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Mass housing in Germany, Russia, and Ukraine represents an enormous volume of housing today and therefore an important tool for the future development of cities. But transformation of these districts is needed due to the functional, societal, and technical challenges they face. How can sustainable, socially compatible, ecologically responsible, and economically efficient development be achieved?
This book summarises the results of a three-year research project. Based on the selected case studies, it points out the qualities and values as well as the problems and possibilities involved in spatially transforming prefabricated housing estates from the 1960s and 1970s.
The specific features and characteristics of the socialist city are evaluated with respect to their potentials and difficulties, and with regard to the requirements placed on future district planning and development. Hence this book contributes to the on-going discussion and serves as a valuable basis for developing planning strategies.
About the author
Barbara Engel is a German architect and urban planner. She studied architecture at Technische Hochschule Darmstadt from 1988 to 1995. She was an assistant professor at the Brandenburgische Universität Cottbus and defended her Ph.¿D. in 2004. She did several research studies in Russia and was a visiting professor at Kent State University in the US in 2007. From 2008 to 2013 she was head of the Department for the Inner City at the City Planning Office in Dresden. Since 2013 she has
been Professor of International Urban Planning and Design at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Barbara Engel is a member of the Design Committees of Halle and Leipzig.
