BABEŞ-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY, CLUJ-NAPOCA

FACULTY OF HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY

HISTORY. CIVILIZATION. CULTURE DOCTORAL SCHOOL

ABSTRACT
DOCTORAL DISSERTATION

URBAN PHYSIOGNOMIES AND DEMOGRAFIC STRUCTURES IN TRANSYLVANIA.

CLUJ 1919-1979

SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR

UNIV. PROF. IOAN BOLOVAN, PHD

DOCTORAL STUDENT

POP ROXANA DORINA

Cluj-Napoca,

2015
 CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
Reasons for choosing the topic
Historiography of the problem – a critical analysis
Sources
A brief overview of the thesis structure
The importance of the theme for historical research.

CHAPTER I. URBAN MODERNIZATION TRENDS AT THE END OF THE 19TH

CENTURY AND THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY.
I.1. The city – the genesis of modernity. Currents and theories.

I. 2. Society and representativeness in the Central-East European urban space

I.2.1. A brief foray into the “history of the city”
o I.2.1.1. Antiquity: Greece and the city-state
o I.2.1.2. The Middle Ages
o I.2.1.3. The Modern Period
o I.2.2. European society and architecture – an introductory case study:
o I. 2.2.1. The architectural image of Budapest
o I.2.2.2. The urbanistic image of Vienna
o I.2.2.3. London urbanism
o I.2.2.4. The architectural image of Berlin
o I.2.2.5. The image of Moscow
o I.2.2.6. USA

I.3. Regional and local history and identity: Cluj, the “metropolis” of Transylvania.
CHAPTER II. THE DEVELOPMENT OF URBAN SPACE IN INTERWAR CLUJ

II.1. Urbanistic projects in interwar Cluj. Plans and prospects for development.
Regulations in the field of constructions
II.1.1. Regulations in the field of constructions: at world level vs. in the national
space.
II.1.2. Urbanistic projects in Cluj.

II. 2. The horizontal extension of the city: the urban specificity and the organization of
the habitat of Cluj
II.2.1. The urban specificity.
II.2.2. The urban habitat.
II.2.3. Green areas – a specific element of everyday life.

II.3. The signs of modernization: the improvement of the living conditions (the street
network; public transport; the health/sanitation system; public lighting).
II.3.1. The street network
o II.3.1.1. The street inventory and the standard of modernization.
o II.3.1.2. The naming of streets
o II.3.1.3. Street beautification: the construction of bridges
II.3.2. Public transport
II.3.3. The health/sanitation system
II.3.4. Public lighting

II.4. Architectural elements in interwar Cluj. The specificity of the urban bodies in Cluj:
The institutions of the public space vs. the Construction of the private space.
II.4.1. The innovation of constructing the public space
o II.4.1.1. Architectural styles and the Western influence
o II.4.1.2. Architectural elements or architectural wonders in Cluj
- II.4.1.2.1. Public/administrative institutions
- II.4.1.2.2. Education institutions
- II.4.1.2.3. Cultural institutions
- II.4.1.2.4. Religious institutions
 - II..4.1.2.5. Public monuments
- II.4.1.2.6. Hotels and cafes
II.4.2. The construction of the private space
o II.4.2.1. The “appearance” of dwellings
- II.4.2.1.1. Dwellings in the rural environment
- II.4.2.1.2. Dwellings in the urban environment
o II.4.2.2. Private homes – their economic or social role. An analysis of the private
buildings in Cluj between 1931-1931.

CHAPTER III. THE URBAN PHYSIOGNOMY OF CLUJ IN THE PERIOD 1948-1979.

III. 1. Plans, projections and strategies for urban development in the communist period
III.1.1. The Eastern European context. The regime’s involvement in
artistic undertakings.
III.1.2. The policy of socialist ideology on architectural
transformations.

III.2. The result of the “communist propaganda” – concrete architecture.

