6 research outputs found
Changes in the demographic size and functional structure of Romaniaâs towns (1966-2002)
Like in the other Central-European countries, Romaniaâs industrial development model over 1950- 1989, focused on the accelerated and extensive socialist-type industrialisation, explosive urbanisation and the implementation of urban and rural planning schemes. It was a stage in which the national urban system expanded and consolidated. It might be said that the aim of post-war industrialisation and urbanisation was largely attained by a gradual transition from the traditional rural-agrarian society to the urban-industrial society of the 1990s. It was a stagewise evolution that took on different forms, had a dynamics of its own, and developed sociocultural particularities in the course of urbanisation. After 1989, reflected the urban system underwent a deep-going restructuring process that the countryâs socio-political changes; urbanisation itself acquring new scope and breadth. This new stage of transition from the industrial to the services town-type mirrored the countryâs socio-political transition. The industrial function preserved its importance even more than in the economically developed West European states, modern industry and technology being expected to provide the Romanian urban system a development that would enable it to integrate into the town system of Europe. The urban system is undergoing a process of restructuring now, the urban phenomenon acquiring new characteristics and dimensions. The industrial city â the representative type of urban settlement, is to be gradually replaced by the polifunctional and services town, as part of the countryâs economic and social-political development targets for the beginning of the third millennium
La ville de Bucarest, espace de (post)transition entre restructuration et Ă©talement urbain
Les villes contemporaines subissent des changements structuraux extrĂȘmement rapides en termes de reconversion urbaine, dâembourgeoisement ou de mobilitĂ© rĂ©sidentielle. Bucarest est organisĂ©e selon un modĂšle rĂ©sidentiel classique : la zone centrale (transformĂ©e et revitalisĂ©e au cours des dix derniĂšres annĂ©es), une zone intermĂ©diaire mixte oĂč les ensembles rĂ©sidentiels communistes en blocs cĂŽtoient pavillons et autres logements collectifs, et la pĂ©riphĂ©rie oĂč se maintient une forme de vie rurale. La transition Ă©conomique, notamment par le chĂŽmage et la demande accrue en logements, a engendrĂ© des disparitĂ©s grandissantes entre groupes sociaux. Ces mutations visibles dans toutes les villes post-socialistes, y compris Ă Bucarest, ont eu de nombreuses rĂ©percussions sur la structuration urbaine : des zones rĂ©sidentielles homogĂšnes et hĂ©tĂ©rogĂšnes coexistent, de nouvelles fractures et discontinuitĂ©s socio-spatiales apparaissent, mais dans le mĂȘme temps des particularitĂ©s hĂ©ritĂ©es de lâĂ©poque communiste persistent (parc locatif vĂ©tuste, densitĂ©s rĂ©sidentielles Ă©levĂ©es, surfaces habitables rĂ©duites, environnement social prĂ©caire).Ă partir de recherches de terrain et dâune rĂ©flexion exploratoire, cet article tente de cerner les mutations urbaines bucarestoises, notamment aprĂšs lâan 2000, en insistant sur la composition sociale des quartiers mixtes et sur lâattachement rĂ©sidentiel des habitants. Cet attachement rĂ©sidentiel est un Ă©lĂ©ment essentiel du vĂ©cu des citadins, confrontĂ©s Ă une sociĂ©tĂ© en changement perpĂ©tuel, tandis que le logement en blocs assure la persistance dâune forme de stabilitĂ© ou de pĂ©rennitĂ© personnelle et familiale. Dâautre part, les nouveaux modes de consommation induisent une diversification des prĂ©fĂ©rences rĂ©sidentielles dans le contexte dâun pouvoir dâachat en augmentation, portĂ© par les mĂ©nages aisĂ©s, connus en tant que « nouveaux riches » de la sociĂ©tĂ© roumaine.The contemporary cities are confronted to very complex and quick structural changes related to the urban regeneration, gentrification or residential mobility. Bucharestâs organisation is based on a classical model: the old central area (transformed and renewed over the past decade), a mixed intermediate area where collective apartment blocks are scattered amongpavilions and other locative units, and a peripheral land heavily influenced by its rural roots. Through the unemployment and the reinforced demand for new housings, the economic transition has produced growing status disparities in