For a long time I have considered myself a romantic, a passionate, if slightly neurotic, intellectually inclined spirit. As you may imagine, confronted with the rigours of an international academic environment, this identification could become very problematic indeed. To answer the dreadful “What is your thesis topic?”, the frightening “What are your research interests?”, and, perhaps worst of all, the Goliath of all student Davids, “How are you going to accomplish it?”, I decided the only small stone in my arsenal was also the foundational one: love.
I decided to write about what I love and make others care about it and fall in love with it as madly as I did!
Chapter I: Beware! Danger of collapse!
The story of my thesis begins on the streets of Bucharest. Finding myself somewhat abandoned by friends, I wondered the streets aimlessly and marvelled at the architecture, laughed at cheeky graffiti, and frowned at the myriad of signs proclaiming in bold letters “Beware! Danger of collapse!” right next to the sign “Class B Listed Historical Monument”. My heat broke for these B-class monuments as for metaphorical brick and mortar marginalised second class citizens, and in that moment I knew I needed to do something. Surely these works of art, be it Nouveau or Deco ;), could not be left to crumble! Surely someone cared! It was thereafter when I started researching the history of Bucharest neighbourhoods, reading everything from angry posts on Facebook to diaries of society ladies, from journals of architects to poems about streets and stories of lives lived in and around those buildings that charmed me such.
This haphazard inquiry, guided by interest and fun rather than any systematic thought, I hope to organise into a somewhat coherent personal data-base of resources. For my thesis, although I will have to follow guidelines and regulations (ew!) and genre requirements (too bad I cannot write a novel for my thesis!), I would like, for the sake of authenticity to myself and the local flavour, to have an outlet for such sources. Perhaps I could introduce local and oral history into my methodology somehow! As I am taking a class on it, revelations may occur in time.
Chapter II: Urban culture or elitism?
Delving deeper and deeper into the world of what I now identified as heritage, lo and behold! I found others coveting my lovely buildings. NGO’s organising guided walks around historical neighbourhoods were my first sip of the mind warping substance of Bucharest urban culture. The organisers did exactly the research I had done, they loved telling stories about the centuries past inhabitants of the streets we were walking on, while educating the public about art, architecture, society and even politics. It was like reading the gossip newspaper columns of 1907 while taking a stroll in the gardens of those shamelessly discussed. What a strange concept! The more events I went to, the more events I found out about: instagram meet-ups, conferences, workshops, neighbourhood parties, you name it. But soon I discovered another problem, the same people were doing all these events, and usually for the same people: urban middle class, educated, mostly young cohort attended regularly, all of them rightly interested (for interesting it was), but none of them personally concerned. I mustered the courage one time to ask one of the organisers if any of the locals ever attended the cultural walks around their own neighbourhood, and, visibly flustered, the man said that “the residents did not show a particular interest”. Well, wait a minute, if we are on this crusade of preserving built heritage in living environments, then shouldn’t the residents be consulted? As I learned in most of my previous experience, if you want things to change you need to make people care, and the easiest attachment is formed by personal proximity. It should be easier to save a house if the residents/owners care and want to preserve it, rather than have them watch the activists fight the councils?.
It was then that I realised that if any lasting impact is to be enacted, then not only aficionados like me, or them, need to be made aware of issues. It need not be a dialogue only between the urban intellectuals and the inefficient administration. So my thesis will involve, as a solution some form of proposal. I do not yet know if it will take the form of a policy proposal in its entirety, however, i will be very adamant to discuss participatory governance as a possible solution.
Chapter III: How I plan to make residents fall in love with their decrepit dirty streets again
I had this idea of initiating a pilot project during this year’s research break, which might be a bit too ambitious, but, alas, here it is. I plan, through research, to identify one site, one building, around which to initiate a series of consultations, talks and events, in order to determine a more solid thesis strategy. It needs to be a no necessarily a listed building, but rather an interesting one, in one of the districts I will be focusing one. Preliminary searches will determine its history, significance and potential. Its legal status will be also clarified during this stage and potential stakeholders identified. I will then proceed to engage the residents, by what means I am still unsure, to see what their memories, connections and expectations of the place are. What would they need in their proximity? How can that space, in light of its history, be repurposed to serve the community and therefore establish a living relationship of caring that would ensure its conservation? People may need a cultural space, a social hub, artistic outlet or even a location for ‘after school’ type of programmes. Whatever the need, I would seek to ‘connect the dots’, linking potential business opportunities, sources of funding and strategic development.
Many an expert will have to be consulted, but I am confident I could enact such a project and kickstart the conversation in this direction.
Chapter IV: ? Stay tuned
super interesting
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