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Transitions in land and housing: Bulgaria, The Czech Republic, and Poland
Book reriews
lenge to the anything-goes eclecticism of (post-modernism). Reason continues to be held in high regard. But where reason falls short, one must turn to faith. Different faiths will see different landscapes.” Thus the author establishes quickly that his writing is not intended to be ‘value-free’ or accepting of much current fashion. Turner is seeking to re-infuse values into design and planning, values which represent a genuine diversity of clientele, precedent, design method, and outcome. These essays are not written in a passive voice of apology or pseudo-scientific justification, they are written in an active voice expressing concern, delight, irony, humor and sadness. Without being overly polemical, these essays are written with an ‘attitude’. Well-illustrated, the book used an eclectic mixture of graphic materials to convey the ideas discussed in the text. Many of the graphics appear to be the same sort as we all produce on our computers using a drawing program and clip art, giving the illustrations a collage effect but communicating the ideas effectively. The graphic style seems appropriate to whatever graphics might be expected to accompany ‘post-post-modernist’ writing. Some of the richest offerings in the essays, particularly in the sections on Planning and Landscape Design include a description of the products of design process and methods. Two essays, ‘GIS, structuralism, the birth, the death and the life of planning’ and ‘CD-plans’, provide clear discussions for how current information systems affect the values given to community and landscape and how these values are expressed in the products of the planning process. Turner advocates a much broader acceptance of the multiple constituencies which comprise society and believes that improved information management and graphic expressions should be used to advocate historically silent positions in public debates over community change. His insistence on presenting different world-views is a refreshing expansion and a succinct indictment of the exclusivity which has characterized much landscape planning for narrow purposes in the past. Turner would throw the planning and design process open to celebrate a kaleidoscope of special interests, to be an inclusive mixture of passions and values and people claiming their own vision of community as valid and deserving of acceptance. The essay ‘The tragedy of feminine
131
planning and design’ describes the impact in design education of planning always for the male-dominant characteristics in design. His words ring true that the nesting instincts of designers too often are abandoned for harder-edged approaches which seek to impose rather than listen, to quantify before understanding all the qualities influencing design.
Thomas M. Woodfin Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning Texas A & M University College Station, TX 77843-3137 USA
PII SOl69-2046(97)00014-5
Transitions in Lund and Housing: Bulgaria, The Czech Republic, and Poland by Ann Louise Strong, Thomas A. Reiner and Janusz Szyrmer, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996, 298 pp.
System changes frequently appear as bloody episodes in world history: the French Revolution, the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the first World War, the October Revolution as well as introduction of Communism into central and eastern Europe after the second World War. The result was total chaos, the decline of national economies and the fragmentation of social conditions. The ongoing, relatively peaceful, transitions in central and eastern Europe, in which we have an opportunity to participate or to observe, also provide to dramatic structural change. Current events are happening step-by-step as a continuing process without the dramatic, deleterious consequences of the past. The possibility to witness such historic, mostly peaceful change is an uncommon opportunity for direct participation in the creation of the future. Transitions in Land and Housing: Bulgaria, The Czech Republic, and Poland focuses on changes of land and housing ownership. These profound transformations, or ‘privatizations’, are at the point of turning former Communist states to market
economies. This book was written by three authors, of different disciplinary backgrounds: planning, law, and economics. Their work was enriched by reference materials as well as numerous interviews with national and local government officials, with developers, attorneys, architects and other professionals. The authors concentrated on the changing ownership and control of a nation’s land: fields, forests and urban plots, and its housing. Rural cottages, city houses, and apartment blocks are the types of housing changing from public to private ownership. Voluntary cooperative enterprises and individual owners are participating. The authors address how these shifts are altering the property market. The three nations are representative of the central and eastern Europe region. The authors state “these three countries thus present examples of major socialization of land, housing and enterpreises in Czechoslovakia, nominally little socialization of land and housing in Poland and an intermediate position, with socialization of land and enterprises but not of housing, in Bulgaria” (p. IO>. The nations are discussed individu~ly but with a similar organizational scheme. First, there is a general description of geography, history, population and government and, then the transformation of the economy and housing is reviewed. The authors present the formation of the market, public roles in the market, and predictions for future changes. They consider the role of privatization and its impact on property markets. In addition, Strong, Reiner, and Szyrmer examine changes in the institutional infrastructure introduced to foster free market exchange. In the book, one can find new notions connected with these transitions such as de-etatization (denationalization) or restitution. Another new idea is the differences in transformation among the three nations depending on their structure under Communism. The conclusions present a comparison among the nations - the steps taken since 1989 in each country to restructure ownership of land, housing and other property. In this part of the book, one can discover the diffferences in transformation in spite of many similarities. One can see these differences through a number of tables presented in the book, such as the example below.
