For the development of socialist urbanism

The Third Congress of the Romanian Workers' Party, an event of great significance in the life of our Party, took stock of the great achievements of our working people and adopted the plan for the economic and cultural development of the country in the coming period.

The report of the Central Committee, presented to the Congress by Comrade Gh. Gheorghiu-Dej, the six-year plan for the development of the national economy and the 15-year economic outlook program, express confidence in the future, in the constructive strength of the people, who, fully in control of their destinies, are building socialism and communism under the leadership of the Party. Before us lie bright prospects for the development of socialist construction and the gradual transition to the building of communism.

In the creative effort required by the development of the technical-material basis of socialism, the construction, architecture and systematization sector has a great deal to do.

The extent of these tasks is shown by the following provisions:

• The increase in the volume of investment in the period 1960-1965 by twice as much as in the preceding five-year period; the doubling of the volume of construction in 1965 as compared with 1959.
• Realization of approx. 300,000 apartments, three times more than in the previous period.
• Production of building materials increased twice as much in 1965 as in 1959.

Reduction in the cost of construction-assembly in 1965 by 11% as compared with 1959, and in the cost of industrial construction by 20-25%; increase in labor productivity by 40-45% in the building materials industry and by 50% in construction-assembly over the same period.

The realization of large industrial complexes, numerous constructions in transport, telecommunications and agriculture, the substantial increase in the volume of housing and social-cultural buildings, as well as in the construction of technical and infrastructural equipment, in the conditions of continuous increase in the economic efficiency of investments, reduction of construction costs, shortening of construction deadlines and improvement of the quality of works require a great creative effort from all those working in this sector.

The report of the C.C.C. of the P.C.C.R. presented by comrade Gh. Gheorghiu-Dej and the debates of the Congress have shown the ways to be followed in order to accomplish these tasks. These are the resolute expansion of the industrialization of construction through the development of mechanization of works, the large-scale use of prefabricated and rapid working methods, so that construction sites are increasingly transformed into assembly sites, the standardization of construction and building elements. The production of new lightweight and more economically efficient building materials, the introduction of plastics, especially for finishing, the improvement of the quality of projects and the extension of the use of standard projects, the judicious choice of sites are the guidelines to be followed in order to improve the work in the design, execution and production of building materials.

The Party's policy of developing the national economy, of raising the standard of living of the masses as expressed in the provisions of the six-year plan and the perspective program, and the rapid development of city construction are today posing special problems in the field of town planning. The city population in our country increased between 1948-1959 from 3.7 million to nearly 6 million and will continue to increase as a result of the industrialization of the country. A conclusive example of the consequences of our country's economic boom for the development of cities is the construction of the steel plant in Galati - the main objective for the next 10 years and the perspective program - which is being carried out with the support and multilateral aid of the great friend, the Soviet Union. The construction of this great work, of the utmost importance in completing the construction of socialism in our country, will double the present population of Galati. Other cities such as Hunedoara, Craiova, Piatra Neamț, Onești and others are on the road to rapid development thanks to the large industrial complexes in their vicinity.

Between 1960 and 1965, the construction of approx. 300.000 apartments, means building again 10 cities of the current size of Ploiești. Dacă la aceasta mai adăugăm construirea a 15 mii de săli de clasă, a noi spații de școlarizare pentru învățămîntul superior, a unor cămine studențești însumînd peste 15.000 de locuri, ridicarea de noi așezăminte de cultură și artă, de spitale cu o capacitate de 18.000 de paturi, a cca. 100 city and district polyclinics, buildings and facilities in spa resorts, we have a picture of the vast construction effort that will change the appearance of our cities.

However, the task of carrying out these constructions by 1965 must also be seen in the light of the provisions of the perspective program. The practical solution of the housing problem up to 1975 must now be part of our concerns when we draw up systematization plans.

In order to solve problems of this magnitude, which are being posed for the first time in our country, it is necessary to adopt other measures and methods than those hitherto used.

The analysis of the situation of systematization planning in our country shows a backwardness in this field. Most of our cities still do not have drafts or empowered systematization plans with legal basis for implementation. In the absence of forward-looking data on the development of cities, in the past years quite a large number of preliminary studies have been elaborated - approx. 180 - which today have little practical value. Even when systematization sketches were prepared, the uncertainty in specifying the social-economic profiles of some cities led to their repeated reworking. This was the case with the systematization plan of Iasi, which was redone twice, Roman, which was redone three times, and Hunedoara, which was redone twice. In the absence of systematization plans, the burdens of investment were solved by systematization details. While this method generally gave satisfactory results for a small volume of construction, it proved inadequate as the volume of investment increased, since the multiple and varied problems posed by the construction of large housing complexes can only be solved within the framework of a general systematization plan drawn up multilaterally.

