Ongoing territorial transformations in Romania: urbanization through industrialisation and vice versa

Industrial ruins arrived to represent a landmark of the Romanian territorial transformations occurred in the post-socialist years. This is mainly due to the diffusion of the industries on the national territory associated with the economic transformations that affected them. In fact, the spreading of industries all over Romania represented one of the results of the territorial systematization process started during communism, which directly linked urbanization with industrialization in the purpose of building social and economic uniformity. Starting from 1948 until 1989, an urban network was built in Romania, mainly composed by medium sized mono-industrial towns, which at the time were considered an urban ideal model. This article aims to analyze Romanian territorial transformations occurred since 1948 to present day, with a particular attention to the role of the industries in city planning practices. In fact, a strong influence can be recognized, first in their part in the definition of the Romanian urban structure, and then in how they influenced the urban transformations happened after 1989.