stopping unfavorable tendencies of urban destruction.

Suggested Citation

  • Eliza Szczerek, 2021. "The Problem of Densification of Large-Panel Housing Estates upon the Example of Cracow," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-23, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:12:p:1359-:d:698371
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/12/1359/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/12/1359/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard Sendi & Boštjan Kerbler, 2021. "The Evolution of Multifamily Housing: Post-Second World War Large Housing Estates versus Post-Socialist Multifamily Housing Types in Slovenia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-19, September.
    2. Luca Battisti & Lauranne Pille & Thomas Wachtel & Federica Larcher & Ina Säumel, 2019. "Residential Greenery: State of the Art and Health-Related Ecosystem Services and Disservices in the City of Berlin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-20, March.
    3. Monika Kopecká & Daniel Szatmári & Konštantín Rosina, 2017. "Analysis of Urban Green Spaces Based on Sentinel-2A: Case Studies from Slovakia," Land, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-17, April.
    4. Ivana Bogdanović Protić & Petar Mitković & Ljiljana Vasilevska, 2020. "Toward Regeneration of Public Open Spaces within Large Housing Estates–A Case Study of Niš, Serbia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-30, December.
    5. Lovisa Högberg & Hans Lind & Kristina Grange, 2009. "Incentives for Improving Energy Efficiency When Renovating Large-Scale Housing Estates: A Case Study of the Swedish Million Homes Programme," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 1(4), pages 1-17, December.
    6. Hanbing Yang & Meichen Fu & Li Wang & Feng Tang, 2021. "Mixed Land Use Evaluation and Its Impact on Housing Prices in Beijing Based on Multi-Source Big Data," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-21, October.
    7. Karien Dekker & Ronald Van Kempen, 2004. "Large Housing Estates In Europe: Current Situation And Developments," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 95(5), pages 570-577, December.
    8. Nina Schwarz & Annegret Haase & Dagmar Haase & Nadja Kabisch & Sigrun Kabisch & Veronika Liebelt & Dieter Rink & Michael W. Strohbach & Juliane Welz & Manuel Wolff, 2021. "How Are Urban Green Spaces and Residential Development Related? A Synopsis of Multi-Perspective Analyses for Leipzig, Germany," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-16, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jan K. Kazak & Katarzyna Hodor & Magdalena Wilkosz-Mamcarczyk, 2022. "Climate Change and Current Challenges for Landscapes and Cultural Heritage," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-3, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Neier, Thomas, 2023. "The green divide: A spatial analysis of segregation-based environmental inequality in Vienna," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    2. Maciej Piekarski & Łukasz Bajda & Ewelina Gotkowska, 2021. "Transformation of Socialist Realistic Residential Architecture into a Contemporary Sustainable Housing Habitat—General Approach and the Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-29, December.
    3. Justyna Berniak-Woźny & Małgorzata Rataj, 2023. "Towards Green and Sustainable Healthcare: A Literature Review and Research Agenda for Green Leadership in the Healthcare Sector," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-18, January.
    4. Dodoo, Ambrose & Gustavsson, Leif & Tettey, Uniben Y.A., 2017. "Final energy savings and cost-effectiveness of deep energy renovation of a multi-storey residential building," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 563-576.
    5. Abdullah Addas & Ahmad Maghrabi, 2021. "Social Evaluation of Public Open Space Services and Their Impact on Well-Being: A Micro-Scale Assessment from a Coastal University," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-19, April.
    6. Kristina Mjörnell & Paula Femenías & Kerstin Annadotter, 2019. "Renovation Strategies for Multi-Residential Buildings from the Record Years in Sweden—Profit-Driven or Socioeconomically Responsible?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-18, December.
    7. Thomas Panagopoulos & Stilianos Tampakis & Paraskevi Karanikola & Aikaterini Karipidou-Kanari & Apostolos Kantartzis, 2018. "The Usage and Perception of Pedestrian and Cycling Streets on Residents’ Well-being in Kalamaria, Greece," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-17, August.
    8. Kosa Golić & Vesna Kosorić & Slavica Stamatovic Vuckovic & Kosara Kujundzic, 2023. "Strategies for Realization of Socially Sustainable Residential Buildings: Experts’ Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-31, April.
    9. Rikke Skovgaard Nielsen & Anne Hedegaard Winther, 2020. "The complexity of diversity in reality: Perceptions of urban diversity," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(14), pages 2817-2832, November.
    10. Simon Smith & Paul Bellaby & Sally Lindsay, 2010. "Social Inclusion at Different Scales in the Urban Environment: Locating the Community to Empower," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(7), pages 1439-1457, June.
    11. Jana Temelová & Jakub Novák & Martin Ou rednícek & Petra Puldová, 2011. "Housing Estates in the Czech Republic after Socialism: Various Trajectories and Inner Differentiation," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(9), pages 1811-1834, July.
    12. Richard Sendi & Boštjan Kerbler, 2021. "The Evolution of Multifamily Housing: Post-Second World War Large Housing Estates versus Post-Socialist Multifamily Housing Types in Slovenia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-19, September.
    13. Andrzej Długoński & Diana Dushkova & Dagmar Haase, 2022. "Urban Cemeteries—Places of Multiple Diversity and Challenges. A Case Study from Łódź (Poland) and Leipzig (Germany)," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-22, May.
    14. Lind, Hans, 2012. "Pricing principles and incentives for energy efficiency investments in multi-family rental housing: The case of Sweden," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 528-530.
    15. Yunes Almansoub & Ming Zhong & Asif Raza & Muhammad Safdar & Abdelghani Dahou & Mohammed A. A. Al-qaness, 2022. "Exploring the Effects of Transportation Supply on Mixed Land-Use at the Parcel Level," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-28, May.
    16. Zwiers, Merle & Bolt, Gideon & van Ham, Maarten & van Kempen, Ronald, 2014. "Neighborhood Decline and the Economic Crisis," IZA Discussion Papers 8749, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Greg D. Simpson & Jackie Parker, 2018. "Data on Peer-Reviewed Papers about Green Infrastructure, Urban Nature, and City Liveability," Data, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-10, November.
    18. Vasyl Yukhnovskyi & Olha Zibtseva, 2019. "Normalization of green space as a component of ecological stability of a town," Journal of Forest Science, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 65(11), pages 428-437.
    19. Greg D. Simpson & Jackie Parker, 2018. "Data for an Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) of a Public Green Infrastructure and Urban Nature Space in Perth, Western Australia," Data, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-9, December.
    20. Karin Haldrup & David Snällfot, 2014. "On Financing of Urban Transition Viewed from the Oresund Area: When the Political Agenda of Urban Transition Meets the Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(12), pages 1-23, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:12:p:1359-:d:698371. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.