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Changes in Rural Housing Conditions in Yugoslavia (Period 1900—1960)
Petar Maković
Sažetak
The author takes several basic data as starting points for his further considerations - today on about 2.620,000 peasants’ farms in Yugoslavia live approximately 12.567,000 inhabitants. If we add to this inhabitants in, rural areas who are not engaged in agriculture, then we can state that about 73% of the total Yugoslav
population live in rural areas. The total value of peasants' farm-buildings are estimated on 8,268 milliards dinars.
In the second part of the article the author informs us very extensively about the main characteristics of housing construction in rural areas. From this part of the article we cite some important fragments:
- In the past the housing construction in rural areas took place more or less spontaneously and in an unorganized way. The rapid postwar economic development of the whole country caused a faster construction of a more qualitative buildings in villages. Houses have been built in a city's fashion, more care is devoted to the interior and primitive forms of living in houses gradually diminish.
- The general characteristic of rural houses is their mulifunctional use. Nevertheless, this s.c. mixed type of peasants' houses is not evenly spread over the country. It is dominant in regions north from rivers Sava and Dunav, while in other regions every homestead usually consists of separate building each designed for its own purpose. Today about 35% of the total farm-buildings area is used for people's living, 46% for cattle breeding and 19% for storing crops, tools, other implements etc.
- Houses in rural areas were bullt out of several kinds of material but stone and brick are dominating. In mountainous parts of the country up to the recent peasants used to construct their homes and other necessary buildings from wooden material mostly. Today wood is being used very rarely. Along with the process of faster and more modern construction in villages, relocation of rural settlement
is taking place. Villages settle near rivers banks, valleys and communication intersections.
- Significant aspect of changes in the standard of housing in villages reveals itself in a rapid electrification of rural households. As an illustration of this the author quotes the figure that till 1940. only 6% of rural hoseholds in Yugoslavia were electrified but in 1963 that percentage rose to 54. Slovenia has the largest number of electrified rural households (80%) while Kosovo and Metohia the smallest (14%). Electrification has caused higher rates of investments of households in equipping their homes with furniture, electric appliances, and the like. And really in the last 8 years expenses per flat of a single household increased for more then twice calculated by the current prices. It is interesting that such expenses grow faster
in villages then in towns. For instance open fire-places in peasants’ houses are getting removed speedily (the number of 1.460,000 open fire-places in 1951. was cut down on 682,000 in 1963.). At the same time about half a million of peasants households bought kitchen-ranges.
— These changes in rural housing construction, concludes the author, have many positive consequencies such as greater activization of agriculturists in achieving common social goals of general progress, gradual lessening of migrations from villages to towns and consequently of actual needs for noneconomic investments.
In connection with the latter the author states that taking into account only those inhabitants living in villages but employed in towns the society would need for their removal and settlement in towns to spend more then 3,000 milliards dinare.
Furthermore the urbanization and the betterment of housing conditions in villages contribute significantly to the process of gradual overcoming of the existing gap between village and town too.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
118160
URI
Datum izdavanja:
24.3.1964.
Posjeta: 1.540 *