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Volume 38.4 July 2014 1399417 International Journal of Urban and Regional Research
DOI:10.1111/1468-2427.12073

Urban Geographies of Hesitant Transition:

Tracing Socioeconomic Segregation
in Post-Ceausescu Bucharest
SZYMON MARCINCZAK, MICHAEL GENTILE,
SAMUEL RUFAT and LIVIU CHELCEA

Abstract
Scholars have raised concerns about the social costs of the transition from state
socialism to capitalism in Central and Eastern Europe, and geographers are particularly
interested in the spatial expressions and implications of these costs, including apparently
increasing residential segregation. Applying a range of segregation measures to
1992 and 2002 census data, this contribution studies socio-occupational residential
segregation in Bucharest. The conclusion is that Bucharest was relatively socio-spatially
mixed at both times; in fact, a modest, yet fully legible, decreasing overall trend is
observable. This is at odds with many popular assumptions of the past 20 years.

Introduction
Research on socio-spatial change in Central and Eastern European (CEE) cities is
gradually making its way into urban theory (Gentile et al., 2012; Marcinczak et al.,
2012; Skora and Bouzarovski, 2012). With the experience of real socialism slowly
fading away, these cities are now characterized by a variety of paths of socio-spatial
development that are not easily captured by the frequently advanced categorizations
post-socialism, post-communism and transition. As our article will show, Bucharest, the
near two-million strong capital of Romania and a major metropolis of the Balkans,
exemplifies this.
A widely held view is that the demise of state socialism brought about a change in
the rules of the game almost overnight, as CEE countries embarked on a trajectory of
neoliberal socioeconomic development promoted by international funding agencies
(Smith and Pickles, 1998; Bradshaw and Stenning, 2004; Tosics, 2005; Smith and Timr,
2010; Skora and Bouzarovski, 2012). In parallel, social and income inequalities rose
conspicuously across the entire region, albeit at different rates and with different
consequences, while unemployment, which was virtually unheard of under socialism,
became increasingly widespread. However, this view requires some qualification: the
reform strategies chosen, as well as the tempo of their implementation, vary across
countries and have produced increasingly divergent macroeconomic outcomes (slund,

Szymon Marcinczak thanks the dz University Foundation (Fundacja Uniwersytetu dzkiego) for
supporting this research with a Young Scholars Award (Nagroda Naukowa Fundacji Uniwersytetu
dzkiego), and Michael Gentile likewise thanks Ume University for its generous support in the form
of a Young Scholars Award (Karrirbidrag).

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1400 Szymon Marcinczak, Michael Gentile, Samuel Rufat and Liviu Chelcea

2002). Also, in some countries (e.g. Uzbekistan) the willingness and ability to reform
have been stifled by the continued presence of non-democratic forms of government
(Koch, 2011).
Many scholars have raised concerns about the social costs of transition (e.g. Dunford
and Smith, 2000; Stenning, 2004; Smith et al., 2008; Smith and Timr, 2010), and
geographers are particularly concerned with the spatial expressions and implications of
these costs. With this in mind, many scholars though certainly not all, as opposed to
what Kostre and Reba (2010: 331) opine have associated social and/or income
polarization with mirroring developments in urban space (Vendina, 1997; Wecawowicz,
1998; Sailer-Fliege, 1999; Brade et al., 2009; Polanska, 2011). However, systematic
attempts at socio-spatial pattern description have been produced only recently (e.g.
Skora et al., 2006; Prelogovic, 2009; Marcinczak and Sagan, 2011; Marcinczak, 2012;
Marcinczak et al., 2013). Many of the findings from these studies cast some doubt on the
suggestion that there would be a clear correlation between socioeconomic polarization and
residential segregation. Moreover, when such a correlation exists at all, it appears to be
negative for the time being.
Thus far, most research on socioeconomic segregation after communism has
side-stepped the developments that have taken place outside the fast-track reforming
countries (Skora, 2009; Marcinczak et al., 2012). Studying segregation in Bucharest
allows us to gain valuable new knowledge of this phenomenon within the gradualist
context of transition, to which Romania is generally considered to have adhered
(Bradshaw and Stenning, 2004; Turnock, 2007). Moreover, the Romanian experience
of communist rule is generally regarded as having been characterized by a hardline
approach for considerably longer than elsewhere in the socialist bloc (Turnock,
2007).
Two characteristics make the Romanian road to communism distinctive. First, when
Nicolae Ceausescu secured control over Romania (in the late 1960s), the country
embarked on a sui generis path of development, at least when compared to its socialist
brethren. Romania thus avoided full-scale Soviet control over its economy and foreign
policy and opened up to West-European credit, investment and technology. However,
it did this by cultivating an increasingly brutal Stalinist regime, garnished with elements
of the North Korean Juche ideology, starting from the mid-1970s and ending abruptly
with Ceausescus Christmas execution in 1989. Second, as urban development and
planning were central to the creation of socialist Romania (Church, 1979; Sampson,
1979; Ronns, 1982; 1984), Bucharest became the autocratic regimes Ceausesque
playground: Perhaps no present-day city exhibits the imprints of an individual to
the extent that Bucharest shows the effect of Nicolae Ceausescu (Danta, 1993:
170).
This contribution assesses the dynamics, levels and patterns of socioeconomic
residential segregation in Bucharest. We define socioeconomic segregation as the
separation and concentration of the population according to socio-professional status (cf.
Musterd, 2005). Specifically, we measure the changes in segregation patterns in the
context of the recent large-scale socialist redevelopment of the city and of delayed
systemic transformation (Turnock, 2007). By doing so, we elaborate on the relationship
between socialist spatial planning, different forms of post-socialist transformation and the
ensuing patterns of socioeconomic segregation after 1990. This way we will extend the
frontier of segregation research on post-communist Europe, offering a contribution to
theory that draws on the experience of a region that undeservedly remains outside the
purview of urban scholarship.
The following two sections outline the state of the art in segregation research under
socialism and after. Next, we introduce the Bucharest context, followed by a concise
description of the research materials and methods used in the study. Then we present the
changing global and local patterns of socio-occupational segregation in Bucharest after
Ceausescu, interpreting them within the wider framework of the literature. Finally, we
present our conclusions.

