“We are building a second Poland” – that was one of the slogans of the 1970s, ideally suited to the climate of success propaganda. It made sense in many ways, but generally referred to the idea of “Poland as a great construction site”. New investments, more or less successful, popped up like mushrooms after the rain. Some were forgotten, turning out to be completely misguided, but some are still in use today. however, this idea of “building a second Poland” also had a more literal meaning, which had to do with housing development. At the end of the 1970s, there were to be as many new flats as at the beginning of the decade. Indeed, more flats were built then than in any other decade of the People’s Republic of Poland, however, there were still too few relative to the needs. Housing construction had been the Achilles’ heel for the entire forty-five years, although at the same time, it was constantly talked about, written about, discussed...It can be said to have been one of the largest ongoing investments of post-war Poland. Despite this, the housing problems were not solved: the queue of those waiting for their “own M” (M – from the Polish word Mieszkanie = Flat) grew longer. The reasons for this situation were, rather complex. On the one hand, they resulted from the authorities’ constant underestimation of the population’s accommodation needs and growing aspirations, and on the other hand, from the social changes that were occurring at that time. meanwhile,one of the most significant factors in shaping the acuity of the housing problem inthe country was demographic development and urbanization processes. Between 1950 and 1970, there was a very rapid population growth, which caused new housing needs to emerge (Zapart, 1999: 26).at the same time, however, such – rather than any other – investments in construction, proved to have far-reaching consequences. The urban landscape was permanently altered, and the traditional urban fabric based on tenements lining the streets was torn apart (Sennett, 1996). There is no easy retreat from the construction of so-called citygirt blocks, often built in the middle of nowhere, outside urban boundaries if there was one possible at all. Perhaps the investment decisions taken before 1989 permanently changed the character of urban development. New housing development has also changed the face of the countryside, albeit in a different way to the cities. For this reason, the focus here will be solely on what was built in the cities