Mechanisms of property ownership change and social change in inner-city Warsaw (Poland)

Abstract

Taking a production-side approach, the article discusses how property restitution and privatisation have created rent and value gaps, and influenced social change in the inner city of Warsaw (Poland). Specifically, a rent gap (resulting from restitution) and a value gap (created by low-cost privatisation) are hypothesised to have produced different ownership structures in pre-war residential buildings, with different implications for social change. These effects are assumed to be modulated by three factors: legal constraints, availability of private capital and changing residential preferences. The main findings show that the national legislation and municipal regulations with respect to low cost privatisation created the value gap and favoured intergenerational property transfer and lower residential mobility. The value gap has been eliminated by the changes in municipal regulations. Second, a lack of private capital was a key element in disinvestment in the 1990s, and private developers have since become key actors in shaping the housing offer and have triggered intensive gentrification. Third, residential choices often follow family reasons (inheritance of a unit), and are loosely coupled with a ‘back to the city’ movement. The contemporary choices of many newcomers are still embedded in opportunities created by earlier privatisation. Finally, former municipal tenants in restituted buildings come under pressure from new, private owners to leave their homes. Paradoxically, restitution, seen as a mechanism for social justice, has led to social injustice. Overall, it appears that both privatisation and restitution have fuelled problems of affordability, and led to the exclusion of lower-income households from the housing market.

The Diverse Economies of Housing

“…It also guards against uncritical transfers of concepts from afar, such as financialisation, neo-liberalisation, or gentrification, calling instead for thick descriptions of the specific ways in which such processes are domesticated or resisted through practices specific to post-communist conditions (e.g. Górczyńska 2018). Given the 'diverse economies' ontological programme of imagining/constructing post-capitalist futures, further research should address the quandary of where, when, and how diverse economic practices tame, reproduce, or amplify inequalities produced in the capitalist economy.…”

The kaleidoscope of gentrification in post-socialist cities

“…Inner-city neighbourhoods with improving residential environments, close proximity to work and cultural and leisure services began to be appreciated by younger and better-off people after 2000 (e.g. Haase et al, 2012a, 2012b; Špačková et al, 2016; Stanilov and Sýkora, 2012; Todorić and Ratkaj, 2011; Górczyńska, 2017b).…”

“…Foreigners and also people returning home from long-term stays in Western Europe enlarge the group of gentrifiers (Holm et al, 2015). Another phenomenon closely related to classic gentrification is the development of new infills, upmarket condos and gated communities in central parts of CEE cities (Prague: Cook, 2010; Budapest: Kovács and Hegedűs, 2014; Warsaw: Górczyńska, 2017b; Kiev: Mezentsev et al, 2019). These new-build forms of gentrification often adjoin core areas of classic gentrification occupying vacant plots or brownfield sites.…”

Współczesna elita warszawska w przestrzeni miasta = Contemporary Warsaw’s elite within the city

“…Jednak siła tego drugiego trendu nie była bardzo znaczna. Można natomiast łączyć go z mechanizmami prywatyzacji oraz reprywatyzacji po 1989 r., nazywając ich gentryfierami (Górczyńska, 2017(Górczyńska, , 2018.…”