BUCHAREST

BUCHAREST*

“It is a city still figuring outwhat it wants to be”

Initially wanted to analyse Bucharest as a global city in this section because Bucharest is at a stage of economic, social and physical transition as a result of global concern which started especially after 2005.

Bucharest is the capital city of Romania which lies in the south-eastern part of Romania. It is the biggest city and the principal political, cultural and economic centre of Romania.

Romania joined to European Union in 2007. This accession was a breaking point for Romania in terms of the emergence of global concern towards the country. Romania suddenly became the centre of foreign direct investments in Southeast Europe. It was natural that Bucharest – Ilfov regions which were the pioneer counties of the country were the most interesting places for global investors.

After Romania’s accession to the EU, Bucharest has started to attract investment capital from EU funds. EU has granted 30 million euro to the country as state aids for infrastructure investments (telecommunication, transportation, energy) and 22 million euro of this aid was given to Bucharest – Ilfov regions.

Bucharest has also benefited from the rising foreign direct investment flows due to the privatization process in banking, telecommunication, utilities and manufacturing sectors in the country. International institutional investors from Europe have gone in a competition for loading the operations of major public services or purchasing important public enterprises in the country.

Many individual and institutional small investors from the world have found a place for themselves in Bucharest as well in order to benefit from the fast growing economy of Romania. These private investors have focused their investments on two sectors: real estate and information technology (IT).

Today, international investments are still going on in Bucharest despite the global economic crisis which emerged at the end of 2008. Bucharest has started to feel the impact of this global concern on its urban form, social and economic life.