ABSTRACT
Romania’s socialist regime diverged from its Central and Eastern European counterparts in the 1980s through vast city center remaking projects. Focusing on the Bucharest Civic Center before and after 1989, this chapter explores the intricate link between spatial planning and political systems. It first showcases how during the 1980s, the Civic Center, anchored by the Victory of Socialism Boulevard, epitomized the regime’s societal ambitions and planning tools. Despite austerity, authoritarianism expedited the project’s near completion before 1989. Second, the chapter delves into the challenges of finishing the Civic Center project in the context of state withdrawal. Post-1989, while the media vilified urban planning as a tool of dictatorship, Romania took a decade to adopt a new legal planning framework. Property rights became central, with property restitution and private-led urbanism dominant processes. In this second part, the chapter discusses the international competition Bucharest 2000, aiming to address the “urban wounds” left by the Ceaușescu regime but ended without implementation. Moreover, it examines the series of plans for an unbuilt segment of the Civic Center, the Esplanada, exposing the frictions in the planning system. ; Consequently, the chapter highlights the relationship between spatial planning, urban transformations, and political regimes in a country that experienced two contrasting political systems.
