UNCLEAR PERSPECTIVES FOR A SPECIFIC INTRA-URBAN SPACE: VACARESTI LAKE AREA (BUCHAREST CITY)

Urban space is heterogeneous, made up of numerous subspaces, which provide a "personality" to the respective city by way of their structural and functional integration. Our analysis focuses on the evolution of an intra-urban spatial structure whose specificity is the result of at least two factors: a) it is an island of abandoned space in the midst of a huge built-up area and b) it is a source of conflict because, after changing its initial destination, the new purpose remains undefined. This intra-urban space is defined by the borders of "Vacaresti lake", inside the city of Bucharest. Our research focused on the comparative analysis of cartographic documents and a project drafted over the past four decades, on the use of GIS technology and on form-based surveys so as to identify the population's expectations as far as the future of that space is concerned. The results lead to the conclusion that the natural reconstruction of an urban space, previously landscaped as a lake (in the wake of prior demolition work) and then abandoned, is not possible without incurring huge expenses. Those costs are determined by the need to resolve land-ownership conflicts, and by the need to avoid conflicts brought about by the decision-makers' "laisser-faire" attitude to the development of a spontaneous ecosystem at the center of an urban sprawl. The natural construction of an ecosystem under the limitations enforced by landscaping as a concrete-floored lake, without any major interventions, is a complicated and conflict-generating process. These concern the right to a healthy environment, to urban esthetics of an invigorating nature.