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Segregation and socio-spatial patterning under socialism

The meaning of the CEE cities experience of communism is often mentioned
somewhat lightly in the literature. Even though the poque rouge has long left the
scene, there are good reasons not to dismiss the relevance of this period too swiftly.
For one thing, many CEE urbanites still dine on the left-overs of socialism: they
live in socialist-era apartments, ride on Czechoslovak trams, and spend excessive
amounts of time dealing with superficially reformed bureaucracies. Accordingly, while
capitalist development has made transformation evident to the eye, the ostensibly
conservative nature of the built environment and of the social spaces embedded in it
remains concealed. Second, a satisfactory appreciation of the nuts and bolts of the
socialist economy, and of the mechanisms through which it produced urban and
regional spatial patterns, has yet to be achieved (Sjberg, 1999; Gentile and Sjberg,
2006). Third, and most importantly, socialist-era legacies are the starting point for
post-1989 transformations and, as such, they represent the inner (albeit degenerating)
organs of the CEE city, engulfed sometimes just cosmetically by the new layers
of urban growth that are relentlessly produced by actors operating in a market
economy.
Although there is no full consensus on the extent and meaning of urban socio-spatial
inequalities under socialism, their existence has a long history of recognition in the
literature (Hamilton and Burnett, 1979; Bater, 1980; Szelnyi, 1983; Smith, 1989). The
underlying mechanisms that produced these inequalities, on the other hand, are far less
evident. In this respect, it is important to distinguish between the socialist systems
production of material urban structures and the socio-spatial patterns imprinted on them.
While the emphasis of much research on the CEE city is on the former, our review of the
literature will focus on the latter.
Socio-spatial differences had a variety of roots and sources under socialism.
First, there were the bourgeois patterns inherited from pre-socialist times, which were
fading away but were still recognizable halfway through socialism (Mateju et al.,
1979; Wecawowicz, 1979). Second, there were patterns produced directly by the
housing shortage the socialist citys inexpugnable bte noire: those who were not
able to come across passable shelter in cities were typically consigned to the illegal
or semi-legal private rental market or to the poorly serviced hinterland, where the
typical blessings of socialist urban life were not available (Konrd and Szelnyi,
1974; Szelnyi, 1983; Murray and Szelnyi, 1984; Sjberg, 1992; Domanski, 1997).
Moreover, closed city and migration restriction policies reinforced this pattern
because they precluded various population groups from asserting their legal rights
to the socialist city (Sjberg, 1994; Buckley, 1995). Third, because of limited supply,
the housing provision system did not live up to its ideological guidebook: rationing
and allocation by social merit partly replaced the intended need-based principles
(Szelnyi, 1983; Andrusz, 1984; Psztor and Pter, 2009, Gentile and Sjberg, 2013).
Consequently, fourth, personal or political clout, as well as bribery, often became
part of the picture (Morton, 1984; Domanski, 1997). Fifth, the actions
of individual enterprises and organizations aimed at ironing out difficulties in
securing necessary resources caused new wrinkles in the homogenous surface
of the socio-spatial landscape advocated by planners (Hall, 1987). Because
departmental housing (or semi-public, cf. Hall, ibid.) was usually earmarked for the
staff of the enterprises building it, a significant source of residential segregation on
socio-professional grounds was created (Shomina, 1992; Domanski, 1997; Szirmai,
1998; Petrovici, 2012). Accordingly, access to this segment of the housing stock
was both exclusionary by socioeconomic status and, following well-documented
characteristics of the Soviet-style labor markets (e.g. Linz, 1995), gendered. Also,
departmental housing typically clustered, increasing the likelihood that work
colleagues were also neighbors, particularly if employed in strategic industries and
organizations (Lehmann and Ruble, 1997; Gentile, 2005; Gentile and Sjberg, 2010a;