III.3. Industrial architecture – the impact of communist politics in the evolution of the
city of Cluj.
III.3.1. The concept of “economy” at the national level
III.3.2. Economy at a regional level: Cluj

III.4. The “block” or the “standardized house” – the symbol of communist politics.
III.4.1. The concept of “blocks”
III.4.2. Propaganda in the party press

III.5. Case study: The physiognomy of neighborhoods – the center/periphery oscillation.

CHAPTER IV. THE DEMOGRAPHIC EVOLUTION OF THE SOCIETY IN CLUJ

 IV. 1. The evolution of the population in Cluj – historical influence
IV.2. From confrontation to adjustment. Aspects of demographic evolution in interwar
and postwar Cluj
IV.2.1. Cluj year before the year of the Great Union.
IV.2.2. The impact of World War II on the population of Cluj.
IV.2.3. The rural/urban migration or the problem of daily commuting
IV.2.4. Family status and role of women
IV.2.5. The structure by age and sex groups
IV.2.6. The “ethnic” division of the society of Cluj

CONCLUSIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ANNEXES No. 1. A table of the vehicles in Cluj in 1929
No. 2. Alphabetical indicator of the streets in Cluj (the interwar period).
No.3. The map of Cluj in 1968 (After Lazăr Marian, The Mayors of Cluj 1919-2012, Cluj-
Napoca, annexes).
No. 4. An inventory of the private buildings in Cluj 1921-1931.
No. 5. An inventory of the streets
 This dissertation is not intended as a monograph of Cluj, but as a foray into the history of the
city, an emblem of contemporary society and an ode dedicated to the intellectuals who have
explored this subject and have attempted, throughout time, to bring to the readers’ awareness the
greatness of an urban settlement that, in the early 20th century, was considered a city worthy of
being regarded as a true European capital, which our authorities are also striving to accumplish in
the current period.
The “Treasure City” gained shape and color with the modernization of its citizens. Viewed
from an urban perspective, the Cluj of the modern and, to a great extent, of the interwar periods can
be seen as a city with many shortcomings; however, projected into the future, it represented an
architectural project that the world hoped would materialize. Thus, seen in its essence, Cluj has
become over the centuries not only a well-known, but also a recognized city, a city that has managed
to entrench in the collective mentality the idea of a metropolitan capital, of a traditional community,
clad in modern garments, of civilization and inter-ethnicity. The road to fame has been paved with
numerous hardships and trials, which have driven society to move forward, to live and to believe
that there will come a day when Cluj will become worthy of national and international pride (an idea
that gained shape in various historical stages ).

