International reviews of Cincinat Sfinţescu’s work
Locuinţa în România [Housing in Romania], Pentru Bucureşti. Noi studii urbanistice [On Bucharest. New Studies in Urban Planning], Urbanistica Generală [General Urban Planning], Urbanistica Specială [Special Urban Planning], “Urbanismul” journal.
Housing in Romania
Internationaler Verband for Wohnungswesen, June 1934, in “Mitteilungen” (excerpt from Urbanismul 9-10/ 1934:461)
Pentru București. Noi studii urbanistice
On Bucharest. New Studies in Urban Planning
City planning
In the April 1934 issue, under the initials H.K.M., Mr. Howard K. Menhinick, editor of the journal - the official publication of The American City Planning Institute (National Conference on City Planning) is dealing with the above-mentioned Romanian work. The reviewer gathers that Bucharest, a city with a population of 631.000 inhabitants, “has all the problems of an American city” and concludes that: “This Romanian planner has adapted to his particular problems some of the methods observed in the study of American, English, French and German planning. The results are interesting and instructive.”
(excerpt from Urbanismul 5-6 (May-June 1934): 290)
Extract from City Planning
Wherever there are cities there is need of city planning, and despite differences in race, nationality, customs, and climate, the underlying problems and the basic elements of planning are very much the same everywhere.
Bucharest, with a population of 631,000, has all the problems of an American city, proper population and land-use distribution, highways, transit, railways, waterways, parks, airports, and so forth, and their coordinated development for maximum possible efficiency and beauty.
Professor Sfintescu presents his recommendations for the development of Bucharest in four closely related sections. The first deals with general problems of land utilization, calling particular attention to the desirability of preventing endless miles of urban development by separating the central urban area from the developing satellites by means of open green belts. Extensive studies of topography, soils, climate, population, communication, and the present use of land are followed by recommendations for the division of the city into zones for residence, business, industry, military purposes, and so forth. The entire problem of circulation is dealt with in the third section of the report. Highways and traffic, transit, water traffic on canals, and airport development are studied in detail. The recommended major street skeleton conforms to our ideal of a system of radial and circumferential streets with varying cross sections to meet the needs of different amounts and kinds of traffic. The concluding section of the report points out possibilities of improving the appearance of Bucharest through the beautification of open spaces, the grouping of buildings to secure pleasing perspectives, silhouettes, and panoramas, the redesign of streets and public squares, and the decoration of the city by the proper disposition of appropriate monuments commemorating those who have made important contributions to the life of the Nation. This Romanian planner has adapted to his particular problems some of the methods observed in the study of American, English, French, and German planning. The results are interesting and instructive.
H. K. M.
(extract from City Planning X, 2 (April 1934): 90)
The Romanian Academy (The awarding ceremony of Prof. C. Sfinţescu’s works in urban planning)
During the session in May 1932 the Romanian Academy offered the Adamachi Award for Sciences (5000 lei) to Prof. C. Sfinţescu’s works regarding the systematization of the Bucharest area. We present in the following lines fragments from the report written by Prof. Ion Ionescu, engineer inspector general and corresponding member of the Romanian Academy, in relation to these works:
“… Although some of the opinions may be disputable, taking into account our practices, they can be nevertheless regarded as starting points for a wider discussion leading to simpler and more easily attainable solutions. For all these reasons, I agree that Mr. C.Sfinţescu’s work should be admitted for the V.Adamachi Award.
(excerpt from Urbanismul 5-6 (May-June 1932): 195-196)
Internationaler Verband for Wohnungswesen
June 1934, “Mitteilungen”
The entire work is presented as a complete and elaborate study on urban planning.
