After the Second World War, Yugoslavia's small regional cities represented a challenge for the new socialist state. These cities' older buildings, local historic sites, and low-quality housing clashed with socialism's promises and ideals. How would the state transform these cities' everyday neighborhoods? In the Slovene republic's capital city of Ljubljana, the Trnovo neighborhood embodied this challenge through its modest housing, small medieval section, vast gardens, acclaimed interwar architecture, and iconic local reputation. Imagining Slovene Socialist Modernity explores how urban planners, architects, historic preservationists, neighborhood residents, and even folklorists transformed this beloved neighborhood into a Slovene socialist city district. Aplenc demonstrates that this urban redesign centered on republic-level interpretations of a Yugoslav socialist built environment, versus a re-envisioned Slovene national past or design style. This interdisciplinary study sheds light on how Yugoslav state socialism operated at the republic level, within a decentralized system, and on the diverse forces behind success or failure. With its focus on vernacular architecture, small-scale historic sites, single-family homes, and illegal housing, this book expands our understanding of the everyday built environment in socialist cities.
Veronica E. Aplenc is Senior Program Manager at the Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She received her M.S. in historic preservation and Ph.D. in folklore and folklife from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests include the everyday built environment, historic preservation, and the intersection of the traditional with the socialist modern. Her work on the everyday built environment in socialist Yugoslavia has been supported by IREX and Fulbright grants. In addition to her scholarship, she has collaborated on international research teams, participated in international teaching exchanges, and serves as a preservation and planning consultant.
Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Visions of Upscale Socialist Modernity: "Above-Standard" High-Rises in the Trnovo Neighborhood's Historic Core 2. High Socialism's Promises for Socialist Living: Murgle's Single-Family Homes and the Individual's Paradise 3. Where the Socialist Folk Live: Rakova Jelsa's Vernacular but Unsanctioned Architecture Pushes the Boundaries of the Socialist City in High Socialism 4. The Historic District That Wasn't: History Revisited and Joze Plecnik's Eternal Architecture Surpassed Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index
