Andrew H. Dawson - Planning in Eastern Europe (Routledge Revivals)

Routledge Revivals

Planning is particularly important in Eastern Europe since most spatial change and economic planning are the products of centralised decision-making, which in turn is the product of a systematic socio-political ideology. Planning is therefore an important key to understanding society, economy and spatial change in Eastern Europe. This book, which was first published in 1987, provides a comprehensive overview of planning in Eastern Europe. Each chapter discusses the nature of planning in the country in question and the changes which have taken place since 1945, and examines regional, economic, land-use, environmental protection and urban design policies and their achievements in the post- 1945 period. Introductory chapters discuss the physical, economic and political background of the area and a conclusion considers overall successes and failures and discusses likely future developments. This book is ideal for students of geography.

Edited by
Andrew H. Dawson

First published in 1987
by Croom Helm Ltd

This edition first published in 2015 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

1987 Andrew H. Dawson

The right of Andrew H. Dawson to be identified as editor of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Publishers Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact.

A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number: 86017654

ISBN 13: 978-1-138-85334-8 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-1-315-72278-8 (ebk)
ISBN 13: 978-1-138-85339-3 (pbk)

PLANNING IN EASTERN EUROPE

ANDREW H. DAWSON

1987 Andrew H. Dawson
Croom Helm Ltd, Provident House, Burrell Row,
Beckenham, Kent, BR3 1AT

Croom Helm Australia Pty Ltd, Suite 4, 6th Floor,
64-76 Kippax Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010, Australia

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Planning in Eastern Europe.
1. Europe, Eastern Economic policy
I. Dawson, Andrew H.
338.947 HC244

ISBN 0-7099-0863-6

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Mackays of Chatham Ltd, Kent

Dr. F.W.Carter, Department of Geography, University College London

Dr. P.A.Compton, Department of Geography, The Queen's University of Belfast

Dr. A.H.Dawson, Department of Geography, University of St. Andrews

Dr. D.R.Hall, Department of Geography and History, Sunderland Polytechnic

Professor R.E.H.Mellor, Department of Geography, University of Aberdeen

Dr. D.Turnock, Department of Geography, The University, Leicester

Let me begin with two admissions! It was not my intention to produce a book about Planning in Eastern Europe, and the fact that this volume has appeared is due in very large part to the encouragement of Michael Bradford, who was very keen that an important gap in the literature about the area should be filled. Nor would the book have been possible without the assistance of the team of writers whose work this publication is, for it depends in large part upon their personal knowledge and long experience of the wide variety of landscapes, societies and languages which make up Eastern Europe. It is doubtful whether a single author could have done justice to this variety at the level of detail which has been attempted here, and it is certain that the editor could not. I am most grateful for their assistance.

There is no doubt that Eastern Europe is important to the rest of the world. The westward advance of Soviet influence after the Second World War, and the establishment of communist governments in the eight countries of the region, offered an alternative route to economic and social development to that of the mixed economies and parliamentary democracies of Western Europe; and, if the achievements of that alternative had proved to be manifestly superior, it is doubtful whether the Western way of life, as we know it today, would have survived. That that alternative path has not been perceived to be superior is in large measure the consequence of a series of major crises, beginning with the East German riots of 1953 and culminating in martial law in Poland in the early 1980s, which have shaken most of the Eastern European societies to their foundations at some time or other since 1945. However, the achievements and failures of the building of socialism in the eight countries have rarely been examined in detail, and this is particularly true of the planned development of the space economy. Even before the establishment of the communist governments there had been many examples of states intervening in the economy in the pursuit of regional and urban development, and many landscapes still bear witness to that earlier activity. However, since 1945 the countries of the area have been characterised by central-government planning of the distribution of manufacturing, the development of towns, changes in land use, and the protection of areas which are of value on environmental or historic grounds, as never before. Furthermore, this has all occurred during a time of very rapid population and economic growth. Thus, the book takes as its context the insistence of the communists that development should not be left to the workings of the market, but that its path should be explicitly chosen, and that the efforts of society should be fully harnessed to achieve goals which will be of benefit to the whole population of workers and their dependents. In short, it is concerned with the announced aims and the actual achievements of the authorities in Eastern Europe in the field of planning the space economy. However, it is not concerned with either the way in which those aims have been formulated, nor with the manner in which they have been executed, and those who seek information about how decisions are made and implemented in Eastern Europe must look elsewhere.