Deindustrialization, Tertiarization and Suburbanization in Central and Eastern Europe. Lessons Learned from Bucharest City, Romania

Abstract

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.

Suburbanization Processes in Sofia: Demographic, Socio-Economic and Spatial Transformation of the Agglomeration Area

“…The transport infrastructure supports the enlargement of commerce and warehouse constructions, thus leading to expansion of sealed territories. Similar suburbanization trends are observed in other capitals in Central and Eastern Europe, such as Bucharest (Săgeată et al 2023).…”

“…-Southeastern European countries: Suburbanization in Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria has been more chaotic mainly due to the lack of long-term and targeted urban and regional policies, the signi cant out ow of population from the urban centers to the surrounding suburban areas, underdeveloped public infrastructure in the new residential areas, the expansion of retail and warehouse buildings, the constant soil sealing along the main transport axes crossing the capital agglomerations, etc. (Dinic-Brankovic et al 2016;Dumitrache et al 2016;Săgeată et al 2023 ;Slaev et al 2018). According to the World Urbanization Prospects report by the United Nations (2019), 25.3% of the Bulgarians live in suburban areas, compared to an average of 22.2% in the post-socialist countries.…”

Correction: Săgeată et al. Deindustrialization, Tertiarization and Suburbanization in Central and Eastern Europe. Lessons Learned from Bucharest City, Romania. Land 2023, 12, 1731

“…In the original publication [1], there was a mistake in the legend for Figures 1 and 4. A map legend can be explained either by text within the figure (where space permits) or by numbering the conventional signs within the figure, and explaining them below the figure (where space is more limited).…”

Does Shrinking Population in Small Towns Equal Economic and Social Decline? A Romanian Perspective

“…Previous research has generally focused on the shrinking of Romanian cities in general, while only partially addressing small towns [39,[43][44][45][46]. Other studies dealt with the issues that small towns face following deindustrialization and economic restructuring [43,[47][48][49][50][51][52]. There have also been discussions on the rural character that many of these small towns still preserve [53][54][55][56] as well as regarding their peripheralization [47,[57][58][59].…”