The agrarian reform, promised by King Ferdinand during World War I and enacted shortly after its end, determined the introduction of the measure of allotment on a large scale, exceeding the rural context, as a specific instrument of interwar Romanian social policy. The introduction of the measure of allotment through the agrarian reform served as a precedent for the enactment of legislation regarding the distribution of building plots in the cities. Thus, in 1921, when the second phase of the enactment of agrarian reform was ending, another law that governed the distribution of building plots in all Romanian provinces was promulgated: The Law that Authorizes Cities to Sell Building Plots to Invalids, Widows with War Orphans, Public Servants, and All ExServicemen. In Transylvania, its provisions overlapped some of those specified under the agrarian law of this province. The legislation regarding the distribution of building plots generated inevitable expansions of urban areas, leading to the territorial growth of more than 80 cities throughout the country. The extensions were produced at a very rapid pace, in a context of sustained attempts to introduce the systematization plan as an indispensable instrument of rational urban development. It was initially sustained by various specialists in the field and, after 1925, conducted through the administrative legislation of the country. Starting from these premises, this paper follows the legislative context of the distribution of building plots, its quantitative and qualitative impact on the development of cities during the interwar period, and the positions of various state authorities and specialists in relation to the issue of subordinating the inevitable expansions to a planned urban development.

Fig. 1. The national distribution of the subdivisions generated by the application of the allotment legislation. Fig. 2. The plan of Dămăroaia subdivision (1920s) made by Bucharest City Hall on land bought from the Ministry of Agriculture and Domains. Cincinat Sfințescu. “Împroprietăririle în capitală”. Monitorul Uniunii Orașelor din România 1 (1927): 3. Fig. 3. The plan of Domeniilor subdivision (began in 1919) made by the Ministry of Agriculture and Domains on a state property for its officers. Fund Ministerul Lucrărilor Publice, file no. 166/1923, 19. Arhivele Naționale Istorice Centrale. Fig. 4. Subdivision for ex-service men in Galați, traced on a 1945 aerial view of the city. Orthophotomaps (1938-1945), 15.05.2013, http://www.wwii-photos-maps.com/romania. Fig. 5. Plan of “King Ferdinand” subdivision in Buzău, started in 1923 on a municipal property. Fund Ministerul Lucrărilor Publice. Consiliul Tehnic Superior, file no. 878/1933. Arhivele Naționale Istorice Centrale. ABSTRACTS 332 Fig. 6. C.F.R. (Romanian Railway Network) subdivision in Bacău traced on a 1944 aerial view of the city. The distribution of building plots started in 1922. Orthophotomaps (1938-1945), 15.05.2013, http://www.wwii-photos-maps.com/romania. Fig. 7. Subdivision in Chiajna-Străulești estate (Grivița suburban settlement), started in 1925, traced on a 1944 aerial view of Bucharest. After nearly two decades, the streets were still not paved, and only approximately 50% of the plots had buildings on them. Orthophotomaps (1938-1945), 15.05.2013, http://www.wwii-photos-maps.com/romania. Fig. 8. Subdivision for ex-servicemen in Ploiești (today, Bereasca quarter), began in 1925, traced on a 1944 aerial view of the city. As in the previous case, after nearly two decades, the urban public works were still not done and very few plots had buildings on them. Orthophotomaps (1938-1945), 15.05.2013, http://www.wwii-photos-maps.com/romania. Fig. 9. Subdivisions made by the agrarian reform’s institutions on the Romans’ Plateau and around the fortress in Alba Iulia traced on the plan of the city. Plan of Alba Iulia, February 1929, original scale 1:15,000. Fig. 10. Subdivisions made according to the agrarian law until 1926. Groups I-IX. Drawings of the author based on information included in Diana Mihnea, “Orașele Transilvaniei în perioada interbelică. Implicații urbanistice ale legislației de împroprietărire” [The Cities of Transylvania in the Interwar Period. Urban Implications of Ownership Legislation] (Doctoral Thesis, University of Architecture and Urbanism “Ion Mincu”, Bucharest, 2015). Plan of Sibiu, 1926, original scale 1:2,880. Credits: private collection. Fig. 11. Terrains parcelled according to the allotment legislation. Drawings of the author based on information included in Diana Mihnea, “Orașele Transilvaniei în perioada interbelică. Implicații urbanistice ale legislației de împroprietărire” (Doctoral Thesis, University of Architecture and Urbanism “Ion Mincu”, Bucharest, 2015). Plan of Timișoara, 1931, original scale 1:14,000.