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Romania Systematization: A Settlement Strategy
Romania's extremely uneven development became
increasingly
problematic. From an ideological standpoint, the growing
disparity
between rural and urban life was unacceptable. And
uncontrolled
rural-urban migration placed considerable strain on the
cities, and
left the countryside with an agricultural work force
composed
increasingly of women, the elderly, and children.
The government responded in 1972 with a program for
rural
resettlement aimed at stemming the tide to the cities by
extending
modern facilities into the countryside, where a network of
new
industrial enterprises was to be established. With the
ultimate
goal of a "multilaterally developed socialist society,"
this
ambitious program, called "systematization," was to
dramatically
change the face of rural Romania. Officially initiated in
1974, the
program called for doubling the number of cities by 1990.
Some 550
villages were selected to receive money and materials
necessary for
their conversion to urban industrial centers. The program
called
for investments in schools, medical clinics, new housing,
and new
industry.
At the same time, plans were made for the remainder of
the
country's 13,000 villages. Here the traditional settlement
pattern
presented obstacles to plans for modernization. The
majority of
these villages had fewer than 1,000 inhabitants, and many
had fewer
than 500, while plans for rural resettlement set the
optimal
village population at 3,000--the number of inhabitants
necessary to
warrant expenditures for housing and services.
Accordingly,
villages with few prospects for growth were labeled
"irrational"
and "nonviable." In the 1970s, some 3,000 villages in this
category
were to be minimally serviced and gradually phased out,
and others
were scheduled to be forcibly dissolved and relocated. The
rural
population would then be concentrated in the "viable"
villages,
where plans for modernization and industrialization could
be more
effectively implemented and investments in infrastructure
more
profitably used.
Although systematization plans were drawn up for
virtually
every locality, implementation proceeded slowly,
presumably because
of lack of funds. The determination of the Ceausescu
regime to pay
off the foreign debt deprived the country of investment
capital.
Even before the debt crisis, little money had been
allocated for
the systematization program. Construction in rural areas
declined
sharply after peaking in 1960. In 1979 only 10 percent of
all new
housing was built in the countryside, and in the 1980s
even less
progress was made. Official projections had predicted that
by 1985
Romania's population would have reached 25 million, of
which 65
percent would live in urban places, with the increase in
urbanization a result of the systematization program. In
fact
population had grown to only 23 million by 1987, and of
that number
only 51 percent lived in urban places. Thus, despite
predictions
that 365 new towns would be created by 1980 and another
500 by
1985, no new towns were declared during that time.
The mid-1980s brought renewed commitment to
systematization.
Some villages on the outskirts of Bucharest were
destroyed,
ostensibly to make way for projects such as the
Bucharest-Danube
Canal and airport expansion. Meanwhile about eight square
kilometers in the heart of Bucharest were destroyed,
leveling some
of the nation's finest architectural heritage.
Monasteries, ancient
churches, and historic buildings were razed, and some
40,000 people
were forced to leave their homes with only a
twenty-four-hour
notice. This was done to clear a path for the Victory of
Socialism
Boulevard, which would include a public square where half
a million
people could assemble and a mammoth Palace of Government
glorifying
Ceausescu's rule.
Although lack of capital appeared to limit the renewed
interest
in systematization primarily to the Bucharest area, plans
for
nationwide rural resettlement were merely postponed and
not
canceled. The number of villages scheduled to be
destroyed, whether
gradually by forced depopulation or more abruptly by
razing, rose
from the 3,000 initially proposed in 1974 to between 7,000
and
8,000 in 1988. The citizens resented the rural
resettlement program
for its drastic social and cultural consequences and for
the huge
financial burden that even its limited implementation had
already
imposed.
An especially controversial aspect of systematization
was the
theory that concentrating the rural population would
promote more
efficient use of agricultural land. New housing in rural
areas
after 1974 was subject to strict regulations. Villages
were to be
structured like towns, with construction of housing
concentrated
within specified perimeters. The buildings had to be at
least two
stories high, and surrounding lots were restricted to 250
meters.
Private lots for agriculture were to be moved outside the
settlement perimeter, diminishing the ability of the
village
populations to produce their own food, as they were
required by law
to do after 1981. Moreover, because private plots produced
much of
the nation's fruits, vegetables, and meat, full
implementation of
systematization would have jeopardized the food supply for
the
entire country.
The international community, particularly Hungary and
West
Germany, criticized systematization as a blatant attempt
to
forcibly assimilate national minorities. Each village
escaping
systematization was to have a civic center, often referred
to as a
"Song to Romania House of Culture." These institutions
promised to
be useful tools for indoctrination and mobilization and
were
apparently intended to replace churches as the focal point
of
community life. By 1989 many churches had already been
destroyed,
and no plans for rebuilding were evident. The destruction
of
churches and villages not only severed cultural and
historic links
to the past, but also threatened community bonds and group
autonomy. Much of the international criticism of
systematization
deplored the investment in such a grandiose scheme amidst
rapidly
deteriorating living conditions, which had been on a
downward
spiral since the 1970s. The Victory of Socialism Boulevard
was
replete with irony as the 1980s witnessed serious food
shortages
and an energy crisis that prolonged the disparity between
urban and
rural Romania.
Data as of July 1989
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