has something to do with the fact that there is a high concentration of Roma
population with traditionally high birth rates. Moreover, the reconstruction
of the central railway station and the construction of new transport links with
the city centre in the mid-1990s considerably enhanced the attractiveness
of the area. The population decline in the south-eastern area is due to the
commercialisation of this part of the city, which has become a secondary
business node.
The large panel housing estates as a whole exhibit a slightly larger population
decline of 1.6 %, than the total population decline of 1.3 %. The emigration from
the panel housing is, to a certain extent, offset by the immigration in newly
built condominiums on vacant plots. Nevertheless, the intensity of the spatial
Yani Valkanov
Fig. 8
Modern residential building
among the decaying socialist
panel blocks in Lyulin.
(Google Earth)Fig. 9
New residential building on
restitution land in between the
panel blocks in Mladost.
(Google Earth)