The theory and practice of urban and spatial planning in Romania

Abstract

Different theoreticians place urbanism among sciences, arts, activities, or regulations, also accounting for its final product. The methods of urbanism include strategic planning, urban compositions, participative, managerial, and communication urbanism. All these conceptual and methodological sides are found in the Romanian approach to urbanism, making it representative as a case study. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyze the theoretical and practical approaches to urban and spatial planning in Romania from a historical perspective. The conclusions of the analysis indicate that territorial planning in Romania has two levels - urbanism and spatial planning, both resulting into urban/spatial planning documents. The elaboration and approval of these documents is subject to numerous laws changing rapidly, controlled by local and central authorities, and involves a long and complicated bureaucratic process. The accession of Romania to the European Union determined changes of this process, as well as a set of changes in the education system preparing the future professionals. The relevance of the results could be extended to formerly Communist countries joining the European Union.