Table 1. Estimates of the share of a private sector in the creation of GDP, %
Bulgaria Czechoslovakia/ The Czech Republic Poland a = 1992
1988
1994
0.3” 0.7
40 65
18.8
52
The essential function of the book is not only to show transition but to understand the transformation processes. New management rules and problems of their application are explained on different levels beginning at the national government and continuing to the black market economy. In addition to the detailed discussion of ownership transformation in the book, one can learn about the influence of the current transfo~at~on on land-use planning. The authors note that forty years of central state planning have left people loath to constrict market forces for development. Previous local planning responsibilities were concentrated in the hands of the city architect and the mayor, and their subordination to the regional plan. Currently, local govemments are developing with strong public participation. Such participation is necessary for new plans. Strong, Reiner and Szyermer stress “Now each municipality mayor has not-in-my-backyard concerns and is ready to do battle over the plan as it affects his area” (p. 1241. The authors, in many cases, do not give simple answers. They do raise many questions, by which one can understand the complicated process of system changes. Presented with the different aspects of restitution, the authors ask: “Are there social, political, or economic reasons for limiting the amount of property that should be restituted to a single claimant? Should the family of a Polish aristocrat who owned vast estates receive all of the land taken, or only a stated maximum amount? Alternatively, should there be a minimum tract size for restitution to reduce the inefficiencies of splintered holdings?” (p. 6). Information about system changes in central and eastern Europe in individual scholarly and newspaper articles seems to be very chaotic. Tra~s~t~uns in Land and Housing: Bulgaria, The Czech Republic,
Book reviews
and Poland by Ann Louise Strong, Thomas A. Reiner and Janusz Szyrmer presents these changes comprehensively and clearly. They provide a historical background because without such an understanding, the transformation process could be confusing. Ownership transitions in Bulgaria, The Czech Republic and Poland are presented in the book in an interesting way, with an excellent explanation of changing processes. I think, it is very important that the authors note a function of land-use planning as a market regulator. During past decades, central and eastern Europe planners had no experience about how to create regulations that can guide, rather than hinder, private market decisions. This book is recommended for those who are particularly interested in eastern and central Europe transformations, as well as for everybody who would like to understand the essence of the contemporary, democratic system changes. Agata Cieszewska Warsaw Agricultural University Warsaw, Poland PII SO 169-2046(97)00046-7
Australia: State of the Environment 1996. State of the Environment Advisory Council, CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria. 54.4~~. $49.95. CD-ROM version $49.95. Australia: State of the Environment 1996 was officially released in September 1996, and presents a report on Australia’s environment, prepared by over 200 of Australia’s leading scientists, academics, industry leaders and environmentalists. The drawing together of this wide array of expertise has produced a monumental work which represents a valuable and comprehensive analysis, which should be of interest to anyone in Australia who is concerned with the environment. This should guarantee a wide readership, since, as the report acknowledges, “Australians are among the most environmentally aware people in the world”. The report has 10 chapters and an executive summary. The first chapter outlines the background
133
to the reporting process and the approach used in developing the report. A modified version of the OECD pressure-state-response model is used, based on the concept that human activities exert pressures on the environment and change its state and condition, and this is followed by a societal response to these changes. The second chapter provides a portrait of Australia’s environment, in terms of geography, climate, natural resources, human population, and environmental management. Chapters 3-9 cover individual areas of interest, namely human settlements, biodiversity, the atmosphere, land resources, inland waters, estuaries and the sea, plus natural and cultural heritage. All are organized around the pressurestate-response model, and all include invaluable information on the current status of important environmental elements, together with more in-depth analysis of particular issues. The final chapter, titled Towards Ecological Sustainability attempts to synthesize the material from the previous chapters and identifies key issues of concern. It points out that the message from the report is mixed - Australia shapes up very well in some areas and poorly in others. The overall conclusion is that “progress towards ecological sustainability requires recognition that human society is part of the ecological system and integration of ecological thinking into all social and economic planning’ ’ . Overall, the book is well produced and laid out, with colorful illustrations and easily accessible information. The index is somewhat scant and this makes searching for particular subjects difficult. There is some unevenness of coverage between chapters, which is probably inevitable given the wide authorship. Nevertheless, the content of the book, coupled with its relatively low price, make it an excellent resource for decision makers and all levels of education. The idea of simultaneously publishing the report in CD-ROM format was an innovative and exciting idea, with the potential for providing easy access to the material in the report for use in teaching and extension/outreach. Unfortunately, the actual CDROM product falls short in terms of its utility and ease of use. It comes in Adobe Acrobat format (the program is also supplied). It provides a good global search facility, but the full potential of CD-ROM has