It is only within this framework that the complex problems of city construction can be solved, such as determining the built-up limits of the city and its structure in order to achieve the best functional, economic and aesthetic results. Among the most important problems to be solved by the systematization plan are: rational zoning taking into account hygienic and climatic conditions, transport networks, the arrangement of housing complexes in organic units with a good spatial arrangement aimed at making life easier and creating the most favourable living conditions, the unitary arrangement of social, cultural, commercial and public service networks, the technical and infrastructural facilities, transport, green spaces, the organization of the preorororagan area, etc. a.

Today, taking advantage of the experience gained in urban planning in our country and in friendly countries, having certain data for the establishment of economic profiles, concretized in the provisions of the 15-year perspective economic program, in an organizational and legislative framework created in recent years by decisions of the Council of Ministers, we have all the premises to liquidate in a short term the backwardness in this field, so that cities are equipped with general systematization plans, effective instruments in the fulfillment of the tasks set by the 3rd Congress of the P.M.R., to build more, faster, better and cheaper.

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In the elaboration of the systematization plans, the great advantages of our orînduduation, planning, the basis of economic forecasts for the development of our cities, must be thoroughly used. What this advantage means was seen in the debate on the problem of world town-planning at the Fifth Congress of the International Union of Architects held in Moscow in July, 1958. Whereas in the countries of socialism, urban planning becomes a concrete program of realization, the means being provided by state plans, in the capitalist countries urban planning is a mere wishful thinking, contradicted by the achievements of a society based on exploitation and torn by deep contradictions. Whereas in 1959 in the United States, the most powerful capitalist country, 7.9 apartments were built per thousand inhabitants, in the Soviet Union, 14.5 apartments were built per thousand inhabitants, and the Soviet Union today ranks first in the world in the number of apartments built per thousand inhabitants. For the first time in its history, the Soviet Union has set itself the task of solving the housing problem within a historically short period - 10-12 years. Following the example of the Soviet Union, the other countries of the socialist camp are also setting themselves such tasks on the basis of their economic success. Having such possibilities in the construction of mass housing, which is the basic foundation of cities, and having the other advantages of the socialist system of socialist planning - the aim of which is the continuous raising of the standard of living of the broad masses, the increasing satisfaction of their material and spiritual needs - urban planning in socialist society is moving to a new stage, the highest stage yet reached in the development of human society.

The new, multilateral content of socialist urban planning, "one of the most important chapters of the national economy", was clearly revealed at the Unitary Conference on the Construction of Cities held in Moscow in June 1960. In contrast to the hitherto narrow understanding of town planning as an activity in the field of planning, socialist town planning, most brilliantly exemplified by Soviet town planning, is a broad conception of a concerted multilateral activity which embraces the whole activity of building human settlements, from the planning and detailed planning to the detailed planning of housing units, public use, greening, and the control of the implementation of systematization plans.

In the conditions of the continuous increase in the volume of housing and social-cultural construction, industrialization of construction and wide application of model projects, the emphasis is shifting towards the overall design. In order to create the basis for such planning, it is necessary to intensify systematization work and to raise it to an appropriate level. The bodies which are responsible for or can contribute in this field - the people's councils, the C.S.C.C.A.S., the Union of Architects, the central and local design institutes - must take measures to carry out planned activity so that in the shortest possible time the cities of our country will have well-grounded and approved systematization plans.

A small number of cities have so far systematization plans, but they are not final. The development of construction activities, the new directives on building economy and the new, more economical and rational methods of systematization of cities require a revision of most of these plans. The typical case is that of the capital, whose master plan is based on certain premises which require it to be reviewed and brought into line with current development prospects and with the practice accumulated in recent years.

Until recently, systematization plans were drawn up only in central institutes. The disconnection of systematization planning from the construction site, the failure to make use of local possibilities and the failure to train local bodies with full responsibility to solve their own systematization problems were some of the reasons for lagging behind in this field. The analysis of these inadequate aspects led to the conclusion that systematization projects should be elaborated by local design organizations; H.C.M. 1678/1959 created the framework and the means for the development of these activities within the regional popular councils, by establishing the systematization, architecture and building design directorates, within which systematization design collectives were created, directly subordinated to the chief architect.

