Abstract: The collapse of state socialism and the following establishment of democracy, along with the introduction of a market economy, fundamentally impacted the design and use of urban space in the eastern part of Europe. On the one hand, squares and streets have become public spaces to a much greater extent, manifesting a diversity of lifestyles and attitudes. On the other, parallel to the democratization of urban spaces, new processes of segregation and exclusion have taken place.

These processes are particularly evident in the form of gated communities. Fenced-in and guarded housing estates have emerged in numerous cities, depriving public access from urban areas. Shopping malls are another effect of a far-reaching privatization of urban space. In these semi-public places, the access and use of common facilities is restricted and controlled, strictly subject to the commercial interests of the property owners and retailers. A means to exclude unwelcome users in city squares, streets, parks, or public transportation facilities is known as defensive (or hostile) architecture. Most of its various elements are barely noticed by the majority of the city’s users, but effective against those they are directed against. Moreover, as a result of a perceived lack of security, some cities are currently developing projects to fence in parks, putting free, around-the-clock accessibility of green areas at stake.

This paper traces the physical forms of segregation and exclusion in post-1989 cities, with a special focus on Poland and East Germany.

Keywords: Urban development, post-socialist city, public space, segregation

Prof. Dr. Arnold Bartetzky, art historian and architecture critic, is Head of Department at the Leibniz Institute for History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO) and Honorary Professor of Art History at the University of Leipzig.