(excerpt from Urbanismul 9-10 (September-October 1934): 461)
Reviews on Urbanistica Generală / General Urban Planning
Epoca, 16th February 1934
In the Romanian press we find Prof. D. Smântânescu’s review, published in the Epoca newspaper on February 10th, 1934; we include here several relevant fragments: “Facing the present turmoil of rectifications in the field of urban planning and of reactions against the retrograde mentality of lingering in the former disorderly “Orientalism”, the emergence of the documented and scholarly work written by Prof. C. Sfinţescu – General Urban Planning – represents an authentic revelation. In order to endow the capital with the image of a modern-structured metropolis answering the exigencies of a large city, as well as with a recreational and aesthetic aspect, Mr. C. Sfinţescu presents in his work the evolutionary trend of his concept on urban planning […]
Through his detailed and perfectly documented account on the attempt made in the field of urban systematization […], Mr. C. Sfinţescu succeeded in presenting us an admirable planning literature, in the form of a very interesting and agreeable lecture […] Mr. C. Sfinţescu’s book is indeed a work worthy of all praise.
(excerpt from Urbanismul 3-4 (March-April 1934): 201)
L’Union Internationale des Villes et Pouvoirs Locaux published in the 66th document (January 1934), an entire fascicle entitled « L’Urbanistique Générale – L’Evolution par C.Sfinţescu », the translation and the illustrations from the beginning of the first volume recently published by the author in Romanian. As a result of the initiative of the International Union after remarking the volume among the works published in Urbanismul, the next fascicles will continue the translation of this work.
(excerpt from Urbanismul 3-4 (March-April 1934): 201)
Raymond Unwin, the dean of the School of Architecture from the British Empire, former President of the International Union for Town Planning and Housing in London and the author of the urban project for the first garden-city, Letchworth, expert urban planner of the Greater London Plan.
„I have received with great pleasure the copy of L'Urbanistique Generale by Prof. C. Sfințesco, and I am very grateful to you for sending me the volume. Judging from the illustrations, which alone I am able to read, the book seems to be a very thorough and valuable summary of the various aspects of town planning and I hope it will exert a valuable influence … ” (letter from 10th April 1934).
(excerpt from Urbanismul 3-4 (March-April 1934): 206-207)
L’Administration Locale, official agency of the International Union of Towns, the leaflet „Analyse sommaire du Fascicule Nr.7 (Janvier-Mars 1934)
„L'Urbanistique Générale a fait l'objet d'un veritable traité que vient de publier en roumain M. le Prof. C. Sfințescu. Une excellente version française de cet ouvrage, abondamment illustrée, est commencée dans le «document de base appuyé de toutes les références utiles et qui sera grandement apprécié”.
(excerpt from Urbanismul 3-4 (March-April 1934):206-207)
Urbanistica, 2 (March-April 1934)
„Prof. Sfinţescu [...] the extremely active initiator of the Romanian urban planning movement [...] offers a complete perspective on the science of urban planning by analysing multiple elements in the light of the past acheivements, current tendencies and his own ideas resulting from his personal study and experience [...]
[...] the contents of the work is extremely valuable, due to the wide range of historical and statistical references, as well as the ample and thorough approach of the various thesis presented […]
[…] overall, we are dealing with an extraordinarily valuable dissertation which deserves to be known by the people involved in urban planning issues”)
G.Valvassori
(excerpt from the brochure C. Sfinţescu. A selection of published works, Bucharest, 1937)
Revue Urbanisme, the bibliographical section of the April 1934 issue:
M. C. I. Sfințescu, professeur d'urbanisme à l'Acacdémie d'Architecture de Bucarest, dont l'intéressante revue Urbanismul nous apporte réguliément travaux et articles, vient de reunir, sous le titre «Urbanistica Generală» un véritable traité d'Urbanisme . . . Il faut l'en féliciter vivement et le remercier aussi «d'avoir eu la bonne pensée de la faire précéder d'un «résumé en français...». The reviewer presents characteristic definitions and syntheses taken from each chapter, dwelling on the chapter on aesthetics in urban planning. „L'Esthétique méritait bien la grande part qui lui a «été fait dans ce volume»... subsequently repoducing the author’s motivation.
