Sídlisko is a term used in Slovak () which mainly means housing complex (with civic amenities). Other terms associated with this term are housing estate, housing development, housing project, settlement,

neighbourhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...

or borough. Although the term is a general term, it is mostly used for housing complexes built during the socialist era in the now split

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

(now the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

) containing houses built of panel (), for which they're also known as "panelákové sídliská" (panel housing complexes). Paneláks are the most common type of apartment buildings found in a typical sídlisko. Brick and modern apartment buildings can also be found, along with old and new houses, although they are usually not in the central part of a typical sídlisko, and are a minor part of the whole complex, if at all. Nowadays, individual paneláks in sídliskos are often checked and repaired if needed due to their age, while also being renovated, repainted from grey to vibrant colors, and generally gentrified, which is usually funded by the government, partially thanks to funds from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

(EU).

Sídliskos were built by the communist government of the former Czechoslovakia to provide fast and affordable housing for all people. During the Communist era, construction of large housing complexes was an important part of building plans in the country, as the government wanted to provide large quantities of affordable housing, as well as to slash costs by employing uniform designs over the whole country. They also sought to foster a "collectivistic nature" in its people. Sídliskos are usually located in

urban area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

s, as direct parts of cities, usually considered as its own sections. They are usually occupied by various different people and social classes, from working class (or lower) to upper middle class (or sometimes higher), creating a social mix, Czech sociologist Michal Illner from the Czech Academy of Sciences stated that when it comes to social classes in sídlištěs (sídliskos), it's usually a mix of working class and middle class, with middle class prevailing with a few exceptions, such as Luník IX, which is a Roma slum. Sídliskos are owned and managed by the government,

administrative divisions Administrative divisions (also administrative units, administrative regions, subnational entities, or constituent states, as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which a particular independent sovereign state is divi ...

, housing cooperatives, authorities, self-governing (non-profit) organizations, owners of apartments (individual blocks), and/or through public–private partnerships and such, or a combination thereof. People living in sídliskos usually own their individual apartments, mainly due to the fact that majority of the individual apartments went from being publicly owned by the state to being privately owned, as they were sold to most apartment occupants by the government for small, symbolic prices after the fall of socialism. People can also rent apartments, usually through real estate agents and private landlords, Prices of the apartments vary depending on the individual apartment and its qualities. Majority of people living in cities live in sídliskos, mainly because of history, tradition, availability and affordability, as well as being in convenient urban areas or close and having good civic amenities,

References

{{Slovakia topics Slovak words and phrases Human settlement Human habitats Housing House types

See also

References