Effects of Shrinkage in Everyday Life: Living with Diversity in Post-Socialist Hrušov, Ostrava

Part I. Effects of shrinkage in everyday life: living with diversity in post- socialist Hrušov, Ostrava

Marieke Maes, Maarten Loopmans and Chris Kesteloot Shrinking cities face the challenge of strategically selecting areas for investment and disinvestment. This entails a movement of money as well as people and upsets social patterns of everyday life and livelihoods. In Ostrava, post-socialist shrinkage interacts with identity politics towards Roma minority to profoundly change the image of and community life within neighbourhoods. The growing literature on shrinking cities has addressed these questions from a planning and governance point of view, but so far largely neglected the impact of shrinkage and shrinkage planning on the lives of ordinary people. In this paper, we focus on the declining working class neighbourhood of Hrušov in Ostrava which has undergone severe processes of shrinkage. Based on interviews, the case study reveals the background and the socially unequal consequences of the process. It shows how every day life in the community –consisting of an older Czech population which is increasingly replaced by incoming Roma families- changed drastically and how the inhabitants actively set up new livelihood strategies in response to these changes. Part II. Introduction Post-socialist cities experienced radical transformations in the past two decades. Under the impulse of rapidly growing income disparities, their social geography is characterized by rising socio-spatial differentiation. Additionally, three out of four cities in Central Eastern Europe (CEE) are hit by shrinkage (Turok & Mykhnenko, 2007). Shrinkage is a relatively new concept which has recently become a central point of debate in in planning and regional policy circles, to whom it poses considerable challenges (Rink et al. 2009; Großmann et al. 2008; Pallagst, 2010). However, its social and micro-economic effects and its impact upon everyday life, have thus far remained underexplored. In two pioneering studies, Delken (2008) and Hollander (2010) have documented how urban shrinkage does not automatically negatively affect neighbourhood quality of life. However, these large-scale quantitative analyses fail to point out in detail the relationships between urban decline and quality of life and do not address the individual strategies residents develop in reaction to shrinkage. Hollander (2010) therefore calls for more in-depth research on everyday strategies to cope with urban decline. Moreover, studies in CEE have mainly been focussing on capital cities undergoing post- socialist transition. Less attention is paid to the pathways of second-order cities where less opportunities to curb shrinkage are prevalent (Großmann et al. 2008; Steinführer and Haase, 2007). The qualitative micro-scale case-study described here attempts to fill both gaps.This paper discusses the combined effect of shrinkage and post-socialist transformation on the living conditions in the cadastre (neighbourhood) of Hrušov, Ostrava. Shrinkage in the Czech city of Ostrava has affected different neighbourhoods to a varying degree. Our case-study area is referred to in the literature as the ‘most dilapidated and shrinking part of Ostrava’ (Rumpel et al., 2010, p. 32) and is considered one of the ten Roma-localities of the city which are most ‘socially excluded or at risk of being socially excluded’ (GAC, 2006). The article first discusses the term urban shrinkage in relation to everyday life. Secondly, we describe how Hrušov became a shrinking neighbourhood in a growing city. The subsequent section is devoted to an analysis of changing living conditions and