(excerpt from Urbanismul 5-6 (May-June 1934): 290)
L’Architecture
The March 1934 issue
Mr. Sfinţescu, professor of urban planning at the Academy of Architecture in Bucharest, published the first part of a general treatise on urban planning. He started by defining this new science based on determining and applying the permanent connections that must exist between the land, the building and the population, in order to use the free or built spaces with a view to beauty, hygiene, economy and social interest. After establishing the relative roles of the engineer and the architect, the author presents the history of urban planning.
The first volume comprises the following parts: hygiene (the soil, sun exposure, causes of the insalubrity, city development, zoning, free spaces and street orientation); economy (decentralization, satellite towns, population); traffic (route development, traffic); housing and public buildings; aesthetics (overall view, perspectives, relief); the legislation in different countries. The work is richly illustrated. Unfortunately, the copies are not always clear. This volume presents an important work based on the coordination between facts and ideas.
(excerpt from Urbanismul 5-6 May-June 1934): 290)
Adamachi Journal
Actually, city management is a science! - This is the truth, the wonderful result of Prof. C. Sfinţescu’s work – urban planning is a science applied in the physical-natural domain as well as the social one, with margins at the limit of both intuition and philosophy. Or: urban planning deals with the determination and application of the permanent connections between the land, the buildings and the population with a view to developing the free space and the built space for aesthetic, hygienic and economic functions in relation to social interest.
How many forefathers actually lead the destinies of their own towns and are aware of these profound truths? The issues of hygiene, economy, traffic, housing and public building, the issues related to urban planning aesthetics and legislation are thoroughly and very competently approached in Prof. Sfinţescu’s work. Honestly speaking, the work pinpoints the existence of an extended competency in matters of urban planning in Romania. This superficial glance on the book does not even pretend to be a review; for one must not only read this book, but minutely study it to discover all its wealth of ideas, examples, illustrations, sketches and plans. Prof. Sfinţescu’s book is a source of invaluable knowledge for all those taking an interest in the life of the modern city that we are fatally drawn to in the light of the general human evolution. It is a highly-valued handbook for those appointed to lead the destinies of the cities.
Lecturer Gh. I. Natase
(excerpt from Urbanismul 7-8 (July-August 1934): 361)
Genoa, Rivista municipale
No.8, August 1934
After publishing in Urbanismul a valuable study on General Urban Planning translated in French by L’Administration Locale, Prof. C. Sfinţescu continued the series of his valuable articles on Special Urban Planning.
(excerpt from Urbanismul 9-10 (September-October 1934): 458)
L’Administration Locale, no. 9, July-September 1934, published the third periodical comprising the translation of Prof. C.Sfinţescu’s work entitled “L”Urbanistique Générale – L’Evolution. Un traité d’Urbanistique.”
L'excellent et important ouvrage da a la plume autorisée de C. Sfintescu, professeur â l'Académie d'Architecture de Bucarest comprend cinq parties essentielles o l'auteur examine suceesivement les questions suivantes: l'évolution des villes, l'hygiène urbaine, l'esthétique et la législation. On se trouve done ici en présence d'une ètude absolument complète qui envicage sous sea aspects si divers, la question complexe de l'urbanisme. Ce dernier, constate M. Sfintescu, est devenu â l'heure â la souffle science régie par ses lois propres, confinant â la sociologie, spécialement lorsque l'on s'attache â l'étude de son évolution en vue de son adaptation â la vie sociale. Il exige la collaboration de nombreux spécialistes dont l'intervention peat être évaluée comme suit: pour l'établissement des projets généraux, ingénieurs, 33%; architectes, 300/o; hygiénistes 13°/o; pour l'exécrtion: ingénieurs, 370/o; architectes 210/o; hygiénistes 12%; juristes 13%; financiers 17%. Lorsque l'ingénieur ou l'architecte deviennent des spécialistes en matière d'urbanisme,leur contribution est prédominante.
En ce qui concerne le développement des villes, on constate, dit M. Sfintescu, que ce sont les agglomérations, situées dans des régions salubres, qui ont atteint le plus haut degré de prosperité; il examine alors successivement les différents facteurs qui sont déterminants d'une bonne hygiène urbaine.