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2010b).1 Sixth, there were several forms of housing tenure under socialism, and these
tended to be associated with the residents socioeconomic characteristics (French,
1995; Domanski, 1997). The main forms were state-owned, private (on state land in
most cases) and cooperative (or semi-private, cf. Hall, 1987). Typically, the share of
state-owned housing, which was the most subsidized because of nominal rents and
insignificant fees for utilities, increased with city size (Andrusz, 1984). Finally, the
socialist institutions in many, though not all, countries produced an unhousable
underclass that was, in fact, both segregated and highly deprived. This underclass
included not only political offenders, former prison inmates and so-called (societal)
parasites, but also temporary rural migrants who were not granted the full privilege
of urban life (see Gentile, 2003; Marcinczak and Sagan, 2011).
Socialist and early post-socialist segregation in Southeastern European (SEE) cities is
an entirely unexplored topic in the English-language literature. Some retrospective hints
about it appear in more recent work on urban inequalities in the region (Vesselinov, 2004;
2005; Vesselinov and Logan, 2005; Spevec and Klempic-Bogadi, 2009; Petrovici, 2012),
but these do not report the hard facts of segregation under socialism.

Segregation and socio-spatial patterning after socialism

Globalization and economic restructuring, and the development of the financial (Sassen,
1991) and creative (Florida, 2003) sectors in particular, are seen as the key causes of the
growing income inequalities and segregation in the large cities of the Western world
(Mollenkopf and Castells, 1991; van Kempen, 2007). Similar arguments emphasizing
the rise of socioeconomic segregation have been aired in the post-communist context
(Smith and Timr, 2010). While much research on socio-spatial and housing inequalities
in Central and Eastern Europe has been published during recent years (for reviews see
Ruoppila, 2004; Hamilton et al., 2005; Born and Gentile, 2007; Gentile et al., 2012),
we argue that two significant knowledge gaps remain. First, most works describe general
forms of socio-spatial patterning, rather than the actual level and scale of socioeconomic
residential segregation. Accordingly, beyond a small number of studies that employ
stringent methods of segregation measurement (Dangschat, 1987; Ladnyi, 1989; 2002;
Skora, 2007; 2009; Ttrai, 2011; Marcinczak, 2012; Marcinczak et al., 2012), very little
is known about the patterns of segregation in this region (Musterd, 2005; Musterd and
van Kempen, 2009; van Kempen and Murie, 2009). Second, research on CEE cities tends
to be geographically selective, as it was during socialist times, being primarily confined
to the largest metropolitan regions of Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and, more
recently, Estonia and Russia (Born and Gentile, 2007; Marcinczak and Sagan, 2011),
whereas cities in Southeastern Europe attracted sporadic and more recent attention
(Skora and Bouzarovski, 2012). Providing valuable commentary on contemporary
social and spatial urban change in the Balkans, the existing studies (Chelcea, 2003;
2006; Dawidson, 2004; Deda and Tsenkova, 2006; Mietic and Mietic, 2006; Hirt
and Kovachev, 2006; Hirt, 2007; Brade et al., 2009; Spevec and Klempic-Bogadi, 2009;
Nase and Okaki, 2010; Vckler, 2010; Bouzarovski, 2011; Bouzarovski et al., 2011;
Petrovici, 2012; Rufat, 2013) do not, in fact, illustrate actual segregation patterns. Some
of these studies describe processes of socio-spatial restructuring, but most studies on

1 Occasionally an additional source of segregation surfaced during the early years of socialism, when
housing nationalization programs were implemented. In this process, some people found themselves
being displaced or forced to accept an unwelcome at-sharing agreement. Displacement meant
relocation. In some cases political and defense-related considerations gained the upper hand. For
example, as Chelcea (2012) shows, employees of the new defense ministry in Bucharest were
clustered nearby, at the expense of the sitting tenants who were forced to accept accommodation
elsewhere.

