The Emergence of Enclaves of Wealth and Poverty: A Sociological Study of Residential Differentiation in Post-communist Poland

Full text

ACTA UNIVERSITATIS STOCKHOLMIENSIS
Stockholm Studies in Sociology. New series 50

The emergence of enclaves of wealth
and poverty
A sociological study of residential differentiation in post-communist Po-
land
Dominika V. Polanska

© D o m i n i k a P o l a n s k a , S t o c k h o l m 2 0 1 1
S t o c k h o l m S t u d i e s i n S o c i o l o g y , N . S . 5 0
I S S N 0 4 9 1 - 0 8 8 5
I S B N 978-91- 8 6 0 7 1 - 68- 4 ( S t o c k h o l m U n i v e r s i t y )
S ö d e r t ö r n D o c t o r a l D i s s e r t a t i o n s 56
I S S N 1 6 5 2 - 7 3 9 9
I S B N 9 7 8 - 91- 8 6 0 6 9 - 29-2 ( S ö d e r t ö r n U n i v e r s i t y )
Printed in Sweden by US-AB Tryck och Media, Stockholm 2011
Distributor: eddy.se ab/Södertörn University Library

To my Family

Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................ 9
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 11
The objective of the thesis ................................................................... 14
THE CASE OF POLAND AND GDAŃSK ................................................. 17
Historical overview of Gdańsk ............................................................ 19
Gdańsk in numbers .............................................................................. 21
Territorial development ....................................................................... 24
Inequalities under state socialism ........................................................ 27
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND .............................................................. 31
The Chicago school ............................................................................. 31
David Harvey and the capitalist order ................................................. 33
Harvey‘s theory and the Polish case .................................................... 37
Residential differentiation in a post-communist context ..................... 39
Gated communities in post-communist urban landscapes ................... 42
METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................... 44
The qualitative inquiry ......................................................................... 44
Case study approach ............................................................................ 45
Data and data collection techniques .................................................... 46
The mode of procedure ........................................................................ 50
The study of discourses ....................................................................... 51
Validity and reliability ......................................................................... 52
Being a researcher ............................................................................... 53
Limitations ........................................................................................... 54
Ethical considerations .......................................................................... 56
SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION ................................................................ 57
The results of the studies ..................................................................... 58
Concluding remarks ............................................................................. 62
A critique ............................................................................................. 72
Proposals for further research .............................................................. 76
REFERENCES ............................................................................................. 79

APPENDIX ................................................................................................... 90
I. Interview guides and questionnaire .................................................. 90
II. Census data 2002 ............................................................................ 95
PAPER I Decline and revitalization in post-communist urban context- a
case of the Polish city of Gdansk .................................................................. 99
PAPER II The emergence of gated communities in post-communist Poland
.................................................................................................................... 121
PAPER III Gated communities and the construction of social class markers
in post-socialist societies - the case of Poland ............................................ 149
PAPER IV The rise of gated neighborhoods in Poland: legal and regulatory
framework ................................................................................................... 171

9
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Writing the thesis has been a journey I never will forget. I began my doctoral
studies at the Baltic and East European Graduate School (BEEGS) at
Södertörn University and as an affiliated student at Stockholm University in
2006. Five years later I can finally behold the efforts put to complete it- you
are holding it. To begin with I would like to thank BEEGS, the Foundation
for Baltic and East European Studies and the department of sociology at
Södertörn University for making my doctoral studies possible.
I am grateful to many people for their help in writing this thesis. First and
foremost I would like to thank my supervisors Apostolis Papakostas, Sven
Hort, and Kerstin Jacobsson. Especially I would like to thank Kerstin for
stepping in as my advisor the last year and for giving invaluable remarks on
the final version of the thesis. I look forward to working together in the fu-
ture.
I would also like to thank my colleagues at the sociology department for
their engagement in my work; some special thanks go to Lisa Kings and
Jonas Lindström for being my closest colleagues, Jolanta Aidukaite for be-
lieving in me and coaching me throughout the toughest part of the writing
process, Akvile Motiejunaite for her support and for showing me that there is
a life after thesis. I would also like to mention: Zhanna Kravchenko, Paavo
Bergman, Abbas Emami, Arne Ek, Tanya Jukkala, Anita Heber, Erik Löf-
marck, Ilkka Mäkinen, Sara Ferlander, Lia Antoniou, Christina Axelsson,
Ali Hajighasemi, Sanja Obrenovic, and Magnus Wennerhag and thank you
for giving me inspiration and friendly support.
I am grateful to Michal Bron Jr. for commenting on different parts of the
thesis and becoming a close friend and mentor and to Ola Svenonius, Mi-
chael Levin and Kristina Abiala for sharing the interest in wine and for all of
the moments spent on wine tastings. Beate Feldmann, thank you for sharing
my interest in post-socialist cities. I would like to thank: Teresa Kulawik for
her support and lovely smile; Michael Gentile for teaching me how to write
an academic article; Andrew Stickley for moral support during tough times
of review processes, all of my BEEGS-collegues for support and comments
given during our annual internal conferences; Anna Kratz for giving lustre to
the first year of my doctoral studies and Christopher Zetterberg for teaching

10
me the basics of GIS (Geographic Information System). I owe a great dept to
the administration staff at BEEGS. My thanks go to Nina Cajhamre, Lena
Arvidson, Lena Andersson, Ewa Rogström and Karin Lindebrandt for their
kind and never failing support and for making administrative issues under-
standable.
I would like to express my gratitude to the commentator at my final seminar
Per Gustafsson. I am also thankful to Katarina Friberg and Elżbieta
Korolczuk for their comments on the final version of the thesis, hoping for
great future cooperations!
Finally, I would like to thank my husband, Miguel Vergara, for his support
throughout the process of writing and for his artistic input to the final ver-
sion. I would furthermore like to express my eternal gratitude to my Mother,
Barbara Latvala, for her unconditional love and support throughout my
whole life. I dedicate this work to you both.
Once again, thank you all.
Stockholm, May 2011

11
INTRODUCTION
Ever since the beginning of industrialisation, social scientists and, in particu-
lar, sociologists have been studying their contemporary societies and the
social, cultural and economic changes that characterise the historical periods
that followed the Industrial Revolution. These changes have broadly been
described in such terms as ―post-modernity‖ (Lyotard, Harvey, Baudrillard,
Habermas), ―late modernity‖ (Giddens), ―liquid modernity‖ (Bauman), or
―first and second modernity‖ (Beck). The common belief among these
scholars is that a ―new kind of capitalism, a new kind of economy, a new
kind of global order, a new kind of society and a new kind of personal life
are coming into being, all of which differ from earlier phases of social de-
velopment‖ (Beck, 1999: 2). This new phase of social development is here
characterised by increased individualisation, social, cultural and institutional
changes and the increasing reflexivity among societies in the global context.
Above all, by introducing improved security and higher living standards, this
process has brought a growing sense of uncertainty to the lives of citizens in
contemporary societies (Giddens, 1990). According to many of these schol-
ars, the global risks and dangers originate from new technologies and expert
systems we have to rely on in our everyday life. Living in a ―risk society‖
involves risks associated with the use of natural as well as cultural resources
and primarily with those produced by the society itself (Beck, 1999: 74). On
the other hand, Marxist sociologists focus on the economic basis of these
changes and point out the flexible modes of capital accumulation and lais-
sez-faire and neo-conservative ideas as bearing the stamp of this period.
Some of them call it ―third stage capitalism‖ or ―late capitalism‖, but all
agree that the capitalist mode of production is a system that continuously
produces and reproduces differences and inequalities. David Harvey
(1973/2008; 1989; 1990), a Marxist theorist who has incorporated the study
of space into his analyses, states that divisions in space are created and rec-
reated within the capitalist order.
These changes have been mainly described when studying Western societies
and do not take into account the changes that are occurring in the rest of the
world. Non-Western societies are either given the label of being ―traditional‖
or present in a phase/condition, (gradually) leading to post/late/liquid/second
modernity. Consequently, what has been happening in the Third World or in
Central or Eastern Europe has not been studied by social scientists to the

12
same degree as in the past, but the focus is slowly changing. Since the fall of
communism, some crucial changes have been taking place in the former
communist societies. Systemic change has opened up and privatised markets
that were formerly owned and maintained by the socialist state. The political,
economic and social changes that began in 1989 have brought to light many
new landscapes for social scientists to explore. These processes of change
are more intensified and more visible in post-communist countries, and they
are ideal ―social laboratories‖ for scientists to examine. They also present
new ways to achieve democratic orders and are, according to some scholars,
essentially different from other economic, political and social changes we
have observed earlier in other parts of the world (Kumar, 2001: 123).
Rather than discussing the appropriateness of the kind of time we are living
in, whether they are called ―post-modern,‖ ―late modern‖ or ―liquid‖; in
accordance with some prominent thinkers such as Henri Lefebvre (2003;
2008), David Harvey (1973/2008), Edward Soja (2000) and Loic Wacquant
(2008), here the aim is to emphasise the importance of studying urban spaces
and ―putting cities first‖ (Soja, 2000: 19). Urban spaces are playing an ever
increasing role in our lives, since more than two thirds of the world‘s popu-
lation now lives in cities (Davis, 2006: 1). Moreover, cities are social labora-
tories and reflect on-going changes and processes much more clearly than do
other parts of a given society. Furthermore, the discipline of sociology is
partly a child of the economic, political and social changes that have
emerged in our societies since the 19th century and that were studied by clas-
sical thinkers such as Marx or Engels and partly a child of the city and urban
life. Georg Simmel, Max Weber and Émile Durkheim already studied social
processes and relations connected to life in cities and opposed to the life in
un-urbanised and ―traditional‖ areas. For these sociologists, the city repre-
sented the modern way of life, the liberation from the ties of tradition, and
the rationalised individual. The negative side of increased urbanisation was
the anonymity and the alienation they observed among the inhabitants of the
cities in which they lived.
Both classic sociologists and the Chicago school of urban sociologists rec-
ognised that social relations were correlated with spatial relations (Schnell &
Ostendorf, 2002: 1). They all acknowledged that people‘s positions on the
social ladder were often reflected in the spaces they inhabited. Moreover, as
Soja explains, ―Social-spatial-historical processes that shape our lives do not
simply operate in and on cities, but to a significant degree also emanate from
cities, from those complex specificities and stimulations of urban life‖
(2000: 18). He also points out that ordinary social science has tended to ne-
glect spatial specificity when studying human history and society. The im-
portance of the spatial dimension is further stressed when Soja, while refer-
ring to Lefebvre, states that the outcomes of social processes and social rela-
tions being studied make sense only after they are spatialised (Soja, 2000: 9).

13
In light of this argument, the objective of this thesis is to examine the social-
spatial-historical dimension of the systemic change in a post-communist
urban context since 1989. In many cases, the changes in the urban space of
post-communist cities have been quite radical. They have ranged from un-
employment, growing crime rates and insecurity in the new order to the ac-
quisition of new social and economic positions in the wake of the changes.
For this reason, the transformation to the new system has been of a funda-
mental nature for social stratification in the post-communist countries and
the formation of new positions of influence according to the new capitalist
order (Domański, 1996) and has left its mark on the urban landscapes, na-
tional housing markets and the housing patterns of citizens.
Poland is often singled out as one of the most ―successful‖ and leading coun-
tries in its transformation to the new systemic order since the fall of commu-
nism (Lewis, 1997; Kim, 2006; Domański, 1996). However, there is always
more than one side to a story, and Poland‘s transformation to the new de-
mocratic and economic order has at the same time brought about greater
income differences and poverty levels and deteriorating living conditions
among its citizens (Panek, 1998; Wóycicka, 2004). The growing gap be-
tween the wealthiest and poorest parts of the population has become more
visible in the country‘s urban landscapes. Nevertheless, opinions differ as to
whether the Polish cities and other post-communist cities have become more
segregated since the collapse of the socialist order. There are those who state
that residential differentiation was a minor ―problem‖ during communism,
declaring that ―it can be generalised that the socio-spatial pattern of a social-
ist city was more homogeneous‖ (Sykora, 1999: 679), which in turn was a
result of the system‘s denial of the existing inequalities during communism
(Kovacs, 1998: 65). Alternatively, there are those who declare that socialist
cities were segregated to some degree (Sailer-Fliege, 1999; Häussermann,
1996; Smith, 1996) and state that even if the official ideology was to equal-
ise status and income differences by means of a strategic housing policy, the
results did not always turn out as expected. For example, ―the specific so-
cialist form of segregation was reflected by an over-representation of mid-
dle- and also higher-status groups in socialist housing estates and the general
under-representation of these strata in the single-family housing sector in
larger cities‖ (Sailer-Fliege, 1999: 11). However, what scholars of post-
communist cities do agree on is their growing socio-spatial differentiation
after the fall of communism (Harloe, 1996; Häussermann, 1996; Kovacs,
1998; Sailer-Fliege, 1999; Sykora, 1999; Szelenyi, 1996; Węcławowicz,
1998; 2005; Ruoppila & Kährik, 2003). Moreover, the socio-spatial differen-
tiation in Poland is said to be on the increase since the fall of communism
and is predicted to grow considerably in the country‘s larger cities and urban
aggregations in the coming years (Węcławowicz, 2002).

