The paper aims to analyze, on one hand, the evolution and interpretation of graffiti and street art phenomenon in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, and at international level, and on the other hand how this subculture is related to aspects of culture and heritage. The analysis of the evolution followed by graffiti and street art in Bucharest is doubled by the investigation of the messages transmitted in relation to the national and local culture and history, as street art may be seen as an efficient tool contributing to local cultural identity building. The methods used rely on a complex approach, combining observation and photos from field research, documentation, and data collection from different organizations and online communities. Street art works have various positive effects on the urban landscape, including in relation to culture and heritage in time. The results demonstrate that in Bucharest, street art contributes to highlighting mainly the key-moments and the personalities in culture and history that contribute to shaping a part of cultural identity.

This paper intends to delve deeply into the current understanding of the ways in which the transition from a central-based economy to an economy relying on free competition has led to changes in the big urban centers, bringing about a change in the relationships with the suburban areas. The authors take into account the high population density, the lack of space, and the elevated price of land within the big cities, which leads to urban functions migrating beyond the administrative boundaries, thus favoring the process of suburbanization. Given the context, commercial forces shift, migrating from the center to the urban peripheries or even outside them. This research is based on a comprehensive process of participative investigation (2012–2022) in Bucharest, Romania’s capital city. The research relies on field investigation, statistical and quantitative analyses and bibliographical sources. The conclusions rely primarily on the idea that political changes cannot be separated from economic, cultural and environmental ones, highlighting globalizing flows and the development of big cities. Industrial activities, strongly developed within a central-based economy, have significantly declined, which is partly compensated for by the development of the tertiary sector and, in particular, of commercial services leading to a functional reconversion of the urban peripheries and of suburban areas. The conclusions suggest that it is very important to be highly careful regarding the dilemmas and challenges ensuing from uncontrolled urban growth; therefore, several measures of urban planning should be taken with a view to achieving a better cooperation between urban stakeholders and those from the metropolitan areas so as to attain some common objectives in infrastructure in order to reach an integrated regional development.

This article analyses street art’s contribution to the current economic life in the city center of an Eastern European capital, Bucharest. The development of socio-economic activities in the Romanian capital has been strongly influenced in the last 30 years by a complex of effects generated by the transition to the capitalist economy in the early 1990s, the impact of globalization, and recently the COVID-19 pandemic. This study focuses on the investigation of those areas that through street art came to know processes of urban regeneration. By applying semi-structured interviews to providers of alternative guided tours, but also questionnaires among the population that is familiar with this subculture, including an organization of urban regeneration through street art, an important number of economically new spaces, next to reinvented ones, have been investigated. In these areas, street art ends up by supporting activities from hospitality, cultural, and creative industries, changing for the better the perspectives of economic and cultural development, along with the attractiveness of the Bucharest city center. Street art proves to be an important tool in the regeneration process bringing positive effects when involving active cooperation between the public and the private sectors.

Urban culture has undergone significant transformations under the impact of globalization in the last decades

This paper intends to delve deeply into the current understanding of the ways in which the transition from a central-based economy to an economy relying on free competition, has led to changes in the big urban centres, bringing about a change in the relationships with the suburban areas. The authors take into account the high population density, the lack of space and the elevated price of terrains inside the big cities, hence urban functions migrate beyond the administrative boundaries, thus favouring the process of suburbanization. Within this context, commercial forces are shifted, migrating from the centre to the urban peripheries, or even outside them. This research is based on a comprehensive process of participative investigation (2012-2022) in Bucharest, Ro-mania’s capital city. The research relies on field investigation, statistical and quantitative analyses and bibliographical sources. The conclusions rely primarily on the idea that political changes cannot be separated from economic, cultural and environmental ones, highlighting globalizing flows and the development of big cities. Industrial activities, strongly developed within a central-based economy, have significantly declined, partly compensated for by the development of the tertiary sector and of commercial services, in particular, leading to a functional reconversion of the urban peripheries and of suburban areas. The conclusions suggest that it is very important to be highly careful towards the dilemmas and provocations ensuing from uncontrolled urban growth, therefore several measures of urban planning should be taken with a view to achieving a better co-operation between urban stakeholders and those from the metropolitan areas so as to attain some common objectives in infrastructure in order to reach an integrated regional development.

Heritage buildings incorporate multiple values (architectural, historical, cultural, aesthetic, social, symbolic, authenticity value) to which the economic one (they can be used as commercial and residential spaces, or it can offer cultural experiences for tourists) is added. The cultural services generated by the heritage properties are also used by the local population. The aim of this paper is to analyse the economic values of use and non-use of heritage properties in the central area of Ploieşti Municipality. The authors used the contingent valuation method to identify the non-used economic value. The economic use value of heritage properties was estimated by using the hedonic price method (e.g. expressed in accessibility from homes to shops on foot). Moreover, the economic value was evaluated using the indicator types of use of the heritage buildings. The results obtained by using the non-market valuation highlight the economic potential of the heritage properties located in the central area of Ploieşti city.