Sara Nikolić
Pasteloza – refurbishing of the PPR heritage Urban Development Issues, vol. 63, 51–64 DOI: 10.2478/udi-2019-0016
Keywords: ethnography, pasteloza, post-socialism, PPR, urban anthropology
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ABSTRACT
Colourful zigzags, arcade game motifs, geometric figures, pseudo-frames of windows and even infantile drawings of flora and fauna – those are just some of the visible symptoms of the aesthetical and urbanistic chaotic condition also known as Polish pasteloza. One of the most common readings is that the excuse of thermal insulation is being (ab)used in order to radically erase the urbanistic, cultural and political heritage of Polish People’s Republic (PPR) from the city landscape. On the other hand, inhabitants of ‘pastelized’ housing estates claim to be satisfied not only with the insulation but also with their role in decision-making processes. A sense of alienation from one’s home seems to have gone away, together with the centralized state administration,
and it is being replaced by citizen participation. The possibility of vindication of pasteloza’s ‘crimes against aesthetics’ will be deliberated in this paper – in order to pave a path for more complex understanding of this phenomenon that could offer a solution for achieving a compromise between aesthetics and
civic participation in post-transition processes.
Colourful zigzags, arcade game motifs, geometric figures, pseudo-frames of windows and even infantile drawings of flora and fauna – those are just some of the visible symptoms of the aesthetical and urbanistic chaotic condition also known as Polish pasteloza. One of the most common readings is that the excuse of thermal insulation is being (ab)used in order to radically erase the urbanistic, cultural and political heritage of Polish People’s Republic (PPR) from the city landscape. On the other hand, inhabitants of ‘pastelized’ housing estates claim to be satisfied not only with the insulation but also with their role in decision-making processes. A sense of alienation from one’s home seems to have gone away, together with the centralized state administration,
and it is being replaced by citizen participation. The possibility of vindication of pasteloza’s ‘crimes against aesthetics’ will be deliberated in this paper – in order to pave a path for more complex understanding of this phenomenon that could offer a solution for achieving a compromise between aesthetics and
civic participation in post-transition processes.
REFERENCES
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Szafrańska, E. (2014) Transformations of Large Housing Estates in Post-Socialist City: The Case of Łódź, Poland, Geographia Polonica, 87(1), 77–93.
Wang, C.C., Yi, W.K., Tao, Z.W. & Carovano, K. (1998) Photo voice as a participatory health promotion strategy, Health Promotion International, 13(1),75–86.
Wood, D. (1987) Pleasure in the idea: the atlas as a narrative form, Cartographica, 24(1), 24–45.
Wood, D. (1992) The Power of Maps, The Guliford Press, New York.
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Backović, V. (2010) Socioprostorni razvoj Novog Beograda, Institut za sociološka istraživanja Filozofskog fakulteta, Beograd [in Serbian].
Barthes, R. (1991) Mythologies, Noonday Press, New York.
Borén, T. & Gentile, M. (2007) Metropolitan processes in post-communist states: an introduction, Geografiska Annaler, Series B, Human Geography, 89(2), 95–110.
Burdije, P. (2001) Vladavina muškaraca, Cid, Podgorica [in Serbian].
Carpiano, R. M. (2008) Come take a walk with me: The ‘’Go-Along’’ interview as a novel method for studying the implications of place for health and well-being, Health & Place, 15, 263–272.
Devetaković, S. (2012) Teritorijalni kapital i razvojne mogućnosti prostora, Čitalište, 21, 32–40 [in Serbian].
Enyedi, G. (1998) Transformation in central European postsocialist cities, [in:] G. Enyedi, ed., Social change and urban restructuring in Central Europe, Akademiai Kiadó, Budapest, 9–34.
Epstein, I., Stevens, B., McKeever, P. & Baruchel, S. (2006) Photo Elicitation Interview (PEI): using photos to elicit children’s perspectives, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 5(3), 1–9.
Fehervary, K. (2013) Politics in Colour and Concrete: Socialist Materialities and the Middle Class in Hungary, Indiana University Press, Bloomington.
Gerva, S. & Rose, F., eds., (2010) Mesta Evrope, XX vek, Belgrade [in Serbian].
Harper, D. (2002) Talking about pictures: a case for photo elicitation, Visual Studies, 17(1), 13–26.
Hyler, S. (2013) Invisible Lines Crossing the City: Ethnographic Strategies for Place‐making, Culture Unbound, 5, 361–384.
Ingold, T. (2011) Being alive: Essays on movement, knowledge and description, Abingdon, Taylor and Francis.
Ingold, T. & Vergunst, J., eds., (2008) Ways of Walking: Ethnography and Practice on Foot, Ashgate, Aldershot.
Kottak, C. (2006) Mirror for Humanity, McGraw Hill, New York.
Koźmińska, U. (2015) Towards the reuse of materials in Polish architecture. Working in the post-socialist context, Challenges of Modern Technology Journal, 6, 39–47.