status among social groups. Those transformations performed in every post-socialist city, including Bucharest, have generated numerous consequences over the urban structure: homogeneous and heterogeneous residential places coexist, new social and spatial discripancies have appeared but at the same time some inherited specificities of the communist era have survived (timeworn locative housing stocks, huge residential densities, reduced living spaces, precarious social environment).Through ground level investigations and exploratory considerings, the paper tries to explain the Bucharest urban mutations which mainly occurred since 2000, and pays special attention to the mixted residential districts and to the residential attachment of the inhabitants. The article went to suggest the changes of the urban design especially occurred after 2000 by enhancing the social composition and the residential attachment of the inhabitants. The surveys of neighborhoodâs perception have shown thaht this attachment is considered a fundamental positive feeling by a populaiton submitted to continuous changes whereas the housing blocks represent one kind of familial or personnal continuity. On the other hand, the new consumption ways should create new residential preferences considering the growing power consumption of some well-off households, the so called ânouveaux richesâ of the Romanian society
Romanian spa tourism: a communist paradigm in a post communist era
Spa tourism is one of the oldest forms of tourism which continuously evolved in time as the leisure industry paradigm and the consumersâ behavior changed. Similar to other countries in Central and Eastern Europe, spa tourism is an old phenomenon in Romania which expanded to the dimensions of a well defined tourism industry during the mass tourism period which also corresponded to the communism epoch. Although severely affected by the major political and socio-economic changes which occurred after the Revolution in 1989, this industry coexists with new emergent forms of tourism orienting, itself towards new dimensions embraced by the contemporary leisure consumerism (e.g. medical tourism, cosmetic treatments). Lying on considerable balneal and climate resources and displaying an important communist heritage both in physical terms (large and massive tourism structures) and in virtual and psychological terms (social supportive ticket granting system), Romanian spa tourism faces various challenges in the attempt to adapt in a new tourism era
Bulgarie-Roumanie
LâintĂ©gration europĂ©enne de la Roumanie et de la Bulgarie au 1er janvier 2007 est un Ă©vĂ©nement Ă©tonnant dans le contexte balkanique des deux derniĂšres dĂ©cennies. Par cette entrĂ©e fracassante dans lâUnion, aprĂšs un demi-siĂšcle de socialisme et dix-huit annĂ©es de « transition » mouvementĂ©es, ces deux pays limitrophes de la mer Noire donnent lâimpression dâĂ©chapper enfin Ă un long purgatoire pour accĂ©der Ă la cour des « grands ». Un trait est ainsi tirĂ© sur le passĂ© et des populations avides de changement voient sâĂ©claircir leurs horizons futurs. Les enjeux frontaliers restent au cĆur de la gĂ©ographie balkanique. Sur ce point, lâintĂ©gration europĂ©enne aboutit Ă une situation trĂšs paradoxale : tandis quâĂ lâouest les recompositions yougoslaves des annĂ©es 1990 et 2000 ont Ă©tĂ© irrĂ©sistiblement guidĂ©es par une logique de fragmentation, Bulgarie et Roumanie sont parvenues Ă Ă©viter toute dispute sur leurs frontiĂšres respectives. Les Balkans voient ainsi quasi-simultanĂ©ment sâaffronter deux logiques contradictoires : lâĂ©miettement yougoslave associĂ© Ă lâĂ©mergence de nouvelles zones de souverainetĂ©, et lâaffaiblissement simultanĂ©, plus Ă lâest, de tronçons frontaliers relativement anciens et stables, conformĂ©ment aux objectifs dâouverture de lâespace europĂ©en. LâintĂ©gration de la GrĂšce en 1981 nâavait en rien modifiĂ© lâisolement du pays face Ă la Turquie, la Yougoslavie, lâAlbanie et la Bulgarie voisines. LâĂ©largissement de 2007 induit au contraire une rĂ©volution silencieuse dans la rĂ©gion : aprĂšs deux siĂšcles de combats pour imposer leur indĂ©pendance, faire valoir leurs souverainetĂ©s nationales et dĂ©finir des pĂ©rimĂštres frontaliers solides, les Ătats balkaniques entrent dans une nouvelle Ăšre de leur gestion politique et territoriale. Ils renouent avec une libertĂ© de circuler qui nâavait pas Ă©tĂ© connue depuis un siĂšcle⊠sous lâEmpire ottoman