Abandoned Places and Urban Marginalized Sites in Lugoj Municipality, Three Decades after Romania’s State-Socialist Collapse

Abstract

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.

Scaling the Potential of Compact City Development: The Case of Lahore, Pakistan

“…This revealed that the city is sprawling at a significant pace. The gross population density of Lahore was 4883 persons per km 2 and 6279 persons per km 2 in the year 2010 and 2017, respectively, which was well short of the recommended standard of the UN-Habitat. The recommended density for compact development is at least 15,000 km 2 .…”

“…Four sub-indicators, namely, gross population density, built-up area density, land use breakup, and average land consumption per capita were considered to comprehend the density pattern. It is recommended that the population density within a sustainable neighborhood should be at least 15,000 persons per km 2 (150 persons/ha) [48]. The gross population density of Lahore was 4883 persons per km 2 and 6279 persons per km 2 in 2010 and 2017, respectively.…”

“…It is recommended that the population density within a sustainable neighborhood should be at least 15,000 persons per km 2 (150 persons/ha) [48]. The gross population density of Lahore was 4883 persons per km 2 and 6279 persons per km 2 in 2010 and 2017, respectively. The increase in density means that Lahore city is experiencing compactness.…”

“…However, at the same time, a debate for a sustainable urban form and development has also started. It is argued that the challenge of attaining sustainability in post-socialist urban formations and how this out play out in everyday life are largely ignored at the national, regional, and local scales [2]. Large urban areas and megacities are facing accelerated spatial transformation, whereas the small and medium-sized cities have found a slow growth in their urban restructuring, with dissimilar outcomes at the local scale [3].…”

Boon or Bane: Effect of Adjacent YIMBY or NIMBY Facilities on the Benefit Evaluation of Open Spaces or Cropland

“…The idea of accounting for the facilities with different characteristics is not just applied to housings in ordinary status. Space rearrangement is certainly required for the prominent change in the new political, economic, social, and cultural state and in its major spatial shifts occurred in the urban restructuring processes [20,21] framing a foundation for the study here to focus on the evaluation of the specific concerned targets in one of the municipalities in Taiwan.…”