1 livelihood strategies in Hrušov , on the basis of fieldwork conducted by one of the authors. In our conclusion, we call for not to isolate shrinkage from other socio-spatial processes. In particular, just shrinkage planning requires us to pay attention to the way shrinkage interacts with post-socialist transition and diversity politics to create new patterns of inclusion and exclusion, and to take the agency of individual households seriously. Part III. Shrinkage and everyday life The concept of ‘urban shrinkage’ originated in German research discussing population losses in post-reunification East- German cities. It was introduced to challenge the urban studies and planning hegemonic focus on urban expansion and growth (Bontje, 2004; Oswalt, 2005; Großmann et al., 2008). In the growth paradigm, decline is automatically valued negatively. The more neutral term ‘shrinkage’ should aid to reconsider this one- sided appreciation (Oswalt, 2005). The ‘Shrink Smart project’ (Rink et al., 2009, p. 5) –a European research project on trajectories of shrinkage in seven urban regions (including Ostrava) focuses on challenges for urban planning and governance It defines urban shrinkage as:’... an event resulting from the specific interplay of different macro-processes at the local scale. Such macro-processes may be related to the economic, demographic or settlement system development as well as to environmental issues or changes of political or administrative system. Urban shrinkage occurs when the specific interplay of the mentioned macro- processes lead to population decline which we define as the main indicator for urban shrinkage. Population decline is represented by both natural decline (i.e. death surpluses) and losses by out-migration (suburbanisation, intra-regional migration, emigration) ...’ The concept of shrinkage has mainly gained currency in spatial planning circles. Hence, discussions on urban shrinkage predominantly address the challenges it brings to planners and policy makers: municipal budgets, land use and urban planning, infrastructure and amenities, housing market and housing mobility, labour market and employment, residential composition and social inclusion and cohesion (Rink et al. 2009). A number of studies have documented the spatially unequal effects of urban shrinkage. Once shrinkage sets in, investment by public and private actors is often restricted to the most favourable localities while disinvestment in other localities implies further decay of infrastructure (Hollander et al., 2009). Häußermann & Glock (2004) describe how neighbourhoods affected by depopulation are very likely to be trapped in a vicious process of multidimensional downgrading. A lower demand for services fuels a drop in service-efficiency and a rise in prices. Both processes lead to service deterioration inducing further outmigration out of the area. Outmigration however, is socially selective, leaving the most marginalized groups behind. The subsequent concentration of marginalized groups may result in stigmatization of the area which further stimulates neglect. ‘Some areas are starting to be simply written off by banks and owners’ (Häußermann & Glock, 2004, p. 924). Simultaneously, shrinkage also creates new opportunities for urban planning and redevelopment. Rink et al. (2009), emphasize the ecologic potential of perforated urban spaces, whereas Oswalt (2005) points to the opportunities for new rounds of real estate investment in less tense, shrinking markets. A small number of studies document how residents cope with shrinkage. Vogel (2005) observed different responses in different types of neighbourhoods according to the local economical base; in wealthier neighbourhoods, a decline of public services was met with the establishment of community organizations or private service-companies. In less

2 advantaged areas, inhabitants depended on non-profit-organisations to make up for the loss. In the case of Detroit two particular strategies were developed in response to urban shrinkage: urban farming and plundering, stripping, scrapping and vandalizing of vacant buildings (Oswalt, 2005). Urban farming renders the population more self- sufficient. Scrapping is the illegal stripping of any valuable scrap metal from buildings to sell it to companies (Hocking, 2005). Notwithstanding these pioneering studies, more analyses, in a variety of settings, are needed to fully grasp the residents’ resilience and reactions to urban shrinkage. This paper adds to this literature with a detailed, qualitative study of everyday life in Hrušov, Ostrava. Part IV. Hrušov, Ostrava: a declining neighbourhood in a shrinking city The empirical work was done in Ostrava, a city situated in the north eastern part of the Czech Republic (see Figure 1). With a population of 306.006 (CSO, 2010), Ostrava is the Czech Republic’s third largest city and with an area of 214 km², the country’s second largest agglomeration. The city is situated at the western tip of the extensive Upper- Silesian coalfield which largely determined its economic and morphological development.

Figure 1: Location of Ostrava in the Czech Republic (ESRI Data and Maps, 2009) The city developed as a polycentric conurbation of 34 historically independent towns (Vondroušová, 2009). Ostrava and surrounding municipalities in the Ostrava-Karvina coal basin developed rapidly in the 19th century when coal mining and related steel and chemical industries began to develop. Today Ostrava is a corporate town divided into 23 municipalities or city districts. Every district has its own council, administration and budget and is composed of at least one cadastre (sub-district administrative level). Hrušov, the case study of this research (see Figure 2), is a cadastre and is incorporated into the district of Silesian Ostrava. The cadastre of Hrušov is situated in the floodplains of the Oder and Ostravice riversto the North East of the city centre of Ostrava. Hrušov is composed of six basic statistical units (BSUs) of which three are currently inhabited: Hrušov-Stred (Hrušov-Centre), Marxův sad (Marxs’ Park) and Na Liščine. The remaining BSUs are former industrial zones and currently make up one large brownfield site (see figure 2).