14
The objective of the thesis
The general objective of this thesis is to examine the urban transformation
taking place in the post-communist context since the fall of communism.
The more specific aim is to study the processes of residential differentiation
going on in the urban landscape of the Polish city of Gdańsk after the intro-
duction of the capitalist system. The focus lies on different forms of residen-
tial differentiation and the social, economic and historical factors behind
these forms in various neighbourhoods in the city and on an investigation of
their emergence and development in space and in time (if possible before,
but primarily after 1989). A deprived neighbourhood and three gated resi-
dential developments have been chosen as two extremes that reflect involun-
tary and voluntary residential differentiation in the city. The objective is to
explain the emergence and ever increasing popularity of gated communities
in the city, but also in the country concurrent with the phenomenon of the
deepening deprivation of other neighbourhoods. The four studies included in
the thesis cover different scales – from the national level in the legal and
regulatory framework (and its implications for housing, revitalisation and
spatial planning in the country) and the discourses prevalent in the national
and local media on the topic of gated housing and the specific deprived area
to the level of neighbourhoods where different forms of housing are mapped
and residents are asked for their opinion on their places of residence.
Post-communist cities have been undergoing major changes since the fall of
communism, even if these changes have varied among different countries
and cities. What is interesting in today‘s post-communist cities is the specific
post-communist experience in their urban development. How is the capitalist
order affecting the conditions of present urban development and what role do
―communist legacies‖ play in it? Most importantly, what theoretical explana-
tions can be used to understand the present development in Polish cities and
in particular in Gdańsk, with a focus on spaces of voluntary and involuntary
residential differentiation?
The empirical material that forms the basis of the thesis consists of inter-
views with residents of one deprived area (8 interviews) and of three gated
communities (9 interviews) in the city as well as city officials (2 interviews:
an urban planner at City Hall and employees at Gdańsk Development Bu-
reau) conducted mainly in 2007-2008, together with newspaper articles pub-
lished on the topic of gated communities (50) and one specific residential
area (20) in the national newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza and regional newspa-
per Dziennik Bałtycki between 2003-2008 and 2000-2007, respectively. Cen-
sus data from 2002 together with official statistics on the local and national
level (for instance, statistical yearbooks, local development plan, local revi-
talisation, among others), together with previous studies, reports and surveys
on topics related to urbanisation, provide the study with a broader picture of

15
the urban processes prevalent since 1989. Furthermore, a questionnaire with
86 respondents living in gated communities was conducted in 2007 in order
to gain some understanding of the motives for moving to gated forms of
housing. Studies of advertisements supplement the analysis of the emergence
of gated communities in Polish cities and in particular in Gdańsk. In order to
examine the legal and regulatory framework with regard to spatial matters
and the formation of gated communities in the country, documents and offi-
cial reports were studied, with a focus on 15 legal acts that deal with housing
and spatial issues. Finally, all of the above-mentioned empirical material has
been combined with observations and photographs carried out during field-
work between 2006 and 2009 (for more detailed information see ―data and
data collection techniques‖).
The thesis begins with an introduction to the empirical field of study. Po-
land and the city of Gdańsk are described in the part of the thesis that dis-
cusses the similarities and specificities of the chosen case. It then continues
with a description of the theoretical framework and a discussion of residen-
tial differentiation in the post-communist urban context. The methods and
data are then presented together with the results of the studies that were car-
ried out. The final part of the thesis consists of a summary of the main find-
ings. The thesis is broken down into the following publications:
- The first study examines the way in which different social, eco-
nomic, historical and physical conditions coincide with the forma-
tion of space and the processes of decline in the period of transfor-
mation in Poland. The focus is on a specific residential area in the
centre of Gdańsk and the lack of improvements in this particular
area that would stop its successive decline. Among other things, the
study argues that a clearly defined urban policy together with im-
proved urban planning and clear legislation on ownership are needed
in order to improve conditions in this and other deprived areas of the
city.
- The second study explains the emergence of gated communities in
the post-communist urban context and discusses the reasons for their
increasing numbers and popularity. The focus is on Gdańsk, and the
main areas of interest are the forms of gated communities and their
residents as well as the latters‘ motives for moving into gated hous-
ing. The main argument in the paper is that the motives for moving
to gated communities are tightly intertwined with the communist
past. While Polish gated communities are obviously a result of spa-
tial planning and the housing market at the national and local level,
they are also emerging in reaction to the housing conditions that
prevailed under communism.

16
- The third study investigates how social class markers are constructed
in the discourse on gated communities in post-socialist urban con-
text. The case of Poland is used as an example of a post-communist
country, where the number of gated communities is increasing rap-
idly in urban areas. The ―new‖ capitalistic system, with its inherent
social divisions, is described in the discourse as creating demands
for ―new‖ forms of housing, where gates function as separators, pro-
tectors and class identifiers. Private space has become a symbol of
exclusivity in Polish society and has spread throughout the country
together with the popularity of gated forms of housing.
- The fourth study concentrates on the support for the formation of
gated communities in the legal and regulatory framework in Poland
that has been formed since the fall of communism in 1989. Here, the
focus is on how government policy on spatial planning and housing
together with the law on property and ownership affect the emer-
gence and development of gated forms of housing in the country.
The paper asserts that the outcome of liberal politics and legal regu-
lation in the country is the neglect of spatial planning and imprecise
urban policies. Existing spatial plans are of a consultative nature and
bear no regulatory capacity at the same time that spatial planning in
the country strongly favours landowners and new construction. In
light of the present urban disarray, gated housing is an indirect result
of neglected urban politics combined with increasing social polarisa-
tion and is responding to the need for specific social affiliations and
lifestyles.

17
THE CASE OF POLAND AND GDAŃSK
This part of the thesis describes the case of Gdańsk, Poland as the object of
study, delineates the motives for the choice and includes a short description
of the history of the city and a more detailed report on the present situation.
It ends with a discussion of the inequalities under state socialism, in particu-
lar in Poland and Gdańsk. *
For quite some time, contemporary urban studies have focused their atten-
tion on large global cities such as New York, London and Tokyo (Sassen,
1991/2001, 1994; Massey, 2007). Several researchers have studied the posi-
tion and order of these global cities within the world system (Knox & Tay-
lor, 1995). Some state that the current discussion on the internal expansion
and development of cities originates from the paradigmatic single cases of
Los Angeles or Chicago, which are incorrectly assumed to include all urban
trends (Amin & Graham, 1997). In light of this discourse in urban studies,
cities that are not included within the global order of cities and in particular
cities that are post-communist, have been given less attention, even though
this trend is slowly turning. Not surprisingly, among post-communist cities,
the cities that have been studied the most are the capitals of Central Euro-
pean countries, such as Warsaw, Prague, Berlin, Budapest, Sofia and Tallinn
(Węcławowicz, 1998; Sykora, 1999; Kovacs, 1998; Stoyanov & Frantz,
2006; Ruoppila & Kährik, 2003). As non-capital cities in post-communist
societies have been neglected, there are theoretical and empirical gaps to be
filled in this field, especially since these cities have also been undergoing
major changes since the fall of communism. Moreover, many urban sociolo-
gists would agree with the statement that capital cities differ from other cit-
ies in many respects. Capital cities tend to hold the highest positions in the
national hierarchies of cities and in particular in reference to the division of
labour, the dominance of investments and the development of markets (Lin
& Mele, 2005: 223). Furthermore, capital cities could be seen as the location
of ―middle-class jobs‖ in a country, in which case they are home to a much
larger proportion of the middle class than are other cities in a country (Ru-
oppila, 2006). Housing and its development in capital cities compared to
non-capital cities is often more intense and more rapid than anywhere else in
the country. In that matter, capital cities fail to reflect the development of the
housing market in the rest of the country and particularly in other large and
medium-sized cities due to their faster and more extreme development,

18
which makes non-capital cities more representative as subjects of study in
order to understand the underlying mechanisms but also the outcomes of the
changes in the urban space in post-communist societies.
Situated in Central Europe, Poland has close to 40 million inhabitants, of
which the majority live in urban areas. The country‘s geographical location
has strongly influenced many fruitful meetings between ―East‖ and ―West‖
in the past as well as in the present. Its strategic location, along with its dra-
matic history, makes the country a very interesting case study, especially
with regard to the ongoing processes of residential differentiation in a post-
communist setting.
The country‘s state of transition from a communist order to a new order pro-
vides a field of great importance for social studies. Yet another reason to
study Poland is the country‘s recognition as the only country among post-
communist societies where ―a sizeable opposition movement (‗Solidar-
nosc‘), which effectively challenged the political and economic order of state
socialism and ideology, ever emerged‖ (Elster et al. 1998:7). Researchers
point to Poland as an exception among today‘s post-communist countries,
since its mass movement was the only one to seriously threaten the state
socialist regime.
The Solidarity movement was born in Gdańsk, which is located in northern
Poland. Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia are called the ―Tri-City‖ and constitute
the main urban agglomeration in the province of Pomerania, with Gdańsk as
the location of the region‘s main social and economic activities. The city of
Gdynia was built in the 1920s as a port city for free Poland and today is pri-
marily an industrial city with a focus on naval economy. On the other hand,
Sopot has functioned as the location of leisure and tourism in the Tri-City
area since the beginning of the 20th century and still retains that function
along with its residential one (Czepczyński & Sagan, 2004: 218). Gdańsk,
the biggest city in the Tri-City agglomeration, is located at the mouth of the
Vistula River (Wisła) and ―there is no doubt that the agglomeration of
Gdańsk is likely to be included together with the other bigger cities which,
with their varied economic bases, good international links and attractive
cityscapes, have adopted best to new market and globalisation conditions –
among the arguably five or seven urban centres that, together with the domi-
nant capital city of Warsaw, are going to shape the network of Polish me-
tropolises‖ (Tölle, 2008: 111). Despite these positive prospects for the city,
along with the historical legacy of the Solidarity movement and success in
overthrowing communism, Gdańsk is experiencing a growing emergence of
gated housing adjacent to depriving residential areas. The thesis asks the
following question: how can we understand these processes in light of the
historical and contemporary development in the city? Therefore, the follow-

19
ing part begins with a more general overview of the city‘s historical devel-
opment and takes the reader to the situation that exists today.
Historical overview of Gdańsk
Gdańsk is over a thousand years old and held its millennial celebration in
1997. Because of its location, the city has experienced different traditions,
lifestyles, ethnic groups and religions throughout its history (for a historic
overview, see Tölle, 2008 and Czepczyński & Sagan, 2004). The city‘s rich
history has been captured in fiction and non-fiction literature by authors such
as Günter Grass (1996, English translation), Paweł Huelle (1992, English
translation) and Stefan Chwin (2004, English translation). Its modern period
starts with the rebuilding of the city after the Second World War, when the
authorities began with the city centre in 1948 (Załęcki, 2003: 65). During the
war, Gdańsk, which had the status of a free city, was incorporated, together
with the Polish Corridor, into the German Reich. The war brought great dev-
astation to the city as ―90 percent of the inner city was reduced to rubble, as
was 60 per cent of the surrounding city territory‖ (Tölle, 2008: 109). The end
of the war, in 1945, led to the escape and compulsory exodus of the German
population from the city (now under Polish control). This resulted in a radi-
cal change in the city‘s population. Most of the inhabitants of German origin
left Gdańsk, and people from all over Poland migrated to the city; the largest
group came from the areas around Vilnius. Before the Second World War,
the city was inhabited mainly by Germans and Kaszubians, along with a
small group of Poles (3-8 per cent), which primarily represented Polish gov-
ernmental and economic institutions in the city (Czepczyński & Sagan,
2004: 219). After the war, the social composition as well as established
value hierarchies and systems were transformed into something new, just as
the city was rebuilt (with new architecture, new street names and new pa-
trons) and re-inhabited by new groups. In the mid-1990s, Polish scholars
conducted a study on the genealogy of Gdańsk‘s population and found that
the majority of the respondents‘ parents migrated to the city from other parts
of Poland (ca.72 per cent), and only 7 per cent reported that their parents
were natives of Gdańsk (Załęcki, 2003: 60). There is no doubt that both the
war damage and the influx of new settlers to the city shaped the conditions
for the development of the city in the period following the war.
Officially, communist rule in Poland lasted from the end of the Second
World War, with the proclamation of The People’s Republic of Poland in
1952, to 1989 when semi-free parliamentary elections were held, and the
Solidarity movement was legalised and allowed to participate in the elec-
tions. Communist rule put its stamp on the city‘s urban landscape. The city
centre was rebuilt to look as it did in the 18th century (neo-Renaissance and

20
pseudo-Renaissance style), since this period was considered to typify the
Polish state and to be untouched by foreign influences (Czepczyński & Sa-
gan, 2004: 235). Monuments and symbols of the nation played an important
role in the rebuilding of the city centre; however, few buildings have been
restored to their original state. Instead, the historic facades hid more modern
structures and, for the most part, served as housing (Tölle, 2008: 109-110).
Moreover, the communist rulers built up a considerable number of housing
areas outside of the city centre, which still serve as housing estates for a
large segment of the city‘s population.
Picture 1. Long Street in Gdańsk. Photograph by Miguel Vergara
Many remember Gdańsk as the place where the Solidarity movement, under
the command of Lech Walesa, was born. After several riots, this movement
emerged in September 1980 as a result of spread dissatisfaction with the
communist system among the citizens. It played ―a major role in highlight-
ing the weaknesses of the communist system‖ and led to a ―crisis of commu-
nism‖ by taking over power from the Communist Party (Holmes, 1997: 50,
also Ekiert & Kubik, 1999). Gdańsk and its centrally located shipyard, where
the protests were held, became one of the most important forces behind the
overthrow of communism.

