Paper short abstract:

The everydayness of people living in Bratislava’s suburbs has particular challenges. Some have been emphasized during the COVID-19 pandemic, shedding new light on the uncertainties of suburban living. What are the life trajectories of its inhabitants, and how do they relate to the myth of suburbia?

Paper long abstract:

The global myth of life in suburbia is characterized by ideas of privatization, social conformity, environmental unsustainability, and melancholy (McDonogh, 2006). The migration of people from the middle and upper classes to low-density residential areas is a relatively new phenomenon in Slovakia (Šuška & Šveda, 2019). The local “suburban myth” was constructed in the “neoliberal spirit” of the postsocialist 1990s and 2000s. It creates a diversified melange of notions about overcoming the risks of the precarious housing market, becoming a private homeowner, and making an “American” like home (G. Lutherová, 2013). These ideals have been problematized by the dystopic images of the uniform blocks of houses surrounded by fields, with no sidewalks or street lamps. How does the social practice relate to the postsocialist myth of suburbia, and what are the perspectives of suburban life in Slovakia?

The paper originates from ethnographic research (in-depth interviews, participant observation, visual ethnography) in the capital Bratislava and its suburbs (also outside the state borders in the neighbouring Austrian and Hungarian countrysides). Informants described various challenges of their everyday life: from spending hours in traffic to social isolation. Some of these struggles resulted from specific urbanistic and architectural characteristics (Šveda, 2019) and are also connected to the process of placemaking. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many informants realized that they might be particularly vulnerable to societal challenges and transformations. This way, an ideal for some becomes a burden for others as their life trajectories shift when they navigate the uncertainties of living in suburbia.