Ayant traité ensuite des questions d'économie, de cir-culation, d'habitation et d'esthétique, l'auteur en arrive a la législation. Le vrai but de cette dernière est d'orga-niser la mise en application des théories urbanistiques. Elle vise â mettre â la disposition de l'urbaniste des moyens d'action en obligeant l'indiviclu et la collectivité non seulement â collaborer â la réalisation d'un plan urbanistique, mais aussi â accepter les restrictions que oelui-ci pent apporter â l'exercite du droit de propriété. La lé-gislation urbanistique dirige l'opinion publique et définit les moyens d'applioation tant financiers clue juridi-ques et administratifs.
Signalons enfin qu'écrit en langue roumaine, l'ouvrage qui contient de très nombreuses illustrations et plusieurs plans est precédé d'tm important resumé en français.
(Une traduction presque complète de l'ouvrage en langue française par l'auteur est donnée par l'Union fat-ternationale des Vines et Pouvoirs Loeaux dans sa revue «l'Administration Locale». (Voir les Documents Nr. 66, 79, 89 et 95).
(excerpt from Urbanismul 9-10 (September-October 1934):458)
The International Housing and Town Planning Bulletin
July 1934, Valuable publications received
The author has drawn on a large number of countries for his information and deals with the question from earlest times. It is essentially a work of reference, not only because of its size, but also because of the enormous amount of indermation it contains on so many different aspects of planning....
(excerpt from Urbanismul 9-10 (September-October 1934):461)
Internationaler Verband for Wohnungswesen
June 1934, „Mitteilungen” reproduces the entire summary of this volume.
(excerpt from Urbanismul 9-10 (September-October 1934): 461)
Reviews of Special Urban Planning
International Federation for Housing and Town Planning Bulletin, April 1936
“Special Urban Planning” by Prof. C. Sfinţescu is the corresponding volume of “General Urban Planning” and it deals with the special problems concerning the town planner and the authorities in charge of the plan elaboration. The book provides a series of examples showing how different problems were solved in several countries…”
(excerpt from the brochure C. Sfinţescu, A selection from published works, Bucharest, 1937)
The Romanian Academy
Prof. C. Sfinţescu has received from the Romanian Academy an official letter informing that M.D. Grigore Antipa, member of the Romanian Academy, presented his remarkable two-volume work, “General Urban Planning” and “Special Urban Planning” during the plenary meeting in May 1935; the same letter contains the expression of a strong gratitude for that “precious gift”.
(excerpt from Urbanismul (May-June 1938): 221-224)
Urbanistica
The March-April 1935 issue
We have already published last year a note on Prof. Sfinţescu’s work “General Urban Planning” which was supposed to represent a so-called analytical-theoretical first part of a complete dissertation on urban planning, which the author had promised to write and which was the result of his thorough studies and great experience in the field. As a consequence, the second volume was published in slightly improved typographical conditions under the title: “Special Urban Planning”; it is viewed as a more specifically applied synthesis, materializing the elements of the principles analyzed in the first part. The ample material is structured in chapters defined by the author - urban planning technology, histology and therapy - as they contain what has been done, what is currently done and what needs to be done for the plan elaboration with respect to the constitution and the functioning of the complex urban organism and the modalities to modify, improve and better this organism, possibly because of the old inherent flaws which makes us conclude that it no longer corresponds to the actual needs; therefore we can conclude it is disabled. The quantity and the variety of the displayed arguments do not allow us to draw up even a brief summary; therefore we will only attempt to point out few aspects.
In the chapter dedicated to technology the procedure to follow is clearly presented in order to avoid deviations and errors in the regulatory plans according to the various situations of their formation, from the programmatic phase to the conclusion phase, and using suitable urban planning terms, the available documentation and the functioning mode of the judging committee.
