Search Results (7)

This article focuses on graffiti and street art analysis in green areas from Romanian cities. Whether it is about the invasion or anticipated integration of urban artworks in green areas, in recent years, the phenomenon of urban art has become undoubtedly visible and finds its place among other components of artistic interventions. This study aims to diagnose various forms and expressions of urban art in the parks of several case study cities from Romania and to evaluate the urban art rapport with the parks’ organization. The methods used combine field research to identify spots with urban art, typologies based on different criteria, documentation for primary or supplementary explanations about the reality identified in the field, and results mapping using GIS tools. This study’s main findings are in relation to the location and preferred surfaces in the investigated parks for graffiti and street art works; hence, the main types of urban art and the messages transmitted. The results obtained highlight the idea that there are differences and gaps in terms of urban art phenomenon evolution reflected in diverse approaches of urban art and different balances that impact the parks’ image. Full article

The present research focuses on buildings’ names and commercial signs analysis as an important component of Bucharest city center semiotics in relation to place identity. Insufficient studies have focused on the direct relationship between commercial signs and place identity, and no scientific approaches in this sense have been identified at Bucharest level. The buildings’ names and commercial signs used as case studies are from the second part of the 19th century until the present. The profound economic and social changes that have taken place in Bucharest during more than 150 years are reflected in the findings. Relying on a complex methodology, a typology framing the case studies identified in the field highlights situations that are not necessarily in accord with the passage of time, but rather with certain city planning decisions and in relation to space use. The novelty of this paper lies in the investigation of some components of Bucharest city center that tend to be forgotten, providing in the end information in relation to their degree of appreciation and therefore preservation, or on the contrary, abandonment and loss. In this complex approach, the role of territorial actors involved in actions such as inventory, framing, and finding preservation solutions is discussed. Full article

This paper intends to delve deeply into the current understanding of the ways in which the transition from a central-based economy to an economy relying on free competition has led to changes in the big urban centers, bringing about a change in the relationships with the suburban areas. The authors take into account the high population density, the lack of space, and the elevated price of land within the big cities, which leads to urban functions migrating beyond the administrative boundaries, thus favoring the process of suburbanization. Given the context, commercial forces shift, migrating from the center to the urban peripheries or even outside them. This research is based on a comprehensive process of participative investigation (2012–2022) in Bucharest, Romania’s capital city. The research relies on field investigation, statistical and quantitative analyses and bibliographical sources. The conclusions rely primarily on the idea that political changes cannot be separated from economic, cultural and environmental ones, highlighting globalizing flows and the development of big cities. Industrial activities, strongly developed within a central-based economy, have significantly declined, which is partly compensated for by the development of the tertiary sector and, in particular, of commercial services leading to a functional reconversion of the urban peripheries and of suburban areas. The conclusions suggest that it is very important to be highly careful regarding the dilemmas and challenges ensuing from uncontrolled urban growth; therefore, several measures of urban planning should be taken with a view to achieving a better cooperation between urban stakeholders and those from the metropolitan areas so as to attain some common objectives in infrastructure in order to reach an integrated regional development. Full article

The paper aims to analyze, on one hand, the evolution and interpretation of graffiti and street art phenomenon in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, and at international level, and on the other hand how this subculture is related to aspects of culture and heritage. The analysis of the evolution followed by graffiti and street art in Bucharest is doubled by the investigation of the messages transmitted in relation to the national and local culture and history, as street art may be seen as an efficient tool contributing to local cultural identity building. The methods used rely on a complex approach, combining observation and photos from field research, documentation, and data collection from different organizations and online communities. Street art works have various positive effects on the urban landscape, including in relation to culture and heritage in time. The results demonstrate that in Bucharest, street art contributes to highlighting mainly the key-moments and the personalities in culture and history that contribute to shaping a part of cultural identity. Full article

This article analyses street art’s contribution to the current economic life in the city center of an Eastern European capital, Bucharest. The development of socio-economic activities in the Romanian capital has been strongly influenced in the last 30 years by a complex of effects generated by the transition to the capitalist economy in the early 1990s, the impact of globalization, and recently the COVID-19 pandemic. This study focuses on the investigation of those areas that through street art came to know processes of urban regeneration. By applying semi-structured interviews to providers of alternative guided tours, but also questionnaires among the population that is familiar with this subculture, including an organization of urban regeneration through street art, an important number of economically new spaces, next to reinvented ones, have been investigated. In these areas, street art ends up by supporting activities from hospitality, cultural, and creative industries, changing for the better the perspectives of economic and cultural development, along with the attractiveness of the Bucharest city center. Street art proves to be an important tool in the regeneration process bringing positive effects when involving active cooperation between the public and the private sectors. Full article