Sorin Ionita on architecture in Bucharest

The Romanian sociologist Sorin Ionita writes in the daily Evenimentul Zilei on architecture in the Romanian capital Bucharest: "Should we build modern, high buildings or traditional, conservative ones? Such questions are completely irrelevant considering how institutions and municipal regulations function in this country. New or traditional, big or little, our problem is that Romanian cities have created mutilated buildings that break all the rules and handicap people's lives. ... The reasons are corruption and the hurdles created by public institutions, as well as the architects' complete lack of imagination and herd instinct. The rules of the game in Bucharest are such a mishmash that everyone can point the finger at everyone else while maintaining that they themselves are innocent, because the law forced them to act as they did. Added to that, the Cultural Heritage Office in the Minstry of Culture systematically allows representative buildings to go to ruin. In the 20 years of transition there has not been a single case of a landlord being expropriated for having allowed his building go to ruin, even though it is required by law."

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