Planning Capital Cities

Suburbanisation in Sofia: changing the spatial structure of a post-communist city

restructuring process is modest, when compared with inner city areas. There

is one notable exception, however. The housing estates Ovcha Kupel 1 and 2 in

the southwestern part of the city, has experienced a population growth of 17.7

%. The reason for this serious growth is probably attributable to the fact that

these housing estates are situated in the immediate proximity to Gorna Banya,

one of the most attractive suburban areas at the foot of the mountain. Many

vacant plots and the lower land prices are conducive to new construction of

condominiums and individual detached houses here. In all other panel housing

estates no intensive spatial processes are observed. As yet, there isn’t a serious

social restructuring either. The huge part of the population of the housing

estates consists of ‘socialist middle class’, which is financially too weak. Most of

the transactions involve minor adjustments in social status and/or life cycle –

substitution of a larger flat for a smaller one or vice versa, moving into another

housing estate and so forth.

Much more intensive socio-spatial processes are taking place in the suburban

zone, which exhibits 12.3 % population growth as a whole. The three exceptions

are the eastern and northeastern parts of the municipality, which slightly

decline should be explained with their proximity to the airport and to the

huge heavy-industrial complex of Kremikovtzi – a major contaminator in the

region. The population growth in the other territorial units in the northern

part of the suburban ring varies from 0.9 to 4.8 % and increases from east

to west with the distance from Kremikovtzi. The suburbanisation process in

the southern parts of the outer ring is significantly more pronounced both

in terms of quantity and in terms of qualitative changes in the socio-spatial

structure. Most of the territorial units in that area exhibit population growth

of more than 20 %. The traditional rural character of many of the settlements

is gradually changing. Large “castles” of the new rich, with tennis courts and

swimming pools, spring up among the old village houses. The process of socio-

spatial transformation is most pronounced in Knyajevo, Boyana, Kinotzentara,

Dragalevtzi and Simeonovo, as well as in the villa zones among them, which

has become emblematic of the new suburban landscape in post-communist

Sofia. These high-status neighbourhoods have practically merged, forming a

suburban agglomeration belt at the foot of Vitosha.

Sofia’s suburbanisation in the context of the other post-communist

capitals

The spatial restructuring processes, analysed above, correspond with similar

trends observed in other post-communist capitals.^21 The transformation results

in a gradual flattening of the density curve of the “socialist city” and changes

towards that of the ‘market city’. The suburbanisation process should be

considered in the context of these general transformations. From this point

of view, the suburbanisation in the post-communist cities exhibits certain

different characteristics than the similar process in the cities of Western Europe

and North America.