Darbina, G.

SHS Web of Conferences

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The construction of new private suburban houses at the Pieriga (the suburban zone surrounding the capital city of Riga) that was affected by the land market created building territories that do not have a common planning or infrastructure. The suburbanization process of Pieriga took place on the territories of agriculture, former gardening societies and partly at the forests. By creating the building territories that lacked an architectonic or a social conception, it was forgotten that the transformation of the land includes not only the visual changes but also the changes of lifestyles. Because of the growth of the number of the inhabitants in Pieriga, the commuting to Riga and to other cities is also increasing. A quantitative research work shows that in Latvia Pieriga is a desired place of residence. The life in the suburb has become a form of the consumption of the status that is still built on the hopes of and upward mobility

G. Darbina

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Challenges of post-socialism suburb: The case of Pieriga

Darbina G.

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Darbiņa, G.

Riga Stradins university

SHS Web of Conferences 2, 00010 (2012)DOI: 10.1051/shsconf/20120200010C© Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2012Challenges of post-socialism suburb: The case of PierigaG. DarbinaRı̄ga Stradiņš University, LatviaAbstract. The construction of new private suburban houses at the Pieriga (the suburban zone surroundingthe capital city of Riga) that was affected by the land market created building territories that do not havea common planning or infrastructure. The suburbanization process of Pieriga took place on the territoriesof agriculture, former gardening societies and partly at the forests. By creating the building territories thatlacked an architectonic or a social conception, it was forgotten that the transformation of the land includesnot only the visual changes but also the changes of lifestyles. Because of the growth of the number of theinhabitants in Pieriga, the commuting to Riga and to other cities is also increasing. A quantitative researchwork shows that in Latvia Pieriga is a desired place of residence. The life in the suburb has become a formof the consumption of the status that is still built on the hopes of and upward mobility.Key words: suburb, suburbanization, migration, private suburban house, solidarityBefore the economical crisis many Latvian families were striving to acquire their own house: duringthe soviet period there were families that shared their houses with other generations. During the lastyears the biggest growth of the number of the inhabitants related to the construction of new houseswas observed at Pieriga – the suburb of the Riga city. During the year 2009 over 13000 inhabitantscame to live at the Pieriga’s statistical region. The expansion of the suburb during the last decade wasalso affected by the easily accessible mortgages. During the economical growth the suburbanizationof Pieriga was also facilitated by migrating middle class families, because the estate prices were veryhigh. The life at the suburb became a way of consumption of the status that were based on the upwardmobility.The research work of Contor on 1084 regions of the European Union showed that Pieriga was the 6thmost perspective to have an economical growth (LETA, 22.01.2010). However the construction of newhouses and the rapid economical growth has taken place because of the influence of the land market andit created scattered construction territories that do not have a common planning or an infrastructure. Italso created the so called meadow-villages that are not developing anymore. Now after the administrativeterritorial reform of the year 2009, the Pieriga is formed by 17 areas: Adazi, Babite, Baldone, Carnikava,Garkalne, Incukalns, Krimulda, Kekava, Malpils, Marupe, Olaine, Ropazi, Salaspils, Saulkrasti, Seja,Sigulda, Stopini.The aim of the research work is to study how the social processes of Pieriga are affected by the newconstruction.The research work is based on the analysis and the conclusions of two other researches: “Thedistribution of the population of Pieriga” (Pužulis and Šķiņķis, 2009) and the “Attitude of the inhabitantsto the life in their local government” (SKDS, 2009).The main terms are the inner migration of a country and suburbanization.The inner migration of a country – the inhabitants are migrating only in their own country. The innermigration doesn’t change the number of the inhabitants in the whole country, although it changes theterritorial placement. The country affects the progress of the migration directly or indirectly. The processof the migration is determined by the distribution of the investments and differentiation and from thestandard of living of the inhabitants (Abercrombie et al., 1997).This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0, which permitsunrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Article available at http://www.shs-conferences.org or http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20120200010SHS