Planning Capital Cities

Miruna Stroe

Zeiss) from being implemented. Nowadays, the hope for redemption comes
from building an equally controversial cathedral beside the House of the
People.

Conclusions

This brief outline of urban planning under communism in Bucharest cannot
begin to explain the impact of those 45 years in the history of the city. One can
still notice urban tensions and unresolved relations, as well as a pervasive lack
of strategic thinking about Bucharest. Some of it could be explained through
the process of diminishing the complexity of systematization plans that we
followed throughout this period. The profession itself is far from having the
required social relevance, in order to have a positive impact.

The unresolved trauma of the city still lingers - and of course we speak of an
unresolved trauma, as the only gesture regarding the House of the People
was to make it the seat of the democratic parliament, thus acknowledging
it. Compared to other European capitals that had to deal with traumatic
interventions, such as Berlin for instance, Bucharest did not seem interested
in re-contextualizing its recent past. And it is this unresolved past that puts
a grey curtain on all that was built during communism and prevents us from
seeing any of the achievements of the period. Thus, all nuances are deleted and
in the public view it is very hard to advocate the architectural value of certain
developments. The profession itself is still struggling with the guilt projected
on it right after the revolution and, maybe because there was no definitive
distancing from the episode, it still has to do penance in order to regain wide
approval.

Extended list of references

• ***: O importantă hotărîre privind activitatea de sistematizare a
  oraşelor, in Arhitectura R.P.R., 1 (1960), 4.


• ***: Perspective noi în arhitectură şi sistematizare, in Arhitectura R.P.R.,
  3 (1965), 2-7.


• Adler, Ladislau; Vlăduț, Traian: Problema amplasării industriilor şi
  proiectul pt. schița de sistematizare a Bucureştiului, in Arhitectura
  R.P.R., 6 (1964), 22-27.


• Bercovici, Mircea: Sistematizarea şi reconstrucția căii Griviței – Bucureşti,
  in Arhitectura R.P.R., 2 (1961), 2-10.


• Caster, Mircea, Proiect de peste o jumătate de veac pentru Bucureşti.
  1953-2008, Proiect Bucureşti, 2008.


• Ciobotaru, Ioan: Principii şi rezolvări în sistematizarea capitalei, in
  Arhitectura, 1 (1971), 18-22.


• Danta, Darrik: Ceausescu’s Bucharest, in Geographical Review, Vol. 83,
  No. 2 (Apr., 1993), 170-182.