City of Katowice

The city and its environment

Katowice is located in the industrial heartland of Upper Silesia. Two thirds of the region’s four millions inhabitants live in the urban agglomeration. Although the area is still dominated by coal and heavy industry, it is entering a phase of transition. The region is attractive to the service sector and to several high-tech industries (automobile production, electronics); nonetheless, there is general concern about the loss of many of the traditional jobs which is likely to lead to a high level of unemployment among the less educated work force in the near future. Since the mid-1980s, the city’s population has been decreasing, mostly through a declining influx. Katowice is the cultural centre of the region, with a university, a polytechnic high school, and other educational and scientific institutions, as well as the political capital of this traditionally self-confident region.

Despite the industrial character, the landscape outside of the urban cores is dominated by woods, lakes, and abundant greenery. The formerly notorious and unhealthy air pollution has diminished due to the reduced industrial activity and the implementation of environmental protection measures, especially at power plants. Today, soil and water pollution pose the most severe environmental hazards.

Housing situation and large housing estates

Katowice has ten large housing estates with more than 2,500 flats, providing homes for more than half of the city’s population. The city is surrounded by other industrial towns with large panel estates, among them the post-war ‘Coal Worker' Town’ Tychy with 250,000 inhabitants. Katowice’s housing stock includes large quantities of – frequently neglected – tenement blocks from the turn of the century, several fine mine worker settlements, albeit with maintenance deficits, and impressive modernist apartment blocks from the inter-war period. The post-war mass production of multi-storey dwellings started in parts of the inner city and continued on into the greenlands until the early 1980s. This quantitative boom was followed by an almost complete collapse of construction activity during the breakdown of state socialism. Consequently, overcrowding and a severe shortage of flats continue to be a problem.

Problems and areas requiring action

• finalisation of a market-oriented and socially aware form of privatisation that stimulates construction and provides opportunities for investors
• solution of the legal problems of allocating land and technical equipment (district heating, water supply) after privatisation, as a prerequisite for the funding of improvements through mortgages
• lack of funds for technical repairs; lack of opportunities to refinance improvements due to low average incomes
• many unfinished buildings ‘awaiting’ completion after the breakdown of mass construction in 1990; high demand for district and neighbourhood centres
• social and market segregation of the formerly industry-dependent areas and the city’s privileged south side, further aggravated by new high-quality/high-cost housing production
• rising cost of maintenance and service, especially in the prefabricated buildings, reducing their competitiveness within the housing market
• limited opportunities for changing flats according to individual demand because of overcrowding and the high prices of newly acquired flats; especially difficult for young families to acquire adequate housing; older households cannot afford to move to smaller homes due to price increases after privatisation
• lack of parking space due to an upsurge in car ownership
• growing safety concerns in public places

Actors and activities

Since large housing estates were only recently released from state dominance, the city’s administration is currently developing new forms of partnerships with private owners and the co- operative sector. In addition, the co-operative owners and single owner-occupiers have yet to find their place in the communication process with the public administration. The development of the city districts is currently in the planning stages, and decisions are being made regarding priorities for the repair and modernisation of buildings. The definition of public and private space and the responsibility for maintenance are major topics. Since new housing construction remains almost exclusively limited to private, single-family projects, the preparations for new multi-storey dwellings of high quality are taking place concurrent with the search for public and private funds for new housing developments. In practice, the current emphasis is on improving the urban, technical infrastructure. New forms of social housing for those left behind by the transition are being actively considered. TBS (social building associations) are expected to provide new forms of market-oriented non-profit housing under the supervision of local authorities.

‘Paderewski’ Estate

Between 1960 and the mid-1980s, this estate was built in three phases by a large, ‘quasi-state’ co- operative in the vicinity of large park areas, a lake, and forests. Originally planned for 14,000 inhabitants, there is still space for new housing in a favourable, lake-side location. The estate is described as having ‘good urban layout, bad architecture, and worse function, mostly due to overcrowding’ (estate manager).

At the beginning of the 1990s, management of the estate was taken over by a newly founded, local housing co-operative which split off from the former organisation and emphasises self- organisation and service orientation. The co-operative views itself as a ‘school of democracy’ and seeks to encourage participation in the management of the estate. The co-operative manages approximately 60 per cent owner-occupied flats (the members) and 40 per cent tenanted flats.

Physical and ecological situation

• poorest interior designs are located in the oldest as well as the newest buildings; newer buildings are ageing rapidly
• improved thermal insulation and consumption metering (without changing the entire heating system) was introduced to two thirds of the buildings since the early 1980s assisted by a state programme providing financial help of 80 per cent. However, this resulted partially in the ecological problem of asbestos on façades
• separate garbage collection since the early 1990s

Problems

• general maintenance of the buildings and the site’s technical infrastructure necessary to prevent environmental problems (sewage), partially the result of damaging influences from coal mining; protection from noise and pollution caused by increased road traffic and adjacent new roads
• rising cost of maintenance and services
• finalisation of land property regulations concerning semi-public land and technical facilities (external connections to water and sewage system)
• improvement of the public and private traffic links to the city
• shortage of employment opportunities, both near the estate and in general
• emerging social segregation, rising rent arrears and demand for low-cost ‘emergency’ housing; part of the estate is developing into quality housing for the urban, professional classes
• limited possibilities of providing present and prospective customers with the high-quality flats in demand
• lack of parking space due to an upsurge in car ownership;
• safety concerns in public places

Strategies

• utilisation of a two-stage architecture and urban design workshop to promote plans for the estate; participants include the co-operative’s bodies, inhabitants, and city officials
• construction of integrated, multi-storey parking; commercial buildings beginning to provide noise cover as a first step towards quality improvement
• additional housing (small scale, high-quality, and high-density) under consideration for the unused area adjacent to the lake
• planned conversion of several existing buildings or parts thereof into serviced flats for elderly members and to attract urban professionals
• new local shopping facilities and office space planned for the near future

Source: EA.UE: A future for large housing estates, Berlin 1998

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