Despre plasticitatea spațiului urban: o abordare a spațiului în transformare (Cartierul Evreiesc din București 1965–1989)
On the Plasticity of Urban Space: An Approach to Transforming Space (The Jewish Quarter of Bucharest 1965–1989)

Summary/Abstract: Cities bear witness to the evolution of history, and their physical, social, and cultural structures reflect the events that have shaped their identity. In this study, the plasticity of urban space is understood as an expression of the built environment’s capacity to compensate for physical fragmentation through the continuous process of restoring its cultural identity. Urban plasticity refers to a space’s ability to remain functional after natural or human-made traumas, thereby ensuring its resilience, continuity, and survival. The dynamism of an urban space is not merely a characteristic of growth and modernization processes, but also a virtue of adaptation after disasters. Understanding the complexity of the built environment’s fragility and plasticity is essential for identifying the cultural significance of urban spaces and for comprehending their intricate evolution.The evolution of Bucharest’s Jewish Quarter1965 to 1989 is an illustrative example of an urban space deeply affected by historical and social events. These include the impact of Decree 92/1950 for the nationalization of certain properties, the third wave of Jewish emigration, the devastating earthquake of March 4, 1977, and the extensive demolitions of the 1980s. While some of these events influenced the city as a whole, others had a more pronounced effect on the structure and identity of this particular neighborhood. Successive traumas led to a profound fragmentation of the area.The operations of destruction, which predominantly involved anthropogenic interventions alongside the natural disaster represented by the earthquake of March 4, 1977, transformed the quarter into a fragile survivor whose symbolic core and community values were deeply impacted.By December 1989, the neighborhood had become a symbol of absences, bearing its scars in every void left in the urban landscape. The entire neighborhood had been transformed into a fragile survivor of aggressions targeting not only its physical structures, but also the essence of a multiethnic community. Following successive demolitions, the center of the neighborhood shifted slightly northward from its original location in 1965. The original center was completely demolished.The aim of this study is to analyze the dynamics of the urban fragmentation of Bucharest’s Jewish Quarter during the period 1965–1989 by investigating the presence of synagogues, temples, and prayer houses within the neighborhood as the fundamental manifestations of Jewish culture.

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