21
Gdańsk in numbers
Today‘s Gdańsk is divided into 30 administrative units and inhabited by
460,000 people (see Figure 1). The city, which is the cultural, economic and
educational centre of the northern part of the country, has a thriving labour
market, a low unemployment rate (2.5 per cent in 2008 compared to 9.5 per
cent in the entire country), several centres of higher education (14 in 2008)
and a booming economy (Statistical Office in Gdańsk, 2008).
Figure 1. Population distribution per administrative unit
(Central Statistical Office, Census data, 2002)
Figure 1 shows the distribution of Gdańsk‘s population among the city‘s 30
administrative units. The most populated units are the area of Wrzeszcz, lo-
cated in the central part of the city, with its mainly residential but also a re-
cently established commercial function, and the area of Chełm z dzielnicą
Gdańsk Południe in the south, whose housing was built before and mainly
after the Second World War. The employment structure of the city in 2008
shows that the service sector is the largest among the working population (70
per cent), followed by the production sector (25 per cent) and agricultural
sector (1 per cent) (Gdańsk‘s Statistical Office, 2008). Census data from
2002 show that the majority of Gdańsk‘s inhabitants work in the private
sector; this seems to be the case in all 30 units of the city (Figure 2). This
data has changed even more since 2002, as in 2008 as much as 97 per cent of
the city‘s population was working in the private sector (Informator o sytuacji
społeczno-gospodarczej z 2008 r.). Unfortunately, no new Census survey has
been carried out in the country or the city, and in order to see the distribution
among the administrative units in the city, we must rely on the 2002 data.

22
Figure 2. The percentage of the population working in the private and public
sector per administrative unit (Central Statistical Office, Census data, 2002)
When examining the distribution of income sources, we can see from the
2002 Census data that the largest percentage of the population earned its
income in the private sector in Osowa, Kokoszki, Piecki Migowo and Chełm
z dzielnicą Gdańsk Południe. On the other hand, the largest percentage of the
population earned its income from the public sector in Brętowo, Matarnia,
Piecki Migowo and Suchanino. In 2008, the average monthly income from
work in the public sector was 3432, 29 PLN, while the average from work in
the private sector was 3110, 28 PLN (Central Statistical Office, 2009). At the
same time Chełm z dzielnicą Gdańsk Południe, Brętowo, Osowa and Piecki
Migowo were the units in the city with the lowest number of economically
dependent persons and persons with unearned sources of income (including
retirement, pension and others). The largest percentage of the population
supported financially by others and persons with unearned sources of income
was living in units such as Letnica, VII Dwór, Krakowiec-Górki Zachodnie
and Stogi z Przeróbką. By 2002, 22.8 per cent of Gdańsk‘s total population
was receiving retirement pay or a pension, and the highest number of pen-
sioners (ranging from 27.9 per cent to 33.9 per cent) lived in Przymorze
Małe, Przymorze Wielkie, Żabianka and Śródmieście. The lowest number of
pensioners lived in Chełm z dzielnicą Gdańsk Południe, Matarnia, Kokoszki
and Osowa (between 10.7 and 12.9 per cent) (for more details, see Appen-
dix).

23
Figure 3. Economically dependent persons and pensioners per administrative
unit (Central Statistical Office, Census data, 2002)
Furthermore, in 2008, 17.2 per cent of the inhabitants of Gdańsk were stu-
dents at the city‘s universities and university colleges. During the same year,
3.8 per cent of the city‘s population graduated from local centres of higher
education. Out of these 14 centres in Gdańsk, eight were private and six
were state-run (Informator o sytuacji społeczno-gospodarczej z 2008 r). Ac-
cording to the 2002 Census data, illustrated in Figure 4, 17.5 per cent of the
population in the city had a higher education, and the largest proportion of
highly educated inhabitants lived in the areas of Osowa, Wzgórze
Mickiewicza, VII Dwór and Strzyża (28-34 per cent). Wyspa Sobieszewska,
Letnica, Krakowiec-Górki Zachodnie and Orunia-Św.Wojciech-Lipce, two
areas in Gdańsk, were home to the highest number of inhabitants who had
not completed primary school (2.2-3.1 per cent). When examining the pro-
portion of the population with a primary education, Letnica is again at the
top of the list with 33 per cent, followed by the unit of Krakowiec-Górki
Zachodnie, Olszynka and Wyspa Sobieszewska (see Appendix for more de-
tailed information).
In 2002, of all the types of families represented in the city, 74 per cent were
married couples, and the highest concentration of married couples was in the
area of Osowa, Wzgórze Mickiewicza, Kokoszki and Chełm z dzielnicą
Gdańsk Południe (80.9-85.4 per cent). Letnica, on the other hand, had the
highest rate of single mothers with children (32.6 per cent) followed by
Młyniska, Stogi z Przeróbką and Orunia-Św.Wojciech-Lipce (24.1-24.4 per
cent) (see Appendix).

24
Figure 4. Level of education per administrative unit
(Central Statistical Office, Census data, 2002)
Consequently, the Census data show that the distribution of income sources
coming from either the private or the public sector is distributed fairly
evenly throughout the city‘s administrative units. However, at the same time,
the areas in the city with the highest number of individuals earning their
incomes from these sectors were also home to a below-average number of
pensioners. The Letnica unit distinguished itself from the other parts of
Gdańsk as the area with both the highest number of individuals supported by
others and living on un-earned sources and the highest number of single
mothers and a large number of inhabitants without a primary education.
Moreover, the more rural areas of Gdańsk (Krakowiec-Górki Zachodnie,
Olszynka and Wyspa Sobieszewska) were inhabited by a large number of
people with only a primary education. Apart from these patterns in the mate-
rial provided by the 2002 Census data, other spatial patterns in the city were
difficult to identify at the level of the administrative units.
Territorial development
What is also of interest for an understanding of the spatial structure of
Gdańsk, apart from historical factors, such as the altered composition of the
population after the war and the city‘s development into a social and eco-
nomic centre in the region, is its territorial development. Gdańsk covers an
area of 262 km²; its development in space and time has prevented it from

25
having a ―natural‖ city centre instead of its current linear spatial structure
(Czepczyński & Sagan, 2004: 218). Factors such as the city‘s location on the
coast and the prevalent maritime infrastructure, together with the surround-
ing natural landscape and the location of the historic centre along the Mot-
ława River ―prevented any symmetrical or concentric development of the
city, at least until the 1960s, when existing voids (mostly still open fields)
between the Gdańsk inner city and districts like Wrzeszcz and Oliwa were
filled with prefabricated housing estates‖ (Tölle, 2008: 111). Because the
existing city centre (Main City) consists largely of housing and lacks retail
and leisure functions, the residents do not perceive it as a city core (Załecki,
2003).
Picture 2. Main city, photograph by Dominika V. Polanska
Under communist rule, Gdańsk was a rapidly growing city due to high birth
rates and considerable urbanisation brought about by dynamic industrialisa-
tion policies. Today, the city is a ―shrinking city‖ with an aging population.
The main reason for the population decrease is suburbanisation, that is, the

26
migration of residents to the suburbs. The suburbanisation process stems
from the restoration of land rent in Polish cities, which resulted in the ―belief
in the lower expenses linked with residence and business in the suburban
zone‖ (Lisowski, 2007: 26). In addition to lower land prices in the suburbs,
other weighty factors include the common ideal of a desirable domicile as a
house with a garden, better regulated issues concerning ownership and more
attractive investment conditions put forward by the local authorities
(Lisowski, 2007: 26, 30). At the same time, this process is followed by an
increased dependence on automobiles, as many of the housing developments
in the suburbs to which people are moving do not offer decent public trans-
portation to the rest of the region.
Furthermore, the development of commercial areas in the city is widespread,
and shopping malls have flourished everywhere. Nor is the inner city a natu-
ral choice for the development of these commercial investments. The situa-
tion could be described as follows: ―Of the 17 hypermarkets and large-scale
shopping centres in the city territory in 2006, six are located on the Tri-City
Bypass and nine in other locations outside the inner-city area‖ (Tölle, 2008:
112). The biggest shopping centre in the Pomerania province, the Baltic
Gallery (Galeria Bałtycka), is actually located in the area of Wrzeszcz.
Moreover, Gdańsk will be one of the host cities for the UEFA European
championship in 2012. The arena for this event will be located in the admin-
istrative unit of Letnica; current plans call for it to be finished in the first
quarter of 2011 at a cost of 645 million PLN (www.en.euro.gdansk.gda.pl).
At the time of writing (2011), the city‘s largest urban development project is
known as the ―Young City‖ (Młode Miasto); its aim is to regenerate the
city‘s post-shipyard area. The development site – 900,000 square meters,
including the famous shipyard in Gdańsk, Stocznia Gdańska – is intended to
include businesses, retail establishments, and residential and lei-
sure/entertainment functions on the waterfront (Lorens, 2001; Tölle, 2004).
The plans focus on the site‘s proximity to the central parts of the city as well
as on the history of the Solidarity movement (www.europe-re.com). Never-
theless, work on this project has not been without its problems, as ―after
nearly a decade of preparations and efforts to get the ‗Young City‘ project
going, it again remains to be seen whether the recent takeover of the project
by a Danish investment group will now actually start the implementation
process‖ (Tölle, 2008: 117).
In 2007, one third of the city‘s budget was expected to be covered by a range
of EU funds (Tölle, 2008). In light of the country‘s accession to the Euro-
pean Union, the city authorities produced a Local Revitalisation Programme
(LRP) in 2004, in which target areas for revitalisation are defined according
to criteria such as their state of degradation. The programme lists the weak-

27
nesses of and threats to urban development in the city; among them are ma-
terial/physical limitations, such as a weak technical infrastructure, a weak
tourist infrastructure, increasing degradation of the cultural heritage stock,
the bad technical condition of municipal buildings, non-utilised post-
industrial areas, the poor material condition of the educational stock, few
public spaces, and individual (coal) heating. The LRP points out the lack of
cooperation in the plan for developing the agglomeration and the region,
which in reality has been shown to lead to outright competition among
Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot (see also Baranowski, 2001; Kubiak &
Pietruszewski, 2005, Tölle, 2007).
Inequalities under state socialism
Opinions differ with regard to whether the cities in the socialist societies of
Eastern Europe were segregated or not. The anticipated differences between
socialist and non-socialist or Western cities were based not only on the as-
sumption that socialist cities were not the same cities they were before 1939
but also on the characteristics of the socialist system, ―with nationalization
of most means of control, nationalization or at least strict state control of
urban land, abolition of the ‗commodity‘ status of urban housing and other
means of collective consumption‖ (Szelenyi, 1983: 1). However, many re-
searchers might agree that a specific state socialist residential pattern was
emerging in the socialist cities (French & Hamilton, 1979; Szelenyi, 1983;
Dangschat, 1987; Ladanyi, 1989, Enyedi, 1996). Most of these researchers
would also agree with the statement that socialist cities had the potential for
a fundamentally lower level of residential differentiation due to the equalis-
ing housing ideologies of socialism, but that the practice did not always live
up to this expectation, and it differed from one city to another. Pickvance
highlights the role of enterprises and administrations together with the role
of residential mobility among city inhabitants in combination with the strong
tenant rights in the process of increased residential differentiation (on the
block or neighbourhood level) in socialist cities (Pickvance, 2002: 194).
Studies of capital cities such as Budapest, Prague, Warsaw and Moscow
show that the patterns of residential differentiation depend on several points,
which Pickvance (2002) sums up as follows:
―How party-states dealt with the existing housing stock when they as-
sumed power and, in particular, whether a private housing sector
was allowed to continue, and if so, under what conditions.
How extensive were war damage and the need for reconstruction.