Figure 2: Detailed view of Hrušov & overview map of Ostrava with location of Hrušov (ESRI Data and Maps, 2009) Hrušov’s urban growth was initiated by the discovery of hard coal in the second half of the 18th century and by its railway connection to Vienna and the Galician salts mine. Industrialization was situated in Hrušov and other districts east of the city centre (Lipovski et al., 2009). The area attracted mining and the associated steel, iron, cokes and railway factories, which led to significant population growth through immigration. Immigration peaked in the 1890s (Lipovski et al. 2009). Companies and real estate investors constructed lodging houses and colonies in the immediate vicinity of factories to host the growing population of workers. (Vondroušová, 2009). At the beginning of the 20th century, the spirit of growth was leaving Ostrava. The As production mechanized, labour demand in the iron and steel industry decreased. Moreover, the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian market in 1918 hampered further expansion of industries.. A rapid decline in immigration and fertility rates followed (Lipovski et al., 2009). At the onset of the Socialist period (1948), industrial Ostrava regained momentum . As the ‘Steel Heart of the Republic’, the Ostrava region obtained preferential treatment: large investments were done to expand industries (Vondroušová, 2009) and labor force

3 from all over the country was attracted, countervailing (post-)war population decline (Jajescniak-Quast, 2009). In the first years after World War II, new immigrants were hosted in temporary lodgings and in the properties of expelled Germans nearby existing industries, like in Hrušov. From the late 1950’s onwards however, as the socialist ideology adopted Modernist technologies and ideas about residential quality, new, modern, standardized (mid- and) high-rise prefabs were constructed at the outskirts of the city (Rumpel et al., 2010; Czepczyoski, 2008). The older industrial districts, with its ‘capitalist’ housing stock, were left to decay (Szelenyi, 1996; Vesselinov, 2004; Czepczyoski, 2008; Rumpel et al., 2010). In Hrušov, deterioration of the housing stock was accelerated due to subsidence of the surface caused by mining. A clear spatial hierarchy developed between desirable housing estates at the outskirts of the city and the lower quality, undesirable inner-city areas. Selective outmigration of ‘middle class’ to the housing estates meant a loss of social status in the older neighbourhoods, creating social and ethnic segregation in the city (Ruzicka, 2009; Szelenyi, 1996; Sailer-Fliege, 1999). ‘A certain social bias was implicit in the administrative allocation concentrating less educated people, and especially gypsy minorities into flats in dilapidated inner-city houses (Sýkora, 2005, p.99).’ Also people from Hrušov, consisting mainly of employers and employees of the chemical factory and of the mines, applied to live in the prefabs. The apartments and houses they left, were taken over by the new Slovakian Roma immigrants, resulting in a gradually increasing ethnic segregation between Czech and Roma citizens: ‘Their housing conditions [of the Roma] were a problem. They lived in factory colonies. [Together with Czech laborers?] [laughing] Yes, at first… but after some time, Czech people wanted to move. In the ‘60’s, modern prefabs were built for the Czech and the buildings they left, were for the Roma. In the centre of Ostrava [Moravian Ostrava], there were really bad industrial conditions… there Roma could live… (Pavelčíková, 2010)’. An analysis of the demographic evolution of the three pre-socialist neighbourhoods under scrutiny reveals how even in the Socialist period of rapid growth of the city they are losing population (see figure 3).

Figure 3: Total population Hrušov’s basic statistical units (BSU) 1970-2001 (Czech Statistical Office, 1970; 1980; 1991; 2001)

Part V. After 1989, the transition to capitalism initiated a new phase of shrinkage, this time at the scale of the city. Local industries were closed or relocated and the massive loss of well-payed jobs for lower educated people triggered a wave of emigration to Prague and Western Europe (Rumpel et al., 2010). Growing income differentiation and housing market changes aggravated internal social and ethnic segregation in the city. The privatization of housing and land allocation stimulated better off residents to outmigrate to the Ostravan hinterland in search for a better quality of life (Solanský, 2008). Although city-wide shrinkage in Ostrava remained limited compared to other former industrial cities (Rumpel et al., 2010), the inner city district of Hrušov was severely affected. Part VI. Post-socialist shrinkage and livelihood strategies in Hrušov. In the following section, we analyze how macro-social changes after socialism affected everyday life in Hrušov. We focus on the way socio-spatial structures and strategies of individual households interact to determine livelihood conditions of Hrušov residents . We analyze these changes through the perspective of ‘economic integration’ as introduced by Karl Polanyi into economic sociology (Polanyi, 1944; Swedberg, 2004). Market exchange, redistribution and reciprocity are the three modes of economic

