61
SETTLEMENT NETWORK, SETTLEMENTS AND HOUSING POLICY
ated environmental problems. Yet they
provided employment to the growing ur-
ban population, as well as economic well-
being and satisfactory living standards.
The differentiation of town industrial
zones and their distance from residential
areas was largely justified by the environ-
mental pollution they cause. But besides
advantages, this functional zoning has its
negative effects. Like in other countries,
the strict separation of industrial and resi-
dential areas has made links between them
difficult. Deprived of their able-bodied
population during the day, the residential
areas have become large dormitories whose
inhabitants come back only at night. This
is especially true of the new housing com-
plexes in the big cities. Many settlements
have lost their homogeneity which made
them viable and attractive throughout the
day and week. That is why in last decades
the town-planners resort again to the inte-
grated multi-functional structure that in-
cludes habitation, labour, public services
and recreation. The extensive use of elec-
tric power, coupled with the introduction
of new non-waste
technologies facilitated
this process.
It is typical for Bulgaria that its indus-
trial potential is focused in the large and
middle-size towns. In 1989 739 industrial
enterprises were located in 38 towns. The
attempts to overcome this disproportion-
ate situation by establishing small enter-
prises during the eighties failed to produce
lasting results. Half of the new enterprises
were again oriented towards big and
middle-size cities. The branch workshops
in small towns and villages were often en-
gaged in ineffective production. Yet they
helped solve many employment problems
and the utilization of building and housing
resources. The close-down of these produc-
tions in the early 1990s boosted unemploy-
ment in many settlements.
After 1989 the industrial regions, their
management, maintenance and function-
ing experienced a severe crisis. Many pro-
ductions were either downsized or closed
down. Industrial
areas proved more diffi-
cult to restitute owing to the major changes
in them that had occurred in post-war years.
Privatization had been delayed. These fac-
tors have prevented the improvement of
the physical state of industrial territories.
Their deterioration affects adversely the en-
vironment and the cities sustainable de-
velopment.
In the wake of World War Two the
middle-size and big cities witnessed the
formation of two major types of housing
environment - street-district and housing-
complex. The first type comprises the old
town regions built before the war. It also
prevails in the city expansions in which the
private lots have been preserved and the
new construction follows the street regula-
tion plan. Housing complexes began to be
built in the fifties. The first major endeavor
was the Lenin housing complex in Sofia
(Architect V.Vulchanov). In this type of
housing environment the terrain is public
property, while the houses are privately
owned. The majority of dwellings are in
multi-storeyed and multi-family prefabs.
The last four decades saw the construction
of some 120 housing complexes number-
ing 660,000 prefabs. They are inhabited by
about two million people, i.e. nearly one-
fourth of Bulgarias population.
The advantages of the first type of
housing environment are rooted in the tra-
ditional social importance of street and
district space for the urban structure. The
private ownership
of housing lots ensures
that owners take care for their mainte-
nance. Another advantage is the location
of shops and community services along the
The privatization of industry is
expected to enable the recon-
struction of industrial zones.
They will be subjected to pro-
Industrial zones need reconstruction
found restructuring not before
the influx of fresh capital and
the beginning of their techno-
logical renovation.
Box 5.2.
Streets and districts or
housing complexes?
The establishment of
industrial zones has its
advantages and
shortcomings