Застроеното социалистическо пространство. Пространствено и функционално преустройство на едно българско село от 50-те години до днес
The Built Socialist Space. The Spatial and Functional Transformation of a Bulgarian Village since the 1950’s

Summary/Abstract: Taking the example of the Bulgarian mountain village of Raduil, this article attempts to describe the physical changes of a village resulting from the policy of the socialist state after 1944. The man-made environment of the village was the physical realization of the Party’s ideological concepts of the political, economic, social, and cultural life of the population. In the 1930’s, Raduil had been the central village of a larger independent rural community. The population had made a living from forestry and agriculture, and its flourishing timber production had brought moderate wealth to the village. After the Communist takeover, the village lost its autonomy, and as a result of the nationalization of the forests and the collectivization of agriculture, the entire economic structure changed fundamentally. The ideology-based concepts of urban construction and planning and the corresponding laws and regulations also laid the foundations for the physical transformation of villages, both in the overall plan and in the details of house construction. As in many other Bulgarian villages, the spatial structure of the village of Raduil still displays the three functional areas typical of socialist planning: the “zone for production”, the “zone for social life and public assistance”, and the “zone for dwelling”. After 1989, some of these “socialist structures” lost their functions and many institutions were dissolved or destroyed, among them the cooperative farm (TKZS). Private shops, pubs, workshops, and agricultural enterprises were established throughout the village, gradually breaking up the functional divisions and the spatial concentration of social life imposed by 40 years of socialist village planning.

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