4 integration through which a household or an individual can gain access to resources available in wider society (Mingione, 1991). Market exchange, the dominant mode of integration in capitalist society, offers access to resources through labour and the income people earn from it; with this income they can acquire consumption goods at prices set by the market. It assumes the existence of markets for both labour and consumption goods to organise the distribution of resources within society. Redistribution is nowadays predominantly organised by the welfare state or civil society organisations. Redistribution requires a degree of hierarchical organisation. Means are brought together in central stocks and redistributed among its members according to collectively agreed rules (Kesteloot, 2002). Finally, reciprocity depends uponmutual exchanges of goods and services among individuals. It assumes the existence of social networks based on mutual trust and social control, which decide upon the distribution of resources amongst network members (Meert et al., 1998). The three spheres of economic integration serve as a heuristic tool to analyze commodification processes (Kesteloot, 2002) and changing economic governance structures. Commodification can be understood as the transfer of access regulation from redistribution or reciprocity to the sphere of market exchange (Kesteloot, 2002). When regulation of access to goods and services changes, individuals will alter their livelihood strategies in response. Having particular spatial characteristics, these strategies in turn will affect the spatial structure of the city. In the remainder of the paper, the interaction between structure and strategies will be analyzed in three important domains of livelihood resources: access to income (through labour or social benefits); access to housing and access to social and leisure facilities. The basis of our analysis is formed by participant observation and in-depth interviews with 26 inhabitants (I) and 12 key respondents (KRs). The selection of KRs was based on purposeful sampling. We attempted to interview different kinds of actors active in the neighbourhood (representatives of the private, public and voluntary sector). Unfortunately, the private sector is not represented in the sample since the private housing company active in the neighbourhood did not want to cooperate. Inhabitants were selected with the help of KRs and through snow-ball sampling. The KR5 and KR6 brought us into contact with members of the Roma community. The aim was to come to a diverse sample of residents on the basis of residential location, ethnic background and household composition. All residents were interviewed in or near their actual dwelling allowing to accurately observe their actual living conditions. As many residents were reluctant to talk to foreign researchers, we sought introduction and assistance by local social workers, who also helped with translation. Some of the respondents were recruited for a shorter interview on a more ad-hoc basis on the street as they were passing by. Participant observation was conducted in the area for a period of two months (January and February 2010) as part of a longer research stay of six months in Ostrava. Table 1: Overview of the key respondents (KR) Affiliation KR1 Researcher at the department of History, Ostrava University (OU)

KR2 Social Department, municipality of Silesian Ostrava

KR3 Department of technical facility management, municipality of Silesian Ostrava

5 KR4 ‘Life Together’ community center in Hrušov ‘Life Together’ community center in Hrušov KR5 NGO Life Together KR6 Social worker, Municipality of Silesian Ostrava KR 7 Roma advisor, Municipality of Silesian Ostrava KR 8 Labour office Ostrava (LOO)

KR 9 Organisation of former inhabitants of Hrušov KR 10 social worker Life Together Hrušov KR 11 Researcher at the social studies department, OU KR 12 Researcher at the department of human geography and regional development OU

