Toute mode est délicieuse qui répond à une nécessité, non à une bizarrerie. (Raymond Radiguet: Le Bal du comte d’Orgel)
Svaki razvoj, a naročito brzi, nagli, nepromišljeni, vremenom postane kompleksna igra lica i naličja, protivrečna pojava koja može da ostavi posledice koje traju godinama, decenijama, vekovima. Iz želje da se odgovori na legitimnu potrebu, da se pronađe izlaz iz neke vrste krize ili zastoja, gradovi znaju da se otrgnu i organskom i planiranom rastu, i da se upute u pravcu divljeg i nekontrolisanog. Proizvodi takvog rasta svedoče o tome koliko je tanka nit između fantastičnog i groznog, urbane utopije i distopije.
The 1977 Bucharest Earthquake occurred on Friday, 4 March 1977, 21:20 local time and was felt throughout the Balkans. It had a magnitude of 7.4 and its epicenter in Vrancea (in the Eastern Carpathians) at a depth of 94 kilometers.
The earthquake killed about 1,570 people and wounded more than 11,000. Among the victims was the Romanian actor Toma Caragiu. Nicolae Ceauşescu had to suspend his official trip to Nigeria.
About 35,000 buildings were damaged, and the total damage was estimated at more than two billion dollars. Most of the damage was concentrated in Romania's capital, Bucharest, where about 33 large buildings collapsed. Most of those buildings were built before World War II, and were not reinforced. Many of the historic buildings that collapsed were not rebuilt; instead, the land was cleared for the building of the Palace of the Parliament. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Bucharest_earthquake)
Gotovo trideset godina kasnije Bukurešt postaje glavni grad jedne od zemalja Evropske unije, i šesti grad po naseljenosti administrativnog gradskog područja u toj istoj Uniji. Istovremeno, problem sa kojim se Bukurešt suočio posle Ceauşescuovog monumentalnog pretumbavanja centra grada bio je (i ostao) vrlo ozbiljan. Staro gradsko jezgro bilo je ili zamenjeno novim zgradama (Skupština, tj. Palatul Parlamentului, novogradnje u Bulevardul Unirii i nekoliko okolnih ulica), ili pušteno da propada. Mnoge zgrade u pešačkoj zoni oko Ulice Lipscani i danas imaju vidna oštećenja od zemljotresa, a niko ih nije pipnuo za sve ove godine.