WHAT KIND OF POLISH HOUSE ARE YOU - A THREAD

1. THE BLOK

You're the everyman. Probably a little older. You got your job and your house from the state but insist that you're a self-made man. You probably have a mustache, vote PiS and drive a Skoda Fabia. 2. URBAN KOSTKA

Unlike your cousin from the blok, you often have actually achieved a lot in life through entrepreneurship. You had an office job or a small business. Your wife worked for the city. Loyal Civic Platform voter.

I usually post here about public transit but the fact remains that passenger cars are by far the most popular transit mode in Poland.

So let's take a look at the busiest roads in Poland. A short thread! 🧵--> 1. The busiest road in Poland, by far, is the S8 in Warsaw. It's somewhat controversial as it cuts through many neighborhoods but for now, it's the only bypass road Warsaw has. Average vehicle traffic is 69,000-198,000 vehicles/day and the busiest section is in a glass tunnel

While we are at discussing the superiority of Polish-made buses over the American-made ones, can we discuss the interior layout in American buses which is insane? A few posts --->

https://twitter.com/750V_DC/status/1736386476437303415

I've moved and changed from cycling to taking the Muni bus to work which got me thinking about how suboptimal the bus experience is in the US.

1. Plastic seats are EXTREMELY uncomfortable. Your bum slides on them like on ice. Bring me some cloth seating - comfier and less slid-y

I'm bored before my evening call at work so let me do a quick thread on my subjective opinions of Polish cities:

1. WARSAW

Fantastic city. I used to hate it (as every Silesian should), then I've moved there and fell in love. A true metropolis. Highly recommend, 9/10 2. KRAKÓW

An eternal disappointment. I remember the first time I went there as a kid: expected a medieval, Nuremberg-style city, instead it looks like Gliwice. Also people are very mean. But it's very dynamic and developing, I have to give them that. And foreigners love it. 4/10

65 years ago today, by the decree of the Council of the State of Poland, the city called Stalinogród got back its traditional name, Katowice.

It was called Stalinogród between March 7, 1953 and December 10, 1956.

It's a scary and funny history why and how that happened? 🧵 It obviously starts with Stalin and his death on March 5, 1953. In the atmosphere of overwhelming terror, everyone wanted to show how much they loved the "father and teacher of the working people", and Polish communists were no different.

It's Saturday, so it's time for a thread 🧵 about an urban topic in the Polish setting.

Today - zoning and spatial development!

How does zoning work in Poland? Keep reading --> Let's start at the top. Every 10-15 years, the national government creates a document called "The Conception of Spatial Development of the Country". It's a strategic document that outlines global trends such as climate change or immigration and how do they affect Poland.

My thread about pasteloza (see below) has proven quite controversial, so to ease the mood a little, here's a story about what's *inside* these buildings, seen through the lens of The Sims 2 :)

https://twitter.com/YIMBYPoland/status/1451991572686401538

MarianoaItaliano, a Wykop user (Wykop is kinda like Reddit in Poland) is a Polish emigre who decided he'll start creating typical Polish interiors from the 1990s and early 2000s and publishing them on Wykop

It's Saturday, so it's time for a thread 🧵 on another Polish urban phenomena - *pasteloza*!

If you have ever been to Poland and some other Eastern Bloc countries, perhaps you've noticed that the socialist-era housing estates in Poland tend to be more... colorful. But why? First, let's dissect the word *pasteloza*.

It's made up of pastel - a painting technique but in PL it's more known as a type of crayons that all Polish children use in art class - and "oza", as in "osis". Pasteloza (pastelosis) therefore sounds like a disease (think kinetosis)

One of my favorite Youtube Polish channels, Architecture is a Good Idea, did a clip on *urbanistyka łanowa* (field urbanism) in Polish suburbs and since I wanted to do a thread on it too, here it comes!

Why are all new housing estates in Polish suburbs long and narrow? 🧵 Let's start with understanding what a *łan* is. Historically, it has been a measure of area equivalent to a feudal peasant's farm.

In the modern sense, though, it usually means a very long and narrow farm plot that has access to the road on its narrow side.

This article pops up here and there on both leftist and housing Twitter and every time I'm so infuriated by all the wrong tankie takes I decided to write a short thread about housing construction in socialist Poland

https://twitter.com/WIRED/status/1378918910112727042

Myth 1: Everyone got free housing in socialism.

There are two claims here: everyone got housing and the housing was free. Both are wrong.

Let's start with the second one. You absolutely paid for the apartment - and you paid upfront!

I know there's a lot of anti-zoning sentiment in the US but I want to point out arguments for zoning, including SFH. In Poland, zoning varies from non-existent to lax. As a result, Poland is zoned for 330 million people - nearly 10x its population. Some cities are zoned for 20x. Lack of stricter zoning causes its own unique problems, starting with infrastructure planning. What size of water pipe do you need? Should you plan for a tram line or will bus suffice? These are not trivial questions.

So Trudeau noted the Black Ribbon Day (based) and obviously all the tankies, DSA types and Canadian socialists completely lost it in the replies.

But I think it's worth mentioning where is this reaction coming from and why Canada recognizes this day more than the US - a 🧵 1/

https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau/status/1429823558168064005

Let's start with demographics. In 1924 the US basically closed itself for immigration from Slavic countries, so people from there deflected to Canada (and also Brazil). As a result, Canadian whites are way more Slavic than US whites, particularly Ukrainian and Polish. 2/