Informal housing in the framework of housing and welfare systems in post-communist croatia

The object of this thesis is informal construction in South-East European countries during the post-communist transition, in particular the analysis of the metropolitan area of the city of Split. We will approach the issue of informal construction as a complex path-dependent phenomenon that cannot be separated from the social conditions, which generated it, nor from the institutional context in which it is embedded. In this thesis, we first discuss the transition of the welfare model in post-communist countries and highlight the specific characteristics of Croatia. Attention is paid to the different ways in which the diverse housing systems, as part of wider welfare systems, influence the phenomena of informal construction. The analysis is conducted at the city level in order to define informal construction in relation to the housing provision. Secondly, we address the problem of the definition of informal construction by looking at the following variable: ownership over land, the relation to the land use regulation, legality of the built object and its expansion, the current use of the object, permanency of the residence and as the last feature, whether it is built through the self promotion. A typology of informal construction is built and is tested in a survey of different neighborhood of the city of Split. Thirdly, a survey is carried out on the different typologies of informal construction. The focus of the survey is on the ways in which different social groups in the society benefit or are damaged by the phenomenon of informal construction and on the different possibilities and paths to the legalization process. An additional outcome is a refinement of the typology for further research on the topic of informal construction.