Adriana Soaita
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Contact details
Department of Geography
King's College London
Strand
London
WC2R 2LS
Email: adriana.soaita@kcl.ac.uk or asoaita@yahoo.com
King's College London
Strand
London
WC2R 2LS
Email: adriana.soaita@kcl.ac.uk or asoaita@yahoo.com
Research
A comparative analysis of the nature and extent of housing problems and resident responses in two forms of Romanian urban housing
The imposition of communism in Eastern Europe post war led to dramatic economic, social and political transformations including massive urban industrialisation and large-scale collective housing production. Since the fall of Communism in 1989 and the subsequent adoption of privatisation and western market mechanisms, Eastern Europe has experienced another set of radical transformations. Many of these have proved highly problematic and the privatisation of the housing market provides a clear example. The proposed research will analyse the changes, which have taken place in the nature and form of housing provision in Romania in recent decades and their legacy. In particular, it will examine the sharp contrast between the concrete high-rise ‘social’ housing built during the Communist period, and the shift to single family owner-built ‘villa’ construction, often on unserviced land, since the fall of the communist regime in 1989.
The guiding research question is to what extent and in what ways do housing problems and the resident perception of these problems and their (dis)-satisfaction and responses vary between two major types of urban housing in Romania under post socialism?
In the perspective of European Union integration, the study will help understanding Romanian housing problems and resident’s responses as a much wider process of housing transition to post socialism and consequences of privatisation in the context of other Eastern European experiences, encouraging multi-national exchange of ideas and practices.
Funding: ORS and the School of Social Science and Public Policy, King's College London
Supervisors: Chris Hamnett and Tim Butler
The imposition of communism in Eastern Europe post war led to dramatic economic, social and political transformations including massive urban industrialisation and large-scale collective housing production. Since the fall of Communism in 1989 and the subsequent adoption of privatisation and western market mechanisms, Eastern Europe has experienced another set of radical transformations. Many of these have proved highly problematic and the privatisation of the housing market provides a clear example. The proposed research will analyse the changes, which have taken place in the nature and form of housing provision in Romania in recent decades and their legacy. In particular, it will examine the sharp contrast between the concrete high-rise ‘social’ housing built during the Communist period, and the shift to single family owner-built ‘villa’ construction, often on unserviced land, since the fall of the communist regime in 1989.
The guiding research question is to what extent and in what ways do housing problems and the resident perception of these problems and their (dis)-satisfaction and responses vary between two major types of urban housing in Romania under post socialism?
In the perspective of European Union integration, the study will help understanding Romanian housing problems and resident’s responses as a much wider process of housing transition to post socialism and consequences of privatisation in the context of other Eastern European experiences, encouraging multi-national exchange of ideas and practices.
Funding: ORS and the School of Social Science and Public Policy, King's College London
Supervisors: Chris Hamnett and Tim Butler
Biography
Adriana, a Romanian registered architect and planner with 22 years of professional experience, maintains a goal of returning architecture to the people and bringing people back into the creative social and cultural process of architecture. She witnessed the last and darkest years of communism, and the historical socio-economic and political changes that followed in Romania. Her academic inquiry is inspired by the encounters with the people she has been designing for. Their narratives arouse her fascination with the multiplicity of meanings attached to housing.
Education:
MSc in Urban Housing Management, 2003-2004 (with Distinction)
Rotterdam - Lund (World Bank scholarship)
Real Estate, Project and Property Management, 2002 (with Distinction)
Rotterdam (MATRA scholarship)
BA in Architecture and Planning, 1979-1985
The Institute of Architecture and Planning ‘Ion Mincu’ Bucharest
Education:
MSc in Urban Housing Management, 2003-2004 (with Distinction)
Rotterdam - Lund (World Bank scholarship)
Real Estate, Project and Property Management, 2002 (with Distinction)
Rotterdam (MATRA scholarship)
BA in Architecture and Planning, 1979-1985
The Institute of Architecture and Planning ‘Ion Mincu’ Bucharest
