The "Soviet" housing project that didn't work in the US/The Pruitt-Igoe

[Vasilisa]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pruitt%E2%80%93Igoe
Pruitt–Igoe was a large urban housing project first occupied in 1954[2] in the U.S. city of St. Louis, Missouri. Living conditions in Pruitt–Igoe began to decline soon after its completion in 1956.[3] By the late 1960s, the complex had become internationally infamous for its poverty, crime, and segregation. Its 33 buildings were torn down in the mid-1970s,[4] and the project has become an icon of urban renewal and public-policy planning failure.

The complex was designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki, who also designed the World Trade Center towers and the Lambert-St. Louis International Airport main terminal.

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As completed in 1955, Pruitt–Igoe consisted of 33 11-story apartment buildings on a 57-acre (23 ha) site,[14] on St. Louis's lower north side. The complex totaled 2,870 apartments, one of the largest in the country.[10] The apartments were deliberately small, with undersized kitchen appliances.[10] "Skip-stop" elevators stopped only at the first, fourth, seventh, and tenth floors, forcing residents to use stairs in an attempt to lessen congestion. The same "anchor floors" were equipped with large communal corridors, laundry rooms, communal rooms and garbage chutes.[13] The stairwells and corridors attracted muggers.[10] Ventilation was poor, centralized air conditioning nonexistent.[10]

Despite federal cost-cutting regulations, Pruitt–Igoe initially cost $36 million,[15] 60% above national average for public housing.[10] Conservatives attributed cost overruns to inflated unionized labor wages and the steamfitters union influence that led to installation of an expensive heating system;[10] overruns on the heating system caused a chain of arbitrary cost cuts in other vital parts of the building.[11]

Nevertheless, Pruitt–Igoe was initially seen as a breakthrough in urban renewal.[8] Despite poor build quality, material suppliers cited Pruitt–Igoe in their advertisements, capitalizing on the national exposure of the project

More photos and the article in Russian
http://realty.rbc.ru/articles/23/05/2013/562949987048704.shtml

[Boethius]

I'm not certain I would call that a "Soviet" project.  But, I can think of reasons why similar housing worked in the USSR and did not in the US.

[Muzh]

Maybe they were trying to emulate Soweto.

[Faux Pas]

St Louis wasn't the only urban city to build this style housing project and most all met the same fate. Vasilisa, these type housing projects were built and designed for the poor and low income families in many cities. Most of them built on what was to become very valuable real estate for housing "poor folks" and became the target of developers. 10K poor households no matter the location is a breeding ground for crime and human misery

[Slumba]

Just goes to show, governments have been trying to "kick the can" down the road for many , many years.

[Muzh]

So..., what would be your solution?

[Slumba]

So..., what would be your solution?

Housing has to follow jobs, jobs do not follow housing. 

It was different in USSR, from what I have read - they had all these people that needed housing and you could lose your apartment for bad behavior.  Wherever they built housing, they had jobs available for people to do.

[Muzh]

So if there are no jobs, there's no housing. And if there is no housing, what to do with all the shanty towns?
 
 

[Slumba]

So if there are no jobs, there's no housing. And if there is no housing, what to do with all the shanty towns?

People will move out and/or the area will get gentrified. 

[cc3]

People will move out and/or the area will get gentrified.

None really wants to gentrify St. Louis or Detroit.

[Slumba]

None really wants to gentrify St. Louis or Detroit.

Then, let it fall. Why spend money on something that can not be sustained?  There are ghosts towns all over Colorado from when the lead/silver/gold played out, but Denver is still strong and vibrant.

[Ooooops]

None really wants to gentrify St. Louis or Detroit.

Because it went to far down the no return road, unfortunately.   When we lived in Houston its downtown was going through revamping stage and very successfully, I'd say.   I wonder what is't like now, 15 years past...

[cc3]

Because it went to far down the no return road, unfortunately.   When we lived in Houston its downtown was going through revamping stage and very successfully, I'd say.   I wonder what is't like now, 15 years past...

Difference is Houston has jobs, competent leaders and supportive voters. Also it's in Texas...that accounts for a lot of its resurgence. During my last 10 years in my company, I was based in Newark, NJ, but our corporate headquarters was in Houston. I observed the failure of one civic enterprise versus the success of the other at first hand.

[JohnDearGreen]

I'm not certain I would call that a "Soviet" project.  But, I can think of reasons why similar housing worked in the USSR and did not in the US.

And what are those reasons?  I have wondered why there is not more crime in areas like Ukraine.


As you can guess from the bottom half of the first photo,  that was a high crime area to begin with, and was still ranked the most dangerous city in the US in 2010.  Home building construction in one area of south Dallas was also stopped with half built houses due to high crime.