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the SEE citys spatial changes target singular spatial expressions of socioeconomic
decompression (e.g. the proliferation of gated communities for the upper and upper-
middle classes).
The pace, scale and extent of the socioeconomic changes embedded in transition are
shaped by the historically developed and path-dependent characteristics of cities, regions
and nation-states (Marcinczak and Sagan, 2011; Skora and Bouzarovski, 2012).
The fusion of pre-socialist and socialist legacies with the post-socialist reform
therapies triggered increased labor-market segmentation, growing income inequalities,
unemployment, the gradual withdrawal of the welfare state and, accordingly, a new order
of social stratification (Smith and Pickles, 1998; Bandelj and Mahutga, 2010; Stenning
et al., 2010). The capital cities had a pioneering role in these processes (Wecawowicz,
1998), making them ideal objects for the investigation of the spatial manifestation of the
new order (Stenning, 2004).
Residential segregation in SEE cities after socialism has been the subject of a handful
of studies. Petrovici (2012) uses factor analysis to illustrate the social geography of
the Romanian mid-sized city of Cluj, finding modest evidence of socio-spatial
differentiation explained, in part, by the idiosyncrasies of nationalist local government.
However, the socio-spatial configurations observed defy generalization other than the
observation that the elderly and relatively disadvantaged seem to be overrepresented in
the inner-city areas in a way similar to many other cities in CEE, especially under
socialism and in the decade that followed (cf. Szelnyi, 1983; Kovcs, 1998; Marcinczak
et al., 2012; 2013). Also using factor analysis, this time applied to data from the Croatian
census, Prelogovic (2009) shows that Zagrebs residential socioeconomic spatial pattern
in the early 2000s assumed a somewhat sectoral form. Using the same data source at a
more aggregated level, Spevec and Klempic-Bogadi (2009) describe the residential
geographies of the population of Zagreb and Split by education, reporting a certain
educational distance decay effect (with the more highly educated settling in central
locations). Ethnic segregation in three mid-sized Romanian cities with significant
Magyar minorities has been the focus of a recent study by Ttrai (2011), who found low
and stable levels of segregation using global segregation measures.
Summing up, there is little knowledge of residential segregation patterns in the
post-socialist SEE city, and even less is known about the situation under socialism.
Moreover, while generally supporting the notion that segregation levels are/were low, the
results are not uniform.

Setting the scene

With a history dating back at least to the fifteenth century, Bucharest started developing
more rapidly in 1862, when it became the capital of Romania. While the lower social
categories clustered in the shanty towns of Bucharests periphery and in poor-quality
tenements and houses in the inner city, the higher social groups largely resided in the
centre and in the northern sector, in fashionable places such as Kiseleff-Primaverii, Lake
Floreasca and Herastrau, which were characterized by fine villas, wide boulevards and
parks (Figure 1).
The city was moderately damaged during the second world war. The reconstruction of
damaged or destroyed areas, the nationalization of the residential property that was left
intact (see Chelcea, 2012), along with further industrialization, became the prime targets
of the new socialist government. The first wave of industrial expansion went to the
south (Rahova, Ferentari) and west (Gara de Nord, Grivita). Massive industrialization
continued throughout the 1960s and 1970s, attracting workers from outside the city, and
triggering under-urbanization, whereby the housing sector increasingly lagged behind
the growth of industrial employment (Murray and Szelnyi, 1984). Consequently, the
peripheral zone was gradually taken over by self-provided wood and cob housing lacking

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Figure 1 Land use map of Bucharest showing age of housing stock (sources: Directia
Urbanism si Amenajarea Teritoriului 2000; National Institute of Statistics, 2002)

basic amenities, even though higher and denser housing estates were hastily constructed
in the proximity of the industrial areas, e.g. the Obor (1966), Militari (1968) and Rahova
(1970) housing complexes. Initially, the overall quality of the housing estates was low,
but it improved subsequently.
Unlike elsewhere in metropolitan Central and Eastern Europe, where inner-city
redevelopment was seriously initiated in the 1950s (Carter, 1979; Bater, 1980; Smith,
1996), the reconstruction of Bucharests centre did not take off until the early 1980s, at
a time when several socialist regimes, especially in Poland and Hungary, had started to
look shaky. Ceausescus grand project was completed shortly after the fall of his regime
in the early 1990s. Because this massive scale intervention into the existing urban fabric
is portrayed elsewhere (Turnock, 1990; Danta, 1993; Cavalcanti, 1997), it suffices to say
that it was the flagship project of the Romanian systematization program, which aimed
at the socialist modernization of society, economy and space through countrywide
homogenization and the diffusion of the benefits of urbanism (Ronns, 1984; Danta,
1993). Eventually, about a quarter of the historical core was razed and more than
40,000 people were displaced to accommodate Ceausescus monumental visions.

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Former low-density housing with socially mixed populations was torn down to provide
room for the immense House of the Republic, spacious squares, and a wide boulevard
whose length exceeds that of the Champs-Elyses in Paris. This boulevard was and
still is lined with trees, fountains and gargantuan apartment buildings designed
to house high-ranking members of the military, secret police (the securitate) and
nomenklatura (Behr, 1991). Needless to say, this flamboyant project stood in sharp
contrast to the overall poverty of the Romanian population (ONeill, 2009).
The pace and character of Romanias post-socialist transition differed from those of
its CEE counterparts. First, the countrys regime and economy in 1989 were still largely
Stalinist; second, Romania was virtually foreign-debt-free because of Ceausescus
insistence on economic autarky. The virtual nonexistence of anti-communist opposition
enabled the previous regimes cream of the crop to take full advantage of the new
circumstances (Gabnyi, 2004). Until 1996 when the liberals won the elections with a
program of reforms, privatization and euro-modernization, the pace of the reforms was
dawdling, the inflow of foreign investment was slender, and employment in large
state-owned enterprises remained more or less intact (Turnock, 2007). The new round of
reforms did not come until 2003 when the new constitution secured private property
rights. Regardless of the massive housing privatization to sitting tenants and the
subsequent formation of a hyper-ownership structure (Ball, 2006), residential mobility
was low, and the mortgage market insignificantly small. Crudely, the first decade of
transition brought slower economic development for Bucharest and its SEE counterparts
(see Tsenkova, 2008), than for comparable cities in northern CEE countries.