The historiography of the problem – a critical analysis

When we talk about analyzing the subject proposed in this thesis, we consider studying the
city on two levels: the built city (by the architect) and the admired city (by the public). Many have
tried to write about the origin and, implicitly, about the evolution of cities, but their utopian vision
has generated disputes that have materialized as stylistic ideals. We must bear in mind that the
identity of an urban community represents the central core of the history of any geographical
settlement and that in order to define the origin and originality of such a settlement, it is necessary to
appeal to a diverse range of sources that can provide an overall picture of a world that is constantly
developing and changing.
The historiography of the city of Cluj is quite rich numerically speaking, if we take into
account the studies published after the 1990s, but we must say at the outset that the research result
has often served as a “guide,” which has recounted the city’s history to the reader, describing
perhaps the most important buildings and monuments built in various architectural styles. However,
without a thorough search we cannot say that what happened at the macro level can also be adopted
at the micro level. Attempts have therefore been made to relinquish simple presentations and to
publish in-depth studies on different topics, but research on particular cases is encountered less often
because in the local historiography of Cluj there is a shortage of works that go beyond simple
presentations or descriptions of the locality in question. What is felt is a need to focus on the actual
analysis of the society and the space of Cluj, with all that this implies, including as regards the urban
and the cultural sector.
The ideological debate between modernization/westernization and traditionalism made itself
felt in the period between the two world wars, when the Romanian artistic and architectural culture
began to take shape in an altogether obvious way. Modernization is understood today as an intense
process of opening to new horizons and global initiatives, which lead to a development of an already
existing society. We can speak thus about inter-culturalism, interdependence and interdisciplinary,
these relations having also existed in the past, but today they are increasingly perceived as
universally valid syntagms that will represent the connecting pillars of this study.
Regarding the issue of urbanism, world historiography is limited to the proposal and
explanation of general concepts, which will help us later in our study to identify and adapt the
themes to the local level. Lewis Mumford’s book entitled The City in History, published by Penguin
Books (London, 1961), is an interesting work on the evolution of the city and, implicitly, of its
culture (here I talk about the culture of the city, formed as a picture of its elements in the collective
mentality). That is why the author says that only if we can project its image can we find a new form
for the city. Among the topics approach, mention could be made of those related to the expansion of
trade, the price of urban sprawl, the suburbs, the cultural functions of the city and its world. Also
referring to the city, there is a book authored by Kevin Lynch, Site Planning (The MIT Press,
Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England, 1972), which also addresses the theme of the
organization of the city’s planimetry, presenting several case studies about the analysis of a locality
depending on the main factors that influence the formation and development of any urban
settlement.
Romanian historiography has endeavored to catch up with the advance of studies at
international level, through the publication of important works (books or articles) regarding the two
important issues under discussion here. Present-day works referring to the city of Cluj are either
simple writings following the model of a tourist guide or simple approaches to an individual topic or
the individual memories of those who lived under communism (for instance, Petru Poantă, Clujul
meu (My Cluj), vol. 1-2, 2006-2007).
The approach to urbanism as a theory or a concept lay at the basis of a rather consistent
literature, which made its appearance especially after the 1990s. A very interesting study is that
authored by Cerasella Crăciun, who in the work entitled Metabolismul urban. O abordare
neconvenţională a organismului urban (Urban Metabolism. An Unconventional Approach to the
Urban Organism), undertakes an analysis of the urban space in parallel with the human body.
Therefore, the struture of the urban space, urbanistic development and the positioning of the
buildings are but a few of the directions that are likened to the biological metabolism. “The idea of a
city seen through the lens of a biological organism is an idea that has dominated urban theoretical
thinking, in that urban manifestations resemble biological manifestations, in terms of both its
existence and its composition, reflecting the biological existence of its inhabitants.”1
Sociology is also a central area when it comes to understanding the concepts of urban or
cultural. This is the contention of studies like Introducere în sociologia urbană (Introduction to
Urban Sociology) by Dorel Abraham and Societate şi arhitectură: o perspectivă sociologică
(Society and Architecture: a Sociological Perspective), written by Trăilă Cernescu. The author of the
latter book develops a study on the relationship between society and architecture, on the
development of the cultural function of housing, conducting a psycho-sociological approach to
urban congestion, the public space and the private space. He states that population growth also had
an influence on architecture, “in the sense that it led to an increase in the volume of constructions in
general and to a diversified typology of housing constructions in particular.”2
An interesting work on the evolution of the city correlated with population growth is that
written by Ioan Ianoş, Dinamica urbană. Aplicaţii la oraşul şi sistemul urban românesc (Urban
Dynamics. Applications on the Romanian City and Urban System, Bucharest: Editura Tehnică,
2004). From among the topics addressed, we can mention: the city and urban dynamics, urban
functions (economic, industrial, political and administrative, cultural, commercial) or the intra-urban
dynamics. Regarding the concept of the city, the author defines it as “a fascinating object of study,
complex and highly dynamic, despite its great stability.”3
Regarding the urbanization of Cluj, studies are particularly focused on the 19th century and
the early 20th century. While at the beginning of the 19th century, urban municipal activity was
especially partial and applicative, because the aim was to ensure the city’s adaptation to the needs
arising at a certain time, in the latter half of the century, due to the growth of the economy and the
area of the urban settlement, there occurred an urbanistic improvement that led to surpassing the
modern city status. One of the reference works of modern urbanism in Cluj is Mihaela Ioana Maria

