Abandoned Places and Urban Marginalized Sites in Lugoj Municipality, Three Decades after Romania’s State-Socialist Collapse
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Setting Theoretical Background on Urban Dereliction and Ruins
3. Data, Materials, and Methods
4. Results and Discussion—Urban Dereliction as Part of the Romanian Postsocialist Urban Formation
4.1. Ruins of Postsocialist Romanian Cities
4.2. Investigating Local Urban Dereliction in the Romanian Small-Sized Towns: The Case of Lugoj Municipality
“Since the year of 1972, I have lived and worked here. The factory operated properly before and after 1990, but its survival chances are considered compared to the new national and international milk producers. It could function with a good management. I think its failure was deliberate. All equipment was removed. The scrap-selling center is just around the corner. Since the year 2000, the factory has turned to ruins as its neighboring rail area. This part of the town is desolate with repulsive landscapes. Looking around, we could find: ruins hosting waste, stray dogs, homelessness and high weeds, everywhere… Does someone in our government care about this ruined place? I don’t think so. Yet, these ruins are a part of our everyday life.”(Personal conversation: P.I./male/66.)
“In 1995, some Japanese investors intended to purchase and modernize the factory in order to continue the natural silk production, but the deal with Romanian authorities failed. Nobody knows the reason for this. Furthermore, a Romanian investor purchased it at a low price. It was then, divided; some parts were sold, put on let or turned to services. However, its most backward part is ruined.”(Interviewee/formerly engineer/L. D./62/female.)
“I remembered in the 90s, that the natural silk section has been dismantled. All the stainless steel equipment has been loaded into huge trucks. I think it was sold as scrap, making the new owners richer. Since I was 18 years old, my life has been connected to this plant. Then, I lost my job, as the town lost one of the most prominent factories. Sometimes, I still watch the ruins, regretting what was once there. As a dismissed worker after 25 years of work, my husband and I had to commute 60 km away, in Timişoara for new jobs, because at that time, no one hired us in Lugoj. We still regret the failure of the plant.”(Interviewee: I.J./female/62.)
“I used to manage this plant for twenty years. In the year 2002, based on a local government’s decision, it stopped operating like the others in town. They became redundant, since private heating systems were installed in blocks of flats. Being under local municipality administration, but at the same time, in the care of no one, soon its equipment disappeared. I am sure it was sold as scrap. The plant was further vandalized and became a ruin with a repulsive image, sheltering homeless, stray dogs and waste. With the plant closure, I lost my job just like my colleagues. I live opposite it, I saw it degrading every day, and I regret that the authorities did nothing with the ruins that harm the inner landscape of this neighborhood.”(Interviewee: M.N./male/65.)
“I see the ruin of this heating plant, every time I look through my window. Instead of seeing, an enjoyable landscape, I see this wasteland and repulsive place hosting stray dogs and homeless people fed and cared by different tenants. I am afraid of this place. In summer, the smell of the waste inside it is terrible, so I cannot even vent the house. If my living conditions were favorable, I would sell my current apartment and move elsewhere.”(Interviewee: K.B./male/44.)
“I do not understand why the local authorities do nothing with these ruins. The town needs social houses and these buildings remain vacant. Rather than hosting the homeless, they could turn to social housing, for poor families. Of course, these actions require important financial resources, but the local government has to take this issue seriously because there are many opportunities to apply for EU funding for local housing. I think there is too much ignorance, while viewing local dereliction.”(Interviewee: P.L/female/39.)
