A new instrument: the systematization sketch (1959)The delay in drafting a new systematization plan was supposedly due to the
systematization legislation being very complicated and it prompted a change
- the apparition of the systematization sketch. In fact, a complex dynamic
between political decision and professional dissatisfaction with the imposed
socialist-realist architecture, together with economic restraints after the war
proved to be an important hindrance in both urban development and building
in the period.
But after 1954 a huge political change was underway - the destalinization
following the death of Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev’s advance to power.
This had a remarkable effect on architecture, prompting a transition back to
modernism or, as they could call it, rational architecture. Of course, urban
planning principles changed as well, towards a species of modernist urban
planning: new housing ensembles organized into micro-districts (microraion)
with basic amenities. In fact, housing for workers becomes the main element in
configuring the city. It is the mass that produces neighborhoods and districts,
but also the representative building for new boulevards and urban squares. In
Romania the transition back to modernism happened over a few years, with an
official acknowledgement by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej in 1958, four years after
Khrushchev’s famous speech criticizing the exaggerations of socialist-realist
architecture.
Before moving on to a brief presentation of the relevant projects of the
beginning of the 1960’s, we must comment on the systematization sketch,
presented in the Arhitectura R.P.R. journal under the title: “O importantă
hotărîre privind activitatea de sistematizare a oraşelor” (An important decision
regarding urban systematization)^12.
The new instrument was meant to allow for a much easier way to approve a
general plan, which was no longer detailed, called systematization sketch. This
was supposed to be detailed in projects for specific areas, but a lot of times
this did not happen. In fact, the hidden agenda behind this regulation is the
possibility to enforce political decision much quicker. The sketch had a shorter
strategic span than the systematization plan, of only 10-15 years and it would
comprise: a strict limited perimeter of the town, beyond which no housing
could be built; the main development elements of the town such as industrial
areas, housing areas, circulation network, equipment, green areas, placement
of the main cultural and social amenities, etc., and the investment program for
the first 5 years.
An interesting provision is that before enforcing the systematization sketch, the
proposal must be publicly debated and only afterwards the Ministry Council
would approve it. “Rational decisions, standardization, typified building,
economy”: all these become the new keywords.
Bucharest’s urban planning instruments during the communist regime:
systematization sketches, plans, projects and interventions