Uranus neighborhood: erased from the city, remembered by its inhabitants

Abstract

This paper looks back into the past, to Bucharest during its communist regime. The communist regime lasted from 1947 until 1989, when it ended with a revolution. From 1965 until its end, Nicolae Ceausescu was the leader and his plans and ambitions created big losses among the population and the city.0F0F This research focuses on the analysis of the central area of the city before it was demolished due to new plans coming from Nicolae Ceausescu. It endeavors to scrutinize the Uranus neighborhood and the transformation of the location over time from the personal experiences of two individuals who were born there and resided there for approximately sixteen years. Tudor Popescu and Catalin Stoica, childhood companions, will impart oral narratives of how the neighborhood used to be before the demolition, how their lives used to be, and how they were affected by the transformation. Following the research question “how do the former inhabitants of the Uranus neighborhood remember this neighborhood?”, this paper will look into the memories triggered by revisiting the neighborhood.