Housing in Times of Change

We invite you to the lecture by Kateryna Malaia, which continues the public program, "Let's Have a City".

Housing serves as a lens through which to understand historical change. Traditional narratives about historical events often focus on dates, those in power, and larger-than-life phenomena—democracy, socialism, authoritarianism, modernization, and so on. 

This conversation, on the other hand, will focus on a monumental historical rupture—the collapse of the USSR—through the lens of an urban apartment. We will explore how the daily lives of post-Soviet people changed, and with them, their lives.

The Soviet Union collapsed, but housing remained. And not just Soviet housing, but also housing from earlier periods, radically altered by communist standards of nine square meters per person. How did our relationship with housing change after the collapse of the USSR, and what role did our homes play in shaping us as no longer Soviet citizens? Is there anything in common between renovating a Khrushchev-era apartment and an Austrian apartment?

The lecture will outline the methodological challenges of micro-historical approaches to architecture: tracking and documenting changes in everyday life, as well as ways to address them. Through the lens of everyday practices, we will trace both the continuity and the changes in the flow and form of urban housing during perestroika and after Ukraine gained independence. We will discuss kitchens, partitions, drywall, and renovation as a habitus.

Credits

Cover Image: Renovations / photo by Kateryna Malaia