28
What volume and types of new housing were built, where, and of what
quality. For example, some inner-city private redevelopment could
lead to reduced social segregation.
What the respective roles of workplaces (such as state enterprises and
administrations) and local governments were in building and alloca-
tion.
What demolition occurred and where.
What encouragement was given to new building by the private sector.
How far households could move through informal processes, thus
changing initial patterns of housing distribution‖ (Pickvance, 2002:
192).
In the case of Polish cities, researchers have demonstrated that the equalisa-
tion ideologies in housing did not correspond to the situation in practice.
Housing shortages and the country‘s system of investment and housing con-
struction led to remarkable differences in living conditions among various
groups, cities and regions in the country (Misztal & Misztal, 1984; Dutt et
al. 1993). In the 1980s, the capital city demonstrated residential differentia-
tion patterns similar to those found in the West, where occupational groups‘
housing was segregated (Dangshat, 1987). Furthermore, Zaniewski (1991)
points out shortcomings in the Polish housing policy under communism that
directly and indirectly affected residential differentiation within cities and
between urban and rural parts of the country by mentioning the high level of
centralisation of decision-making in housing construction, inadequate sup-
port for private housing construction, insufficient correlation between hous-
ing construction and social infrastructure development projects, neglect of
housing in the rural sector and the lack of modernisation programmes for the
existing housing stock, polarisation of financial responsibilities among vari-
ous groups of public housing residents, and the allocation of economic re-
sources for some housing projects, among others.
In the period following the Second World War, the Polish government fo-
cused on the rebuilding of the housing stock, as 70 per cent of the housing
stock was either damaged or destroyed during the war (Osikowski, 1968). In
the 1950s, intense industrialisation led to dramatically deteriorated living
conditions as a result of a lack of investments in the social and technical
infrastructure of Polish cities (Misztal & Misztal, 1984). The emphasis on
the expanding industrial production until 1956 is pointed out as having lim-
ited the expansion of housing (Ball & Harloe, 1974). Even if the end of the
1950s brought with it some initiatives to improve living conditions, the
country‘s supply of dwellings fell short in relation to the country‘s needs and
led to a severe shortage of dwellings, especially quality dwellings. This
situation resulted in overcrowding in many Polish cities. Between 1960 and
1972, less than 19.8 per cent of total national investment was reserved for

29
housing despite the great demand for housing during this period (Ball &
Harloe, 1974: 37). In the 1970s, some important changes in the housing pol-
icy occurred, and social effects and objectives were highlighted in the plan-
ning policy formulated in the long-term plan (1970-90) that also included a
housing scheme for the country (Ball & Harloe, 1974: 18); however, the
economic crisis of the 1980s hindered these developments. The crisis pushed
back the governments‘ promises ―to provide an independent dwelling for
every Polish family by the mid-1980s‖ and further deepened the housing
crisis, which was characterised by, among other things, housing shortages,
long waiting lists, and high occupant density (Zaniewski, 1991: 44).
Furthermore, despite the fact that the most common form of housing was the
rental unit, Poland was unique among the communist countries because of its
various forms of home ownership (Herbst & Muziol-Weclawowicz, 1993).
Under communism, housing construction in the country relied on communal
authorities, state-owned enterprises, housing cooperatives and, to a lesser
extent, the private sector (see Table 1). Before 1957, state housing was the
main form of housing in Poland and consisted of housing nationalised in
1945 and dwellings built after the war. In the mid-1950s, cooperative hous-
ing construction replaced the former state housing as a result of changed
policies, and from then on state housing was reserved for poor families and
special workers whose skills were in demand in urban areas. Both state and
cooperative housing had long waiting lists with similar allocation procedures
whereby the ―selection of households for vacant housing is undertaken by
committees from the relevant organisations and their principal criteria are
time spent waiting and need,‖ with particular categories of workers given
priority (Ball & Harloe, 1974: 30). However, the governments‘ credibility
with regard to the allocation procedures was continuously questioned when
―significant numbers of dwellings [were given] to people not on the general
waiting list‖ (Zaniewski, 1991: 45).
Dwellings completed by type of construction, 1980-1989
(in thousands)
1980
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
Private sector
55.7
56.7
57.4
60.4
64.1
55
Socialised sector
161.4
132.9
127.6
131
125.5
95.2
Co-operatives
121
89.7
88.8
88.3
85.9
67.7
Local authorities
0
5.5
5.9
6.1
6.4
4.8
Enterprises
40.4
37.7
32.9
33.2
33.2
22.7
Table 1. Dwellings completed by type of construction 1980-1989,
(Source: Central Statistical Office, 2007)

30
In the early years after the Second World War, Gdańsk was inhabited by
migrants who came primarily from the eastern parts of the country as a result
of territorial shifts after the war. Despite the fact that the housing conditions
(piped water, gas and electricity) in the northern and western parts of the
country were initially much better than those in the eastern parts (Zaniewski,
1991), Gdańsk suffered massive destruction during the war (Tölle, 2008).
However, during the socialist era, housing quality remained relatively high
in the city (compared to the eastern parts of the country), because much of
the state-financed housing construction concentrated on large urban centres;
among these was the area that included Gdańsk. Polish governmental poli-
cies favoured ―profitable economic investments‖, and cities with industrial
potential, like Gdańsk, were allocated most of the new dwellings (Zaniewski,
1991). Nevertheless, the city was not spared the problems that prevailed in
other Polish cities under communism. Housing shortages, overcrowding, the
bad quality of pre-war housing, together with national policies and especially
the preferential treatment of some key workers in housing allocation proce-
dures all contributed to the development of residential differentiation pat-
terns in Gdańsk and other Polish cities under communism.

31
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
This part of the thesis describes the theoretical framework, beginning with
the urban studies of the Chicago school and continuing with the main theo-
retical framework of the study drawn from the geographer David Harvey.
This is followed by a discussion of the examination of residential differentia-
tion in a post-communist context and the creation of an analytical model to
be applied in the thesis. The last section discusses the definition of gated
communities and their typology in the Polish context.
The Chicago school
Scholars at the University of Chicago were the first to make a serious at-
tempt, using ethnographic methods, to systematically examine urban space.
It is at the University of Chicago that sociology was established as an aca-
demic discipline at the beginning of the 20th century, and it was there that
pioneering works on urban sociology took shape. Theories and ideas intro-
duced at the university on ghettos, disorganisation, ecology, gangs, hybrids,
immigration, lifestyles, segregation, melting pots, neighbourhood spirit and
urbanity are still influencing urban sociologists today (Andersson, 2003:
179; Harvey, 1973/2008; Lin & Mele, 2006; Van Kempen & Özukren,
1998).
Researchers at the University of Chicago interpreted cities as ecological
systems and focused on socio-spatial processes within them, such as cen-
tralisation, concentration, invasion, suc-
cession and segregation. According to
one of the urban researchers, Ernest
Burgess, a city consists of circular zones
surrounding its centre, ―which may be
numbered to designate both the succes-
sive zones of urban extension and the
types of areas differentiated in the proc-
ess of expansion‖ (Park & Burgess,
1967: 50). The city‘s inhabitants were all competing for the best possible
space in the city; specific groups invaded areas within the city and took over
their spaces. When a specific group concentrated within an area, it became

32
segregated. The bases of concentration within an area were economic re-
sources, status and lifestyle. People who were economically and socially
similar to one another concentrated in certain areas of the city. Burgess be-
lieved that the succession of an area was completed when a new group of
inhabitants succeeded in pushing out all the former inhabitants of that area.
According to scholars such as Burgess, Park and McKenzie, segregation was
a natural part of the processes taking place within a city, and they identified
its sources within the competition among individuals, groups or institutions
(Park & Burgess, 1967).
Louis Wirth, another urban sociologist at the University of Chicago, contin-
ued to study segregation within cities; however, he represented a slightly
different approach compared to that of his forerunners, Burgess and Park
(Wirth, 1964). He also shared the idea of the city as a melting pot, where
different styles and forms of being constituted heterogeneous, but comple-
mentary parts of a whole, that is, the city. Wirth believed that differentiation
and specialisation within a city were necessary for its survival. What made
his approach different was his argument that three fundamental categories
characterise urban spaces: the number of people living in urban areas and the
density and heterogeneity of the population (Wirth, 1964: 69-77). These, he
argued, indicated a city‘s conditions, possibilities and limitations. According
to Wirth, in the study of urban spaces, the three categories should be com-
bined with the ecology of the urban space (physical structure and ecological
processes within a city), its social structure (organisations, institutions or
typical patterns of social relations) and its set of ideas and attitudes (person-
alities, exercise of social control and collective action) to form a useful and
fruitful approach. In his work Urbanism as a Way of Life (1964), Wirth
concludes that the higher the population density, the higher the level of ac-
tivity and functions and the more complex the social structure within a city
become. Another important conclusion in his work is that the higher the
density within an urban space, the greater the contrasts between different
poles, for instance, poverty and prosperity. Wirth also argues that a high
concentration of people in cities results in greater social distances and more
aggressive struggles for the better and more valuable parts of the urban
space, and that the density and differentiation of areas and activities within
cities are the causes of growing spatial segregation.
Theories and ideas established by the urban sociologists at the University of
Chicago are, as I mentioned before, still influencing the manner in which
urban processes and phenomena are interpreted today. These theories grew
up in a milieu of dynamical changes in the urban landscape of Chicago and
paved the way for many future urban researchers. Even if classical scholars
such as Durkheim, Weber or Simmel gave birth to many of these ideas and
concepts years before, the researchers at the University of Chicago suc-

33
ceeded in putting their specific stamp on many of them (Andersson, 2003:
244). Chicago researchers were first and foremost successful in observing
some crucial processes in the cities and emphasised the importance of space
in human lives. They also observed that the processes had unequal outcomes
for different groups and that most of the struggle about space resulted in one
group succeeding at the expense of another group or several groups. More-
over, they introduced the concepts of ―succession‖ and ―ecology‖ to sociol-
ogy, and even if those concepts have been heavily criticised by many soci-
ologists, they made a profound impression on the field of urban sociology
(Van Kempen & Özukren, 1998; Lin & Mele, 2006).
One of the criticisms lodged against the Chicago school‘s views of concen-
tric zones and theories of succession, beside their obvious simplification of
social reality, dealt with the concentration of the Afro-American population
within the United States, which never really went through the gradual spatial
integration these researchers described as a common process in cities. In-
stead, the black population ―has remained in genuine ghettos and this con-
centration has increased over time towards an extreme black majority in
some neighbourhoods, which has been called ―hyper-segregation‖ (Skifter
Andersen, 2003: 15). Because of the increasing segregation of blacks in the
American society, the research on segregation dealt with and is still dealing
primarily with racial segregation.
The theory of Chicago sociologists with regard to the city and its influence
on human behaviour served as inspiration for this thesis. In accordance with
the Chicago scholars, the city is considered a microcosm where some impor-
tant processes in the contemporary society are observed. While the city is a
laboratory where scientists explore social interaction, it also plays a role
when it comes to space in human relations, as all human relations are spatial-
ised. However, the theoretical understanding of the processes taking place in
the urban spaces will be provided by another approach that, like the Chicago
school, emphasises the role of space in social science.
David Harvey and the capitalist order
In contrast to the theories on social ecology introduced by the Chicago
school, the structuralist approach to residential differentiation highlights the
fundamental structure of the capitalist society as its point of departure. Both
Manuel Castells (1977, 1983) and David Harvey (1973/2008, 1982, 1985a)
tend to be mentioned as the foremost advocates of this approach. Castells has
been very productive since the 1970s and is primarily known for coining the
expression ―collective consumption‖ within urban sociology, for his works
on the new technology and the new economic order, and for the term ―net-

34
work society‖ (1996, 1997, 1998). While Castells‘ view on cities and urban
processes is mainly functional, that is, he sees urban space as increasingly
differentiated, but at the same time functionally interrelated/interdependent,
Harvey has a somewhat different approach, namely, he views urban space as
a product of capitalist social relations, one that reproduces inequalities. Ac-
cording to Castells, the phenomenon of residential differentiation should be
studied from two perspectives: as a state and as a process (1977). Harvey‘s
position is that geographical divisions in a society based on its social divi-
sions are reflections of the conflicts incorporated in the capitalist order. He
argues:
Divisions such as those between cities and suburbs, between regions as
well as between nations cannot be understood as residuals from some
ancient order. They are not automatically swept away. They are actively
produced through the differentiating power of capital accumulation and
market structures (Harvey, 2001: 384).
Harvey is known primarily for having incorporated space into the framework
of historical materialism (Gregory, 2006: 8, Callinicos, 2006: 49). Tribute is
paid to him because his outstanding works affirm ―the power of geographical
knowledge‖. Harvey ―insists that geography matters, that it makes a differ-
ence to critical analysis, and because he believes that concepts of space,
place and landscape unsettle and dislocate mainstream social theory to such
a degree that they open up altogether different perspectives on the world‖
(Gregory, 2006: 2). Harvey represents the relational conception of the his-
torical materialist approach, where the social phenomena we study are only
comprehensible through ―the processes and relations they internalize‖ (Har-
vey, 1996: 52). In Harvey‘s view, societal conflicts manifest themselves in
inequalities and class conflicts and are reproduced together with other social
relations by the capitalist system (Harvey, 1985b). Furthermore, Harvey
argues that the location of different groups in the urban space affects their
values, possibilities and expectations and reproduces social relations preva-
lent in the city.
Harvey constructs a framework of spatial practices inspired by Lefebvre
(1974/1991) wherein he tries to capture the complexity of spatial and tempo-
ral conceptions and practices. In The Condition of Postmodernity, in accor-
dance with Lefebvre, he distinguishes three dimensions: material spatial
practices (experience), representations of space (perception) and spaces of
representation (imagination) (1990: 218). He adds four other aspects to these
three dimensions of spatial practices: accessibility and distanciation, appro-
priation and use of space, domination and control of space and production
of space. Further, he explains in more detail the interconnections between
the three dimensions of spatial practices and the four aspects of spatial prac-
tice. The material dimension is very interesting, in particular, its aspect of