The first 1960 plan of the systemization design of these regional units, established with the agreement of the regional people's councils, provides for the elaboration of 56 systemization designs for towns, district centers and other localities. An analysis of the way in which this work has been carried out so far shows that the plan is not being implemented and that the work carried out does not correspond to the level of work required. The reasons for the shortcomings of the first year of activity of the D.S.A.P.C.s in this field are due primarily to the lack of interest still shown by the popular councils in systematization works, and to the lack of specialized and experienced staff.

In general, it can be said that there is a shortage of specialized architects, engineers and economists in this field in view of the scale of the urban planning problems that are posed today. The plan of the only architectural institute in the country has been reduced in recent years almost by half, and the profile of the Construction Institute does not yet include the training of specialists in city construction.

In order to strengthen the central and local institutes with specialized cadres to prepare cadres capable of solving the complex problems of city systematization plans, the interested bodies should urgently take measures to ensure that the higher technical institutes prepare the necessary cadres.

Until the training of new cadres, a fair distribution of existing cadres, the attraction and specialization of existing cadres for systematization planning by organizing courses to upgrade their specialized knowledge, and the training of middle-level cadres in the short term should be pursued. The decentralization of design must be pursued with perseverance, regional design organizations must be strengthened so as to ensure the conditions for the elaboration of systematization projects on the spot, in order to get to know the concrete conditions and to confront the proposed solutions with the reality.

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The elaboration of systematization plans must start from the fundamental features of the new socialist city, the main aim of which is to satisfy the growing material and cultural needs of the people.

The harmonious development of towns and cities in order to create healthy and comfortable living conditions calls for a just zoning of the territory and the most economical use of resources. Proposals for the reorganization of existing towns and cities in order to eliminate the burdensome legacy of past regimes must be made with great care, taking the economic factor into account to the greatest possible extent. Some of the provisions of systematization plans which call for the massive dismantling of existing buildings and industrial units in full production appear utopian from the outset, because of the large investments they require, which are disproportionate to the intended purpose. Thus, in the first versions of the Iasi's urban development plan, it was proposed to abandon the entire Bahlui river plain area, a third of the city, similar solutions were proposed for Bîrlad and Tirnaveni, and for other cities, such as Sibiu and Stalin City, it was planned to dismantle important industries in full production.

In these cases, it is advisable to find other ways of eliminating some of the negative factors existing in the cities, such as modern technical procedures for eliminating harmful effects, protection zones, hydro-technical works, sanitation, etc.

When demarcating known areas of cities, consideration should be given to saving urban land. The chaotic development of our cities in the past has resulted in the waste of large areas of land and low density, making it impossible to provide the city with the necessary technical and infrastructural facilities and leading to costly solutions in terms of construction and maintenance costs.

In the fulfillment of the task laid down by H.C.M. 1678/1959 to fix the built-up limits of the city, it is necessary to restrict the surface area of the cities in order to achieve rational densities. The large plots of land set aside by various departments and today unused, as well as surplus land exceeding the needs resulting from the systematization of some industrial zones, must be carefully analyzed. There is also a need to liquidate the chaotic development of individual buildings and to create the conditions to encourage private initiative towards cooperation, in order to restrict individual buildings and to create a coherent ensemble of residential buildings, in blocks, terraced buildings, duplexes, etc.

The rational use of urban land must lead to better organization of the zoning of the city, economical and rational organization of transport, a good distribution of green spaces, and better conditions for work, living and rest.

In order to achieve better living and resting conditions for the city's working population, the preorororans' area must be considered as an integral part of the city, as part of the city's systematization plan. The densely planted foreshore, linked to the city by green wedges, organized and protected by the city executive committee, should be an active factor in improving the microclimate and should be developed for the recreational, sporting and tourist needs of the city's population.

Our towns and cities have many scenic values in the form of forests, lakes and outstanding natural beauty. Making use of them through protective measures, light landscaping and the creation of easy means of public transport will broaden the urban landscape and open up new prospects for recreation.

A characteristic feature of the socialist city is the collective character of certain functions of daily life. The multilateral personal needs of the city's inhabitants, interwoven with the functional requirements of the collectivity, are satisfied by a network of different social buildings directly connected with the housing complexes.

