city-center as well as its meaning, through a scientific
method of determination. Apart from establishing
the perimeter as well as its value as a privileged
space^3 in the urban structure, the study concluded
on the dynamic of the city-center later demonstrated
by an investigation, done in 1973, that showed the
evidence of a polycentric pattern. In this regard it
remains an exemplary approach even today^4.Sadly, the 1977 earthquake affecting a large part of
the central area, gave birth to concern and reluctance
seen as a fragile fabric. The unavoidable result was
that the city-center became the subject of destructive
spatial, functional and social interventions; the most
radical was Victoria Socialismului Boulevard^5 cut
through the old fabric in the Southern part of the
city-center – an imposing spatial materialization of
the ideological and political power. Although the
construction was still ongoing at the dawn of the
fall of the communist regime in 1989, the historic
city-center maintained its representativeness in the
urban structure as a place of symbolic value mainly
because its valuable built heritage.Fig. 1
The evolution of the city-center of Bucharest from 1789 to
- (Alexandru. The four instants, mentioned in a study
(Criveanu, et al. 1976), that present the city-center, are: 1789
(~100ha); 1838 (~130ha); 1930 (~200ha); 1935 (~100ha). They
are representative of the mobility of the center, as well as
of a certain directionality. Afterwards, other interpretations
dating from 1973 and 1974, as well as the Zonal Urban Plan
from 1999, prove new stages of evolution. It is notable for the
1974 instance, a high extensiveness of the center, superior to
the 1999 moment in some aspects, proving the importance of
symbolic power of the center.