This special edition examines various aspects of urban tourism in the post-communist cities of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). It begins by examining the nature of tourism restructuring in the region since the end of communism and the way that this unfolds in cities. It then examines major global changes in the nature of tourism and their impacts on urban tourism in CEE. These include the growing demand among tourists for new experiences and destinations; the impact of budget airlines on tourism in smaller cities; the impacts of the sharing economy (particularly Airbnb); and the growing emphasis on events and festivals as a means of attracting visitors to cities. The article ends by introducing the six articles that make up this special edition.
This paper unveils the logic behind urban industrial derelict places connected to the petrochemical industry in the cities of Romania and specifically draws from the post-socialist experience of the Solventul petrochemical plant in Timişoara. In the context of transition from state socialism to capitalism and globalization, huge areas of debris stand as proof of a once flourishing socialist industry forced into controversial cases of privatization and re-privatization. The most important petrochemical plants in Romania have been the object of post-socialist economic restructuring. The reasons are due to the loss of the communist market, the cessation of government subsidies, and the growth of international competition, all in the face of aging production facilities. In the process, more than 30,000 workers were forced into intra-urban or urban-rural migration pushed by an emerging privatized housing market. The authorities acted with secrecy with regard to the process of privatization as well as to the ecological hazards posed by these industrial ruins. Created through a process of industrial decline paired with a general legal framework permeated by neoliberal influences, these urban industrial derelict places have caused hot spots of controversy for urban policies and practices for more than 20 years since the fall of communism in Romania.
The postsocialist process of urban restructuring came with important spatial, social, and economic consequences. This triggered important transformations that remain palpable in the everyday texture of urban life, spatial patterns, and even the internal structures of the city. Every urban settlement was bound to contribute to the state socialist industry so that postsocialist urban transformations also included multiple aspects of dereliction and ruination of the socialist industrial assets. Threatening postsocialist urban formations and sustainability, the most common feature is collective neglect at national, regional, and local scales. The transition from state-socialist forms of production to the current market-based system poses many difficulties. This article specifically investigates the problems of urban industrial ruins in Lugoj—which are typical for medium-sized postsocialist municipalities in Romania. The research draws on qualitative data gathered by the authors through semi-structured interviews, personal communication, and oral histories and continuous infield observation (2012–2019). The findings unveil the production and the reproduction of abandoned spaces in Romanian urban settlements in the absence of specific regeneration programs and policies on urban redevelopment and marginalized areas. The analysis reveals that urban ruins harm the quality of life in local communities, damaging both the urban landscape and local sustainability. Further actions for local urban regeneration are urgently needed.
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