summaery2020: Projects

Project information

submitted by
Mazen Alazazmeh

Co-Authors
Daria Bibartceva, Olga Suslova, Henrieke de Boer

Mentors
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Daniela Zupan, Arch. Mazen Alazazmeh

Faculty:
Architecture and Urbanism

Degree programme:
Architecture (Master of Science (M.Sc.)),
Urban Studies (Master of Science (M.Sc.)),
European Urban Studies (english) (Master of Science (M.Sc.))

Type of project presentation
Research project

Semester
Summer semester 2021

Project description

Crises and catastrophes have tremendous effects on different dimensions of housing. They are therefore intriguing lenses to engage with urban transformation. However, the aftermath of crises and catastrophes presents a dichotomy: on the one hand, they can trigger creative coping mechanisms and social innovations, thereby leading to favourable transformations in housing. On the other hand, they create opportunities for exploitation and oppression which in turn challenge housing provision and socio-spatial equality. The seminar’s objective is to tackle this conflicting nature of crises and catastrophes and to investigate the geographies of innovation and exploitation which they entail.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union was a process of decline and economic, political, and social problems. The consequences were dramatic at all levels: redistribution of global geopolitical power, the emergence of new countries with new political and economic systems, which also affected the housing sector. This project explores the practical side of housing procurement in Moscow in the USSR and Russia, based on both official and informal sources. The booklet shows the differences between the two housing systems, before the crisis when almost all people in the Soviet Union had housing provided by the government. And after the crisis, where people mostly have to obtain the properties themselves.

Files and presentations

• How_to_get_a_flat.pdf