The refeudalisation of parks: subduing urban parks in Bucharest

ABSTRACT

This paper explores parks in Bucharest under regulations prompting greening projects and how, through these, the past has reclaimed markers evoking refeudalisation. Shifting the metaphor from a Western context to Bucharest, our approach extends the Jürgen Habermas’ refeudalisation of the public sphere to urban parks as they progressively become elements in the local framework of power. Based on fieldwork coupled with archival research, this paper identifies three major elements affecting the green spaces of Bucharest (the political imprint of political power, zoning regulations and leisure management) and how they support refeudalisation trends. From these perspectives, we infer the political and ideological character of Bucharest's urban space that is infusing its parks with refeudalisation tendencies. The explored directions assume the political power as a function of a distorted evolution with economic patriarchal interests arbitrating socio-natural reality. Accordingly, the refeudalisation of the public sphere found in marginal settings is likely to aggravate and disguise under specific discourses about planning, greenness and nature sustainability.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban parks
• Bucharest
• critical urban theory
• refeudalisation
• urban political ecology

Acknowledgements

In a previous version, Adrian Kanovici and Viorel Mionel were instrumental in finding mass media materials. They deserve lots of praises. Big thanks to Andreea–Diana Marinescu. We also acknowledge the support of Mariana Nicolae and Mirela Bardi. Finally, a lot of appreciation to MLK.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The Save Bucharest Association won over 150 trials against Bucharest City Hall and other sector administrative bodies over park interventions.

2 This part was primarily conducted during 2009–2011 and 2013–2014 with people working in public administration and NGOs members.

3 During the COVID-19 lock-down on parks in Bucharest, a mayor and his lover cycled through a park with picnic baskets, arguing that it was for administrative purposes.