Metamorphoses of the Communist Legacy under the Gaze and Perception of the Generation Z in Romania

In post-socialist Romania, an overall strong perception of the lost built environment is mainly associated with the tabula rasa of the historic centers’ demolitions that occurred during the communist regime within the massive urban modernization and systematization interventions. The longing for the lost architectural space dating from pre-socialist periods and the resentment manifested towards communism’s legacies established a certain bias interpretation of the built environment in its overall manifestation, use, and function. Moreover, the built environment post-socialist transformations triggered “generational” debates concerning the intangible legacies of the recent past in a matter of symbols, principles, and values. The article tackles the intangible aspects of the communist legacy through the perspective of Generation Z in Romania, starting from some specific tangible aspects of the burdensome legacy of the communist period in Romania, such as e.g, the “House of the People” in Bucharest, the nationalization/restitution of private properties and its impact on the historic urban centers, mass-housing legacy, small mono-industrial towns, and their post-industrial shrinking destiny. Based on an online questionnaire that received twenty-nine answers, the article represents just the first exploration of knowledge transfer and information access through social media to Generation Z in reference to the communist period in Romania.