Prefabricated Housing Estates as an Item of Ethnology’s Interest (an example of the Lesná housing estate in Brno)

The study deals with the theme of ethnological research into prefabricated housing estates in the Czech Republic and the possibilities of ethnological research into this specific type of housing. The text shows different points of view of housing estates and contemporary life of their inhabitants. First, the study brings up the theme generally and accentuates its importance within the contemporary urban-ethnological research. Then the theme is specified through the research into the Lesná housing estate in Brno. In the last ten years, several clubs have been founded there whose aim is to enhance the life space of the housing estate, to safeguard its contemporary appearance and to create or improve neighbourly relations. Through activities developed by these clubs and their members, it is possible to illustrate in which way inhabitants can develop a close relationship with the place or space where they live. The research has shown that the people are aware of the value of their place of living as well as of their affiliation to the given locality, especially when the existing state is endangered. Another finding includes the fact that where strong leaders are available, a wider interconnected group of inhabitants within the neighbourhood emerges more easily. For this reason, a housing estates is not always a space of anonymity.