Planning Capital Cities

Fig. 4
The systematization of Balta
Albă complex ensemble.
(Courtesy of the Arhitectura
magazine image archive, Union
of Architects of Romania)

axis, Calea Griviței, an urban planning contest for Unirii Square. The issue of

industrial development in Bucharest and its placement in the urban context is

also debated.

All these projects and debates would become part of the next sketch for the

development of the city.

The sexennial plan (1960-1965) and urban systematization

The interval 1960-1965 is supposedly a cohesive period, being a subject of

the sexennial plan economic strategy. The General Systematization Plan for

Bucharest was drafted in 1962 and debated and approved in 1963/1964. The

urban planning principles stated in the rationale of the plan, privilege the

large housing complex ensembles, a fact that is noticeable even in the rougher

sketches, where important territories are destined for housing developments. In

the already established tradition of urban composition based on micro-districts,

the cultural and social amenities function as local centers, which emphasize the

idea of a polycentric city. This is, of course the embodiment of the equalitarian

idea that center and periphery must offer the same social opportunities.

Floreasca, Balta Albă, the beginning of Drumul Taberei, Jiului are some of the

complex ensembles either completed or started during this period. In some

cases the scale is impressive - for instance, Balta Albă was built on 37 ha, with a

density of more than 4700 inhabitants/ha, a size worthy of a town.

Housing becomes the focus of most representative urban spaces and it occupies

an ideologically charged place. Comfortable housing for the working masses is

Bucharest’s urban planning instruments during the communist regime:

systematization sketches, plans, projects and interventions