[Ooooops]

Difference is Houston has jobs, competent leaders and supportive voters.

Democracy at work... 

[Ooooops]

And what are those reasons?  I have wondered why there is not more crime in areas like Ukraine.

Gun laws.  There was no "you have to pry it from my cold dead hands" back in USSR.   

[OlgaH]

During the Soviet time the population in such urban housings were pretty much mixed: teachers, doctors, factory workers, bookkeepers, plumbers, pensioners, alcoholics and social parasites... After living in kommunalkas, small-family and worker dormitories people were glad to get even 30 m² in khrushchyovka  where many also lived as a family of 3 waiting for an upgrade.

Nowadays every city in Russia  has it's own poor criminal districts and slum areas where people still live.

Kommunalkas and family dormitories still exist.

[Ooooops]

During the Soviet time the population in such urban housings were pretty much mixed: teachers, doctors, factory workers, bookkeepers, plumbers, pensioners, alcoholics and social parasites...

I spent my childhood years in this "communal apartment" - 3 families in 3 room apartment with shared kitchen/bathroom.   My parents - young IT engineers, family of metal turner and a single drunkard who's occupation I forgot.  Quite a motley crew.   

[Boethius]

I spent my childhood years in this "communal apartment" - 3 families in 3 room apartment with shared kitchen/bathroom.   My parents - young IT engineers, family of metal turner and a single drunkard who's occupation I forgot.  Quite a motley crew.   

Hubby lived in a four family communal apartment until he was 13.  Shared kitchen, bathroom, hallway, one door, one stove with four burners (one for each family), 15 square meters and two windows for Grandparents, parents, sister, and him.


Eventually, his mother applied for an apartment for her parents.  They got priority as they lost a child at Stalingrad.  Grandmother said applying was futile, but she did get the apartment, which was two rooms, 44 square meters.

[Ooooops]

Have you read stories by Mikhail Zoshchenko?   Of course, they are set up in much earlier time but still are great in describing those communal flats. 

[Boethius]

And what are those reasons?  I have wondered why there is not more crime in areas like Ukraine.

There are a lot of reasons, but one of the primary ones was that all young men served in the military, where it was drilled into them that all property belonged to, and was for the benefit of, the people.  For example, on my husband's ship, anytime they shot a test missile, they were briefed first on what was going to happen, how to avoid mistakes, and that "this missile cost X rubles.  We could build a 9 story apartment building for the people with this missile", so they had to take the goal seriously.  This was a way to instill respect for the property in them, and it was constant.  So, there was a realization that they, the people, paid to build these apartments for the people.  That type of reflection is foreign in the West, I think.

There were strong internal controls for miscreant behaviour.  For example, if you were found drunk in public, you were chastised at work, in front of all your coworkers (usually at a meeting called for this purpose), and you would lose privileges, such as losing your place in line for an apartment, losing some special privilege such as traveling abroad, or your place for a car, or telephone, etc.  So, if you were caught vandalizing such property, or committing crimes, there would be a very public dressing down, with consequences.

Soviets saw a lot of misery after WWII, with millions homeless and hence, living in cramped communal quarters.  An apartment of your own was a luxury for which they were grateful.

Finally, living in many of these apartments was considered prestigious, not a government hand out as in the West.

Have you read stories by Mikhail Zoshchenko?   Of course, they are set up in much earlier time but still are great in describing those communal flats. 

I've read a few works, but not a lot.

[OlgaH]

Have you read stories by Mikhail Zoshchenko?   Of course, they are set up in much earlier time but still are great in describing those communal flats. 

I love Zoshchenko 

[OlgaH]

Soviets saw a lot of misery after WWII, with millions homeless and hence, living in cramped communal quarters.  An apartment of your own was a luxury for which they were grateful.

Misery was before WWII as well. The cases when people were reporting on each other to NKVD  and  bribing the officials to get an apartment or at least extra room in kommunalka weren't rear.

"They're people like any others. They're over-fond of money, but then they always were...  Humankind loves money, no matter if it's made of leather, paper, bronze or gold. They're thoughtless, of course... but then they sometimes feel compassion too...  they're ordinary people, in fact they remind me very much of their predecessors, except that the housing shortage has soured them..." ("The Master and Margarita", Mikhail Bulgakov)

[Ooooops]

This was a way to instill respect for the property in them, and it was constant.

 I disagree.   There was a saying back then - "everything is communal, hence nobody's" which resulted in lots of vandalism of public property - graffiti, burnt mailboxes, using stairwells as toilets etc.   

[Anotherkiwi]

 I disagree.   There was a saying back then - "everything is communal, hence nobody's" which resulted in lots of vandalism of public property - graffiti, burnt mailboxes, using stairwells as toilets etc.

Unfortunately, in my experience, that doesn't seem to have changed.