A. Access to income

Access to income has been most severely affected by the transition from socialism to capitalism.- In socialist times, access to income through labour was regulated by state economic planners. In post-socialist times, this has been relegated to the market. The creation of a labour market resulted in increased income disparities, with, particularly in shrinking areas, a growing group of people unable to access a suitable income through the market. In Hrušov, privatization and ensuing closure of big industrial plants (coalmines and chemical industry) aggravated shrinkage as thousands of lower educated residents were laid off. Compared to socialist times, low skilled jobs have become scarce, and are paid close to the minimum wage (8.000 Crowns or 327€ in 2009). With competition for jobs growing, the Roma minority increasingly faces discrimination on the labour market. In response, lower skilled people and Roma in particular developed a number of alternative livelihood strategies. The dominant livelihood strategy has been to drop out of work, and rely on social benefits, as KR6 states: If I would make a comparison with nowadays; of the 20 000 inhabitants, 4000 are on social benefits. Under communism, we only had some people on social benefits. For instance a lady whose husband was in prison and didn’t have an income. Social benefits are sometimes higher, and most of the time more reliable than gaining a wage through labour, as KR5 testifies: The problem is when Roma people are employed by an employee, they are not assured to have a fixed income every month. Sometimes, business men don’t pay their employees because of administrative costs… they withdraw the money…sometimes for three months. The state guarantees a stable source of income. Paradoxically, increased commodification of labour has led to further decommodification of income as more and more people become benefit dependent. To curb this process, benefit access regulation changed, lowering benefit levels (Vecerník, 2008) or restricting them to specific groups. In 2006, child allowances were reserved for the most socially vulnerable (I13, KR11). From 2009 onwards, unemployed inhabitants of Silesian Ostrava are obliged to take part in the ‘voluntary work program’ and work at least 20 hours a month in order to sustain their level of benefits (125 euro a month). If not, only the existence minimum is remitted (81 euro a month) (Havlíčková, 2009). Again, people on benefits develop strategies to circumvent access restrictions: according

6 to KR8, a strategy to obtain higher benefits is not to get married. Child allowances for single mothers are higher. Three young Roma respondents of our sample (I1, I13, I14) were indeed cohabiting. Another set of strategies to improve access to income in the wake of labour market commodification has focused on improving one’s position on the local labour market. Strategies included trying to get (an extra) diploma or migrating to more accessible labour markets. Of the five respondents having a basic school certificate, two of them (I13, I14) followed distance education to obtain a high school certificate under the impulse of their employer (NGO Life Together). One person who had a vocational school certificate was enrolled in distance education to acquire a bachelor in economics. Respondent I1 (Roma, 38 years old, unemployed) testifies about his migration strategies: [Working in England]I wanted to do everything, if they said there is place in the factory, I went to the factory, if they wanted cleaning, I did cleaning,… [And in the Czech Republic it is harder to find a job?] Yes… I have a diploma… but it is not from a good school… I don’t find a job… I am not searching anymore now (…) In New-Zealand, I cleaned in a shop, and I went to people, to clean their house. And my husband [also a Roma] was a construction worker.

Others built on their reciprocal social networks to improve access to labour, as the husband of I13 (Roma, 36, teacher): My husband worked in the mine until it stopped in 1992. Now he is doing seasonal jobs outside. (...)When he went to search for a job, he first called. They said ‘yes yes, we have a job for you, you can come and we will see what we can do’. But then he went and they said it was ‘full’. Thanks to good contacts, he found this job now. A final strategy is to move into informal or even criminal jobs. These strategies might be considered exclusionaryas they are short term strategies which could lead to greater social exclusion in the long term. Lots of men are employed informally in construction and digging companies (KR4, KR5, KR8 and I20). Hrušov residents(both Roma and Non-Roma) are picked up in vans (I2, I25). Reciprocity plays an important role as employees face a number of uncertainties and try to reduce risks by informing themselves about reliable employers via acquaintances; [Did you ever have a bad experience with black work?] It happened to me that I went to work and I didn’t get the money… I14 (Roma, 28, employee at community centre) In the short term, it [black work] is beneficial but in the long term it is not… they don’t have social and health insurance. They don’t gain pension benefit. KR8 Other irregular practices are the scrapping of metal and drugdealing. The latter takes place in vacant flats in Liščina and in Marxův sad. Before [the crack dealers were imprisoned], it used to be normal that 30 taxis came at night and what do you think it is for? It used to be only marihuana. [Are they locals or…] Yes from Liščina… Roma [When did it start?] Only 2 years ago. I14 (Roma, 28, employee at community centre) B. Access to housing.

