Modelling the Cognitive Map of the City Centre: A Case Study of Bucharest, Romania

Author:
Key words: , , , ,
Issue: Volume 6, Issue 2, 2012

Abstract


The city centre is a place of emblematic significance for the urban community, where the essence of the socio-urban identity is condensed. The centre of the post-socialist city has travelled varied meanings and extensions that have been perceived differentiated between sequences of generations. Functionalist stratifications have induced in the collective imagination a superposed series of centres: historical, tourist, economic, cultural, each dilating or contracting the urban centre’s limits, depending on the significance that has been inoculated to the receiving subject. It was starting with year 1977 that the political will imposed the achievement of a new “Civic Centre” which was desired to be an imprint of the cultural and scientific progress of that moment. Communist interventions attempted to uniform the urban landscape by inserting visual and emotional mutations. The present analysis regards the perception of Bucharest`s centre and offers a perspective on the relation between residents and place, considering that human behaviour indicates some inconsistencies related to the urban planning of the post-socialist city that deals with intense processes of identity transformation.

Full text



Permalink (doi)



Authors Affiliations


University of Bucharest, Faculty of Geography, Bucharest, Romania
Email: robertstoic@yahoo.com

References


Bailly, A & Béguin, H 1982, Introduction à la geographie humaine, Editura Armand Colin, Paris.
Bailly, A & Scariati, R 1990, L’humanisme en géographie, Editura Anthropos, Paris.
Bailly, A 1977, La perception de l`espace urbain, les concepts, les méthodes d’étude, leur utilisation dans la recherche urbanistique, Centre de recherche d`urbanisme, Paris.
Boncu, Ş 2008, Psihologia mediului, note de curs, Facultatea de Psihologie şi Ştiinţe ale Educaţiei, Modulul de Psihopedagogie Socială, Iaşi.
Buică, C, Popescu, M & Tomescu O 1995, ‘Bucureştiul văzut de Bucureşteni. Reprezentări speciale ale spaţiului urban’, Revista de Cercetări Sociale, 3, p.111-115.
Bulai, A 2011, Cartografierea socială a Bucureştiului, S.N.S.P.A, Facultatea de Ştiinţe Politice, Departamentul de Sociologie.
Damian, L 1973, ‘Centrul Bucureştiului: unele aspecte psihologice’, Arhitectura, no. 4, p.13-14.
Damian, L, Popescu-Criveanu, Ş & Paneiu, L 1976, ‘Aspectele imaginii populaţiei despre centrul oraşului Bucureşti’, Viitorul social, vol. V, no. 4, p. 652-663.
Lynch, K 1960, The Image of the City, MIT Press, Cambridge MA.
Macavescu, M 1973, ‘Inima Oraşului’, Arhitectura, no. 4, p. 12-13.
Moser, G 2009, Introducere în psihologia mediului, Editura Polirom, Bucureşti.
Niţu, C & Crăciunescu, V 2009, Modele digitale altimetrice şi geostatistică, available at earth.unibuc.ro/download/modele-digitale-altimetrice-si-geostatistica.
Ostermann, F 2009, Modelling, analyzing and visualizing human space appropriation, Zürich University, available at www.geo.uzh.ch/microsite/nfp54/docs/ostermann_dissertation.pdf.
Pascariu, G 2006, Zona centrală în marile oraşe, note şi suport de curs, an IV, UAUIM.
Rengert, FG & Pelfrey, VWJr. 1997, ‘Cognitive mapping of the city centre: comparative perceptions of dangerous places’, in D Weisburd & T McEwen (eds.) Crime Prevention Studies, vol. 8, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 193-217.
Sandu, MA 2000, Planul Urbanistic General al Municipiul Bucureşti, Mapa 3, Interpretarea Opţiunilor Populaţiei.
Seaman, D 2008, ‘Place and Placelesness in Edward Relph, 1976’, in P Hubbard, R Kitichin & G Valentine (eds.), Key texts in Human Geography, Sage Publications. [CrossRef]
Stoiculescu, R & Huzui, A 2011, ‘Community’s landscape identity, an instrument for development in continuity, the case of Bucharest municipality and Sinaia town’, Geographica Timisiensis, vol. 20, no. 2, p.57-66.
Tallon, RA & Bromley, DFR 2004, ‘Exploring the attractions of city centre living: evidence and policy implications in British cities’, Geoforum, no. 35, p. 771-787. [CrossRef]
Tuan, YF 2002, Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press.

This post has already been read 4604 times!

About journal

Title: Human Geographies - Journal of Studies and Research in Human Geography
ISSN online: 2067-2284
ISSN print: 1843-6587
Imprint: University of Bucharest
Frequency: Biannual (May&November)
First volume: 1/2007
Current volume: 17/2023
Language: English
Indexed in: SCOPUS, ERIH PLUS, EBSCO (SocINDEX), ProQuest (Social Science Journals, SciTech Journals, Natural Science Journals), Index Copernicus, National Technical Information Service (NTiS), Bodleian Libraries, ExLibris SFX, DOAJ, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library, Google Scholar, Ulrich
Creative Commons License


EDITORS


Prof. dr. Liliana Dumitrache
University of Bucharest, Faculty of Geography- Human and Economic Geography Department, 1 Nicolae Balcescu Av., 010041, Bucharest, Romania

Dr. Daniela Dumbrăveanu
University of Bucharest, Faculty of Geography- Human and Economic Geography Department, 1 Nicolae Balcescu Av., 010041, Bucharest, Romania

Dr. Mariana Nae
University of Bucharest, Faculty of Geography- Human and Economic Geography Department, 1 Nicolae Balcescu Av., 010041, Bucharest, Romania

Dr. Gabriel Simion
University of Bucharest, Faculty of Geography- Human and Economic Geography Department, 1 Nicolae Balcescu Av., 010041, Bucharest, Romania

SCImago Journal & Country Rank