Between Tradition and Modernity : The Ideal "Socialist City" and its Characteristics in the Postwar Period of Stalinism
2019
Abstract
The rebuilt cities in postwar Czechoslovakia were conceived as representative symbols of the new communist regime and a coherent and formative environment for the "new socialist man". The Soviet Union and the official aesthetic doctrine of socialist realism were presented as primary sources of inspiration for the Czech architects.
Nevertheless, their real projects did not always fully respond to the ideological tenets and often oscillated specifically between traditional and modernist influences. The article briefly describes the main principles of the "socialist city planning" during the 1950's and analyses what made them "socialist" in comparison to 1) the heritage of modernism and 2) the heritage of the classical architecture.