35
domination and control of space, which Harvey explains as encompassing
―private property in land; state and administrative divisions of space; exclu-
sive communities and neighbourhoods; exclusionary zoning and other forms
of social control‖ (1990: 220). The material dimension also includes the
aspect of production of space, which covers the production of physical infra-
structures (transport, communications, built environments and others) and
territorial organisation of social (formal and informal) infrastructures. The
dimension of representations of space is also interesting, as it captures the
different aspects of social, psychological and physical representation of
spaces and encompasses ―all of the signs and significations, codes and
knowledge, that allow such material practices to be talked about and under-
stood‖ (1990:218). The aspect of the control of space within the dimension
of representations of space is worth noting because it points out how space is
produced by the representations of forbidden spaces and hierarchies within
the city. The third dimension - spaces of representation - deals with imagined
spaces and is often based on binary oppositions of distance/desire and attrac-
tion/repulsion, for example. This dimension encompasses the way that peo-
ple imagine space, how they control spaces with imagined symbolic barriers,
for example, and how they produce desired spaces.
The production and reproduction of residential differentiation is an example
of a material spatial practice, which Harvey explores in greater detail in The
Urbanization of Capital (1985a) by arguing that the geographic separation of
social arenas and neighbourhoods leads to the residential differentiation of
social classes. Here, the focus is on the residential area; it is the place where
specific social identities are created and where children are socialised into a
particular social function. Harvey declares that residential areas ―provide
distinctive milieus for social interaction from which individuals to a consid-
erable degree derive their values, expectations, consumption habits, market
capacities, and states of consciousness‖ (1985a: 118). Together, these values,
expectations, and consumer habits, along with education and knowledge,
form the basis for the individual‘s position/capacity on the housing market
(compare to Bourdieu‘s Cultural Capital, 1984).
Harvey states that the spatial structure of a city is, to a high degree, depend-
ent on the preferences of the wealthier groups, the prevailing rent in the city,
and transport costs and possibilities. In Social Justice and the City
(1973/2008), he argues that ―the rich group can always enforce its prefer-
ences over a poor group because it has more resources to apply either to
transport costs or to obtaining land whatever location it chooses‖
(1973/2008: 135). Harvey refers to Marx, Engels, Park and Burgess (the
latter two representing the Chicago school) when arguing that the spatial
structure of the city should be analysed from both economic and cultural
viewpoints. He believes that the unequal residential conditions within a city
should be analysed with a focus on social and economic considerations

36
(1973/2008: 136). He argues that many of the institutions and mechanisms in
a capitalist society are created to ensure that inequalities remain (compare to
Charles Tilly‘s discussion on Durable Inequality, 1999). The internal con-
tradictions of the capitalist system caused by over-accumulation often re-
quire restructuring in order to manage the inherent crises. Harvey uses the
term spatial fix to describe the solution to the crisis through continual rein-
vestment of surplus value. Here, the spatial fix signifies a fix of capital and
social expenditures (e.g., education, healthcare) in space, making them im-
mobile for some period of time. He writes:
Resort to the spatial fix partially masks the irrationality of capitalism,
however, because it allows us to attribute devaluation through physical
destruction, through global war, to purely political findings (2001: 311).
According to Harvey, the foundation of a market economy is the allocation
of scarce resources, which in turn makes it possible for exchange markets to
arise where use value is transformed into exchange value (1973/2008). Resi-
dential differentiation lies in the degree of accessibility and command of the
resources crucial for various groups‘ market capacity on the labour and
housing markets. Simultaneously, Harvey points out that not only is residen-
tial differentiation a product of the capitalist society but that it also inherits a
process of reproduction of the social relations within the capitalist order.
He believes that uneven geographical development can be fully understood
by looking at the contradictions intrinsic in the capitalist order. However, to
understand the production of geographical differences, one must consider the
geographical scales at which the production takes place (2000b). Scales can
be global, continental, national, regional, local, household or personal and
are defined as contemporary organisational forms. Harvey contends that
scales are never fixed, change continually and are the products of ―changing
technologies, modes of human organization and political struggle‖ (2000b:
75). When studying a specific scale, one runs the risk of fixating on only one
scale, thereby missing out on important information. Therefore, one must
always take into consideration the relationships that characterise the hierar-
chy of scales. Harvey argues that we ―need to think, therefore, about differ-
entiations, interactions and relations across and within scales‖ (2000b: 79) in
order to avoid such errors in thinking.
Harvey further develops his thoughts on capitalism‘s effects on a society by
studying urban governance and city making. In the now classic article from
1989, ―From Managerialism to Entrepreneurialism: the Transformation in
Urban Governance in Late Capitalism,‖ he focuses primarily on the shift in
urban governance that he calls ―entrepreneurial governance‖, where local
development and employment growth within an urban area are the highest
priorities. He argues that urban governance in the advanced capitalist socie-

37
ties before the shift at the end of 1960s was characterised by the importance
of the local provision of services, facilities and benefits to the populations
living in cities in contrast to the practices popular in the 1970s and 1980s,
which emphasised innovation and ―entrepreneurial‖ forms of action. He
continues:
In recent years in particular, there seems to be a general consensus
emerging throughout the advanced capitalist world that positive benefits
are to be had by cities taking an entrepreneurial stance to economic de-
velopment. What is remarkable is that this consensus seems to hold
across national boundaries and even across political parties and ideolo-
gies (1989: 4).
Moreover, Harvey exemplifies the shift by looking at the British and North
American cases and argues that the local authorities‘ role has changed radi-
cally since the beginning of the 1970s, when their focus moved to economic
development activity with the support of the central government. Such eco-
nomic development activity could involve, among other things, the promo-
tion of local areas for new business and investment, support for small firms,
grants, free loans, publicly subsidised infrastructure, the maximisation of
attractiveness of local sites, and the encouragement of public-private part-
nerships, all in the name of full employment and local economic develop-
ment. He identifies the underlying causes of this trend in urban governance
to the ―[D]eindustrialisation, widespread and seemingly ‗structural‘ unem-
ployment, fiscal austerity at both the national and local levels, all coupled
with a rising tide of neoconservatism and much stronger appeal (though of-
ten more in theory than in practice) to market rationality and privatisation‖
(1989: 5). In Harvey‘s opinion, all of this is marked by the inter-urban com-
petition for jobs, resources and capital, which in turn lead to three results that
give a city its qualities and structures: the built form and the spatial configu-
ration; the institutional arrangements, legal forms and political and adminis-
trative systems; and the perceptions of urban residents. Therefore, the mana-
gerial turn in urban governance, Harvey continues, results in a speculative
construction of urban space that does not take into account rational planning
and coordination in urban development.
Harvey‘s theory and the Polish case
Above all, Harvey‘s focus on space as an important factor affecting society
and socio-economic processes, and vice versa, is to be elucidated and high-
lighted in this thesis. Harvey‘s point of departure in the fundamental struc-
ture of the capitalist society and its production and reproduction of space and
social relations within it makes for a pertinent analysis of the changes taking

38
place in post-communist cities. This thesis derives its standpoint from Har-
vey‘s argument on the divisions in space and their active production through
the differentiating power of capital accumulation and market structures
(Harvey, 1985a; 1989 2001), and this production of divisions in space and
the mechanisms behind it are here perceived as general processes that have
been taking place in Polish society since 1989. The consequence of such
divisions is the unequal distribution of different groups in space- richer
groups occupying some parts whereas poorer groups are concentrated in
other parts, and this distribution‘s effects on these groups‘ values, possibili-
ties and expectations. Harvey also singles out the wealthier groups and their
preferences as the driving forces behind the spatial structure of the city
(1973/2008); this phenomenon can be easily observed in Polish society and
in particular in Gdańsk in the form of a never-ending interest in gated resi-
dential developments. Harvey‘s reasoning on residential conditions within a
city and the need for a social and economic focus in analysing these is very
apposite in a study of post-communist urban spaces and in this case the resi-
dential situation in Gdańsk.
Furthermore, the material dimension of spatial practices, as it is described by
Harvey in The Condition of Postmodernity (1989) and especially its inter-
connectedness with the domination and control of space has been at the fore-
front of this study when examining the location, forms, and other aspects of
space control in Gdańsk‘s gated communities (Study 2). Moreover, Harvey‘s
second dimension in the ―grid‖ of spatial practices, the representations of
space, has been examined in the discourse on gated communities in the
country (Study 3) as well as in the discourse on one specific historical part of
Gdańsk (Dolne Miasto) and its relation to the rest of the city (Study 1). The
interviews conducted within the scope of the thesis all touch more or less on
the imagined spaces-dimension distinguished by Harvey, as they asked the
respondents who live in different parts of the city (gated communities and
Dolne Miasto) about their place of residence. The imagined spaces are also
represented in the analysis of the discourse on gated communities (Study 3)
as well as in the study on the perception of Dolne Miasto (Study 1).
Harvey‘s description of the shift in urban governance in capitalist societies is
highly relevant for the study of post-communist urban development (1989).
The transformation in urban governance that Harvey identifies in 1970s and
1980s Great Britain and the United States has, since the fall of communism,
characterised cities in Central and Eastern Europe. The focus is on the attrac-
tiveness of space, the strategies are directed towards economic development,
and the responsible actors for this activity are the local governments. Post-
communist cities are now a part of a global order, and many of them are also
competing with other European cities (especially those within the European
Union) for resources at the same time that they are struggling with deindus-
trialisation, increasing unemployment and strapped national and municipal

39
budgets (van Kempen et al. 2005). The changes taking place in the urban
landscapes of these cities are not always rationally planned but are, as Har-
vey describes them, of a more speculative nature in both execution and de-
sign (1989:7); this has been demonstrated in the four studies included in this
thesis. Furthermore, the inter-urban competition for jobs, resources and capi-
tal among post-communist cities and in particular in Gdańsk has, in accor-
dance with Harvey‘s argument, led to physical, institutional/legal/political
and perceptive consequences. The four studies have, among other things,
demonstrated that physical divisions among different social groups are
sharp, that the legal structure in Poland is still ineffective in ironing out these
divisions and that its loopholes are used by municipalities to strengthen the
position of the city as well as the competition‘s role for the city inhabitant‘s
perceptions of ―good living‖. Moreover, Harvey‘s argument, namely that
inter-urban competition forces repetitive and serial reproduction of specific
patterns of development, such as waterfront developments, gated communi-
ties or shopping malls, has already come true in the Polish urban landscape.
Harvey‘s arguments are often criticised for their lack of references to cities
other than those located in Europe and North America and in particular for
the absence of an analysis of post-communist cities, which Harvey himself
has already acknowledged (Harvey, 2000a). This thesis intends to fill in this
gap and provide explanations for residential differentiation by taking into
account the post-communist experience and other explanatory factors in
addition to the economic one provided by Harvey in his works. The conclud-
ing section of the thesis supplements the economic dimension represented in
Harvey‘s theories with explanations on cultural, institutional, historical and
individual levels.
Residential differentiation in a post-communist context
In the last 20 years, numerous studies of residential differentiation have been
conducted in North American and Western European countries. To a great
extent, the literature on residential differentiation and urban development has
been dominated by Western examples. North American and Western Euro-
pean urban researchers have been transmitting the ideas of urban sociologists
and anthropologists at the University of Chicago for a long time. The con-
cept of segregation has been used widely in studies of different historical,
cultural and geographical contexts and has turned out to be, or rather devel-
oped into, a very ambiguous concept, one that is used in different ways to
emphasise different aspects, for instance, social distance, social fragmenta-
tion and uneven social distribution, to name just a few. While American
researchers generally focus on the racial aspect of segregation, European
researchers began by studying segregation as a result of socioeconomic and

40
demographic differences and, inspired by the theories of Pierre Bourdieu,
continued by looking at other kinds of social differentiation, such as life-
styles and cultural values (Skifter Andersen, 2003: 15).
In any case, the most common interpretation of residential differentiation or
segregation emphasises the socio-spatial exclusion among social groups
(Schnell & Yoav, 2001: 622). Segregation in this sense describes spatial
differences among groups of individuals that often coincide with their social
and demographic characteristics (Olsson Hort, 1992). On the other hand,
social and demographic division among groups does not necessarily lead to
segregation. In this sense, segregation is understood as the significant conse-
quences of separation in space because of economic, social, demographic,
cultural, ethnic or other characteristics. In this study, the concept of residen-
tial differentiation will instead be used to describe a voluntary and involun-
tary concentration of groups in space based on similar socioeconomic condi-
tions, lifestyles and status. The voluntary type of residential differentiation is
described in the cases of gated communities and their residents‘ choice to
move to a gated form of housing (Studies 2 and 3). The involuntary type is
illustrated in the case of a deprived area in central Gdańsk (Study 1).
The study of urban processes in a post-communist context requires a defini-
tion of the specific condition to which this term refers. There is an on-going
debate on how to label the social changes taking place in post-communist
countries. According to Sztompka, the concept of transition presupposes that
one condition is replaced by another and ―that by imitating Western institu-
tions the post-communist societies will quickly reshape themselves in the
likeness of leading societies of the West (US; Western Europe, Japan and so
forth)‖ (Sztompka, 2006: 456). Further, the term involves the assumptions
that the destination of transition is distinctly different from the point of de-
parture, that it encompasses a temporal period of time and that ―once the
destination is reached, the pace of change slows down to a ―normal‖ level
(Pickvance, 2002: 193). An alternative label, according to Sztompka (2006),
is transformation, which is considered to be a more open-ended thought with
regard to social change. The concept of transformation gives way to a more
complex interpretation, with similarities and dissimilarities among post-
communist societies and the West. Other scholars, who are guided by the
idea of modernisation, single out phases in history directed towards a spe-
cific goal and point out parallels between the type of political system in a
given society and socioeconomic development (Holmes, 1997: 38). In the
case of post-communist societies, these are looked upon by modernisation
theorists as incomplete in their development into modern societies. Never-
theless, the concept of transformation is used in this thesis when talking
about the changes that have taken place in Poland since 1989 because of its
open-ended disposition and attention to the complexity of the process.

