ABSTRACT
This chapter describes neighbourly relations in the inner cities of Brno and Ostrava, with particular focus on sociability and tenure change, shedding light on the role of social networks in residential change as well as those influences on residential patterns which stem from changes in the local and societal context. It examines the particular forms neighbourly relations take and how they have been influenced by the post-socialist transition, especially by the transformation of housing policy and property arrangements. The emphasis is on the residents of the inner cities of Brno and Ostrava themselves and on the meanings they ascribe to their neighbourhoods, neighbourly relations and residential communities. Czech state-socialist housing policy was based on the Housing Management Act of 1964, which defined the rules and procedures for assigning and using flats. Political and economic changes during post-socialism have resulted in generally higher differentiation within the population: for instance, the social, economic exclusion of certain groups.
