Public, private and the pandemic: Everyday life in large housing estates during the COVID-19 lockdowns

Abstract

This paper examines how the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped everyday life within five large housing estates (LHEs) in three major Czech cities: Prague, Brno and Ostrava. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 72 residents, the research explores the dynamics of coping with confinement within the limited space of apartments and their surrounding neighbourhoods. The findings highlight the shifts in the everyday routines of several residents of five LHEs and changes in how they perceived and evaluated their LHEs as a place of residence. Namely, the paper focuses on (temporary) changes in residents' uses and interpretations of public and private spaces and on the shifting boundary between the two. Moreover, it discusses the dynamic perception of “home” as shaped by external events. The paper thus contributes to two ongoing academic debates about, first, the impacts of the pandemic on various urban environments around the world and their residents, and second, the quality of life in the often-criticized 20th century modernist mass housing estates and their resilience in the face of current global challenges. It highlights the role of green areas, the flexible use of public spaces and the availability of local services in modernist mass housing areas – in post-socialist cities and beyond.