41
Subsequently, one could ask if it is possible and accurate to use the term
―residential differentiation‖ in a post-communist context while keeping in
mind the differences between the context in which the term was coined and
developed and the rather ―new‖ context of a post-communist society. The
answer is ―yes‖. Residential differentiation as a process is caused by some
general mechanisms that exist in all kinds of societies, irrespective of the
specific context. While it is a state in space and time, it does not describe
change in a linear or evolutionary way (like the above-mentioned ideas of
modernisation or transition). It simply refers to the interaction between so-
cial and physical processes of change and is ―a continuous two-way process
in which people create and modify urban spaces while at the same time be-
ing conditioned in various ways by these changes‖ (Skifter Andersen, 2003:
3). Although it can be both voluntary and involuntary, it is most often de-
scribed in its involuntary expression, focusing on its negative consequences.
In this thesis, residential differentiation is considered to be a result of social
and spatial differences.
Musterd and Ostendorf explain the relationship between segrega-
tion/residential differentiation and social polarisation as a process initiated
by economic restructuring and globalisation in advanced industrial countries,
which has led to increased social polarisation ―that is, a growth in both the
bottom end and the top end of the socio-economic distribution, for example
an increase in the proportion of households with low skills or low income
(many of whom are immigrants) and at the same time an increase in the pro-
portion of people who are highly skilled or the number of households with
high incomes‖ (Musterd & Ostendorf, 1998: 2). Musterd and Ostendorf
point out that growing divisions among different social groups can be found
in their spatial patterns and in the growing processes of socio-economic dif-
ferentiation in European cities. The relationship between social polarisation
and residential differentiation that has been used as an analytical model in
the thesis, inspired by Musterd and Ostendorf, can be demonstrated as fol-
lows:
Economic change, globalisation social polarisation residential
differentiation
This outline states that increasing social polarisation within a society leads to
spatial processes such as residential differentiation. Residential differentia-
tion might, in turn, reinforce social polarization in a given society. Residen-
tial differentiation is one of the most obvious physical manifestations of
social polarisation and should be studied over time and in relation to the
economic, political and social dimensions of the specific society. Therefore,
the cases presented in the thesis are illustrations of the residential differentia-
tion processes going on in Gdańsk and are examined at different lev-

42
els/scales in relation to the economic, social and political situation (in par-
ticular, in the city and in the country). Gated communities represent the con-
crete physical manifestation of voluntary residential differentiation caused
by changes that have taken place in the urban landscapes since 1989. On the
other hand, the case of the decaying area of Dolne Miasto is a portrayal of
involuntary social differentiation, one that dates back to the period of com-
munism and is now escalating during the process of recent transformation.
Gated communities in post-communist urban landscapes
The definition of gated communities used in the thesis stems from the classi-
cal definition introduced by Blakely and Snyder in 1997, who labeled gated
communities as ―residential areas with restricted access in which normally
public spaces are privatized‖ and where public spheres include ―streets, si-
dewalks, parks, beaches, rivers, trails, playgrounds – all resources that with-
out gates or walls would be open and shared by all citizens of a locality‖
(1997: 2). Blakely and Snyder distinguish three ideal types of gated com-
munities in the American context, which are based on the physical characte-
ristics and the residents‘ motives for moving to/living in gated housing
(1997: 39). The first is ―lifestyle communities‖ and the second ―prestige
communities;‖ both categories are based on initiatives by developers who
privatise space and services in order to sell properties to interested custom-
ers. Lifestyle communities are developments that, in addition to being places
of residence, also offer their residents a specific lifestyle and common re-
sources and facilities that are used exclusively by the residents. Prestige
communities are based on status and economic class and, in contrast to life-
style communities, are not promoted for their facilities but rather for their
exclusivity - both in physical design and social composition. The third type
of gated communities is called ―security zone communities‖ and unlike the
first two categories, it is based on the residents‘ initiative to secure their res-
idential area by limiting access to it, for instance, by putting up fences, walls,
barricades, and monitoring systems. All three types are ideal according to
their founders and serve to provide a better understanding of the phenome-
non of gating. All three types can also be found in the Polish urban context:
those created by the developers for securing their residents‘ access to differ-
ent facilities within the place of residence and those that aim to guarantee
social homogeneity. There are also those (primarily in Warsaw) that are en-
closed following their construction in order to secure the area (see Chabows-
ki, 2007). The first two categories can be found in Gdańsk, sometimes in a
mix, where their physical design and their primary purpose are both exclu-
sivity and lifestyle. Moreover, the formation of gated communities in Polish
cities does not follow any specific pattern when it comes to tenure (renters or

43
owners) or form of housing (terrace houses, apartments and single-family
houses, for example).
Furthermore, in the Polish context one can distinguish between gated com-
munities that existed prior to 1989 and were inhabited by high officials of
the Communist Party (primarily in Warsaw) and those developed in the
second half of the 1990s by private developers (cf. the definition introduced
by Stoyanov & Frantz, 2006). The first gated communities in Poland after
the fall of communism, which are in focus here, were built at the end of the
1990s and studied by researchers in the second half of the last decade (see
Gądecki, 2007; Chabowski, 2007; Gąsior-Niemiec et al. 2007; Zaborska,
2007; Gądecki, 2009; Mostowska, 2009; Kajdanek, 2009). Moreover, the
trend seems to have also (re)emerged in other post-communist countries,
such as Bulgaria (Stoyanov & Frantz, 2006; Hirt & Stanilov, 2007); Russia
(Blinnikov et al., 2006; Lentz, 2006), Hungary (Bodnar, 2001; Cséfalvay,
2009a), Romania (Negura, 2009), the Czech Republic (Brabec & Sykora,
2009) and Lithuania (Krupickaite & Pociūtė, 2009). Towards the end of the
1990s and the beginningof the 2000s, gated forms of housing spread
throughout Polish cities, reaching Gdańsk in 1999. In addition, between
2003 and 2008, media reports on the existence of gated communities came
from Warsaw, Płock, Bydgoszcz, Białystok, Gdynia, Katowice, Kraków,
Radom, Poznań, Łódź and Olsztyn.
The term ―gated community‖ is strongly associated with the development in
American cities and entered the discussions on urban spaces at the end of the
1980s and the early 1990s. Initially, gated communities served the interests
of wealthier retirees in the United States in the 1970s and the 1980s (Low,
2001: 45), but their function expanded rapidly and spread to other social
groups within American society and to other countries as well. Since the end
of the 1990s, a significant number of books and articles have been published
on the topic of gated residences; this trend has resulted in various definitions
of the phenomenon (for research in Europe see, for instance, Atkinson &
Flint, 2004; Glasze et al., 2006; Webster et al., 2002; Graham & Marvin,
2001, for research in South America see Caldeira, 1996; for China see Wu,
2005 and for South Africa see Jurgens & Landman, 2007). The definition
used in this thesis embraces all housing areas that are closed to the public by
gates, walls, or fences, regardless of the tenure or form of housing, and in-
clude some kind of resource (i.e., a park, playground, sauna, tennis court and
the like), which is reserved for the residents; in this way, access to these
resources is restricted to others/outsiders.

44
METHODOLOGY
This part of the thesis describes the methods and data chosen in the four
studies. It begins by stating the reasons for the choice of qualitative inquiry
and then goes on to describe the research approach of a case study. The data
and data collection techniques used in the studies are presented, and the
mode of procedure is discussed. These are followed by a discussion of the
questions of validity and reliability and of the specific considerations, limita-
tions and ethical concerns related to this undertaking.
The qualitative inquiry
For some time now, qualitative and quantitative methods have been seen as
each other‘s opposites in the social sciences. The dichotomy between these
research strategies is deeply rooted in the research tradition of social scien-
tists and sociologists, although their underlying assumptions have been dis-
cussed more and more frequently since the 1980s (Newman & Benz, 1998).
The point of view of this thesis is that qualitative and quantitative research
strategies are not mutually exclusive; rather they form a continuum that in-
cludes both methodologies (Newman & Benz, 1998: 9; Patton, 1980). In
light of this argument, a mainly qualitative inquiry has been chosen to study
the problems of interest, roughly speaking, why the historical part of the city
has not been revitalised, why people choose to move to gated communities,
how gated communities are described in the media and what support there is
in the legal and regulatory framework for the emergence of gated communi-
ties. While there are several reasons for making a selection from the range of
research strategies, the main ones have to do with the research questions that
require a suitable approach when being examined. The choice of either a
qualitative or quantitative approach depends on the problem at hand. In other
words, the way that I as a researcher choose to solve the problem (my
method) and the techniques that I use when I gather my data depend on the
questions I want to answer (Dannefjord, 2005; Berner, 2005).
Furthermore, cities in post-communist societies need to be explored in a
more qualitative and systematic way and not only studied in light of the re-
sults from other studies in the West. In terms of a ―qualitative and system-
atic‖ study, I agree with Creswell‘s formulation:

45
―[…] a complex and detailed understanding of the issue. This detail
can only be established by talking directly with people, going to their
homes or places of work, and allowing them to tell the stories unen-
cumbered by what we expect to find what we have read in the litera-
ture‖ (Creswell, 2007: 40).
Case study approach
This thesis was constructed according to the research approach known as
―case study‖. This type of study provides an illustration of a specific case in
order to understand a wider social phenomenon or problem. There are differ-
ent views on what case study research is, but it should be regarded primarily
as a methodology, that is, a specific research design with an object of study
and a specific outcome. A case study should involve a description of the
case, along with a description of case-based themes. Creswell (2007) distin-
guishes between three types of case studies: the single instrumental case
study, the collective case study and the intrinsic case study. A single instru-
mental case study focuses on one delimited case that aims to illustrate the
problem in which the researcher is interested. In a collective case study, the
researcher investigates multiple case studies in order to illustrate the prob-
lem. Creswell writes that the researcher ―might select for study several pro-
grams from several research sites or multiple programs within a single site‖
(Creswell, 2007: 74). The third type of case study is the intrinsic case study,
where the focus is on a case that is unique or unusual in some way. Accord-
ing to this typology, the studies presented in this thesis could be classified as
collective case studies, because the four papers included in the thesis exam-
ine different aspects of the problem in focus (socio-spatial processes in a
post-communist city).
Creswell argues that generalisation from one or multiple cases is best when
the cases are representative (2007: 74). Gerring tackles the problem from
another perspective by giving the example of how to learn about how to
build a house (2007: 1). By studying multiple cases or by studying a single
one, we learn different things and therefore draw different conclusions. He
argues that focusing on a key part provides greater understanding. Case
study techniques give us a closer perspective and aim to preserve the texture
and detail of each individual case. According to Gerring, all case studies
should answer the following question so that one may arrive at a broader
understanding of the case at hand: What is this a case of? (Gerring, 2007:
37). Furthermore, Yin argues that all case studies rely on analytical generali-
sation and not on statistical generalisation, as is often assumed by this in-
quiry‘s critics. He explains that the objective of analytical generalisation is

46
to generalise ―a particular set of results to some broader theory‖ (Yin, 1994:
36). In light of this argument, the goal of this thesis is to elucidate the
broader theoretical issues with regard to processes (residential differentia-
tion, urban planning and the housing situation, among others) that are taking
place in a post-communist city. In some manner, the four case studies in-
cluded herein all illustrate these processes.
Moreover, case study research involves multiple sources of data. According
to Yin, these can be grouped into six sources of evidence: documentation,
archival records, interviews, direct observations, participant observation
and physical artefacts (Yin, 1994: 80). All of these sources of evidence have
their strengths and weaknesses, and Yin emphasises that none of them is
infinitely better than the others. The optimal choice for research inquiry en-
compasses as many of these sources as possible. Some of these sources of
evidence have been used more extensively than others in the four studies
included in this thesis. In the following part of the text, a more detailed ac-
count of the data used will be presented, but for now a conclusion, in accor-
dance with Yin‘s classification of the sources of evidence, can be drawn,
namely, that documentation in the form of administrative documents and
newspaper articles, archival records in the form of Census data and maps,
interviews with people living and working in Gdańsk, direct observations of
different residential parts of the city and observations of the life within a
gated community as well as physical artefacts such as buildings, fences, and
monitoring systems, for example, have been used in the four studies in dif-
ferent degrees of relevance and importance.
In combining different types of data, the researcher involves data triangula-
tion (Patton, 1987). According to Patton, triangulation is a strategy that aims
to improve the strength and rigor of a study. He distinguishes among four
types of triangulation: data triangulation, investigator triangulation, theory
triangulation and methodological triangulation (1987: 60). The type of trian-
gulation depends on what is triangulated/combined; this can be various types
of data, several researchers working on the data, different theories on the
data or the use of multiple methods to study the problem. Both data triangu-
lation and methodological triangulation have been used in this thesis in order
to increase the validity and credibility of its findings.
Data and data collection techniques
The approach has been mainly qualitative, drawing on multiple sources of
information, and is based in part on 19 semi-structured interviews with peo-
ple living and working in the neighbourhoods studied and with city officials.
These interviews were conducted in 2007 and 2008 (see References for de-

47
tailed information on the interviews) (Gubrium & Holstein, 2001). Eight
interviews were carried out with residents of Dolne Miasto in the spring and
autumn of 2007 and two were conducted with two interviews with city offi-
cials (an urban planner at City Hall and three employees at the Gdańsk De-
velopment Bureau). The following nine interviews with inhabitants of three
gated communities in the city were conducted in the spring of 2008. All of
the interviews, which were open-ended in nature, were carried out using pre-
established themes in order to increase flexibility in the answers. Moreover,
the thematic interview questions about living in gated communities were
initially tested in a pilot study, which consisted of ten interviews conducted
in 2007 with pedestrians in the streets of the residential areas. These inter-
views were very short – about 15 minutes in length – and served as introduc-
tory information on the strengths and weaknesses of the residential areas as
interpreted by their residents. They also helped to develop questions and
clarify important issues that were relevant to the interview guide used in the
first study (Yin, 1994: 74) (see Appendix for the interview guides used in the
studies).
For the most part, interviews with the residents of both Dolne Miasto and the
gated communities were conducted in the respondents‘ homes, while the
interviews with the city officials were carried out in their offices during
working hours. The snowball technique was used to find respondents among
the inhabitants. Using this process, the respondents who were interviewed
first were asked to ―locate others through their social networks‖ (Gubrium &
Holstein, 2001: 87). The city officials interviewed for the study were all
selected according to their occupation/ position/ knowledge of the area and
were contacted in advance. Most of the interviews were taped and tran-
scribed. All of the respondents were informed about the aim of the study,
and all of the interviewees remain anonymous, although city officials‘ posi-
tions and institutions are revealed herein.
Moreover, a questionnaire with residents of gated communities was carried
out in 2007. The respondents were randomly selected for the questionnaire,
according to their address of residence within three gated communities. It
was distributed to 120 addresses and answered by 86 residents. The three
gated communities were selected according to their location within the city
(suburbs/inner city) and the types of buildings they were made up of (de-
tached, twin, terrace houses/apartments). The questionnaires were sent out to
randomly chosen addresses within these three developments. The questions
covered demographic and economic profiles of the residents (age, sex, edu-
cation, educational level, income, marital status, etc.) as well as the reasons
for moving to the area, the relations with the neighbors, and the future resi-
dential plans (for more information see Study II).

