Project

Company Towns of the Baťa Concern

The project focuses on researching European company towns built by the Baťa concern. From a chronological point of view, the focal point of the research is set in particular on the constitutive phase of their development, roughly circumscribed by the years 1930–1950. In view of the topics and issues under discussion, the research is divided into four main areas. The first area focuses in particular on clarifying questions connected with the genesis of the specific residential and social model which became an integral part of Baťa’s business activities. The second area concentrates on addressing specific questions and issues connected with the economic and social conditions, as well as those pertaining to the organization of production, which led the concern’s leadership to establish company towns domestically and abroad.  The primary focus of the third area is to trace the development of individual localities and to describe their specifics. Finally, the fourth area aims to compare Baťa’s Zlín, as a referential model of development, with the other company towns being examined. The main output of the project will be an extensive monograph.