Planning, Housing and the Community in a New Socialist Town: The Case of Tychy, Poland

This article represents a kind of post factum summing up of the empirical research conducted in one town of the Upper Silesian Industrial Region (USIR) during the years 1985-1990. Sociological research carried out in Tychy was devised to describe the fundamental mechanisms, rules and principles governing the formation of a 'new socialist town'. The research provides grounds for concluding that the implementation of the 'socialist urban doctrine' was responsible for the creation of a town with frustratingly uniform architecture, with no town centre and which has drawn widespread criticism from the inhabitants themselves. The final part of the article gives information on the initiatives undertaken by the Tychy authorities and planners with the objective of revitalising this 'socialist town' and promoting resident participation in this process.