SOCIAL-JUSTICE AND THE POST-SOCIALIST CITY

The collapse of socialism in eastern Europe and the former USSR raises social justice questions, which tend to be overlooked in the contemporary preoccupation with economic and political reform. A theoretical perspective derived from the work of John Rawls is outlined to provide a framework against which the distributive consequences of change might be judged. This is followed by observations on some of the outcomes of the introduction of privatization and market relations in the transformation of the socialist city. It is suggested that, for the post-socialist city to demonstrate superiority over those it is replacing, considerations of social justice must be integral to the process of change.