Rural Systematization in Romania vs. Settlement Systems in Bulgaria: Comparative Perspective on Spatial Planning and Regional Policies during the Late Communist Period
Rural Systematization in Romania vs. Settlement Systems in Bulgaria: Comparative Perspective on Spatial Planning and Regional Policies during the Late Communist Period

Summary/Abstract: The article compares policies towards rural settlements in Romania and Bulgaria during the 1970s and 1980s. These are two very different cases, which could be consi-dered also “exceptional” when compared to other East European communist countries: in Romania planning authorities envisaged to transform some 300-350 big villages into towns, while 6,000-7,000 villages (out of a little more than 13,000) were to be phased out and their population transferred to the future towns; in contrast, the ambition in Bulgaria was to preserve all villages (even the smallest ones) and to attract young people back to the villages in order to revitalize them. It is demonstrated that in fact both regimes were following identical pricipals of spatial planning, which were not necessarily “communist.” Still these principles were adapted not only to the realities of the individual countries, but also to the priorities and preferences of the respective regimes.

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