Gaining access to housing is a crucial dimension of economic integration. Already in socialist times, housing in Hrušov was in a state of neglect. With the introduction of

7 capitalism, privatization and decentralization increased the unfavourable position of the cadastre on the housing market. Under socialism, most of the houses were in the hands of the chemical plant, or under control of the mining company. Both were state enterprises, and access to housing was mainly regulated through state redistribution. After socialism, theirHrušov housing stock was taken over by two new actors: the municipality offering public housing (in Marxův sad and Hrušov-Stred) and the private housing company RPG (in Liščina). Both actors apply different housing allocation policies. RPG housing allocation strategies are a function of the rent they can earn. Rent regulations prevailed untill 2010. After 2010, rent levels were made fully dependent on the land rent and comfort level of the houses. As both are rather low in the historically shrinking and neglected neighbourhoods of Hrušov, RPG does not draw a very high income from its Liščina housing stock. Low rents refrain RPG from further investments in the area (Sejkora, 2009). Rather, Liščina is considered as a ‘dumping ground’ for unwanted customers who could decrease attractivity of more favourable parts of their housing stock. As KR 12 stated: ‘RPG does not know what to do with Liščina. Liščina is not on the agenda, [they say] we focus on new developments…we don’t get enough rent to do a lot.’ Roma, bearing the double stigma of being unreliable payers and unwelcome neighbours for Czech renters, appear to be strategically concentrated in Liščina by RPG. KR7 explains how concentrating problematic renters in derelict housing in Liščina is a strategy to shift them from RPG- to municipal housing:

RPG knew already for a longer time that people were not taking care of their houses. The residents were demolishing their houses from inside. They only waited until the conditions were so bad that they could say they didn’t have to help them anymore to arrange a new flat. [If they are expelled by RPG, do people come to the municipality afterwards to find a flat?] Mostly, yes. Several inhabitants (I1, I2, I14, I5) and KRs were convinced that RPG on purpose concentrated Roma in Liščina:

When they have a bad family [sic.] in a good quarter, I think it [concentrating the Roma] is a solution for them. KR3 A Roma respondent testifies of his discrimination: If gypsy people ask ‘I want to live in this street’, then RPG says ‘no, there is no place left, you must be here…’ you only get one house, if you don’t take it, then sorry. (…) It is not true that gypsies want to live together… I1 (Roma, 38, unemployed)

Their restriction to Liščina (figure 4), where RPG limits its investments in the stock to the minimum, severely hampers these people to access housing of suitable quality. I2 (Non-Roma, 75, retired mining worker) testifies:

I pay 8000 crowns per month [+/- 330 euro]. These flats are so-called first class (...) But the flats are not in a good condition. We have leaks, we have old windows which are not working very well. Figure 4: Private housing, Liščina (own material)

8 Although operating on a different basis, allocation of public housing by the municipality equally contributes to discrimination and concentration of vulnerable groups in Hrušov. In 2007, the municipality changed its allocation system from a waiting list to a ‘competitive system’ . KR3 and KR6 both acknowledge that the socially vulnerable have fewer and fewer chances of getting a municipal flat: When you asked for a flat and you were put on the waiting list, you had to give maybe 10 000 crowns; you had to pay five times the rent. But now, you have to give a ‘kouce’… it’s an amount of money to pay the reconstruction with. This is much more expensive… it can be more than 100 000 crowns. KR6 The criteria are above all… families with children and employed people. When you don’t work and when you are alone then you probably won’t get anything. [So then you have to rely on the private market…] …or you stay with your parents. [And single pensioners for instance?] Everyone has to know his own opportunities [respondent smiles]. KR3 The socially vulnerable only end up in housing for which the competition system is not organized or for which competition is easy to win. Four residents living in a municipal dwelling (I18, I9, I25, I10) indicated that they had no other option. Similarly, municipal housing in the area suffers from underinvestment (see figure 5). Several KRs stated that inhabitants are equally responsible for the bad condition of their dwellings; scrapping metal from one’s own dwelling is a frequently cited livelihood strategy to increase income (KR6). KR4 emphasized that the residents’ lack of attention for their living environment can be attributed to neglect by the municipality, who allegedly is even less willing or able to sanction residents than RPG.

Figure 5: Municipal housing, Hrušov-střed (own material) As both market- and redistribution oriented allocation systems to housing tend to ‘lock’ vulnerable groups in the derelict housing stock of Hrušov, a reciprocity based strategy was developed to change dwellings: ‘swapping’ apartments with acquaintances. Market processes continue playing a role since landlords have to agree with the exchange. Generally, approval is given only under condition of changes to the lease contract: These include rising rents and changing unlimited neverending lease right for one that is limited in time (Sýkora, 1999). In addition, informal financial compensations are often arranged between households to compensate for extra rooms. I13, I14 and I15 all testified of having to swap flats informally because of a low number of vacancies and low affordability.