Under these conditions, the concept of housing is broadened and supplemented by children's institutions, crèches and kindergartens, schools, canteens, clubs, shops, etc., designed to meet the daily needs of the family and the community.

The spatial, urban and architectural organization of housing areas must correspond to these new requirements within the social unity of the urban organism, the city. This makes it necessary to organize the micro-region, a structural unit that allows for the optimal functional and economic organization of housing complexes, public utilities and social and cultural facilities.

The micro-region is essentially a housing estate organically designed to constitute a unit whose population is linked by social and cultural institutions of daily services. The micro-region is delimited by busy streets or by other elements such as watercourses, railroads, etc. According to past experience, taking into account the optimal radius of the population's social and cultural facilities, densities, etc., the population of a micro-region may not exceed 10 000-12 000 inhabitants, the number of the population of a micro-region also depending on the size of the city, the existing situation, etc. The micro-region land should not be crossed by major roads, and the maximum distance of any dwelling from the public transport station should not exceed 500 m. It is advisable to separate pedestrian and vehicular traffic and to reduce the number of intersections of pedestrian and vehicular traffic within the microregion.

In order to create the best possible living conditions and for the economy of construction solutions, it is recommended to build social-cultural, commercial or service facilities in separate buildings, grouped in a social and service center, apart from nurseries, kindergartens, schools, which should be located near the large planted area, the public garden of the microregion.

The microraion thus appears as a basic structural unit of the town. Depending on the size of the town, it can be divided into several microrayions - as in the case of small towns - and into residential districts, which in turn are divided into microrayions - in the case of medium-sized towns; in large towns, which have a district administrative organization, the districts are organized in a similar way to medium-sized towns.

In addition to the social and cultural facilities of the small towns, there is also a network of neighborhood facilities, clubs, libraries, cinemas, polyclinics, department stores, sports facilities, as well as some city facilities such as theaters, large sports complexes, hospitals, etc.

Micro-regional organization calls for a good distribution of green areas, conceived as a unitary system linked to district and city plantations. Micro-regional green spaces can be of limited use - such as plantations in housing estates, plantations used by schools, nurseries and kindergartens - as well as green areas for public use, such as the micro-region garden, which also includes sports and play facilities and can be crossed by pedestrian traffic.

The correct application of these general principles to the specific conditions in question depends on the creation of a suitable environment for the daily life of the inhabitants, the achievement of a high level of comfort, maximum efficiency of the investment and the operation of the buildings. The theoretical and practical foundations of micro-renovation are still in the early stages of materialization: they are being enriched day by day by the results of our practice. The formal application of this new structural conception of the city, the mere division of the city into units called microrayions, without aiming through the compositional structure at the comfort of the inhabitants in its broad and new meaning, is to depart from the realization of the essential features of the socialist city.

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A systematization plan cannot be effective in its implementation if it has no phasing provisions. The stages in the construction or reconstruction of a city must be based on the investments to be made in accordance with the provisions of the State Plan. The stages of the systematization plan must, by individualizing the sites, make it possible to bridge the gap between the design and implementation of investments, without which it is impossible to take measures in time to organize the works in the best possible way, to apply the best technical solutions and to plan the territory in advance in order to achieve the maximum efficiency of the investments.

The question of location is one of the most important issues in the complex process of city construction. Our experience shows that an inappropriate location can have a decisive influence on the value of the investment. In recent years, for example, the construction of housing estates on peripheral plots without any building works has required considerable building costs. On the other hand, the redevelopment of central areas with infrastructure works poses the problem of the high percentage of demolition of existing unsuitable buildings. In addition, the perimeter construction of central arteries and the occupation of all central land with housing developments without a thorough study of micro-regional organization may have undesirable consequences for the rational use of land. In particular, not reserving some land for social and cultural facilities, which life will demand, may negatively influence the future organization of the town ensemble.

That is why it is necessary that following the indications given by the party and state leadership, the sites should be determined on the basis of detailed studies that develop the phasing provisions of the systematization plan on a sound technical-economic and technical-economic basis.

Given the continuous increase in the volume of construction and the application of industrial methods, the only way to ensure that this volume of construction can be carried out in a short time, under conditions of high quality and increased economic efficiency, it is rational to concentrate investment on a small number of large sites, allowing for the rapid, industrial construction methods to be deployed.

