Postsocialism through the lens of shrinking cities and urban infrastructure

Abstract

This Commentary critically examines the intersection of urban shrinkage and postsocialism, arguing that state retreat within postsocialist contexts, which is intricately connected to urban shrinkage, differs from neoliberal, post-Keynesian welfare restructuring. Rather than a deliberate withdrawal, it is underpinned by state incapacity and chaotic privatization which has fragmented property regimes. Along with global factors driving urban shrinkage, the above conditions contributed to framing the decay of cityscapes and urban infrastructures in postsocialist cities. While some scholars question the continued relevance of postsocialism as an analytical category, I contend that postsocialist urban shrinkage remains a distinct socio-temporal phenomenon with tangible material manifestations within the built environment. Postsocialist shrinking cities continuously navigate hybrid infrastructural regimes that blend socialist tangible and intangible legacies with neoliberal governance frameworks, where the gaps in accountability and responsibilities serve as obstacles for coherent maintenance . While underlining the importance of engaging with postsocialism as a generative concept in human geography and urban studies, the contribution also advocates for comparative, context-sensitive approaches which allow scholars to avoid exoticizing urban transformations taking place after the collapse of state socialism in different countries around the world.

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