Insular Cities – Bucharest Case Study

Although cities are the main propellers of the world’s economies, it is becoming more and more obvious that their pattern of evolution is changing. If, since the Middle Ages, towns were developing according to the potential and resources of the neighboring villages and smaller towns, today the potential of development lies in the city itself, gradually influencing further the surrounding area.

Such is the case of Bucharest, a relatively large city for Eastern Europe. With its almost 2 million inhabitants, it is one of the most economically developed places in the region. It alone produced more than 16 percent of Romania’s GDP in 2006 1 , thus having a better GDP/capita (PPS) than other Western regions of the EU, such as Campania in Italy – the region around Naples – 2. Also, the rate of growth is the biggest in Europe, a staggering 20% 3, up by more than 13% from its country’s growth rate. And this is just one example of an ‘insular city’ that developed separately from its environment, stimulating the region around to grow along. Other such cities in Europe are: Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Budapest and, perhaps the ‘crown’s jewel’, London.

These are spaces that, because of their status as national capitals, or because they are regional/international hubs (financial hubs, knowledge hubs, transport hubs) receive the most ‘attention’ from international visitors/investors of from national governments.

However, the relationship of interdependence between this type of cities and their area of influence remains to be further strenghtened in the future, if the development is desired to be a sustainable one.