Socio-sparial Aspects of Zlín's Urbanization (1900-1938)

Abstract

The text traces transformation in Zlín's socio-sparial organization through the process of urbanization, specifically in its constitutie preriod during the years 1900-1938. Over the course of this small backward rural town's rebirth as an important industrial center, the Zlín environment gave special expression to the many significant social and spatial modernization processes of the interwar period. In the circumstances of interwar central Europe, Zlín became a rather extraordinary example of a model company town, the formation of whose socio-spatial arrangement was unconditionally bound to the needs of a single dominant production enterprise - Baťa's footwear concern. In the interwar period, the Baťa Company was among Europe's most progressive production enterprises, and not only with regard to the application of modern approaches to production (Fordism), but also - and more importantly - with regard to the introduction of progressive management methods and social care for industrial employees (welfare capitalism). An analysis of Zlín's socio-spatial transformations is a possible point of departure for the interdisciplinary study of Zlín's urbanism and architecture.