Rubble under the asphalt. Paradigms of urban memory in Bucharest
Rubble under the asphalt. Paradigms of urban memory in Bucharest

Summary/Abstract: We explore how ruins function as forms of urban memory in Bucharest, analysing the tension between continuity and dislocation within the city’s structure. Starting from the idea of memory as an invisible infrastructure, we investigate the stratigraphic layers in which urban time is preserved organically, in contrast with the brutal interruption of this continuity through modern-era systematization projects that generate “negative memory.” The analysis is based on two case studies – Curtea Veche and the former Jewish Quarter. The reconstruction of these areas, through historical maps, photographs, and archaeological research, highlights the loss of a coherent urban fabric and its substitution with recent symbolic markers. Ultimately, the city emerges as a field of tension between sedimented memory and suppressed memory, while the ruins – whether visible or hidden beneath the asphalt – become essential instruments for understanding urban identity and the processes through which Bucharest reconstructs its past.

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