Kusenbach, M. (2003) Street phenomenology: the go-along as ethnographic research tool, Ethnography, 4(3), 455–485.
Lampland, M. (1995) The Object of Labour: Commodification in Socialist Hungary, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Lefebvre, H. (1991) The Production of Space (D. Nicholson-Smith, Trans), Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.
Lefebvre, H. (2003) Urban Revolution, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.
Lefebvre, H. (2008) ‘Pravo na grad’, [in:] L. Kovačević, T. Medak,
P. Milat, M. Sančanin, T. Valentić & V. Vuković, eds., Operacija: Grad. Priručnik za život u neoliberalnoj stvarnosti. Zagreb: Savez za centar za nezavisnu kulturu i mlade, Multimedijalni institut, Platforma 9, 81 – Institut za istraživanja u arhitekturi, BLOK – Lokalna baza za osvježavanje kulture, SU Klubtura / Clubture, 16–29 [in Croatian].
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Lofland, L. (1990) Is Peace Possible? An Analysis of Sociology, Sociological Perspectives, 33(3), 313–325.
Lofland, L. (1998) The Public Realm: Exploring the City’s Quintessential Social Territory, Aldine de Gruyter, New York.
Lynch, K. (1960) Image of the City, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
Magnani, J. G. C. & Neale, D. (2005) From close up and within: notes for an urban ethnography, Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais, 17(49), 11–29.
Matlovič, R., Ira, V., Sykora, L. & Szczyrba, Z. (2001) Procesy transformacyjne struktury przestrzennej miast postkomunistycznych na przykładzie Pragi, Bratysławy, Ołomuńca oraz Preszowa, [in:] I. Jażdżewska, ed., Miasto postsocjalistyczne – organizacja przestrzeni miejskiej i jej przemiany, XIV Konwersatorium Wiedzy o Mieście, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, Łódzkie Towarzystwo Naukowe, Lodz, 243–252 [in Polish].
Petrović, D. (2013) O pojmu habitusa – feministička kritika teorije o društvu Pjera Burdijea, U. Filozofija i društvo, XXIV(2), 174–192 [in Serbian].
Petrović, M. (2014) Potencijali lokalnog razvoja. Studije slučaja gradova u regiji Šumadije i Zapadne Srbije (Potentials of local development. Case studies of cities in Sumadia and West Serbia), Godišnjak TITIUS, Zbornik ‘Baština i razvoj’, Split, 6–7 [in Serbian].
Petrović, M. & Toković, M. (2017) Neoendogeni razvoj gradova i ekološki paradoks: studija slučaja šest gradova u Srbiji, Sociologija, LVIII, 181–209 [in Serbian].
Pink, S. (2008) An Urban Tour: The Sensory Sociality of Ethnographic Place-making, Ethnography, 9(2), 175–196.
Putnam, R. D. (2000) Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Simon & Schuster, New York.
Raskin, Dž. (1903) Svetiljka sećanja, [in:] P. Bojanić & V. Đokić (2012) Arhitektura kao gest, Univerzitet u Beogradu, Arhitektonski fakultet, Belgrade [in Serbian].
Sinclair, I. (2018) Living with Buildings and Walking with Ghosts: On Health and Architecture, Wellcome Collection, London.
Szafrańska, E. (2014) Transformations of Large Housing Estates in Post-Socialist City: The Case of Łódź, Poland, Geographia Polonica, 87(1), 77–93.
Wang, C.C., Yi, W.K., Tao, Z.W. & Carovano, K. (1998) Photo voice as a participatory health promotion strategy, Health Promotion International, 13(1),75–86.
Wood, D. (1987) Pleasure in the idea: the atlas as a narrative form, Cartographica, 24(1), 24–45.
Wood, D. (1992) The Power of Maps, The Guliford Press, New York.
Wood, D. (2010) Rethinking the Power of Maps, The Guliford Press, New York.
Internet sources
Archinect: https://archinect.com/news/article/122146647/how-a-postmodernist-department-store-is-trying-to-become-the-youngest-monument-in-poland [accessed: 28.08.2018].
Journal Urban Transcripts: http://journal.urbantranscripts.org/article/decoding-mapping-practice-interdisciplinary-approach-architecture-urban-anthropology-carolin-genz-diana-lucas-drogan/ [accessed: 25.07.2019].
Natemat: https://natemat.pl/81013,niesmiertelna-pasteloza-czyli-dlaczego-polskie-bloki-maja-tak-okropne-kolory [accessed: 31.08.2018].
Osiedlemlodych: http://Osiedlemlodych.pl/o-nas/ [accessed: 11.09.2018].
Swaid: http://swaid.stat.gov.pl/EN/SitePages/StronaGlownaDBW.aspx [accessed: 11.09.2018].
Uncubemagazine: http://www.uncubemagazine.com/blog/15396819 [accessed: 12.09.2019].
Vreme: https://www.vreme.com/cms/view.php?id=353864 [accessed: 11.09.2018].