1
Cerasellei Crăciun, Metabolismul urban. O abordare neconvenţională a organismului urban, Editura Universitară „Ion
Mincu”, Bucureşti, 2008, p. 29.
2
Trăilă Cernescu, Societate şi arhitectură, o perspectivă sociologică, Bucharest: Editura Tritonic, , 2004, p. 13.
3
Ioan Ianoş, Dinamica urbană. Aplicaţii la oraşul şi sistemul urban românesc, Bucharest: Editura Tehnică, 2004, p. 1.
Agachi’s Clujul modern aspecte urbanistice (Modern Cluj: Urbanistic Aspects), published by
Editura U.T. PRESS, Cluj-Napoca, in 2009. This is a very well structured book, with a well-
documented content, accompanied by photos, maps and documents offered by the city officials
about the standards of construction. From my point of view, the advantage of this book resides in the
comparison that the author makes between Transylvania and Europe. Placing the research on Cluj in
the context of a wider area provides a unique informational value. The architecture of modern Cluj
is captured by the study Clujul eclectic. Programe de arhitectură în perioada dualistă (1867-1918)
[Eclectic Cluj. Architectural Programs during the Dualistic Period (1867-1918)], written by
Gheorghe Vais and published by Editura U.T.PRESS in 2009. The author has tried to carry out a
small study on the urban space in Cluj, by examining the architectural programs of different
administrative and cultural institutions that had paramount importance during the period under
consideration. An advantage of this writing is that it presents, in the introduction, the economic and
cultural situation of Transylvania and, thus, of Cluj in the second half of the 19th century and the
early 20th century. The presentation of the main architects who worked on building eclectic Cluj and
the realization of case studies on the architectural programs of the University of Cluj, of the
Compound of University Clinics, of the Hungarian Theatre or the University Library raises the
work’s standing amongst the other important works of specialized historiography.
Although at first glance it seems like a small guide about the city, the work entitled
Aşezăminte istorice de patrimoniu din Cluj-Napoca (Historical Heritage Settlements in Cluj-
Napoca), published by Napoca Star in 2011, is a great working tool in terms of outlining a picture of
Cluj throughout its history. In other words, the editors of this book, Ioan Ciorca, Leonard Horvath
and Elena Stanciu have attempted to make a comparison, in the of pages this publication, between
modern Cluj and contemporary Cluj, presenting the most important buildings and monuments that
define the cultural and artistic identity of the city. Using images, the written text is rendered through
numerous period photographs, presented, where possible, in the splendor of their evolution
throughout history.
Undoubtedly, Cluj was and remains one of the most iconic cities of Transylvania. Modern
Cluj and, above all, contemporary Cluj has been provided with many urban amenities, and this has
fully contributed to the creation and development of recreation areas, areas that comprise “several
categories of urban spaces whose common feature is that they are used primarily for the purpose of
recreation, relaxation, leisure.” 4 In his work Reprezentare şi reprezentativitate în spaţiul urban