Web of ConferencesSuburbanization or the urbanization to the suburbs is a development process of the suburbssurrounding the territories of the big cities and metropolises (CEMAT Glossary). In the suburbs peopledo not aim for the diversity of the social contacts that they previously acquired at the society of thevillage or the ambit.Urbanization and the modern societyThe urbanization and the suburbanization have been and still are being researched very often. Theclassics of the sociology Ferdinand Tonnies and Georg Simmel examined the social and thepsychological changes, brought by the development of urbanization and capitalism in the Europe(Morrison, 2006). Emile Durkheim studied the initial collapse of the bonds of the community affected bythe divisions of the labor in society, as well as the changes of the common conscience and the solidarity,that affected the formation of the cities. The theoretical work of Emile Durkheim “Division of laborin society” was the first one who started the way of thinking about the development of the society,by looking at the links between the individuals on the society, as well as the mutual links betweenthe individuals. Durkheim also studied how this connection affects the cohesion of the society. ‘Themain problem of the research is “why do individuals, while becoming more autonomous, depend moreupon society? How can they be at once more individual and solidary?” (Morrison, 2006, p.128). Theterm “solidarity” is comprehended by Durkheim in various ways. Durkheim describes two differentsolidarities: organic and mechanical and identifies two different societies that correspond to differentforms of solidarity: the segmented society and the advanced society. The segmented society is made ofsmall but mutually connected groups in a defined social territory. Here the solidarity is mechanical –it is based on roots of the common identity and the individual is directly connected to the societythrough the dependence on it. The collective conscience is based on the religious standards and performsthe regulation functions of the individuals (Morrison, 2006). The main characteristics of the advancedsociety are based on the bigger number of the inhabitants, which are scattered in a larger geographicalspace, as well as on the development of the near cities and divisions of labor. In these conditions thesociety has a wider field of view and it is more differenced. The advanced society is characterized bythe organic solidarity that is based on a high density of the inhabitants and the development of the cities(Morrison, 2006). In this society the individuals are more mutually connected through agreements, notthrough feelings and duties, and the place in the society is defined by the employment no by the familybonds (Lin and Mole, 2005).The suburbanization processes in PierigaThe Research on the structure of the distribution of the population in Pieriga (Pužulis and Šķiņķis,2009) was done in the supervision of the Riga planning region in summer and autumn of year 2009.It was the first attempt to study the structure of the distribution of the population as an element ofthe distribution of the population in Pieriga in the years of independence. The suburbanization processof Pieriga district took place on the territories of agriculture, former gardening societies and partly atthe forests. New urbanized territories are forming around Riga with functional and landscape features.A short description of the territories:Marupe – a territory that is located near Riga and has two historical tendencies of urbanization-broadening the physical borders of Riga and the development and progression of Jaunmarupe – avillage of Pieriga. Between these two poles a transitional territory is shaping, that is developingas a new territory of economy and distribution of population without a status of settlement.“Olaines darzini” – corporatives of horticulture that are physically isolated in a forest far from othersettlements – a partial transformation to a settlement with a status of village is characteristic to thisterritory. Kekava-Valdlauci – a typical urbanization territory of Pieriga is located next to the Riga-Bauska road. Adazi-Carnikava – “the new city” in Pieriga that is developing with a center in Adazi00010-p.2Int. Conf. SOCIETY. HEALTH. WELFARE; Congr. of Rehabilitation Doctors of Latviaand an unstructurised construction in almost every part of the local government territory. Suzi-Bergi – adirect territory of Pieriga with a varied history of transformation and problems. Ropazi – a more distantterritory of Pieriga with many formally built perspective villages and small tendencies of development.Saulkrastu darzini – a territory of corporatives of horticulture in the rural area of Saulkrasti, with aperspective status of village (Pužulis and Šķiņķis, 2009).When evaluating the new construction in Pieriga, we have to conclude that during the last years thelocal governments have had a misinterpreted comprehension about the development of territories thatwas based on the speculative business of the market and was often supplemented with the inabilityto work with the investors. The result is that