lenge to the anything-goes eclecticism of (post-modernism). Reason continues to be held in high regard. But where reason falls short, one must turn to faith. Different faiths will see different landscapes.” Thus the author establishes quickly that his writing is not intended to be ‘value-free’ or accepting of much current fashion. Turner is seeking to re-infuse values into design and planning, values which represent a genuine diversity of clientele, precedent, design method, and outcome. These essays are not written in a passive voice of apology or pseudo-scientific justification, they are written in an active voice expressing concern, delight, irony, humor and sadness. Without being overly polemical, these essays are written with an ‘attitude’. Well-illustrated, the book used an eclectic mixture of graphic materials to convey the ideas discussed in the text. Many of the graphics appear to be the same sort as we all produce on our computers using a drawing program and clip art, giving the illustrations a collage effect but communicating the ideas effectively. The graphic style seems appropriate to whatever graphics might be expected to accompany ‘post-post-modernist’ writing. Some of the richest offerings in the essays, particularly in the sections on Planning and Landscape Design include a description of the products of design process and methods. Two essays, ‘GIS, structuralism, the birth, the death and the life of planning’ and ‘CD-plans’, provide clear discussions for how current information systems affect the values given to community and landscape and how these values are expressed in the products of the planning process. Turner advocates a much broader acceptance of the multiple constituencies which comprise society and believes that improved information management and graphic expressions should be used to advocate historically silent positions in public debates over community change. His insistence on presenting different world-views is a refreshing expansion and a succinct indictment of the exclusivity which has characterized much landscape planning for narrow purposes in the past. Turner would throw the planning and design process open to celebrate a kaleidoscope of special interests, to be an inclusive mixture of passions and values and people claiming their own vision of community as valid and deserving of acceptance. The essay ‘The tragedy of feminine
131
planning and design’ describes the impact in design education of planning always for the male-dominant characteristics in design. His words ring true that the nesting instincts of designers too often are abandoned for harder-edged approaches which seek to impose rather than listen, to quantify before understanding all the qualities influencing design.
Thomas M. Woodfin Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning Texas A & M University College Station, TX 77843-3137 USA
PII SOl69-2046(97)00014-5
Transitions in Lund and Housing: Bulgaria, The Czech Republic, and Poland by Ann Louise Strong, Thomas A. Reiner and Janusz Szyrmer, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996, 298 pp.
System changes frequently appear as bloody episodes in world history: the French Revolution, the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the first World War, the October Revolution as well as introduction of Communism into central and eastern Europe after the second World War. The result was total chaos, the decline of national economies and the fragmentation of social conditions. The ongoing, relatively peaceful, transitions in central and eastern Europe, in which we have an opportunity to participate or to observe, also provide to dramatic structural change. Current events are happening step-by-step as a continuing process without the dramatic, deleterious consequences of the past. The possibility to witness such historic, mostly peaceful change is an uncommon opportunity for direct participation in the creation of the future. Transitions in Land and Housing: Bulgaria, The Czech Republic, and Poland focuses on changes of land and housing ownership. These profound transformations, or ‘privatizations’, are at the point of turning former Communist states to market
economies. This book was written by three authors, of different disciplinary backgrounds: planning, law, and economics. Their work was enriched by reference materials as well as numerous interviews with national and local government officials, with developers, attorneys, architects and other professionals. The authors concentrated on the changing ownership and control of a nation’s land: fields, forests and urban plots, and its housing. Rural cottages, city houses, and apartment blocks are the types of housing changing from public to private ownership. Voluntary cooperative enterprises and individual owners are participating. The authors address how these shifts are altering the property market. The three nations are representative of the central and eastern Europe region. The authors state “these three countries thus present examples of major socialization of land, housing and enterpreises in Czechoslovakia, nominally little socialization of land and housing in Poland and an intermediate position, with socialization of land and enterprises but not of housing, in Bulgaria” (p. IO>. The nations are discussed individu~ly but with a similar organizational scheme. First, there is a general description of geography, history, population and government and, then the transformation of the economy and housing is reviewed. The authors present the formation of the market, public roles in the market, and predictions for future changes. They consider the role of privatization and its impact on property markets. In addition, Strong, Reiner, and Szyrmer examine changes in the institutional infrastructure introduced to foster free market exchange. In the book, one can find new notions connected with these transitions such as de-etatization (denationalization) or restitution. Another new idea is the differences in transformation among the three nations depending on their structure under Communism. The conclusions present a comparison among the nations - the steps taken since 1989 in each country to restructure ownership of land, housing and other property. In this part of the book, one can discover the diffferences in transformation in spite of many similarities. One can see these differences through a number of tables presented in the book, such as the example below.