Research design
Data and geography
Our analysis relies on census materials currently the best source of population data in
Romania. We use data on the socio-occupational structure of the population in 1992 and
2002. The sub-city district, the smallest available spatial unit (hereafter called a census
tract, cf. Rufat 2013), constitutes the prime level of analysis. The Bucharest census tracts
of which there were 160 in 1992 and 151 in 2002 are relatively small and compact
units, typically both functionally and morphologically homogenous, with an average
population of about 10,000 inhabitants. Unfortunately, the boundaries of the 1992 and
2002 census tracts do not entirely overlap. Yet, if interpreted with care, these two datasets
are sufficiently similar to enable meaningful comparison across time.
The analysis of the global and local patterns of socioeconomic segregation rests on
the division of the economically active population (population aged 1565) into seven
major socio-professional groups: (1) managers, (2) professionals, (3) technicians, (4)
administrative, service and sales workers, (5) skilled workers, (6) unskilled workers and
(7) first-time job-seekers. This classification reflects the main lines of social and income
divisions in contemporary Romania, and it is also congruent with the taxonomies
employed in similar studies in other parts of Europe (Butler et al., 2008; Musterd, 2005;
Marcinczak et al., 2012) and North America (Scott, 1988). Therefore, it allows us to
trace the overall changes in the citys socio-professional structure, pinning down their
spatial dimensions and effects.

Methodologies and methods

Segregation may refer to both the uneven distribution of social (ethnic/racial) groups
across the city and to the social composition of particular neighborhoods within it
(Reardon, 2006). Because its measurement is the prime informant of theory (Granis,
2002), it is crucial to distinguish between the two main approaches in segregation pattern

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analysis. The first approach, whose roots date back to the Chicago School (Peach, 2009),
involves the assessment of global patterns, and is dominated by single-number indices that
summarize the (un)evenness in a given groups distribution within a wider population
or in relation to other group(s) (Simpson, 2007). The more recent second approach
emphasizes actual (principally local) patterns of ethnic (social) residential concentration
and mixing. By doing so, it generally downplays the role of the global indices (Johnston
et al., 2010) and injects more geography into the study of segregation (Johnston et al.,
2009).
For easier comparison with existing studies and in order not to confuse the two
meanings of segregation patterns, we will refer to the global and local patterns of
segregation throughout the article, scrutinizing them separately. Consequently, this study
proceeds in two stages. In the first stage, together with an assessment of the overall trends
in the socio-occupational composition of the Bucharest population during the inter-census
period, we measure the global levels of socioeconomic segregation in 1992 and 2002 using
the single number indices. The dissimilarity index (ID),2 the segregation index (IS),3 the
isolation index (II)4 and its modified version that takes into account the relative size of a
group (MII)5 are calculated for each of the seven socio-professional categories. In the
second stage, we turn to the geography of the phenomenon by exploring the local patterns
of social segregation. This analysis rests on the location quotient (LQ).6 To tease out the
places of concentration and significant concentration of each of the socio-professional
groups, the LQ thresholds are based on the properties of the binomial distribution. LQs are
calculated independently and scaled for each socio-professional group distinguished.

Results
Segregation dynamics at the global scale
Despite the postponement of shock therapy, the first decade of transition triggered
profound changes in the overall occupational structure of Bucharest, with two main
trends emerging (Table 1). The first trend is represented by a significant drop in the total
number of the economically active population, with the most substantial decrease having

2 The index of dissimilarity is calculated as: ID = (0.5* [|xi/X * yi/Y|])*100 where: xi is the number of
people in category X in spatial unit i; X is the total number of people in category X; yi is the number
of people in category Y in spatial unit i; Y is the total number of people in category Y. The index
varies from 0 to 1 and indicates the degree of (un)evenness in the spatial distributions of two groups
being compared. Values that are less than 30 are usually interpreted as low whereas those that are
greater than 60 are interpreted as high.
3 The index of segregation (IS) is a variant of the dissimilarity index. IS explicitly compares the
distribution of a social/ethnic group with the remainder of the population. The formula is almost
identical to the ID. The only difference is that yi refers to the remainder of the population in spatial
unit i, and Y refers to the remainder of the population in a city. IS varies from 0 to 1 and illustrates
how (un)evenly an ethnic/social group is distributed compared to the remainder of the population.
The values of the IS are interpreted in the same way as those of the ID.
4 The index of isolation is calculated as: II = ( [(xi/X) * (xi/ti)])*100 where xi is the number of people
in category X in spatial unit i, X is the total number of people in category X, ti is the total population
of unit i. II varies from 0 to 1 and is interpreted as the probability that a person of category X meets
someone else of category X in spatial unit i. The values of II are interpreted in the same way as those
of ID and IS.
5 The modied index of isolation is calculated as: MII = (I (X/T))*100 where II is the index of isolation
for people in category X, X is the total number of people in category X, T is the total population of
the city (Sin, 2002). The values of MII are interpreted in the same way as those of II.
6 The Location Quotient is calculated as: LQ = (xi/ti)/(X/T) where xi is the number of people in category
X in spatial unit i, ti is the total population of unit i, X is the total X population, and T is the total
population of a city/region.

