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Some discussions on functionalist housing and its economics in Romania by Lhe late 1950s and early 1960s
[journal article]
Abstract This paper proposes an analysis of the Romanian architectural practices in the late 1950's and early 1960's by considering the availability of financial resources. I premise that echoes of Moscow's approaches to the built environment overlapped the Bucharest politicians' priorities, whose lack of co... view more
This paper proposes an analysis of the Romanian architectural practices in the late 1950's and early 1960's by considering the availability of financial resources. I premise that echoes of Moscow's approaches to the built environment overlapped the Bucharest politicians' priorities, whose lack of constancy in economic decision-making exacerbated itself as the urban construction programs advanced. From the Romanian authorities' point of view, therefore, raising the mass housing profitability could save important financial resources for other investments in heavy industry, while maintaining the appearance of a social state. Similarities between Soviet and Romanian modernist building projects suggested a coherent approach to housing throughout the bloc. However, this article will show that functionalist architectural modernism -cheap and fast to erect- also proved beneficial for Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej's economic plans, which questions urban construction projects' political agendas and the professional tensions between architects and economists. Therefore, investigating the functionalist architecture opens up several lines of inquiry: to what extent Nikita Khrushchev's housing program was transferred in Romania; the tortuous policies of the Romanian state's leadership in the field of housing as well as how local bureaucratic or professional actors appropriated, interpreted and adjusted such programs; and, the economic costs of the new functionalist approach to urban dwelling. In this way, this article reads the making of functionalist mass housing programs by the late 1950s to assess the Soviets' part in building the Romanian cities. To this end, the article contributes to the recent scholarly literature on multiple modernities.... view less
Keywords
urban development; Romania; historical development; economy; influence; USSR; cultural policy; architecture; twentieth century; modernity; housing construction
Classification
Cultural Sociology, Sociology of Art, Sociology of Literature
Sociology of Settlements and Housing, Urban Sociology
Free Keywords
Khrushchev, N.
Document language
English
Publication Year
2017
Page/Pages
p. 73-84
Journal
Studia Politica: Romanian Political Science Review, 17 (2017) 1
ISSN
1582-4551
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 1.0