Urban histology includes numerous high-utility statistic references and numerical data for urban planners and studies territorial organization in relation to varied explanations of the national and regional super-urban plans, among which Rome urban plan; the local plans are also taken into account, and we generally refer to the ones related to the existent agglomerations; it is seldom that we are confronted with the case of a new town bearing a special importance, except for the cases of small garden-towns or other similar to them. The examination also focuses on circular development (rarely), radial development, centre decongestion tendencies and zoning, then the buildings and their category, and the free spaces in relation to the built ones. An extensive analyze is dedicated to the traffic routes, as elements of the urban circulation system seen from the structural point of view (plots of land, profile, pavement, superstructure, frame constructions and constructions related to food, crossings, etc.)
The constructions and housing are generally presented from the functional perspective and in relation to their reciprocal reports as means of transport, metropolitan areas, harbours, etc.; a study arousing a particular interest and even curiosity is that of the costs of a large city; among others, Rome would cost 3.5 millions lei with an average value of 109 millions per hectare. Under normal and equal hygienic conditions a city with a low height regime would cost less than one with houses that are too high.
As an urban therapy, Prof. Sfinţescu reminds us, under the form of an historical evocation, the evolution and the development of the civilization corresponding to different types of requests, such as the military ones for defence, the political and social ones for traffic. We then arrive to current urban therapy that raises new urban planning issues, especially aeration; urban therapeutics cannot be entirely applied in this case except for the new buildings and new towns: the old ones must resort to partial solutions.
The points of support specific to urban therapy - alignment, rectification, cut-through, draining, traffic police and the juridical, financial, administrative and political means - are examined in relation to particular applications in balneary, climacteric and sports resorts and further, in small and medium towns which need to be cautiously systematized, as well as in old and historical cities; for those, we must find the right balance between respecting the past and satisfying modern requirements; then in villages and colonies. Insofar large and very large cities are concerned; the former conception of systematization based on traffic aesthetics and adopting mainly prophylactic measures was abandoned with a view to a rational peripheral extension and centre reconstruction.
It is not recommended to create new annexations to very large centres because an orientation and control instrument would be more suitable. Nevertheless, for the larger centres, the essential issue remaining is the fight against the extreme poverty of the dwellings located in the workers’ neighbourhoods.
From this fragmented presentation one can deduce the importance of the source of given observations found in Prof. Sfinţescu’s work for students as well as for professionals who have the opportunity to find new directions for thought or to thoroughly study “urban planning issues”.
(excerpt from Urbanismul 5-5 (May-June 1938): 221-222)
City Planning
It is an indication of the growing recognition of the importance of a comprehensive and scientific technique of planning that this volume of over eight hundred pages should appear in the Romanian language. The author, an official of the government, professor in planning at the Bucharest Academy of Architecture, and a vice-president of the International Federation of Housing and Town Planning, has covered all the major aspects of planning, historical, economic, engineering, sanitary, aesthetic, and legislative. The many diagrams and illustrations (450, including one of the Chicago Fair), drawn from ancient as well as from modern cities and from many countries, make it an exceptionally useful book. The index displays a catholic acquaintance with all the important authorities; there are, for instance, no less than eight references to Ebenezer Howard, and even Howard Scott and the technocrats come in for a footnote! Such a detail as the curriculum of the Harvard School of City Planning is included. The French summary of forty-four pages hardly does justice to the author's encyclopaedic treatment. His definition of urbanism as concerned with "determining and applying the permanent relations between land, buildings and people in order to utilize free and built-on areas for aesthetic, hygienic and economic needs to social ends" suggests his approach to the problem. It is significant that, after his historical account of the evolution of cities, he places sanitary problems first. Included among these are the influence of climate, especially sun and wind, the importance of elevation and exposure in housing, and the application of zoning and other restrictions to assure provision of adequate open spaces.