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Table 1 Overall trends in occupational composition in Bucharest, 19922002

Economically Active 1992 2002 Percent

Population 1992 2002 Change in % in % Change
Managers, legislators, 26,146 68,189 42,043 2.72 8.26 5.54
senior ofcials
Professionals 142,728 166,414 23,686 14.86 20.16 5.30
Technicians 160,113 129,557 30,556 16.66 15.69 0.97
Clerks and service 145,619 163,255 17,636 15.16 19.77 4.62
workers
Skilled industrial workers 403,613 223,519 180,094 42.01 27.07 14.94
Unskilled workers 55,821 51,305 4,516 5.81 6.21 0.40
Never worked 23,489 21,677 1,812 2.44 2.63 0.18
Total 960,787 825,655 135,132 100 100
Source: National Institute of Statistics (2002)

taken place within industry, which is illustrated by the absolute and relative (-15%)
decline in the number of skilled industrial workers. This trend follows the overall
population shrinkage of Bucharest, which was largely caused by out-migration. The
second trend is the noticeable expansion of the white-collar occupations, which largely
represent the higher socio-professional echelons (managers and professionals): this
category grew by almost 11 percentage points. Conversely, no such expansion took place
at the bottom of the socio-occupational hierarchy. Moreover, the middle category (clerks
and services workers) also expanded during the period studied. The coarse analysis of the
changing socio-professional composition (SPC) of Bucharests population thus sheds
some new light on the social effects of post-socialist transition. Simply stated, we do not
find support for the social polarization arguments that have been advanced since the
mid-1990s (Wecawowicz, 1998; Smith and Timr, 2010). The overall trends indicate
neither relative nor absolute social polarization (cf. Sassen, 1991), but rather
professionalization: in other words, the developments in Bucharest resemble those taking
place elsewhere in the European capitals (Hamnett, 1994; Butler et al., 2008). Instead of
assuming an hourglass shape, Bucharests SPC arguably looks like an upside-down pear.
The results of the analysis of the single-number indices summarize the spatial effects
of the overall socio-occupational change. The indices of segregation (ISs) indicate a low
level of residential segregation in both 1992 and 2002. Despite the constraints that stem
from the use of spatially incompatible data sets in comparative segregation research
the modifiable areal unit problem, essentially (Wong, 2009) some indications from
the figures are strong enough to draw general conclusions. The IS values are all below
30, and this pattern is stable over time (Table 2). It also appears that the irregular
U profile segregation curves at both dates are in line with the universal pattern
of socio-occupational residential distribution, which seems to be insensitive to the
prevailing socioeconomic system (Duncan and Duncan, 1955; Dangschat, 1987;
Ladnyi, 1989; Musterd, 2005; Marcinczak et al., 2012); fundamentally, the higher
social strata are more segregated than the lower strata. Moreover, a legible trajectory of
change becomes evident: the professionalization of Bucharests SPC seems to contribute
to lowering segregation, with a more even spatial distribution of managers and
professionals, and a concomitant increase in residential segregation among lower social
groups. Yet, the pace of these changes is very slow.
The index of isolation (II) and its modified version (MII) describe the absolute and
relative concentration of the socio-professional categories, respectively. The global
concentration measures indicate a somewhat divergent path. Despite having a more
even spatial distribution, as the IS values indicate, growth at the top end of the

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1408 Szymon Marcinczak, Michael Gentile, Samuel Rufat and Liviu Chelcea

Table 2 Indices of residential segregation and isolation of major socio-professional groups:

Bucharest, 19922002

Modied
Segregation Index Isolation Index Isolation Index
Socio-professional Groups 1992 2002 1992 2002 1992 2002
Managers, legislators, senior ofcials 23.2 21.1 3.8 10.5 1.08 2.24
Professionals 28.6 23.5 21.1 24.9 6.24 4.74
Technicians 10.3 8.9 18.0 16.7 1.34 1.01
Clerks and service workers 6.0 8.4 15.8 20.9 0.64 1.13
Skilled industrial workers 18.3 18.8 46.0 30.9 3.99 3.83
Unskilled workers 14.5 17.8 6.8 7.8 0.99 1.59
Never worked 11.6 17.9 2.7 3.2 0.26 0.57
Source: National Institute of Statistics (2002)

Table 3 Indices of residential dissimilarity between major socio-professional groups:

Bucharest, 19922002

Socio-professional Groups MLS P T CSW SIW UW NW

Managers, legislators, senior ofcials 0 6.6 18.4 25.4 32.5 32.9 30.0
Professionals 8.9 0 19.6 27.2 34.5 34.8 31.8
Technicians 18.7 17.1 0 9.9 18.1 21.8 16.2
Clerks and service workers 25.5 24.5 10.6 0 9.5 14.0 9.6
Skilled industrial workers 32.0 32.1 17.6 9.1 0 9.8 11.1
Unskilled workers 32.2 33.0 21.8 15.4 11.2 0 12.2
Never worked 0.29 27.2 20.4 15.5 16.3 19.1 0
Notes: Above diagonal cells contain IDs for 1992, and below diagonal cells contain IDs for 2002.
MLS = managers, legislators and senior officials; P = professionals; T = technicians; CSW = clerks and service
workers; SIW = skilled industrial workers; UW = unskilled workers; NW = never worked.
Source: National Institute of Statistics (2002)

socio-occupational hierarchy involves the residential concentration of the higher social

groups in both absolute and relative terms. Somewhat counterintuitively, and in spite of
the shrinking size of the base of the socio-occupational pyramid, the lower social groups
became more residentially concentrated. Although the values of IIs and MIIs are still low,
they could indicate residential proto-ghettoization among these groups.
The index of dissimilarity (ID) provides additional information on residential
segregation between the distinguished socio-professional categories (Table 3). Echoing
findings from across the spectrum of economic systems (Duncan and Duncan, 1955;
Scott, 1988; Ladnyi, 1989), the results of the IDs for both dates indicate that spatial
segregation reflects social distance. In addition, the substantial shift in the overall SPC
of Bucharest does not affect the broad spatial divisions between the higher (white-
collar) and the lower (blue-collar) socio-professional groups, a key feature of socio-
occupational spatial segregation in capitalist cities (Scott, 1988). Despite being measured
at a much more general spatial scale,7 the level of socio-occupational segregation in

7 The ID is sensitive to the spatial scale used for its calculation, meaning that ne-grained spatial
resolutions return higher values (Wong, 1997).

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Socioeconomic segregation in post-Ceausescu Bucharest 1409

Bucharest was greater than that observed in major Polish cities (cf. Marcinczak et al.,
2012).

The geography of socio-occupational segregation

Because an extended analysis of the local patterns of socio-occupational residential
segregation is beyond the scope of this article, we focus on the opposite ends of the
socio-occupational hierarchy by selecting the two highest and two lowest categories for
further investigation. Consequently, our continued analysis details the changing local
residential geographies of the managers and professionals (see Figure 2) and the local
concentration patterns of the unskilled workers and of those who have never worked (see
Figure 3). Importantly, these groups reflect the main social divisions in the city at both
dates (Table 3). The Location Quotient (LQ) maps for the higher socio-occupational
groups reveal, bar a few exceptions, that the residential concentrations of these social
categories form a substantial cluster in the vicinity of the city center (sectors 1 and 3).
This coincides with the best-quality pre-socialist housing (the villas in sector 1 and the
surviving bourgeois tenements in the central zone) and the better-quality multifamily
buildings from the Ceausescu period (Titan, Drumul Taberei), particularly those erected
during the monumental redevelopment project (Figure 2). The first decade of hesitant
transition brought about visible, albeit minor changes in the spatial distribution of
the higher social categories. The stability of the spatial patterns notwithstanding, and
despite the professionalization of the citys overall occupational structure, some of the
significant residential concentrations of the higher categories thinned out in a centrifugal
movement that started somewhere between 1992 and 2002, a process that is said to have
gained momentum after 2000 (Patroescu et al., 2011).
Being predominantly concentrated in the outer parts of Bucharest, the lower social
categories (LSCs) display a nearly inverse spatial pattern (Figure 3). Unlike the higher
social groups, these categories typically concentrate in the low-quality housing estates
from the 1960s neighboring vast industrial complexes Grivita, Ferentari and Rahova
being good cases in point but also in substandard rural-type housing in peripheral
locations. Perhaps surprisingly, this substandard housing was typically erected after the
demise of the socialist system (ibid.). However, members of the LSCs are also found in
many centrally located census tracts, even those adjoining the Palace of Parliament.
Sector 1 stands out as the citys most socially prestigious area, while Sector 5 is
characterized by a predominantly LSC population, with significant stability over time,
and whose presence increased in the Ferentari district. This suggests the emergence of
underclass ghettos of post-1989 origin. These areas partly overlap with the poor-quality
blocks of flats from the 1960s (Mionel and Negut, 2011). Accordingly, the findings from
Bucharest lend further support to arguments that the socialist-era panel-block estates
have become increasingly differentiated (Temelov et al., 2011); some, like the former
workers dormitories in the Ferentari district, became the dreaded slums of the
twenty-first century (cf. Szelnyi, 1996), whereas the estates from the late 1970s and the
1980s still house medium to higher social categories (cf. Khrik and Tammaru, 2010;
Marcinczak and Sagan, 2011).

