Socialist Housing: Did it work? (tradition, virtual, America, God)

[Djamila]

Socialist housing, what we call "commieblocks", are plain, concrete apartment highrises designed to provide all citizens with relatively equal living standards.

In Sarajevo, they were implemented mainly in rural areas of the city and suburbs where development was sparse. This was because strict heritage laws prevented the destruction of traditional, historic Bosnian homes - and thank God for that. Cities like Titograd (now Podgorica), in Montenegro, were virtually flattened during the socialist era and completely rebuilt with little but commieblocks.

This is what commieblocks built the socialist era look like. The large mosque in the middle is the Kralj Fahd Mosque, now the largest mosque in Sarajevo - much to the dismay of traditionalists who are horrified that the title of largest mosque of Europe has been removed from the Gazi Husrev-Beg's Mosque list of claims-to-fame. The larger, white houses on the right are special housing for people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and war orphans.



This is a close-up view of what modern commieblocks look like. They are generally sunnier, and happier, than socialist-era commieblocks but they're still hideous and inexpensive. This particular building is in the Ilidza suburb of Sarajevo and was built in the early 2000s. Notice how difficult Bosnian is for those who do not speak the language, imagine trying to translate "Fitness Centar" into English? Hahaha...



And here, to compare, are more traditional Bosnian homes - of course, in a more modern suburb. The most important thing to point out about Bosnian homes is their sheer size. Most homes are absolutely enormous compared to standards in Western Europe and North America, even lower-class homes. They are at least 3 floors high, often four, and contain nearly a dozen different rooms.

This particular suburb is near Ilijas, and it is an upper middle-class suburb by Bosnian standards. You can see new construction near the mosque at the bottom of the photo, and older construction above the mosque near the top of the photo. If you take the time to look around this photo, you'll see Bosnian living standards were traditionally quite comfortable and you'd pay a fortune for a home this size in most other European cities, even though they go for between $20,000-$180,000 US here, depending on the district (Districts where foreigners have bought summer homes are much more expensive, as are districts in areas with significant attractions, like Vrelo Bosne park).



So, the question is, did socialist housing work? What impact did it have if any? Would you rather live in a commieblock or a traditional, Bosnian home?

[Feathers in Hair]

I'm not sure of what's meant by socialist housing. Do people not have to pay as much for it due to lower income?

[Djamila]

It's just... universally the same. A kitchen is a kitchen is a kitchen with socialist housing, whether you're a 104-floor building in Zagreb or a two-floor duplex in Sanski. It's made so everyone is equal, and all the rooms are exactly the same.