Habit, Memory, and the Persistence of Socialist-Era Street Names in Postsocialist Bucharest, Romania

The critical study of toponymy has paid considerable attention to the renaming of urban places following revolutionary political change. Such renaming is intended to institutionalize a new political agenda through shaping the meanings in everyday practices and landscapes. Renaming, however, might not always be successful, and this article examines this issue with reference to a market in Bucharest, Romania. Originally named Piaţa Moghioroş during the socialist era to commemorate a leading Communist Party activist, the market was renamed in the postsocialist period. Yet, more than two decades on, the original name remains in widespread everyday use. Using a mixed-method approach, we seek to advance the critical toponymies literature by exploring the persistence of the socialist-era name within everyday practice. Although many authors have highlighted the issue of popular resistance to an unpopular renaming, we find little evidence of conscious resistance, and instead we explore the importance of habit within everyday practices as an explanation, drawing on an understanding of habit derived from sociocognitive psychology. This perspective proposes that habits are stable and hard to break if the broader context in which they are situated is stable. We suggest that this explanation, rather than popular contestation, has more to offer in understanding the persistence of the toponym Piaţa Moghioroş. We thus highlight the importance of considering how the “users” of place names react to the changes of such names and create their own meanings in relation to them in ways unintended by elites

Encountering the Victims of Romanian Communism: Young People and Empathy in a Memorial Museum

Many states in post-communist East-Central Europe have established memorial museums which aim to tell the story of suffering under the communist regime. They also seek to encourage visitors to develop empathy for the victims of communist repression.This paper explores the responses of a group of young people to a memorial museum in Romania (Sighet Memorial Museum), focusing on how these visitors experienced empathy for the victims of communist-era violence. Data were collected using focus groups. Most participants showed a degree of empa- thy for the victims of suffering but this was usually shallow in nature. However some visitors displayed more“active” empathy (characterized by deeper imaginative and cogni- tive engagement). The paper explores how both the design and environment of the museum and the back- ground experiences of visitors influenced the develop- ment of empathy. It argues that empathy is not an automatic response to suffering and instead can be con- sidered as an interaction between the design of the museum and the background knowledge of visitors. The paper argues that empathy is an important means for young people to participate in remembering the commu- nist period, and is a means to make“prosthetic”memories of an authoritarian past which they have not experienced first-hand

The activity Sprint S.A. within the development project: integrated planning system for the perimetric protection and monitoring of sea-ports and critical objects with the use of on unmanned surface vehicles

Sprint S.A., wiodący integrator systemow teleinformatycznych w kraju, działający na rynku od 1988 roku, bierze udział w projekcie rozwojowym pt.: "Zintegrowany system planowania perymetrycznej ochrony i monitoringu morskich portow i obiektow krytycznych, oparty o autonomiczne bezzałogowe jednostki pływające" (Nr O R00 0106 12). Projekt jest realizowany przez konsorcjum naukowo-przemysłowe, w skład ktorego wchodzą Sprint S.A., Polsko-Japońska Wyższa Szkoła Technik Komputerowych w Warszawie oraz Akademia Marynarki Wojennej w Gdyni. Celem projektu jest stworzenie demonstratora technologii obejmującego bezzałogową platformę pływającą USV (ang. unmanned surface vehicle), stanowisko planowania misji wraz z symulatorem planowanych rozwiązań, stanowisko realizacji planowanej misji umieszczone na bezzałogowym pojeździe nawodnym oraz system łączności integrujący systemy nawigacyjne, monitorujące i komunikacyjne. W niniejszym materiale przedstawiono zakres zadań realizowanych w ramach niniejszego projektu przez Sprint S.A.The company Sprint S.A., a leading ITC system integrator in Poland operating in the market since 1988, is a participant of the development project entitled: "Integrated planning system for the perimetric protection and monitoring of sea-ports and critical objects with the use of unmanned surface vehicles" (No. O R00 0106 12). The project is realised by a consortium consisting of the Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology and the Polish Naval Academy in Gdynia. The objective of the project is to create a technology demonstrator encompassing an unmanned surface vehicle - USV, a mission planning station together with a planned solutions simulator, a mission implementation station located on an unmanned surface vehicle and a communication system integrating navigational, monitoring and communication systems. The material presents the scope of tasks realized within the said project by the company Sprint S.A

The meaning of public space in the context of space-time behaviour in the 'network city': from socialist to the sociable public space

This chapter reviews the inherited features of post-socialist cities from socialist times and their recent transformation towards the 'space of consumption', considers the basic approaches to study cities in urban sociology in relation to the changes in the organization of urban space. Primary focus is given to the specific characteristics of space-time behaviours: how the 'network society' appropriates and perceives public space. Indeed, the transition from state-organized top-down management to commodified consumption has brought significant changes within public space and spatial distribution of facilities. Globalization is understood as a socio-cultural phenomenon driven by the space-time compression effects and the 'dissembling' effects of the application of new transport and information and communications technology (ICT). Individual perception and the individualism of using public space offer a different perspective for the creation and the design of public space in the network city

Comfort, identity and fashion in the post-socialist city: Materialities, assemblages and context

This paper works at the intersection of three bodies of writing: theories relating to fashion, identity and the city; debate relating to urban materialities, assemblages and context; and cultural interventions advancing the study of post-socialism. Drawing on empirical research undertaken in Bratislava, Slovakia, we unpack a blurring of public and private space expressed through clothing. In contrast to elsewhere in the city, in Petržalka, a high-rise housing estate from the socialist period, widely depicted as anonymous and hostile since 1989, residents are renowned for wearing ‘comfortable’ clothes in order to ‘feel at home’ in public space. We describe the relationship between fashion, identity and comfort as an everyday ‘political’ response to state socialism and later the emergence of consumer capitalism. We argue, however, that by considering materialities, assemblages and context that studies of fashion and consumer culture can offer more complex political, economic, social, cultural and spatial analysis. To that end, we show how personal and collective consumption bound up with comfort and city life can be understood with reference to changing temporal and spatial imaginaries and experiences of claiming a material ‘right to the city’