Planning during Post-socialism

Abstract

This article analyzes the state of public-sector planning in countries that subscribed to a Marxist, state-socialist ideology during some part of the twentieth century, and especially those countries that comprise the former Eastern Bloc (today often referred to as the “transitional countries”). Central economic planning was a defining feature of state socialism. With its collapse, this type of planning was abandoned. During the early years of post-socialism, all types of public-sector planning, including urban spatial planning, were severely weakened as well. A tentative revival of urban planning can be only recently observed.