ingeniería y arquitectura

Trams in Socialist Urban Planning in the 1960s and 1970s: Urban and Transport Models in the GDR, the CSR and the USSR

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Trams in Socialist Urban Planning in the 1960s and 1970s: Urban and Transport Models in the GDR, the CSR and the USSR

PhD in Architecture and PhD in Historical Sciences
Doctor: Elvira Khairullina
Date of reading: 18/10/2021
Directors: Dr. Luis Santos y Ganges (University of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain), Dr. Jaroslav Hofierka (University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik, Košice, Slovakia)
Court: Chairwoman: Dr. Castrillo Romon, Maria de los Angeles (University of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain). Secretary: Dr. Guerra, Max Welch (Bauhaus University, Weimar, Germany). Member: Dr. Pekár, Martin (University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik, Košice, Slovakia)

Introduction

Fig. 1. Scheme of the Ostrava metropolitan area and the development of rapid tramway system in the late 1970s. Source: Author’s elaboration based on historical urban and transport plans.

This piece of research into urban history is devoted to tramway planning in the medium-sized cities of European Communist countries, in particular the German Democratic Republic (GDR), the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (CSR) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), in the 1960s and 1970s. The matter under study is the tram as a means of transport in towns and its relationship to urban structure and morphology. Consideration is given to the way in which trams came to be seen as a key element in the development of town and transport planning in so-called “Socialist cities” at the beginning of the final third of the twentieth century, during an important period in the development of “Socialist town-planning” and the consolidation of urban public transport infrastructures. The research takes a transnational approach, covering industrialized countries with highly developed public transport. It is also interdisciplinary; in that it includes three perspectives. The first and most fundamental is town planning, with investigations of the models for cities, focusing on tramways and all their implications for transport in relation to town planning and urban design. The second perspective is the whole field of urban transport, comprising transport engineering, traffic engineering and transport economics, branches of knowledge that enable the planning and management of infrastructures and services. The third perspective is historical, which is the most transverse in its topics, as it involves research about past events relating to urban and tramway issues.

Objectives

The research focuses on gaining an understanding of the relationship between transport planning and town-planning. It also addresses the differences and similarities in the urban planning models for “Socialist cities”.

Development

Several hypotheses emerged in this investigation. The first hypothesis relates to the amount and quality of collective public transport, especially tramway systems, in Socialist countries, contrasting it, in some cases, with Western countries. The second hypothesis refers to the homogeneity of decisions and solutions in transport policy and Socialist town planning, granted that various national factors and aspects were involved. The third appertains to the existence of specific concepts of the “Socialist city”, assessing the potential for, and extent of, intensive exchanges of ideas throughout Europe. Finally, the research suggested the possibility of a strong influence from transport solutions upon urban models.

The approach adopted is based on a historical-structural method, which is oriented towards understanding and explaining historical events. To this end, the research focused on the following contexts: political, economic, and professional factors, the level of experience, criticism, preexisting traditions in city planning, and technological development. The method was also based on working with a range of historical sources: libraries, state and municipal archives, journals and conference proceedings, interviews, fieldwork, city plans and projects. The other approach used was a historical-comparative line, aimed at determining which aspects in the theory and practice of Socialist town planning were shared and which differed. A comparison of practical solutions was undertaken by defining specific or common situations in tram networks and city planning.

Conclusions

To conclude, verification of some of the hypotheses put forward was achieved. Among these, one striking fact was that tramways were not always a major means of transport in Socialist town planning. At times, priority was given to buses, trolleybuses, underground railways (metros), and commuter or suburban trains. Moreover, many decisions were taken that differed because of economic rationalization policies, pre-existing public transport infrastructures, or the level of influence from Modern Movement. In relation to this, it is clear that there was a reasonable knowledge of Western experiences, especially thanks to the translation of works and attendance at international congresses. Finally, it proved feasible to demonstrate a considerable influence from urban models upon transport decisions, this being an outcome both of the difficulties of organizing comprehensive planning processes, and of collaboration between transport and urban planners.

Fig. 2. Comparison of tramway policies in European capitalist and communist countries during the 1960s and 1970s. Source: Author’s elaboration.