Maybe this is one of my stupid theories, or maybe its the greatest idea ever imagined.

After scanning over photos of commieblocks from Former Yugoslavia, Eastern Europe, the Caucuses, and Central Asia, I noticed a strange trend. We all know of course that when communism fell, there were winners and there were loosers (some economies went up and some went down). Generally I noticed that the blocks in fast growing, former satellite EE countries were better quality than those in the former Soviet Union itself. Considering that commieblocks were mostly all built during the same time period. In general I'd say commies in the Former SFRJ, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Czechia were the best quality overall. In the former USSR, commies looked much more run down and decayed, but even there it has a hierarchy on quality. Generally the most prosperous countries (per capita that is) have best quality, while least prosperous have worst quality. Who what I want to understand is, was the difference in quality because is some countries, construction of commieblocks was just better quality overall, or was the gap in quality widened due to economic upheaval, which could have led to a possible neglect. (This should in no way apply to new commieblocks, but mainly to those from the 70s and 80s)

Here some photos to visualize what I mean.

Former SFRJ
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/850105.jpg

Slovakia
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/47/145027912_29f03a44f4_o.jpg

Poland
http://i16.tinypic.com/52gek5w.jpg

Russia
http://i9.tinypic.com/5zh3qbk.jpg

Ukraine
http://www.panoramio.com/photos/original/3784775.jpg

Georgia
http://i10.tinypic.com/6bbwnso.jpg

In other words, commieblocks in Prague, Brno and Bratislava are amongst the best in Eastern Europe.

Czechoslovakia was the best communist country in the past--- now they have the best commie.

Other cities with good-looking commieblocks: Kiev, Minsk, Vladivostok or Pyongyang.

Brutalist commie in capitalist countries (before cold war) varies greatly in their quality as well. Australia has some of the best, as well as some of the worst, for example. Hong Kong generally falls in between.

Well, Czechia, Poland etc. are doing quite well economically these days, while Russia, Latvia, Ukraine and others are struggling more. I suppose stronger ecnomies means more money in all sectors, allowing more maintainance and improvement work to be carried out. It's probably just that commieblocks in those stronger ecnomies are better maintained.

At least within a given commie country, commieblocks were built in series according to a standardized design such as the P2 and WBS 70 in ex-GDR. Those could be varied in size to suit the need. So, differences in build quality should be quite minimal within a country. Not sure about variances from country to country. Even the UK had problems with quality control (Ronan Point).

From the pictures it's not that much about money but peoples mentality for example this one wouldn't look that 3 worldish if people didn't do this shit with their apartments/balconies painting it in different colours etc. :
http://i10.tinypic.com/6bbwnso.jpg

Well, Czechia, Poland etc. are doing quite well economically these days, while Russia, Latvia, Ukraine and others are struggling more. I suppose stronger ecnomies means more money in all sectors, allowing more maintainance and improvement work to be carried out. It's probably just that commieblocks in those stronger ecnomies are better maintained.

At least within a given commie country, commieblocks were built in series according to a standardized design such as the P2 and WBS 70 in ex-GDR. Those could be varied in size to suit the need. So, differences in build quality should be quite minimal within a country. Not sure about variances from country to country. Even the UK had problems with quality control (Ronan Point).
GDP per capita 2006:

Latvia: $15,549
Poland: $14,400

Latvia is doing better than Poland. Know your facts!

GDP per capita 2006:

Latvia: $15,549
Poland: $14,400

Latvia is doing better than Poland. Know your facts!

Sorry, I actually meant to say Belarus (which has about half of that) but confused the english words for the countries.