Miruna Stroe
Bucharest’s urban planning instruments during the communist
regime: systematization sketches, plans, projects and interventionsThe article deals with the urbanism of Bucharest through the use of the
“systematization sketch” as an urban planning tool, from 1959 to 1989 change.
The “sketches” were implemented to overcome the delays in urban planning
throughout the country, but were in fact a means of quickly imposing political
decisions.
The sketches comprised planning and economic strategies valid for 10 to
15 years, relating to the five-year plans, as opposed to the previous general
urban plans, strategically conceived for a 25-year interval. The sketches were
less detailed and relied on subsequent urban detailing projects, which were
sometimes no longer completed. The law requested that the design process
start with an economic profile of the town development and a five year
assessment of the necessary investments, thus having urban planning once
more comply with the centralized economic system. As the projects for each
town were to be developed in the regional planning institutes, the design
process was slightly decentralized. The Bucharest sketches were designed in
the Proiect Bucureşti institute.
The research focuses on the systematization sketches for Bucharest from
two perspectives: the perspective of the practicing professionals, based on
articles in the journal Arhitectura R.P.R (later Arhitectura) and in the specialized
literature, and the political discussions on the urban plans, found in the National
Archives of Romania. The decision mechanism, the subjects for discussion and
the general dynamic of the meetings between political leaders and experts can
all be understood by reading these documents.
When discussing the systematization sketch for Bucharest in 1965, Ceauşescu
was opposing the demolitions proposed by the architects to make way for
new ensembles. He was interested in seeing the systematization sketch for
Bucharest transformed into a “directive scheme”, like the Schéma Directeur
d’Aménagement et d’Urbanisme de la Région de Paris, 1965. The subtleties
of planning methods are not well understood by the political leader, he
just employs a void “professional” terminology. After the 1977 disastrous
earthquake, his attitude changed radically and he became a champion of
demolitions and reconstruction. The conjunction between urban development
and the five-year plans will also be a subject of the research, especially in regard
to the delays of investments.
Abstracts