Urban planning through major planning documents after 1999: urban centrality between vision and realityFig. 7
The system of centralities. (www.csb2035.ro)
a more acupunctural strategy so as to ensure both
an operational success and a guiding vision. An
important element is that CSB2035 was drafted in
order to set the guidelines for the next GUP (currently
in progress) a gesture of continuity that Bucharest
lacked in the recent decades.ConclusionThe inner centrality of the city is in a constant
progression in a rather paradoxical way: while
centralities are programmed, although not backed-
up by efficient implementation mechanisms, a
different, more organic, process occurs: some places
in the city gain their own centrality due to their
attractiveness but also due to market mechanisms
that favor different opportunities. While these two
processes go almost in parallel, an increase in the
overall attractiveness of the city is gained which
further leads to an increase in centrality of the city-
center. New centralities, although in a dispersed
manner, are still in a premature state of development
can, nevertheless, be capitalized by further intelligent
planning and turned into a city-center that is better
articulated with the rest of the city. The history of
Bucharest’s recent evolution is in some sort the story
of the evolution of centrality that, ultimately, turns a
city into a metropolis.1 The city-center or certain areas of centrality are superior to their counterparts.
2 Harhoiu, Dana, Bucharest, A City Between Orient and Occident, Bucureş ti,
Simetria&Arcub, 2001.
3 the complex criteria in delimitation included: age of the fabric, architectural value,
hierarchy of functions, quantitative and qualitative dimensions, temporal, aesthetic and
symbolic dimensions.
4 See articles in Arhitectura Magazine of the epoch like: Cristea Doina, et al. 1976. “Unele
aspecte metodologice, istorice şi social-psihologice legate de studiul centrului oraşului
Bucureş ti (II)” in revista Arhitectura, nr.6/ 1976, pp. 47-52; Derer, Peter, et al. 1973.
“Unele observații privind centrul capitalei”. în revista Arhitectura. nr. 4/143, pp. 110-118;
Criveanu Șerban et al. “Unele aspecte metodologice istorice şi social-psihologice legate de
studiul centrului Bucureşti(I)” in Arhitectura.Magazine no. 4/161, 1976, 19-23. 21.
5 We must note here the large-scale project of Victoria Socialismului east-west Boulevard
leading to the House of People that was cut through the historical fabric in the 80’s,
involving demolitions on cca 450ha of land, only partially rebuilt afterwards, with a large
negative impact on the southern evolution of the city-center.