Planning Capital Cities

Abstracts

Andreea Udrea

The first urban plans of Bucharest in the rise of the 20th century

The start of the Romanian planning is blended in the cultural modernity at
the beginning of the twentieth century and accurately mirrored the waves
of modernisation that shaped Bucharest’s society from the beginning of the
industrialisation to the period between the wars. This article presents the suite
of events around the first urban plans of Bucharest: The Bucharest Urban Plan,
1921, elaborated by C. Sfințescu and The Guiding Urban Plan, 1935, conceived
by T. Rădulescu, I. Davidescu, R. Bolomey, D. Marcu and G.M. Cantacuzino. The
Bucharest urban planning is seen as a sequence of stages: The preparation stage
in the first decade of the 20th century - with the General Urban Plan 1906 as the
first attempt to set a common goal for the city’s development, marked by the
activity of A. Davidescu, the forerunner of the Romanian urban planning. The
layout and start in the 1910-1920s with the General Urban Plan of C. Sfințescu
approved in 1921, marking the intellectualising of the Romanian urban planning
and the early maturity in the 1930s with the Guiding Urban Plan, 1935. The plan
was in the focus of the planning debate starting 1928 till long after its approval.
The following elements highlight a comprehensive overview of Bucharest
urban planning at the beginning of the 20th century:

• the progress and acknowledgement of the fundamental differences
  between urban plans and street alignment plans;


• the gradual transition of urban planning towards the social welfare;


• the uncontrolled territorial expansion acknowledged as the major
  urban problem;


• the limited budgets for great urban projects;


• the hierarchy in the transportation system, leap from the network
  to the system;


• the need for a certified specialist to authorize an urban plan,
  international if possible;


• the urban plans contained an implementation strategy with
  juridical, financial and administrative actions;


• the success of the plan depended on detailed laws and codes for
  construction activities;


• the urban plan was the ultimate mission of urban planning and a
  desired opportunity for planners.