Objective criteria should be established for calculating the percentage of demolitions required for the restructuring of existing built-up areas, based on a fair assessment of the existing stock, which is often no longer suitable for normal use and needs to be restructured for health and strength reasons.

It is necessary to ensure that the details of the systematization of housing estates take into account their complex endowments, provide for the necessary amenities to create optimal living conditions and provide locations for even those constructions which are not carried out in the first stage. The appropriate provision of facilities such as bicycle and trolley racks, refuse storage and disposal, public lighting, etc., should help to create comfortable, pleasant complexes and eliminate improvisations which create inappropriate layouts.

The organization and arrangement of open spaces and planted areas is of the utmost importance for the well-being of the inhabitants of the urban areas. In addition to their active role in creating good microclimatic conditions, planting is the element which gives life to and beautifies the somewhat arid surroundings created by massive concrete and masonry constructions. In addition to this, planting, especially low planting, also serves to clearly demarcate the organizational elements of the ground surface through lawns and the like. The lack of technical staff, landscape architects, specialized horticultural engineers, etc. has meant that these many advantages of planting have not been fully exploited in our country, despite the fact that we have exceptionally favorable climate and soil conditions for the development of vegetation.

The planting of towns has not hitherto been a sufficient preoccupation of the popular councils. For this reason, new planting in towns has been done with the propagating material then existing in nurseries, of all ages and species. In many cases this has resulted in plantations that are too young, prone to decay, uprooting and short-lived, and in plantations of mixed species of different species, with different colors, shapes and growth periods, and resulting in totally inappropriate aspects.

The problem of planting in towns should be completely solved as soon as possible by the establishment of nurseries, in which the species best suited to the local climate may be raised for planting, and by the training of the broad masses for the making and maintenance of plantations.

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Systematization projects, however deeply and multilaterally elaborated, and legislative measures, however comprehensive, cannot lead to an orderly construction of cities, with positive effects in terms of comfort, economy, and beauty, without the introduction of serious urban planning discipline.

The party leadership has repeatedly given valuable guidance in this area, and the latest legislative acts are based on these principled indications. The people's councils are increasingly advocating the idea of systematization and are competently analyzing the complex problems of city construction. However, there are still cases of disrespect for order and legality in construction, and buildings are being erected without a detailed systematization. Such are the housing blocks in Strungul - Stalin City, the block in Mihai Viteazul square in Cluj, two housing blocks in Victoriei square in Baia-Mare and so on.

These arbitrary locations create serious difficulties in the elaboration of further systematization studies, becoming obligatory points, which prevent an optimal overall solution.

These phenomena are also possible because the chief architects - where they exist - do not always fulfill their role and their purpose. The chief architects must be the most competent advisors of the local authorities, have a high sense of responsibility, put all their creative passion into the systematization and construction of cities and regions.

There are still many cities in which the posts of chief architects are not filled or are filled by insufficiently qualified or experienced technicians. Of the 16 regions, only 12 have chief architects, and of the country's 170 cities, only a small percentage have chief architects. Systematization and architectural services are being set up at a very slow pace. This unsatisfactory situation is primarily due to the fact that not all people's councils have created the conditions for the development of these institutions, which play such an important role in the systematization of cities.

Conditions must be created for the chief architect which will help to raise his prestige, so that valuable and experienced architects will be attracted to these honorable and highly responsible positions.

For the successful solution of the problems of systematization and construction it is necessary to involve the broad masses of the population in the cause of their city. Every citizen must understand the aims of city systematization, become an active campaigner for the beauty of his city. The organization of exhibitions of projects, the broad discussion of realized projects and constructions will contribute to the understanding of the aims of systematization projects and the necessity of urban discipline, will train the active position of citizens to the cause of systematization of our cities.

The 3rd Congress of the Romanian Labor Party opens bright prospects for the development of our cities. To accomplish these great tasks requires a deep, multilateral understanding of these complex problems, creative enthusiasm and balanced wisdom. New compositional means arising out of the new content of life in our socialist cities, new methods of construction which have great potential for reducing the cost of building, increasing comfort and plastic expressiveness, applied to the specific conditions of our country, must form the basis of the systematization work. By capitalizing on the positive experience of the past and by promoting all that is new and advanced in this field, architects and other systematization specialists will, through their research and design work, meet the task of creating new socialist cities to meet the growing material and cultural needs of the people.