Conclusion
This articles main conclusion is that Bucharest, by West European standards (cf.
Musterd, 2005), was a relatively socio-spatially mixed city both at the onset of transition
(1992) and after it had ripened during the first post-socialist inter-census decade (2002).
There is no eye-catching evidence of increased residential segregation during this period,
at least not at the meso-scale level of analysis deployed in this study; quite the contrary,
we found a modest, yet fully legible, decreasing overall trend, though this mix may well

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1410 Szymon Marcinczak, Michael Gentile, Samuel Rufat and Liviu Chelcea

Figure 2 Residential concentration of the higher socio-occupational categories

(sources: National Institute of Statistics, 1992; 2002)

involve sharp local socio-spatial contrasts. Specifically, the global trend in residential
segregation patterning indicates an increase in socio-occupational mixing, mirroring
recent results from the Czech Republic and Poland (Skora, 2009; Marcinczak, 2012),
countries known as leaders in the process of transition (Bradshaw and Stenning, 2004).
Accordingly, it casts doubt on the popular notion that there is an inherent association
between social stratification and residential segregation (cf. Wecawowicz, 1998;
Sailer-Fliege, 1999; Brade et al., 2009; Polanska, 2011). In fact, increasing income
inequalities and substantial changes in the overall socio-occupational composition have
not translated into socio-spatial or even just social polarization. Specifically, the

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Socioeconomic segregation in post-Ceausescu Bucharest 1411

Figure 3 Residential concentration of the lower socio-occupational categories

(sources: National Institute of Statistics, 1992; 2002)

citys social composition has not changed in the direction of the hourglass structure
typical of socially polarized societies (cf. Sassen 1991); rather, we suggest that it reflects
growing professionalization, similar to what has been noted in, not least, London (Butler
et al., 2008). The developments in Bucharest lend support to the notion of the paradox
of post-socialist segregation (Skora, 2007), whereby socioeconomic inequalities and
residential segregation move in opposite directions. This situation may or may not
change, of course. The question is when, and under which influences of local cultural,
socioeconomic and geographic context.
By the low level of CEE standards, however, residential segregation in Bucharest
seems to be on the high side. Also, its local geographical characteristics stand out when

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1412 Szymon Marcinczak, Michael Gentile, Samuel Rufat and Liviu Chelcea

compared to similar studies from Poland and the Czech Republic (Marcinczak et al.,
2012; Skora et al., 2006; Skora, 2009). Instead, and similar to the Albanian case (Aliaj
et al., 2003; Deda and Tsenkova, 2006), Bucharests outer zone has largely attracted low
social categories often housed in poor-quality illegally constructed housing (cf. Marin,
2005). Conversely, the significant presence of members of the higher social strata in the
inner-city districts follows a wider tendency of socio-spatial patterning in the SEE city
(Vesselinov and Logan, 2005; Spevec and Klempic-Bogadi, 2009).
While society as a whole went through comprehensive changes not least owing to
rapid population growth and targeted spatial development policies under socialism the
socio-spatial patterns observed in Bucharest are firmly rooted in the citys past. Decades
of hardline socialist rule did not fully manage to offset the longue dure of the pre-war
bourgeois socio-spatial structures. In fact, both the socialist nomenklatura and the
subsequent post-socialist elites cluster(ed) in areas with spacious pre-war villas and
apartment buildings; the prestige and popularity of such areas has become consolidated
since the demise of communism (Chelcea, 2006). However, because the vast majority of
Bucharests residents are housed in socialist-era structures (Marin, 2005), the imprint of
the urban (re)development programs of this period is at least as important in determining
the configuration of socio-spatial sorting after socialism. Intriguingly, our results chime
in with the notion that socialist regimes produced legible social segregation (cf. Szelnyi,
1983; Domanski, 1997; Gentile and Sjberg, 2006), which is elegantly epitomized
by Ceausescus extravagant project in the city centre: whereas the new Ceausesque
apartment complexes became the stronghold of the higher social segments, dwellings
in aging tenements targeted for systematized demolition (in an alternative future that
was never to be) were temporarily allocated to deprived Roma families (Chelcea,
2006). Already under socialism, this strategy led to localized socio-spatially mixed
polarization, where compact lines of relatively high-quality apartment blocks directly
neighbored and to a certain extent walled off the citys pockets of poverty. The
first, hesitant, decade of transition ossified this pattern.

Szymon Marcinczak (szymmar@geo.uni.lodz.pl), Institute of Urban Geography and

Tourism Studies, University of dz, ul Kopcinskiego 31, 90142 dz, Poland,
Michael Gentile (michael.gentile@geography.umu.se), Department of Geography
and Economic History, Ume University, SE-90187 Ume, Sweden, Samuel Rufat
(samuel.rufat@u-cergy.fr), UFR Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Universit de
Cergy-Pontoise, Boulevard du Port 33, 95011 Cergy-Pontoise, France and Liviu Chelcea
(liviu.chelcea@sas.unibuc.ro), Department of Sociology and Social Work, University of
Bucharest, Str. Schitu Magureanu 9, Sector 5, Bucuresti, Romania.

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