Pieriga is formed by a network of a distribution ofpopulation, that is formed by each of the local government and that has inner competition. By makingthe construction territories that had no architectonic or social conception in Pieriga, it was ignored thatthe transformation includes not only the visual changes but also the changes of lifestyles (Pužulis andŠķiņķis, 2009).Within the framework of the doctoral work, the author of the research work together with theresearch center SKDS made a quantitative study on the residents’ attitude to the life in Pieriga (Rigadistrict). The results of the research work show that in general the inhabitants are satisfied with the lifein their local government: the vast majority (81%) would recommend their friends to life in Pieriga.Residents were mainly satisfied with the ecological environment (on average 81% of the residents ofthe Riga district were satisfied), the commodity and the cleanliness (80%), the development of thecity and the district (74%). But the possibilities to find a job were evaluated the most critically – only8% were satisfied with it. In order to compare the satisfaction with these spheres a satisfaction indexwas developed: an index that shows the average, positive and negative evaluation difference in theanalyzed spheres in every local government. The data show that the highest satisfaction index wasin the Babite parish (47 points), but the lowest in Olaine parish (16 points). The study also showsthat the inhabitants of the Riga district evaluate their possibilities to change the decisions that affecttheir lives and environments of the local governments very sceptically: on average only 10% of therespondents thought that they can change these decisions to great extent, but most of the people (59%)said that they think that they can affect these decisions only slightly. When describing the connectionwith their residence, 54% of the respondents said that they attend the cultural and entertainment activitiesin their local government and 5% of the respondents are engaged in a non governmental organization,congregation or amateur performances of their local government.The comparatively weak bond to the place of residence can be explained by the specific patternof creation of the suburban zones in Latvia. Many families have loans and low incomes. Thus manyfamilies by moving to a suburb reach a downward mobility. The quantitative research work shows thatPieriga is a desired place of residence in Latvia but a deeper comprehension and attitude on their placeof residence, as well as the social bonds between the inhabitants will be possible to clarify only bymaking deeper interviews.The concept of the suburb as the place of residenceThe suburbs have developed differently in different countries. A research shows a concept of an idealhouse of the London suburb that emerges at the same time as the consumer society in England duringyears 1920.-1950. at the same time when the concept of the consumer housewife developed.Approximately the same time – 70 years ago in Pieriga in a forest an unusual village, called “Uzvaraslidums” (victory clearance) was built. The construction was monitored by the whole country. In 1936 inthe halfway from Riga to Jelgava at the Olaine parish it was decided to build a complex of new housesin an area of 250 hectares. A new straight road between the highroad and the village was also built. 160construction workers saw the wood and left it for the next owner and then in the right time chopped thewood for the houses. About 70 men dug the ditches. In “Uzvaras lı̄dumi” the households were intendedto be built for the participants of the Latvian fights of the freedom. About 100 applicants signed up and00010-p.3SHS Web of Conferences16 families were chosen. The project intended that there was an alley to every yard, by the gate on theleft side there was place for a lime tree, an oak on the right side, a place for the fruit garden at the southside and at the north side a greenery of firs. A place for the mast for the flag was also intended. Themigrants from different districts of Latvia were able to become friends, helped each other and there is aspecial aura, that can be still felt at this village, surrounded by the forest (Darbiņa, 2009).The Russian research worker T.Barcunova has studied the concept of the private house incorrespondence with post soviet nostalgia in Novosimbirsk and concluded that there is another tendency:the overstatement of the comprehension of home. It is connected with the discourse of the privacyand the remaking of the social field. Barcunova has studied the Anastasia movement, that can be seenin many cities in Russia, and its social praxis on a model of village, that is build of many privatehouses – family manors. The ambitions in the Russian publishing to construct a house as a symbol, thatwould be able to stand against the social uncertainty started at the 90-ties in correspondence with theprivatization of the land. The main thought of the Anastasia movement: to create family houses withoutthe characteristics of a city in suburbs or in territories that are further from the city. The sense of theconception: a healthy person can