Urbanization Patterns and Policies in Romania in 1948-2000

Ionica Berevoescu, University of Bucharest

This paper reviews urbanization trends and characteristics in Romania in 1948 – 2000 at the different stages of urbanization shaped by policy and economic changes. The purpose of the paper is to show how the size and number of cities and the socio-demographic composition of the urban population have been affected during the socialist regime and in the period of transition to democracy and market economy. Furthermore, it examines the implications on the actual urban system on urban-rural linkages in Romania. As a result of the economic reforms of the last decade, the existing dynamic of rural-urban exchanges has been transformed, and urban-to-rural migration flows have become dominant. The emergence of a new ruralization (driven by poverty, unemployment, and social dislocations) as survival strategy is of particular relevance not only to the Romania context, but to many other countries in transition.