C. Access to social and leisure facilities

Under socialism, leisure time activities, often organised by state firms gradually became an important instrument to socialize citizens into socialist society (Bernhardt & Reif, 2009). Long-term residents emphasize the prevalence of facilities in the neighbourhood before 1989. Under communism, ‘everything was provided for free’: school, doctors,... . Children did not get the chance to be involved into criminal activities since they all were enrolled in free sports and leisure activities organized by the school:

Young people have too much freedom [nowadays]. There used to be hobby activities they could go to. Nowadays, people don’t have money to put their children there. I20 (Roma, 56, Kiosk keeper)

9 Silesian Ostrava organized ski classes for Roma and Non-Roma children and children could learn to cook and sew in the ‘training flat’ in Michalkovice (KR6). Leisure facilities for adults were equally available:

The culture house closed in 1992. It received subsidies. Women could do aerobic, there was a library, a cinema, a restaurant. (...) And then the subsidies stopped. (...) It was built through ‘Action Z’ [a form of unpaid labour done by the citizens outside of the regular working hours]; the inhabitants of Liščina built it but it was the property of the town. I5 (Non-Roma, 65, retired mining worker)

Nowadays, parents have to pay for the food of their children at school, the buses are much more expensive and not buying a ticket results in fines, … (I25, I18). Post-socialism clearly reduced redistributive provision of leisure facilities all over the city, but in Hrušov, the effect was stronger due to its combination with long-term urban shrinkage. Closing facilities were not compensated for by sound market-based provisions since socially selective outmigration left only a small group of consumers behind, with insufficient purchasing power (see figure 6). In addition, declining municipal budgets led to higher spatial selectivity in the provision of public facilities, to the disadvantage of the shrinking cadastre of Hrušov.

Figure 6: Current shop in Hrušov-střed (own material) Civil society organizations partly tried to fill the gap. In Hrušov, ‘Life Together’ is particularly active. This NGO provides community centres and daycare for children in the neighbourhoods, and supports residents to find a job and decent housing. Funded by targeting funds (focusing on deprived target groups) however, their social goals are necessarily more restricted than former state services. As a consequence they do not succeed in attracting a high number of non-Roma visitors and accordingly mainly function as a meeting place of Roma.

A loss of opportunities for socializing, in combination with higher selectivity of civil society facilities and an influx of vulnerable groups seriously affected local social networks. Long-term residents, both Roma and Non-Roma, emphasized how community ties were tighter under communism (I2, I14, I5, I25, I10, I20, KR6).

[Was there a tight community in the 70’s and 80’s?] Yes, everyone lived together in the same, lively community. 90% of the men worked in the mine. The women worked in the chemical plant or in other factories. Roma women were cleaning in the mines. Till the late 80’s, it was a really nice living (…) The industry was not very nice, but concerning the people; everyone was holding together. I5 (Non-Roma, 65, retired mining worker)

I worked in the mine myself. I went to pubs together with my Czech colleagues, we visited each other… I could not observe problems… I kept on working in the mines after the fall of communism and the atmosphere changed… I heard comments about the Roma. KR7 (Roma)

10 The fact that most of the socially vulnerable Roma were newcomers did drive a wedge through the community. Some respondents make a clear distinction between yesterday’s ‘good Roma’ and today’s ‘bad Roma’.

I live here already for 40 years so I like to live here. I have never been a racist but the past few years, I became one because the Roma came here. In 1997, Roma people came here because of the flood. Before, only about 10 Roma families lived here. The children went out and played with each other… after the flood, all the problematic Roma came because the municipality moved them here. I5 (Non-Roma, 65, retired mining worker)

Some Czech inhabitants stated they intentionally avoid getting into contact with Roma neighbours (especially I2 and I5). Distancing is a strategy to avoid negative interactions: ‘I don’t care about them…I close my eyes and ears… I don’t care! (I25)’, ‘I just walk straight ahead (I2)’ and ‘I go to certain streets and I avoid other ones (I9)’.

