2006
Sonia A. Hirt
- Assistant Professor
- Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University
![Picture of Sonia A. Hirt](https://www.acls.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/5A39AEC4-F8A4-DB11-8D10-000C2903E717.jpg)
Abstract
This research examines the social and physical characteristics of the suburbs around the Bulgarian capital of Sofia. The suburbs are the signature contribution of post-socialism to the city. Yet they remain largely unexamined. The main hypothesis is that while cities like Sofia are suburbanizing--a process well known from the history of capitalist urbanization--their suburbs exhibit aspects specific to the post-socialist context. Unlike Western suburbs, the post-socialist suburbs are class-heterogeneous. They also include a very high proportion of explicitly private spaces--spaces guarded by formidable walls. By studying the suburbs, the project highlights the unique dynamics of post-socialist social segregation, and the tension between the post-socialist public and private realms.