Drumul Taberei Bucharest Panorama – 1968

Drumul Taberei (Bucharest) During Construction in 1968: Avenue Scene (top) and 40 yrs later (left) / Photos © by Dan Dimancescu

Wide streets, expansive sidewalks and interspersed green spaces were provided though at the price of long walks from centrally located services such as stores – made much worse in adverse rain or winter seasons. Statistically the green space ratios to built space were generous compared to western cities. Whether this was good planning or merely cookie-cutter formulas applied widely throughout the world is open to debate. Forty years later many of these spaces have become ad-hoc parking spaces as automobile ownership proliferates. Public transportation was easily accessible but generally provided in low quality, overcrowded buses and trams. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the quality of the public infrastructure has greatly improved with new equipment and new railbeds. On the other hand, maintainance of apartment blocs remains problematic as apartment blocs were privatized and shared ownership responsibilities localized.