48
Fifty articles published on the topic of gated communities in the newspaper
Gazeta Wyborcza in the years 2003-2008 and 20 articles on the topic of the
residential area of Dolne Miasto published between 2000 and 2007 in Gazeta
Wyborcza and Dziennik Bałtycki form another part of the empirical material
of the thesis (see Appendix for the list of articles). Gazeta Wyborcza,
founded in 1989, is the largest national newspaper in Poland. Its original
purpose was to serve as a forum for the first democratic elections in the
country. In 2007, the newspaper had a daily circulation of 448,000; it covers
both national and local issues. Dziennik Bałtycki, on the other hand, was
founded in 1945 and covers the geographical region of Pomerania. In 2007,
the newspaper was incorporated into the national newspaper Polska and is
promoted as delivering regional news to approximately 150,000 readers
daily. Neither Gazeta Wyborcza nor Dziennik Bałtycki declares any explicit
religious or political affiliation. When studying articles on Dolne Miasto in
the seven-year-period, articles from both newspapers were chosen according
to their genre (news, reportage), length (more than five sentences) and topi-
cal relevance. In the study of gated communities, articles of all genres pub-
lished between 2003 and 2008 were chosen according to criterion sampling,
where texts that met predetermined criteria, such as: 1) dealing directly with
the topic of gated communities and 2) depth of information on the topic at
hand, were studied.
To arrive at an even broader picture of the urban processes taking place in
Gdańsk and Poland in general, the thesis examines official documents and
statistics (among others: the Statistical Yearbook of Poland, 2006; the Statis-
tical Yearbook of Gdańsk, 2006, 2007, 2008; the Local Revitalisation Pro-
gramme of degraded areas in Gdańsk, 2006; Strategy for developing Gdańsk
until 2015, 2005; the Study of conditions and directions of spatial planning
in Gdańsk, 2007; and Information on the socioeconomic situation in 2008,
2008). Most importantly, 2002 Census data are used to describe and under-
stand the socioeconomic situation in different parts of Gdańsk (see Appendix
for more detailed information on the data). Maps of Gdańsk were created
based on the Census data and with the help of the GIS (Geographic Informa-
tion System) software. These are presented in the section entitled ―The Case
of Poland and Gdańsk‖.
Official reports and documents concerning planning law and regulations
related to housing and spatial issues in Poland were also studied in order to
investigate support for the formation of gated communities in the legal and
regulatory framework in the country. Fifteen legal acts form the basis of the
analysis, with a special emphasis on the 2003 Spatial Planning and Man-
agement Act, which forms the foundation for spatial planning and managing
in Poland and serves as the fundamental guiding principle in regulating spa-
tial planning in the country. The following legal acts were included in the
analysis:

49
The Constitution of the Republic
of Poland, 1990
Statue on Territorial Self-Government,
1990
Income Tax Act, 1991
Physical Planning Act, 1994
Building Law, 1994
Housing Condominium Act, 1994
Residential Lease and Housing Allow-
ance Act, 1994
Cooperatives Act, 1995
Act on Certain Forms of Support for
Housing Construction, 1995
Real Estate Act, 1996
New Constitution of the Republic of
Poland, 1997
Act on Housing Unit Ownership, 1997
National Spatial Development Policy
Document, 2001
National Development Plan 2004–2006,
2002
Spatial Planning and Management Act,
2003
In addition, different observational techniques were used to expand the reach
of the study. First, between 2007 and 2009, the author lived in a gated com-
munity in Gdańsk for short periods of time. While there, she spent time
walking around different parts of Gdańsk, talking to the residents, eating at
local restaurants, shopping at local shoe stores, going to Mass at the local
church, and visiting exhibitions. Since the start of the study, the author has
acquired considerable information about everyday life in Gdańsk by reading
local newspapers on a regular basis, walking its streets and observing city
life, following debates on the Internet and talking to people. To understand
the conditions behind specific behaviours of individuals and their interac-
tions, national and local political decisions were also studied together with
national newspapers and advertisements that referred to the city‘s private
housing market. Throughout the entire process of data collection, notebooks,
a tape recorder and a camera were used to keep track of the author‘s obser-
vations.
To achieve a broader picture of the study field (and to be able to illustrate it
in more than words) the author took a number of photographs of the city.
These photographs serve as visual documentation on the findings made dur-
ing the field work (Banks, 2001: 2) (see Appendix). It is important to point
out that images presented in the study are selective and should be interpreted
as descriptive and suggestive, not as definite or ―true‖ in any way, in view of
the fact that they represent the photographer‘s specific point of view
(Harper, 1994: 406). They are no more than mere reflections of taken-for-
granted assumptions and theories of social and physical objects. Still…
―They allow detailed recordings of facts as well as providing a more
comprehensive and holistic presentation of lifestyles and conditions.
They allow the transportation of artefacts and the presentation of them
as pictures and also the transgression of borders of time and space‖
(Flick, 2006: 234).

50
The mode of procedure
Two rough modes of procedure are distinguished in the qualitative methods.
At one end of the scale, we have theory-driven methods and at the other end
data-driven methods (cf. Boyatzis, 1998). The theory-driven method is a
technique whereby the researcher analyses empirical material based on a
pre-formulated theory. The data-driven method is a data collection technique
whereby the researcher collects data within a field without any preconceived
theoretical notions. In this study, these two methods are seen as ideal types
and difficult to apply in their pure form in the study of social phenomena.
The actual research process almost always combines both the inductive and
deductive mode of procedure, where one or the other is more dominant. The
theory-driven method runs the risk of being too fixed and inflexible, and thus
missing the nuances, while the data-driven method, on the other hand, runs
the risk of a data overload that lacks the focus of study. The most fruitful
strategy is to combine both, using prior research and theories on the topic as
guiding principles in the search for answers at the same time as observations
and other discoveries that do not fit into the theoretical framework are taken
into account.
The different data of this study came about after the above-mentioned stand-
points were gathered and analysed in sequences. For instance, the procedure
began with transcribing the first round of interviews (with the inhabitants of
Dolne Miasto), analysing them separately, and coding the central themes of
each one. In the next step, the different themes were compared to see which,
if any, appeared repeatedly in the interviews and which appeared infre-
quently. After reading literature on similar topics, studying other research-
ers‘ findings, looking at different documents and statistics relevant to the
topic and conducting some field work, the author analysed the interviews
again, this time in light of newly acquired knowledge and experiences. The
procedure was repeated when new interviews were conducted. Combining
both theory-driven and data-driven methods was inevitable when studying
the changes in the urban space in post-communist context, as many of the
processes observed in the study have not yet been either explored or theo-
rised in the post-communist setting.
Another illustration of the combination of theory-driven and data-driven
approaches in the thesis is the collection and analysis of newspaper articles
in the third study. By gathering the data first according to strict limitations,
such as dealing with the topic of interest directly and secondly, according to
their wealth of information the data were allowed to ―speak for themselves‖.
Among other things, the author found that her preconceived idea about the
discourse in the national media was incorrect (in most cases it did not agree
with the trend of gating) and ambiguous. By being open to new findings and
nuances in the empirical material, preconceived notions of the field could be

51
modified. Moreover, the analytical model of the study kept it from ―drown-
ing‖ in the quantity of material and helped keep the focus where it belonged.
The model also provided the study with the support and confidence needed
in the process by directing it theoretically.
Yet another example of how the theory-driven and data-driven approaches
are inseparable is the mode of procedure in the study of the support of the
formation of gated communities in the Polish legal framework (Study 4).
When examining the legal documents and texts, the author‘s ambition was to
continually keep the focus of the study in mind, while concurrently being
open to new discoveries and contradictory findings in the material studied.
To structure legal acts and documents during a period of radical changes is
not an easy task. At the same time, one risks tunnel vision when one is fol-
lowing one track and being directed primarily by theories, prior studies or
preconceived notions with regard to the subject of the study. The skill lies in
continually hovering between being open and focused (theoretically or ana-
lytically) while analysing rich material.
The study of discourses
The study of discourses, also referred to as discourse analysis, includes both
theoretical and methodological considerations. Theoretically, the advocates
of the study of discourses stress that reality and knowledge are relative and
produced and reproduced contextually. Social constructivists, such as Berger
and Luckmann, argue that sociologists must enter deeply into the processes
in which some specific knowledge is established as ―real‖ in a given society,
as society is built upon people‘s subjective actions (1966). In this thesis, the
point of view has been that the existence of the physical world and the real
consequences of actions are to be sought in discourses whose objective it is
to produce meaning for these parts of our existence. Michel Foucault is often
singled out as a prominent figure in discourse analysis, and this thesis is
inspired by his work. However, Norman Fairclough‘s approach has been
used in the analysis of discourses, since it is considered to be a more refined
and empirically supported method. Fairclough represents ―critical discourse
analysis‖ (CDA) wherein the unreflecting use of language and the relation
between language and social practice are criticised (1995). Fairclough argues
that there is a dialectical relationship between the discourse and social real-
ity. The discourse constitutes social reality and is also constituted by social
practices and structures. According to Fairclough, a discourse analysis
should include the dimensions of socio-cultural practice, text, and discursive
practices, which are mediating between the two latter dimensions and are
understood as the way in which texts are produced and received (text con-
sumption and text production) (1995: 59). This thesis focuses on the produc-

52
tion of discourses as a part of the socio-cultural practices taking place in
Poland in the 2000s.
Furthermore, Fairclough points out that, apart from the awareness of media
discourses, a critical approach to media also includes knowledge on the
economy of media and its production processes (1992: 27). The production
processes within media are, to a great extent, affected by the economic situa-
tion and the demand for high ratings. According to Thornham et al.
(1979/1996: 403), the evaluation of news is based on criteria that are a com-
bination of the accessibility of the material and the public‘s reception. News
must catch the attention of readers; moreover, it must be easily comprehen-
sible and follow the practical ways (technical, organisational, programme) of
creating news. In order to attract the readers‘ attention, news is often formu-
lated in a dramatic and/or entertaining way using visual images. Golding &
Elliott (1979) argue that news value is, among other things, a balancing act
between information and entertainment and that its reach (the more readers
who are affected by it the better) is an important criterion. News value is also
dependent on geographical and cultural proximity, and news perceived as
taking place far away is often neglected. Another important aspect of ―sell-
ing‖ news is the tendency of bad news to sell better than good news. In light
of these arguments, the discourses on gated communities and the deprived
neighbourhood of Dolne Miasto meet several of the criteria. They portray
phenomena that tend to be perceived as either negative or controversial; both
the topics of gating and of deprived neighbourhoods are geographically close
to the receivers of the news; and both topics arouse feelings, have a high
entertainment value and are easy to produce (hence, the abundant number of
reports in both the local and national media).
Validity and reliability
The term validity stands for the accuracy of the findings, and the term reli-
ability means the stability of methods and findings. The positivist school of
researchers in the 20th century, which was seeking universal laws in social
sciences, introduced and insisted on both validity and reliability in research
(Atheide & Johnson, 1994). However, it is not the positivist meaning of
these two terms that has been applied in this thesis. Instead, the choice of the
sources of evidence was carefully focused at the same time that the meth-
odological and analytical focus throughout the work was maintained; argu-
ments and conclusions were kept transparent in order to demonstrate the
―truthfulness‖ of the findings and to achieve stability in methods and results.
According to Yin (1994: 34), one way to increase the validity of a study of
change is to have a clear focus and select the specific aspect of change that