4
Adrian Iancu, Reprezentare şi reprezentativitate în spaţiul urban comunitar, Cluj-Napoca: Editura U.T.PRES, 2003, p.
86.
comunitar (Representation and Representativeness in the Urban Communal Space), Adrian Iancu
contends that if we were to classify, in general, these types of areas, we ought to consider, first of
all, the type of activities that can take place within them. Therefore, there are places for strolling in a
green space (e.g, Central Park, the Botanical Garden); place for resting on benches (Liberty Square,
Avram Iancu Square, Museum Square, Michael the Brave Square); sporting activities (Haţieganu
Park, the Stadium); promenades by a lake or a river (the Lakes in Mărăşti, by the banks of the
Someş), etc. In any case, all these activities are supplemented by so-called artistic, cultural,
educational, culinary pursuits, etc.
The concepts of “local history,” of “cultural identity” or “representativeness” represent a
newer area of research. Identity, as a key term for defining a local human community, is the focus of
our discussion about the characteristics of an exceptional urban space. From the outset, we should
bring into discussion the idea of Adriana Matei, who, in her book Identitate culturală locală (Local
Cultural Identity), shows that identity can only refer to a certain group or a set of characteristic
features, “whereby an element appears to be distinct from each and all the other elements.”5 The
central idea of the aforementioned work revolves around the following sets of terms: culture and
civilization; identity and universality and rural character vs. urban character. What caught my
attention in this book, besides its examination of elements of local specificity, is the analysis
undertaken by Adriana Matei on the city of Cluj. Starting from an overview of the Transylvanian
city in terms of its characteristics, the author focuses on the analysis of the patrimony of Cluj, of its
geographical, historical and morphological peculiarities, creating the impression of uniqueness and
highlighting the symbolism of Cluj’s culture against the background of its environment.
The history of communism is one of the favorite topics of study in contemporary
historiography, because there are still unanswered questions which grinds the consciousness of
humanity. The spectacular demise of the communist regime did not automatically entail the utter
elimination, from everyday life, of the remains of this totalitarian system that lasted in Romania for
several decades.
General works occupy an important part of the research and help us to understand the
general framework of the theme of our study. François Furet with Trecutul unei iluzii. Eseu despre
ideea comunistă în secolul XX (The Past of an Illusion. An Essay on the Communist Idea in the 20th
Century) and François Furet and Ernst Nolte with the work Fascism şi comunism (Fascism and
Communism) explain one of the basic concepts of the regime, namely “communism”, the trajectory

5
Adriana Matei, Identitate culturală locală, Cluj-Napoca: Editura U.T.PRESS, 2004, p. 3.
followed by the history of this term. Regarding the history of communism in Romania, we can
address a long list of works. Those who have written about the period of Gheorghiu-Dej include
authors like Vladimir Tismăneanu (Arheologia terorii, Fantoma lui Gheorghiu-Dej, Stalinism
pentru eternitate, Noaptea totalitară. Crepusculul ideologiilor radicale în Europa de Est) (The
Archaeology of Terror, The Ghost of Gheorghiu-Dej, Stalinism for Eternity, The Totalitarian Night.
The Twilight of Radical Ideologies in Eastern Europe), Dan Cătănuş (A doua destalinizare, Gh.
Gheorghiu-Dej la apogeul puterii) (The Second Stalinization, Gh. Gheorghiu-Dej at the Peak of
Power), Elis Neagoe Pleşa, Liviu Pleşa (ed.) (Dosarul Ana Pauker) (The Ana Pauker File) or Stelian
Tănase [Elite şi societate. Guvernarea Gheorghiu Dej (1948-1965)], [Elite and Society. The
Gheorghiu Dej Government (1948-1965)], whose important subjects focus on the policy adopted by
the Secretary-General or the control and the methods of the organization of society during the
communist period.
The “economy” was another topic addressed, to some extent, and I reger here to the effects
or the elements that influenced, in one way or another, the evolution of the process of urbanization.
Whereas in the modern period this concept was associated with the development of trade and
manufactures, under the communist regime it resided, first of all, in destroying the market economy,
by exerting control over the economic and social structures of the Communist Party, by outlawing
private activity, by imposing the plan as the sole framework of coordination, the centralized
management of supply and an over-investment in certain sectors only, predominantly those from the
heavy and engineering industry. 6 What is interesting to note is that there is a historiographical
orientation (Nodia, Verdery, Sawka, etc.) that regards communism as a “modernizing project,” so
that from the 1950s and 1960s on, there was a reconstruction of the economic system,
industrialization spurred urbanization and the number of workers increased due to the development
of the process of migration from rural to urban areas, etc.7 However, according to the author Sawka,
when talking about economic communism, we should regard it as a failed or incorrect modernity,
defined “by the discouragement of innovation, the emphasis on quantitative growth, the extremely
low labor productivity, high waste and the low quality of products, and a reduced coordination of
activities despite excessive and ultra-centralized planning.”8
In the demographic domain, there are studies like: Cornelia Muresan, “L’évolution
démographique en Roumanie: Tendances passées (1948-1994) et perspectives d’avenir (1995-

