In pictures: A city of the future, from a time now past In the easternmost district of Kraków, an idealist vision from the 40s faces modern reality.

This article is part of the series Home Truths: Europe's Housing Challenge.

NOWA HUTA , Poland — Regarded as a prime example of socialist realist architecture, the settlement of Nowa Huta represents Communist-era Poland’s vision of the city of the future.

Founded in 1949, it was intended to support a ramp-up of industrial production in Eastern Europe after the region fell under the sway of Moscow post World War II.

The utopian project was envisaged as a workers’ paradise, centered on the giant Vladimir Lenin Steel Works and developed from scratch. It included housing for workers, schools, parks, hospitals and boulevards, but no places of worship in line with the atheism of the Communist bloc.

The town grew rapidly, and within a few years of its founding, it had over 100,000 residents; the steel works employed 40,000 workers at its peak. But Nova Huta also saw its share of political tension, and in the 1950s and 1960s, protests erupted in support of the building of a Catholic church.

In 1988, the steelworks saw strikes, which did much to undermine the Communist leadership and bring about the introduction of democracy in Poland. The town’s economy has struggled in recent years as the fortunes of the steel mill have waned.

— Charlie Duxbury

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