53
the researcher wants to study. This should be done in relation to the original
objectives of the study; the next step is to demonstrate that the specific as-
pect that has been selected is the one that has been studied. Yin recommends
various methods designed to ensure that the requirements described above
are met. One is to use multiple sources of evidence; another is to establish a
chain of evidence in the study. As it was demonstrated and discussed earlier,
the thesis uses multiple sources of empirical material, and the objective in all
the studies included in the thesis was to present transparent arguments when
applying different methods or drawing conclusions.
Yin recommends another method, one that aims to increase both the validity
and the reliability of the study, namely, the practice of replication (i.e., se-
lecting multiple cases or several researchers working on the same case) (Yin,
1994: 33-37). Unfortunately, this was not possible within the framework of
the thesis. As replication requires considerable time and financial resources,
the thesis attempts to draw on similar cases (mainly in other post-communist
cities) studied by other researchers.
Furthermore, Huberman and Miles recommend ―regular, on-going self-
documentation‖ during the research process in order to guarantee the trans-
parency of methods used (1994: 439). Careful documentation in the form of
notebooks (field notes, analytical notes, coding schemes, etc.) and tran-
scribed versions of the interviews conducted throughout the entire collection
process made it possible to go back to the data whenever it was necessary in
order to control the reliability of the conclusions drawn in the analysis. Be-
cause of ethical considerations, only the author has had access to these note-
books.
Most importantly, this thesis adheres to the argument of Atheide and John-
son, namely, that qualitative research is ―carried out in ways that are sensi-
tive to the nature of human and cultural social contexts, and is commonly
guided by the ethic to remain loyal or true to the phenomena under study,
rather than to any particular set of techniques or principles‖ (1994: 488).
Being a researcher
Yin emphasises the importance of a researcher‘s personal skills with regard
to collecting data in a case study. He argues that during ―data collection,
only a more experienced investigator will be able to take advantage of unex-
pected opportunities rather than being trapped by them – and also to exercise
sufficient care against potentially biased procedures‖ (Yin, 1994: 55). Yin‘s
list of required skills includes the following characteristics: the ability to ask
good questions, to be a good ―listener‖, to adapt to new situations and be

54
flexible, to have a firm grasp of the issue being studied and to be free of
preconceived notions.
During the process of writing the thesis, including designing the research
and field work, and analysing and writing different parts of the final product,
the researcher is gradually training her skills to ask relevant questions and
her ability to be a good listener. The saying, ―practice makes perfect,‖ ap-
plies to the experience of conducting research. Moreover, researchers are
never able to fully detach themselves from the particular values and interests
of a special group and understand their field of study free of a priori com-
mitments. As a researcher, one needs to be conscious of the preconceived
notions of social phenomena that are brought into the field of study, as one
cannot fully free oneself from the training acquired within the academic
discipline, for instance. Within the discipline of sociology, the students are
trained to understand social reality in a specific manner and to be sensitive to
specific aspects of the phenomena they are studying, and the Kuhnian stance
that every scientific discipline has its own distinctive ways of acquiring
knowledge, including ―the entire constellation of beliefs, values, techniques
and so on shared by members of a given community‖ confirms (Kuhn,
1970/1996: 175). As a researcher, one can therefore train oneself to be con-
scious of the preconceived ideas and ways of gaining knowledge and keep
them at a distance, but not free oneself from them completely.
Limitations
The author of the thesis is highly aware of the fact that the knowledge that
results from interviews, observations or photographs is subjective and in
most cases selective. The ―truthfulness‖ of qualitative interview data can
always be questioned. The same person may give totally different answers to
the same question depending on the situation at hand, their understanding of
the interviewer, the language and vocabulary used, or their subjective posi-
tion in the interview (i.e., woman/man, manager/subordinate, ex-
pert/amateur, etc.). Therefore, interviews are dependent on context, because
they are conducted in a specific situation at a specific point in time. Respon-
dents, especially those representing organisations, are politically aware and
may be speaking for their organisations and not revealing the whole truth
(Alveson & Deetz 2000: 217). Nevertheless, these are the conditions under
which qualitative researchers work, and the very fact that they are often cre-
ated contextually does not mean that they are inaccurate. Rather, when re-
porting on the research one should give detailed descriptions of such consid-
erations without casting suspicion on the respondents‘ statements.

55
What need to be pointed out here are the obvious limitations in studies of
gated communities. They are difficult to examine because of their physical
boundaries and inaccessibility to outsiders. In most cases, it was impossible
to gain access to them, and their residents often declined to participate when
approached on the street, citing a lack of time as the main reason. Further-
more, the topic‘s sensitive and controversial character often made these indi-
viduals uncomfortable and defensive to begin with. The study of gated hous-
ing was therefore a protracted process before the first interviews were even
conducted. Furthermore, these difficulties influenced consequently the selec-
tion of interviewees, who ultimately wanted to participate in the study, the
majority of whom were women, in their 30s, well educated and articulate
(see Appendix). Moreover, the topics‘ unexplored nature in the post-
communist context and in particular in the Polish context was followed by a
lack of information on the numbers of gated communities in the city or the
region and the lack of knowledge on their residents‘ characteristics.
In addition, there were problems with the technique used to find respondents.
The snowball technique is very effective when it comes to locating potential
interviewees in a difficult field, such as identifying and finding residents of
gated communities, but it often involves bias in the form of insecurity related
to whether the sample adequately represents the wider population. Choosing
this kind of technique makes it difficult to evaluate sampling imperfections
and limits the conclusions that can be drawn from the material. These con-
siderations have been taken into account in the thesis; hence, the material
acquired in the interviews is presented with forethought and was triangulated
with other sources of evidence.
Another limitation encountered in the thesis had to do with the constraints
that the form of academic articles implies. Therefore, a compilation thesis is
qualitatively different from a monograph thesis. The writing of academic
articles is a special genre that requires specific knowledge on the design of
such texts. Some of the arguments or details on methods or on the collected
data risk being excluded from the final version. It is the author‘s hope that
the loopholes created by this form of writing have been covered in the sum-
mary.
Furthermore, it is important to stress the limitations in the statistical data,
and in particular in the Census data, which at the time of writing were avail-
able for the city of Gdańsk. As was previously mentioned in the introductory
part of this summary, the last Census was carried out in 2002. Moreover, the
data could only be presented at the level of administrative units, which un-
fortunately made it too general and not detailed enough to draw any conclu-
sions on the socio-spatial processes at lower levels. It also lacked informa-
tion on incomes, only providing information on where the income was
earned (public/private sector, retirement, etc.). This fact made it difficult to

56
relate the findings at the lower levels (such as parts of or even neighbour-
hoods within the administrative unit) to the Census data available.
Ethical considerations
Punch gives an overview of the ethical and political elements that research-
ers need to consider in their research (1994). She argues that these elements
vary from situation to situation and should be chosen individually, as ques-
tions related to what is public or private, to what is harmful or what benefits
knowledge are unclear. Conventional practice is to protect the privacy and
identity of research subjects so that the research does not cause harm or em-
barrassment. It was an obvious decision to not reveal the identity of the in-
terviewees in order to protect them from harm or invasion of privacy. More-
over, many of the issues that were raised during the interviews with residents
of Dolne Miasto or gated communities were sensitive and controversial, and
the promise of anonymity gave the informants the confidence to talk about
these issues without the threat of being exposed. The interviewees who held
official positions were guaranteed personal but not organisational anonym-
ity, that is, their places of work and their positions are revealed to the reader.
The author also chose not to name the three gated communities that are in-
cluded in Study 2, since this information was not considered as a contribu-
tion to any wider understanding of the matter. These gated housing commu-
nities were chosen on the basis of their location within the city (sub-
urbs/inner city) and their types of buildings (detached, twin, terrace hous-
es/apartments). They represented the three types of gated communities
prevalent in the city: inner-city apartment housing, suburban de-
tached/twin/terrace housing, and suburban apartment buildings. The infor-
mation on the sampling decisions was considered to be the important infor-
mation provided in this case.
In addition, all of the informants were informed candidly of the general aim
of the thesis and the more specific aim of each study. In the presentation of
the research questions, the objective was not to reveal any of the theoretical
or other preconceived notions to the question at hand in order to avoid lead-
ing the informants in predetermined lines of thoughts. In addition, every
interview was summarised at its conclusion; this process gave the respon-
dents an opportunity to comment on and modify their answers.

57
SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION
This part of the thesis serves as a summary of the core results and conclu-
sions reached in the four studies. Here, the objective is to provide a theoreti-
cal discussion of the results as well as to point out gaps in the empirical and
theoretical research on post-communist urban developments and in particular
on the urban situation in Poland.
Picture 3. Dolne Miasto
Photograph by Miguel Vergara

58
The results of the studies
The fall of communism and the changes that followed in post-communist
societies have left their mark on the landscapes of cities in Central and East-
ern Europe and in particular on the urban landscape of Gdańsk. The most
manifest form of these changes could be observed in the fragmented urban
space, which consists of contrasts in the form of decaying areas adjacent to
―face-lifted‖ tourist areas and new exclusive neighbourhoods being built all
over the city, constructed behind gates and walls and equipped with moni-
toring devices. A study of the area known as Dolne Miasto in the inner-city
(Study 1) showed that several factors contributed to this area‘s continual
deprivation. Limited economic resources among the inhabitants and, at the
city level, the neglect of comprehensive spatial planning, the lack of collabo-
ration between the public and the private sector along with weak organisa-
tional basis, the area‘s bad reputation and unclear ownership regulations
played important roles in the further degradation of this historical area. What
was stressed in the study of Dolne Miasto was the need for an urban policy
combined with more integral spatial planning in the city, along with a more
precise ownership situation. It is argued in the study that the current ap-
proach to spatial planning and housing is not tenable, as the liberated market
mechanisms have demonstrated that spatial inequalities among social groups
are on the rise under the capitalistic order (Szelenyi, 1996; Kovacs, 1998;
Węcławowicz, 1998; Sailer-Fliege, 1999).
Picture 4. Dolne Miasto
Photograph by Dominika V. Polanska
The study of the emergence and forms of gated communities in Gdańsk
(Study 2) showed similar results. The on-going changes and in particular the
changes on the labour market, deteriorating living standards, stretched budg-
ets and altered social hierarchies, all of which lead to wide disparities in

59
prosperity, resulted in visible spatial divisions, where gated communities
function as class markers. The emergence of gated communities in Gdańsk is
a mix of diverse processes: growing social polarisation combined with am-
biguous issues of ownership of buildings and land, which hindered revitali-
sation and created a desire for better housing standards and privacy among
the wealthier segments of the population; the spread of a culture of fear; the
weakness of the current spatial plans and loopholes in the regulation of new
construction; the municipalities‘ inability/unwillingness to hinder the devel-
opment of gated communities; and the housing developers‘ advantageous
conditions on the housing market. Furthermore, it is argued that the pheno-
menon of gating is in direct opposition to the ideals that prevailed under
communism, which promoted mixed neighbourhoods and a leveling of hous-
ing differences and should be understood as a reaction to the communist
past. Their emergence, popularity, forms (small-scale, secure, ownership);
resident profile (relatively young, well-educated, and wealthy), ownership
forms and secure and exclusive design confirm this postulation, making
them drastically different from the housing forms that dominated in the past.
In the case of Gdansk, its thriving economic and living conditions mean that
more individuals can afford to live behind gates in the city than in other less
prosperous parts of the country. Therefore, old high-rise housing, multi-story
apartment blocks, and the ideas of equalised housing conditions that under-
pinned communist housing are being left behind by those who can do so for
what is perceived as more private, exclusive, and secure housing. The role of
developers is important in this process, since they are successfully using
their knowledge of the desires of the wealthier Poles by selling ideas and
models that have already been proven in other countries (especially in North
America).
Further, in the study of the discourse on gated communities in the Polish
national media (Study 3) it was demonstrated that this discourse, although
ambiguous and critical, reflected the growing inequalities in incomes, educa-
tion and occupations in Polish society since the fall of communism. The
wealthier segments of the population were described as fearing the poor and
being attracted to gated forms of housing, which allowed them to voluntarily
restrict their lifestyles to the private spaces of home, work and shopping
facilities. Similar to the findings in Study 2, the reasons for moving to gated
communities are partly explained by the ―new‖ ways of living and ―new‖
standards that the present represents, at the same time that the period of
communism and the equalising ideologies of the socialist city are repudiated.
Differences in the patterns of consumption are highlighted in the discourse
on gated communities, and the study states that the lifestyles, interests and
consumer patterns found in the Polish cities are shared by emerging housing
classes (Andrusz, 2004). In accordance with Weber‘s definition, the study
emphasises the fact that gaps between classes are derived not only from con-
trol over the means of production, but also in the field of consumption and

60
property relations. The material analysed proposes that social status is de-
fined both by one‘s profession and by the location and form of housing to
which one has access, in which architecture, surroundings, comfort and secu-
rity play a central role. By moving to a gated community, the residents de-
velop a collective interest based on the locality. The spotlight is turned on
the protection of property values (both use values and exchange values), and
in the case of Poland is practiced mainly through architecture and security
systems.
Picture 5. An inner-city gated community
Photograph by Dominika V. Polanska
When examining the support for the formation of gated communities in the
legal and regulatory framework in Poland drawn up since the fall of com-
munism (Study 4), in accordance with earlier studies, it was observed that
the increased role of market mechanisms and reduced planning control cha-
racterised development in the Polish cities as well as in other Central and
Eastern European cities (Tosics, 2005). The emergence and growth rate of
gated forms of housing is one of the consequences of this development in
politics. The difficulties in the case of Poland lie more concretely in the spa-
tial plans‘ multiple nature, the lack of clear outlines and goals for spatial

61
planning on a national level, the consultative nature of spatial plans on the
municipal level, the separation of spatial planning and socioeconomic activi-
ty, the absence of the broader strata of population in the planning processes,
ambiguous ownership of buildings and land, and loopholes in the regulation
of new construction. The shortcomings of the communist system in the field
of housing and urban policy gave promises of better living in the new eco-
nomic system. What followed was the privatisation of the housing stock,
which strengthened already existing inequalities in the distribution of hous-
ing, not only among different social groups but also in space, within cities
and between urban and rural areas of post-communist countries (Struyk,