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Urban space, political identity and the unwanted legacies of state socialism: Bucharest's problematic Centru Civic in the post-socialist era

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Duncan Light  and
Craig Young
Duncan Light
Affiliation:
Geography, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, United Kingdom, Email: lightd@hope.ac.uk
Craig Young
Affiliation:
Science and The Environment, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom
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Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between the urban cultural landscape of Bucharest and the making of post-socialist Romanian national identity. As the capital of socialist Romania, central Bucharest was extensively remodelled by Nicolae Ceauşescu into the Centru Civic in order to materialize Romania's socialist identity. After the Romanian “Revolution” of 1989, the national and local state had to deal with a significant “leftover” socialist urban landscape which was highly discordant with the orientation of post-socialist Romania and its search for a new identity. Ceauşescu's vast socialist showpiece left a difficult legacy which challenges the material and representational reshaping of Bucharest and constructions of post-socialist Romanian national identity more broadly. The paper analyzes four attempts to deal with the Centru Civic: developments in the immediate post-1989 period; the international architectural competition Bucureşti 2000; proposals for building a Cathedral of National Salvation; and the Esplanada project. Despite over 20 years of proposals central Bucharest remains largely unchanged. The paper thus deals with a failed attempt to re-shape the built environment in support of national goals.

Keywords

RomaniaBucharestbuilt environmentCommunist showpiecenational identity
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 41 , Issue 4: Special Issue: From Socialist to Post-Socialist Cities Guest Editors: Alexander C. Diener and Joshua Hagen , July 2013 , pp. 515 - 535
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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