It is difficult to avoid the impact of economic restructuring on the landscape and social and economic life of many cities which were used to grow within certain economic structure and also supported by the state (Healey, 1997). In many post-socialist countries the collapse of the socialist system was followed by a number of economic, social and legal reforms, due to which the land and property ownership in most of the countries has been transferred from public to private sector. However, in most cases the state transferred to private hands not only the ownership to the property but also the problems related to the quality of that property. The issue has a specific importance with regard to multi-unit housing since the latter occupies the largest share of urban fabric worldwide.

While having scarce public resources the promotion of private property-based investment projects becomes a sound solution in qualifying urban residential spaces and overcoming urban decay. Such projects will be successful if applying collaborative approaches and enhancing the value added by the project.

The aim of this study is to discuss the possibilities and constraints for application of certain models of collaborative approach to property-based urban management in post-socialist planning practice. Armenia (Yerevan) shall be considered as a particular case of post-socialist transitional society. The discussion shall be based on surveys conducted within the scope of research project.

The results show that even in societies where the private property rights and respective regulations are relatively recent the collaboration in urban regeneration projects is more successful when the allocation of the global project value added to each participant is evidenced and rationalized, whereas supportive institutional framework and participation of financial institution as a project stakeholder are considered essential preconditions.