|
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|
The socialist period. The population of the city doubled following WW2 and during the period from 1945 to 1989 its morphology has been greatly affected by waves of socialist development. After the war the communist regime followed Marxist-Leninist doctrine from Moscow and aimed at transforming building usage and the structure of the city to being the domain of the proletariat. Their was a programme of new housing in many of the outer districts aimed at accommodating the in-migration of workers, replacing sub-standard, low density housing and reflecting an emerging socialist egalitarian order. Districts like Drumul Taberei, Berceni and Titan Balta Alba were developed to the neighbourhood-unit concept. 1965-1980 Between 1965 and 1980 Nicolae Ceausescu introduced a further wave of development. The drive was for ‘systematisation, modernisation and civilisation’ and was at the national level. The plan was to ‘spread the benefits of urbanism throughout Romania’ (Danta, 1993) and to ‘transform’ or ‘consolidate’ as many as possible of Romania’s village settlements. Outer areas of Bucharest, eg, Otopeni, were developed according to the systematisation model and, as early as 1967, there were already major restrictions on migration into the city. Up to 1980 the outer areas of Bucharest suffered major development of accommodation blocks with large neighbourhoods, each consisting of many blocks, being built on the city’s periphery. Also during this period Ceausescu ordered the construction of massive ‘penetration boulevards’, designed as impressive entrance ways to the city. These were largely a result of Ceausescu being influenced by his travels to other major world cities. The metro was also started in this period.
Photo: Communist era accommodation blocks on the northern edge of Bucharest (Crangasi). Typical of the post-communist city, large proportions of the urban population live in these concrete blocks. |
|||||||||||||||
