<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Forced evictions have been recognised as a relevant process in Romanian post-socialist urban transformations. Housing privatization, including restitutions, represents the key driver. Some attempts in grasping the scale of the process have already been made. This article brings extensive quantitative data stemming from national and local levels, which can support improved estimations of the scale: reports of the National Union of Bailiffs and answers to public information requests from multiple municipalities; archival data, local press monitoring and accounts of the process in the city of Cluj-Napoca. At least 100 thousand forced evictions are estimated to have taken place at national level between 1990-2017, comprising several hundred thousand individuals, the Roma population being disproportionately affected. Qualitative data produced through activist research complements the picture. The findings contribute to the debate regarding postsocialist urban transformations, indicating that the role of the state in the production of the housing market through forced evictions-based gentrification has been insufficiently acknowledged. The results are relevant to policy debates, as well as to housing activist practices<sup>2</sup>.</p>
</abstract>

Forced evictions have been recognised as a relevant process in Romanian post-socialist urban transformations. Housing privatization, including restitutions, represents the key driver. Some attempts in grasping the scale of the process have already been made. This article brings extensive quantitative data stemming from national and local levels, which can support improved estimations of the scale: reports of the National Union of Bailiffs and answers to public information requests from multiple municipalities; archival data, local press monitoring and accounts of the process in the city of Cluj-Napoca. At least 100 thousand forced evictions are estimated to have taken place at national level between 1990-2017, comprising several hundred thousand individuals, the Roma population being disproportionately affected. Qualitative data produced through activist research complements the picture. The findings contribute to the debate regarding postsocialist urban transformations, indicating that the role of the state in the production of the housing market through forced evictions-based gentrification has been insufficiently acknowledged. The results are relevant to policy debates, as well as to housing activist practices2.

Countering Illegibility: A Brief History of Forced Evictions in Postsocialist Romania

Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai Sociologia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Forced evictions have been recognised as a relevant process in Romanian post-socialist urban transformations. Housing privatization, including restitutions,...

Countering Illegibility: A Brief History of Forced Evictions in Postsocialist Romania

Published Online: Aug 23, 2022

Page range: 37 - 68

Received: Jun 01, 2022

Accepted: Jun 18, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/subbs-2022-0002

Keywords
forced evictions, postsocialist urban transformations, housing policy, Eastern Europe

© 2022 George Iulian Zamfir, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Countering Illegibility: A Brief History of Forced Evictions in Postsocialist Romania

Published Online: Aug 23, 2022

Page range: 37 - 68

Received: Jun 01, 2022

Accepted: Jun 18, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/subbs-2022-0002

Keywordsforced evictions, postsocialist urban transformations, housing policy, Eastern Europe

© 2022 George Iulian Zamfir, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
forced evictions, postsocialist urban transformations, housing policy, Eastern Europe