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Method | Interviews | No. of Interviews and Personal Conversations | Area | Observations |
---|---|---|---|---|
Interviews | 4 interviews | 4 | Not applicable | Semi-structured interviews with 15 questions, duration of 60 min each. The questions revolved around on the production of derelict places and their further possibilities of regeneration. |
City Hall representative | 1 | |||
Former directors of ruined factories | 3 | |||
Personal conversations | Former workers | 5 | Northern Industrial Area | The subjects were randomly intercepted and personal conversation were designed as free conversation to capture the individuals (former workers and residents no-workers) perceptions on the local ruined sites and on related aspects regarding their opinions concerning the quality of life and the urban landscape as well as their position towards further regeneration. |
Residents | 10 | |||
Former workers | 5 | Southern Industrial Area | ||
Residents | 10 | |||
Former workers | 5 | Central Industrial Area | ||
Residents | 10 | |||
Former workers | 5 | Western Industrial area | ||
Residents | 10 | |||
Inventory of the local derelict sites | 1 | All derelict areas | Based on personal observation and field trip-research. The inventory is summarized in Table 2. |
Area | Plants | Attested | Cultural Identity | Industrial Traditions and Lost Productions | Preserved Production | Post-Socialist Status | New Post-Socialist Economies | Types of Ruins | Commentaries Causes of Dereliction or Restructuring |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Western industrial area | ITL Unit A | 1907 | textiles production | textiles, canvas and Damascus | - | completely derelict | - | industrial ruins | deindustrialization, plant closure |
Southern industrial areas | Bricks Factory | 1888 | bricks production, the factory was founded by J. Muschong, one of the richest business persons in earlier capitalism | bricks | new types of bricks to a small extent | derelict plant to a large extent | - | industrial ruins | deindustrialization, plant closure to a large extent |
Central industrial area | ITL Unit C | 1907 | textiles production | textiles | - | completely derelict | - | industrial ruins | deindustrialization, plant closure |
The Milk Factory | 1942 | cultural tradition in casein and milk products | food industry | - | completely derelict | - | industrial ruins | deindustrialization, plant closure | |
The lasts Factory | 1910 | lasts and shoes production | lasts and shoes | - | completely derelict | - | industrial ruins | deindustrialization, plant closure | |
The rail transport area | 1970 | connection between industry and rail transport | - | - | partly derelict | - | rail transport ruins | deindustrialization, the failure of rail infrastructure connected to the local industry; | |
Northern Industrial Area | The Slaughter-house | 1912 | cultural tradition in food—patri-mony building | food | - | completely derelict | - | industrial ruins | deindustrialization and reindustrialization but derelict |
Natural Silk Mill (FMN) | 1907 | cultural tradition in natural silk production (unique in Romania with international markets) | natural silk | textiles | restructured but partly derelict | industry, tertiary activities | industrial ruins | deindustrialization, privatization, mismanagement plant closure, fragmentation, | |
IURT Plant | 1970 | state-socialist plant | machinery | machinery | restructured and partly derelict | machinery, shoes | industrial ruins | reindustrialization, tertiarization a part of it was privatized through Romanian capital, while other part was purchased by Rieker, reindustrialization. | |
IUPS Plant | 1974 | state-socialist plant | spare parts | spare parts | restructured and partly derelict | machines spare parts | industrial ruins | in the beginning, the plant was privatized through Romanian capital | |
The brick factory | 1888 | cultural tradition under earlier capitalism | bricks and tills | - | completely derelict | - | industrial ruins | deindustrialization, plant closure | |
Mondial Plant | 1900 | cultural tradition in materials for constructions | - | sanitary products | functioning | sanitary production | - | reindustrialization, privatized through FDIs, completely purchased by the German Company Villeroy and Boch | |
Military Area | 1960 | important military site under state-socialism | sanitary products | - | to a large extent derelict | - | military ruins | cities’ demilitarization, since the Romania access to NATO and professional army. |
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Jucu, I.S.; Voiculescu, S. Abandoned Places and Urban Marginalized Sites in Lugoj Municipality, Three Decades after Romania’s State-Socialist Collapse. Sustainability 2020, 12, 7627. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187627
Jucu IS, Voiculescu S. Abandoned Places and Urban Marginalized Sites in Lugoj Municipality, Three Decades after Romania’s State-Socialist Collapse. Sustainability. 2020; 12(18):7627. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187627
Chicago/Turabian StyleJucu, Ioan Sebastian, and Sorina Voiculescu. 2020. "Abandoned Places and Urban Marginalized Sites in Lugoj Municipality, Three Decades after Romania’s State-Socialist Collapse" Sustainability 12, no. 18: 7627. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187627