Table 1. Estimates of the share of a private sector in the creation of GDP, %
Bulgaria Czechoslovakia/ The Czech Republic Poland a = 1992
1988
1994
0.3” 0.7
40 65
18.8
52
The essential function of the book is not only to show transition but to understand the transformation processes. New management rules and problems of their application are explained on different levels beginning at the national government and continuing to the black market economy. In addition to the detailed discussion of ownership transformation in the book, one can learn about the influence of the current transfo~at~on on land-use planning. The authors note that forty years of central state planning have left people loath to constrict market forces for development. Previous local planning responsibilities were concentrated in the hands of the city architect and the mayor, and their subordination to the regional plan. Currently, local govemments are developing with strong public participation. Such participation is necessary for new plans. Strong, Reiner and Szyermer stress “Now each municipality mayor has not-in-my-backyard concerns and is ready to do battle over the plan as it affects his area” (p. 1241. The authors, in many cases, do not give simple answers. They do raise many questions, by which one can understand the complicated process of system changes. Presented with the different aspects of restitution, the authors ask: “Are there social, political, or economic reasons for limiting the amount of property that should be restituted to a single claimant? Should the family of a Polish aristocrat who owned vast estates receive all of the land taken, or only a stated maximum amount? Alternatively, should there be a minimum tract size for restitution to reduce the inefficiencies of splintered holdings?” (p. 6). Information about system changes in central and eastern Europe in individual scholarly and newspaper articles seems to be very chaotic. Tra~s~t~uns in Land and Housing: Bulgaria, The Czech Republic,
Book reviews
and Poland by Ann Louise Strong, Thomas A. Reiner and Janusz Szyrmer presents these changes comprehensively and clearly. They provide a historical background because without such an understanding, the transformation process could be confusing. Ownership transitions in Bulgaria, The Czech Republic and Poland are presented in the book in an interesting way, with an excellent explanation of changing processes. I think, it is very important that the authors note a function of land-use planning as a market regulator. During past decades, central and eastern Europe planners had no experience about how to create regulations that can guide, rather than hinder, private market decisions. This book is recommended for those who are particularly interested in eastern and central Europe transformations, as well as for everybody who would like to understand the essence of the contemporary, democratic system changes. Agata Cieszewska Warsaw Agricultural University Warsaw, Poland PII SO 169-2046(97)00046-7
Australia: State of the Environment 1996. State of the Environment Advisory Council, CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria. 54.4~~. $49.95. CD-ROM version $49.95. Australia: State of the Environment 1996 was officially released in September 1996, and presents a report on Australia’s environment, prepared by over 200 of Australia’s leading scientists, academics, industry leaders and environmentalists. The drawing together of this wide array of expertise has produced a monumental work which represents a valuable and comprehensive analysis, which should be of interest to anyone in Australia who is concerned with the environment. This should guarantee a wide readership, since, as the report acknowledges, “Australians are among the most environmentally aware people in the world”. The report has 10 chapters and an executive summary. The first chapter outlines the background
133
to the reporting process and the approach used in developing the report. A modified version of the OECD pressure-state-response model is used, based on the concept that human activities exert pressures on the environment and change its state and condition, and this is followed by a societal response to these changes. The second chapter provides a portrait of Australia’s environment, in terms of geography, climate, natural resources, human population, and environmental management. Chapters 3-9 cover individual areas of interest, namely human settlements, biodiversity, the atmosphere, land resources, inland waters, estuaries and the sea, plus natural and cultural heritage. All are organized around the pressurestate-response model, and all include invaluable information on the current status of important environmental elements, together with more in-depth analysis of particular issues. The final chapter, titled Towards Ecological Sustainability attempts to synthesize the material from the previous chapters and identifies key issues of concern. It points out that the message from the report is mixed - Australia shapes up very well in some areas and poorly in others. The overall conclusion is that “progress towards ecological sustainability requires recognition that human society is part of the ecological system and integration of ecological thinking into all social and economic planning’ ’ . Overall, the book is well produced and laid out, with colorful illustrations and easily accessible information. The index is somewhat scant and this makes searching for particular subjects difficult. There is some unevenness of coverage between chapters, which is probably inevitable given the wide authorship. Nevertheless, the content of the book, coupled with its relatively low price, make it an excellent resource for decision makers and all levels of education. The idea of simultaneously publishing the report in CD-ROM format was an innovative and exciting idea, with the potential for providing easy access to the material in the report for use in teaching and extension/outreach. Unfortunately, the actual CDROM product falls short in terms of its utility and ease of use. It comes in Adobe Acrobat format (the program is also supplied). It provides a good global search facility, but the full potential of CD-ROM has