To compensate for the loss of community networks, ties within the same ethnic group and family grow stronger. Most respondents indicate that they only have strong ties with kin living in the neighbourhood, and that social ties have become increasingly instrumental. Intergenerational support among kin is very high and makes up for exclusion from the market and redistributive channels. Mutual childcare (KR2; I1; I18; I10) and lending money are frequently mentioned reciprocal strategies. Children living abroad, send money to their parents in Hrušov (KR11, I20). Roma in particular feel morally obliged to help kin;

[I didn’t notice Roma homeless at the train station in the evening nor at the self-built houses spread in the city. Is homelessness also prevalent among Roma in Ostrava?] [the translator is surprised and smiles] We must help… if you are from the same family… you just do it… people don’t mind to live with many people in one room… we just say they can come. Translator of KR1 (Roma)

Part VII. Conclusion The aim of this study was to analyze spatial and social effects of urban shrinkage. Although shrinkage was introduced as a more neutral concept than urban decline, so far- so far, few studies attempted to objectively analyze the effects of shrinkage on every day life in detail. . In addition, this paper contextualizes shrinkage. Shrinkage does not occur in a social vacuum. Its effects depend upon its intersection with concurrent processes and the regulatory context they occur in. In our case study, shrinkage combines with processes of de-industrialisation, post-socialist transition and interethnic politics to alter the opportunity structure for economic integration in Hrušov. Moreover, to understand the effects of shrinkage on everyday life, it is necessary to consider individuals and households not as passive victims of the process, but to take their agency serious. Individuals negotiate the effects of macro structural processes like shrinkage by developing alternative strategies to make a living. Consequently, the combined processes of shrinkage, de-industrialisation, post-socialism and interethnic politics resulted in shifting balances between different modes of economic integration.

11 The combined effect of post-socialist restructuring and ‘planned’ neighbourhood shrinkage significantly altered the way and the extent to which people were able to support their livelihood in various important fields of everyday life. All Hrušov residents, and the Roma minority in particular, experienced a decrease in economic integration and had to alter their livelihood strategies in response. In relation to income, post-socialist commodification led to the marketization of labour. As a consequence of urban shrinkage, demand for lower skilled labour declined dramatically which resulted, paradoxically, in a greater dependence on redistribution to gain access to income. In addition, the effect of urban shrinkage ‘planning’, as expressed in a declining interest by state and private actors for the neighbourhood of Hrušov, increased the need and possibility for informal and criminal market oriented survival strategies. Post-socialist restructuring resulted in decentralization (from the national to the local state) and privatization of housing (from state or state company housing to private housing). The combination with shrinkage led to a concentration of socially vulnerable groups (in particular Roma) and continued neglect of the Hrušov housing stock. Consequently, access to decent housing through market or redistribution decreased, while reciprocal strategies to achieve better housing conditions are equally impaired. Finally, post-socialist transition led to commodification of social and leisure facilities. In combination with shrinkage, this resulted in the complete disappearance of social infrastructure. . Leisure facilities disappeared making it more difficult to spend leisure time collectively with community members. Attempts by civil society to make up for the loss, face tight, and more targeted budgets. The most important initiative in the area, Life Together, focuses on Roma discrimination and consequently fails to attract many non- Roma clients. This decline in infrastructure undermines community life. Moreover, evolutions on the housing and labour market are driving a wedge between Roma and Czech residents. Family ties have grown more significant to compensate for the loss of community, but have become more instrumental too: more than before, the family is relied upon for childcare, housing and access to income… Our study challenges overly positive readings of shrinkage. At the level of everyday life, shrinkage clearly has negative effects in certain neighbourhoods, especially in post- socialist countries where the transition to capitalism already increased social and spatial disparities. Shrinkage might pose considerable challenges for prevalent planning paradigms (see Pallagst, 2010). In particular, our study identifies undeniable puzzles for ‘just city’ shrinkage planning (Fainstein, 2005). Whereas social justice is already a tough ideal to accomplish under conditions of urban growth and expanding resources, it amounts to a conundrum in shrinking cities where all sorts of competitive social processes set in over the distribution of scarce resources. Part VIII. Acknowledgments This article benefited greatly from discussions with the session participants at the Shrinkage in Europe conference, Amsterdam. Special thanks also go to Anna Krausova, Pavel Bednař, Petr Rumpel and Iva Ticha for their research assistance and to Anna Burešova for the translations.

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