Image Source: ARCEN Association, facebook.com/AsociatiaARCEN/
Directly following the end of the Communist Regime, the developing Romanian government was unable to institute new legislation to manage urban planning and found itself under constant bombardment by public land disputes. Since the Communist Regime had confiscated private land in order to develop communal infrastructure, citizens requested that the new government return to them their rightful land. As a result, the Romanian people today have a strong belief in their right to private property. This had a lasting impact on urban planning within the city. Years of disputes have bogged the government down, preventing it from providing meaningful legislation that takes charge of the urban planning situation. This cultural valuation of private property in tandem with the government’s inability to legislate urban planning, has allowed for the “property market [to exploit] the regulatory vacuum to generate rapid and chaotic urban restructuring”. In other words, these factors work cooperatively to allow Bucharest’s population free reign to develop their land however they wish without facing any substantial pushback from the government. The common view is that individuals should be able to develop their land however they like because they are the ones who own it. Because of this laissez-faire system, this era has been described as a non-regulated and “uncontrolled urban sprawl type expansion”. This policy of indifference by the government has continued to grow since 1989, which has resulted in high population densities and the presence of large, modern buildings looming over cultural landmarks. In response, local NGOs have spoken out against such construction; they believe that modern edifices adjacent to historical sites harms their cultural significance.
The lack of a central urban planning authority is also exemplified by the destruction of green space within the city of Bucharest. Parks, trees, and open space have been slowly removed as a result of unmanaged expansion. The protection of nature falls under the authority of the national government, yet the laissez-faire approach to urban planning within Bucharest has allowed urban sprawl to destroy green spaces. Green space to many people within the city is seen as a “luxury… if not a waste of space”. This belief is common in southern and eastern Europe. These areas, including Romania, rank among the worst by the EU for amounts of urban green space. Almost 40% of city dwellers in southern Europe live more than half a kilometer away from any type of green space. This contrasts heavily with the Scandinavian countries, which have under 20% of city dwellers living that distance away from urban green space.
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