Residential districts of the socialist realism period in Poland (1949−1956). Analysis, comparison and protection

The article analyzes four residential districts from the period of Socialist Realism in Poland: Marszałkowska Residential District in Warsaw, Kościuszkowska Residential District in Wrocław, residential Nowa Huta in Cracow and Downtown Residential District in Szczecin. These districts are analyzed in terms of urban layout, architectural forms, building intensity, and green areas. Common features of these housing complexes, characteristic for socialist realism architecture in Poland, were also examined. The authors also consider the protective methods of individual housing complexes. Each of the examined residential districts is considered in two aspects - the urban layout and architecture as well as the form of protection and it condition of the present day. For each analyzed housing complex, a map was prepared showing the scale of the urban layout and the percentage share of pre-war buildings, buildings from the period under study, and buildings erected in later years.