originate and be born only in a house that has been built by his parents.The cottage “daca” of the soviet times in this conception is the prototype of the family villa. Unlike the“dača” cottages, the conception of the family villa intends a life of all generations together and the landof the family villas not being used in a utilitarian way. It offers a free lifestyle without a work in thesoviet spirit for growing the food (Barcunova, 2005).During the last twenty years the concepts of belonging to a place have changed. “Local is as muchglobal as it is local” – the classical message of Doreen Massey (Massey, 1991; McDowell et al., 2006) issupplemented by the view of Mike Savage (2005) that the idea of the community and the belonging to aplace should be replaced with a concept of the elective belonging, at least at the researches on the middleclass. The belonging to the place of residence for the urban middle class is not connected with beingborn or the family house. It is chosen in correspondence with the story of the life and the incomings.The belonging to the place is connected with the self evaluation, the possibilities of raising the childrenand giving them education (McDowell et al., 2006). It characterizes the analyzed advanced society byDurkheim as organic solidarity, where the place in the society is determined by the professional work,not by the family.During the last years the researches of the suburbs have brought the attention to the shuttlemigration – a short term movement there and back that is the most widespread model in the Europeanmigration after the year 1989. Very characteristic for the suburbs is the commuter – a person whoregularly goes to the work and back by train or car. People live in mobility, as long as it is possible.Simmel calls them the “postmodern migrants” (Scaff, 2011). This kind of lifestyle often ends withimmigration, in order to improve or preserve the quality of life at home. Leaving the house and returningbecomes a strategy of “existence at home” and actually is an alternative to migration.ConclusionsIn the West suburbs historically developed as upper and middle-class residential areas where womenwere primarily seen as housewives, were not expected to work outside home and primarily wereseen as objects rather than subjects of status consumption. Transformation of the urban space due tosuburbanization has been among the most noticeable processes that have marked the end of socialism inEast- and Central Europe. A suburban family house surrounded by a green lawn has come to symbolize anew era as well as a means to claim status and respectability. An active property development in Pieriga(the suburban zone surrounding the capital city of Riga) began at the turn of the new millennium whenthe real estate market was booming. In recent years about ten thousands inhabitants a year have movedto Pierı̄ga, from either the capital or other regions of the country. The outcome was dozens of widelyscattered real property clusters, built with no overarching communal development plan and with noneor underdeveloped infrastructure. Very characteristic for the suburbs is the commuter – a person who00010-p.4Int. Conf. SOCIETY. HEALTH. WELFARE; Congr. of Rehabilitation Doctors of Latviaregularly goes to the work and back by train or car. People live in mobility, as long as it is possible.Pierı̄ga, nevertheless, had become a desired place of residence, as a survey of attitudes towards thecommunity life in municipalities demonstrated.References[1] Abercrombie, N., Hill, S., Turner, B.S. (1997) The Penguin Dictionary Of Sociology. UK: GreatBritain Penguin Books.[2] Darbiņa, G. (sast.,red.) (2009) Idejas labākai dzı̄vei Pierı̄gā. Rı̄ga: Rı̄gas rajona padome.[3] Lin, J., Mole, C. (eds.) (2005) The Urban Sociology. Reader . Routledge.[4] McDowell, L.,Ward, K., Perrons, D., Ray, K., Fagan, C. (2006) Place, Class and Local Circuitsof Reproduction:Exploring the Social Geography of Middle-class Childcare in London. UrbanStudies, November 2006; 43(12), p. 2163-2182.[5] Morrison, K. (2006) Marx, Durkheim, Weber: formation of modern social thought . The Divisionof Labour in Society (p. 128-151), SAGE Publications.[6] Pužulis, A., Šķiņķis, P. (2009) Pierı̄gas apdzı̄vojuma struktūras izpēte. www.rpr.gov.lv/pub/index.php?id=239[7] Savage, M., Bagnall, G., Longhurst, B. (2005) Globalisation and Belonging. London: Sage.[8] Scaff, L.A. (2011) Georg Simmel. In The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Major Social Theorists:Classical Social Theorists, Volume I (eds G.Ritzer and J.Stepnisky). Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford,UK.[9] Barqyhoba, T.V (2005) Moi adrec – i dom, i ylica. Othoxehi medy pokolehimib poctcobetckii period i izmehehie kohcepcii zagorodhogo doma (ha primeredbiehi Ahactaciiceb). .», 14-17 cehtbr 2005 goda. Irkytck.[10] Commin, the Baltic Spatial Conceptshare. http://commin.org/en/bsr-glossaries/national-glossaries/latvia/suburbanizacija-urbanizacija-uz-nomalem.html[11] www.leta/lat/arhivsn00010-p.5

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Challenges of post-socialism suburb: The case of Pieriga

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