ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book makes the argument that in the Eastern Bloc, the centre and the periphery together made state socialism and formed the concept of the socialist city, yet urban planning under state socialism is rarely analysed from the perspective of the system's periphery. It argues that the concept of periphery is about dependences and transversalities too, as well as developing an understanding of what the periphery is distant from. The book takes a closer look at how different notions of periphery impacted the development and transformation of cities during state socialism of the 20th century. It shows that the largely unfinished project of the socialist city, neither homogenous nor anticipated, contributes to defining its periphery: economic, political, social and spatial, sometimes changing the centre-periphery interrelations.