6
Stéphane Courtois (coord.), Dicţionarul comunismului, Iaşi: Editura Polirom, 2008, pp. 235-236.
7
Bogdan Voicu, Penuria peudo-modernă a postcomunismului românesc, vol 1, Editura Expert Projects, 2005, p. 24.
8
Ibidem, p. 25.
2030)” in Population (French Edition) 51e Année, No. 4/5 (Jul. – Oct., 1996), which adopts the idea
of demographic research in Romania during the communist period, and especially during
Ceausescu’s period, full of structural changes and laws regarding the family; or articles such as
Sorina Paula Bolovan, Ioan Bolovan, “Populaţia oraşului Cluj în secolul XX” (“The population of
Cluj in the 20th century”) in Transilvania în secolele XIX-XX. Studii de demografie istorică
(Transylvania during the 19th-20th Centuries. Studies of Historical Demography), edited by Sorina
Paula Bolovan, Ioan Bolovan, Corneliu Pădurean, Cluj-Napoca: Editura Presa Universitară
Clujeană, 2005 or Liviu-Marius Bejenaru, “Relaţia dintre creşterea demografică şi structura socială
în România comunistă. Eşecul modernizării (1948-1989)” [“The Relationship between Demographic
Growth and Social Structure in Communist Romania. The Failure of Modernization (1948-1989)”],
in Schimbare şi devenire în istoria României (Change and Becoming in the History of Romania),
edited by Ioan Bolovan, Sorina Paula Bolovan, Cluj-Napoca: Editura Academia Română,
Transylvanian Studies Center, 2008.

Sources

To identify a broader aspect of the problem under discussion, namely that of rendering the
image of interwar and postwar Cluj, in urban and demographic terms, we should consider two types
of sources, those unpublished, illustrated by the archival funds, and those that have been published,
represented by collections of documents, memoirs, legislation, censuses or other specialized books
on the subject. Therefore, our research is broad, as we wish to undertake more than a simple
approach to the subject, and engage in a more complex analysis of the above-stated problem.
In order to identify the city’s image, we have used primarily the Fund of the City Hall from
the Cluj County Service of the State Archives, which has opened a path in our research for finding
the regulations and the provisions governing the urbanistic system of the locality, as well as several
cartographic maps or municipal templates, based on which we have become familiar with the idea of
extending the built-up area and, hence, changing the socio-economic appearance and the
demographic aspect of the city. For the evolution of the population, we have used the registers of
births, marriages and deaths, from the Cluj Population Records Department for the period 1914-
1920.
The city that was rapidly erected became better organized in time, more elegant and stately,
and its image has been preserved as an emblem of the society, as a calling card that can be
investigated not only through written, but also through visual documents (postcards, etchings,
photographs or urbanistic maps). Therefore, the visual picture of Cluj will be identified through a
study on image and text, elements that are found both in the collections of prints from libraries or
archives and in the press, which has tried, throughout time, to convey in writing the events that have
gained momentum in terms of the status of the city in the collective mentality of the society from
Cluj. Photos, postcards or etchings represent another level that we have considered in our approach,
since the description of urban physiognomies had to be accompanied by images, to be better
perceived by the reader.
The media also has an important role amongst the sources used for drafting this thesis,
because it has given us unprecedented details, ideas and concepts both about the society of Cluj and
about aspects of everyday economic, political, cultural or artistic life. Surprisingly or not, the press
was and still is an undeniable source for researching various aspects of an urban space, comprising
documents which often render the pulse of a civilization.

A brief overview of the thesis structure

The thesis is divided into four chapters that emphasize the evolution of the urban
environment and the factors that have contributed to the modernization of this urban space.
The first chapter, Urban modernization trends at the end of the 19th century and the
beginning of the 20th century, represents the preamble of our research, because in order to highlight
the changes that Cluj underwent after 1918, we ought to know what happened before this historical
moment, which changed the entire nation. We started our research with a presentation of the concept
of “city” as it appears in Western studies and theories, and then we tried to outline an image of what
urbanism has meant in Central-Eastern Europe, with a more detailed study on “The history and
regional identity of Cluj,” from its foundation as an urban settlement to its evolution in the 19th
century.
The second chapter, entitled The development of urban space in interwar Cluj, tried to bring
before the public the best examples and arguments in order to uphold the idea of “Cluj, a metropolis
of Transylvania”. From the legislative regime of building and systematizing the urban environment,
we then focused our attention on the aspects that define the city (the local specificities, the urban
habitat) and on the signs of modernization: the street network, transport, public lighting, the water
supply. From a subjective perspective, the most interesting aspect adopted was that related to
construction, identified in two complementary areas, public and private. In exploring this problem,
we considered several interrogations, such as “What are the similarities and the differences between
them at an architectural level or what is their architectural influence, especially since up until 1918,
Transylvania and, implicitly, Cluj were part of the dualist Empire. After we made an impression
about the external appearance of the city, we took the opportunity to embark on a study about the
“appearance” of interwar housing.
The third chapter presented The urban physiognomy of Cluj in the period 1948-1979. During
the communist period, Cluj could be characterized as an important industrial, economic and cultural
center. This settlement became one of the focal points where the PCR policy left its mark by
transforming this cultural hub into a heavily industrialized city, with a national economy based
primarily on the socialist policies that targeted the formation of a new social category, the working
class.
It should be borne in mind that only from the 1960s on did the construction of massive
residential buildings start, with the erection of blocks of flats, the emergence and expansion of
certain neighborhoods, which countered the precarious conditions of the old houses, because of
their small habitable size. If at first these structures observed the principle of free urbanism, in the
1970s the propaganda campaign began, aimed at the creation of a new socialist era and leading to
the idea of crammed and chaotic buildings. This process created some deficiencies that are still felt
today: the lack of green spaces, parking spaces, the wasted ground, etc. The process of well-nigh
destruction of the houses and their replacement with a system of housing materialized as blocks of
flats, etc.
The last chapter, The demographic evolution of the society in Cluj, tackles, along more
general lines, an aspect that influenced and was influenced, in turn, by the process of modernization:
the population. We started our study from a succinct presentation of the evolution of the Cluj-based
population, and then focused, to a certain extent, on the impact that the two world wars had in the
urban environment.

The importance of the theme for historical research.

The theme proposed for this historiographical project enables us to carry out an analysis of
an important region in the heart of Transylvania, its specificity being supported not only by the
history of the realm, but also by its location in an area of heavy traffic, by the natural riches, and the
high degree of economic, social, urban, cultural development. Cluj-Napoca represents an amalgam
of specific elements that allow us to investigate this geographical region from several points of view
(geographic, demographic, economic, urban, political, social, etc.). Cluj was and will always be a
place of life, a metaphor of Transylvanian mentality integrated into a landscape that is not only
picturesque (if we refer to the hills surrounding the city), but an exceptional architectural
achievement, given the diversity and exquisiteness of its urban physiognomy, adapted to the needs
of its ethno-cultural identity.
The importance of this thesis is grounded in the acute need of the society to have a
humanized history, a history that captures the “story” of this “treasure city”, conveyed through the
urban and the architectural aspects of the society in Cluj, which, together with the economic,
political, demographic and cultural aspects, have outlined a consummate picture of this center of
overwhelming historical importance. Therefore, in order to acquire an overall perspective on Cluj,
one of the most impressive cities of Transylvania, we have to focus on its history and capture the
advantages this urban settlement attained throughout the 20th century, in terms of its urban
symbolism in the collective mentality of Cluj and the role of the population in the equation city –
urbanism – modernization.

Keywords: planning, systematization, architecture, demography, development, modernization.