In the chapters on economic and traffic problems there is a detailed discussion of the relation of size to the organization and location of cities. The author has developed, with respect to Romania, formulae for achieving different perspective effects in street layouts, monumental building developments, and so forth, as well as an extraordinary range of examples and illustrations from contemporary planning in all parts of the world. The sections dealing with legislation include perhaps the most complete comparative digest of existing laws and administrative practice available except in specialized treatises. Altogether, Dr. Sfinţescu has made a noteworthy contribution to the literature of planning which desires translation to make it more widely available.
PHILLIPS BRADLEY
(excerpt from City Planning X, 4 (October 1934): 192-193)
Union Internationale des Villes
On January 18th, 1935, Prof. Sfinţescu received from the above mentioned union a letter including, among other aspects, the following fragment:
Upon publishing your remakable work on „General Urban Planning” in our journal, we have received numerous echoes confessing the interest aroused by your work. Prof. Carrera Justiz from the University in Havana informed us of his intention to write to you in order to obtain the authorization to translate the work in Spanish. On the other hand, an urban planning journal issued in Belgium, „La Cité”, has recently asked us to borrow the clichées of your work.
(excerpt from Urbanismul 5-6 (May-June 1938): 223)
La Vie Urbaine
15th September 1934, a 4-page ample review
„Professor Cincinat Sfinţescu, who has been dedicating himself for many years to the study of urban planning, […] has recently published an important contribution to planning literature by publishing a very complex treatise on urban planning […]
The amplitude of the documentation, alongside with the care for the clarity of the expression, represent an essential characteristics of this work. Mr. Sfinţescu read the works written by urban planners from all over the world and analyzed them: thus, his treatise is at the same time the outcome of his personal experience and continuous research … some parts of the work are very new, bringing forth throughout the volume a series of interesting data on Romanian towns and extremely interesting permanent comparisons between towns worldwide … A very complex study on the role of parks (and the park systems in Paris, Berlin, Bucharest) as well as on the (much too often forgotten) role of private free spaces reaches a justified development …
… The search for the economic town with a population and surface which would best fit the economical conditions of a country corresponds to the logical system of super urbanism.
Traffic is a much too important aspect of urban economy not to constitute the subject of a special chapter, an excellent presentation made by Mr. Sfinţescu of a very difficult-to-solve issue…
Mr. Sfinţescu displays in a very thorough manner the results of the studies made in different countries in relation to the inferior urban traffic.
… Urban aesthetics represented the object of Mr. Sfinţescu’s extremely special preoccupations and this chapter pinpoints a series of new and interesting perspectives on an essential theme. It attempts to apply the philosophers’ ideas on the nature of aesthetic creation and the conditions of the aesthetic effects in the complex art of urban planning …
(excerpt from Urbanismul 5-6 (May-June 1938): 221-224)
Revue Urbanisme
August 1935 issue
As a sequel to the very important first volume dedicated to “General Urban Planning”, Mr. Sfinţescu, professor of urban planning and urban public works at the Academy of Architecture in Bucharest, has recently published the second volume of the same importance and quality, on “Special Urban Planning”.
(Excerpt from Urbanismul, 5-6 (May-June 1938): 221-224)
Revista Municipal y de Intereses Economicos
Prof. D. Carrera Justiz, Havana, Cuba: « My dear professor Sfinţescu, As a professor of municipal sciences and urban planning at the University in Havana, I would like to ask you to authorize me to translate in Spanish your splendid work: “General Urban Planning – The evolution”, published in French in L’Administration Locale in Bruxelles…
… As the director of the Cuban publication, The Municipal Journal, I wish to have the honor of publishing your photograph alongside with the references on your beautiful work…”
February 1935, Havana
The illustrated cover with Prof. Cincinat Sfinţescu’s portrait, “an eminent Romanian planner, director of the Urban Planning Institute in Bucharest, author of a recent monumental work on the evolution of the science of urban planning, full professor at the University of Bucharest, the establisher of a political and social “urban therapy” as a new scientific orientation.
(excerpt from Urbanismul 5-6 (May-June 1938): 221-224)
May 1935
Revista Municipal y de Intereses Economicos illustrated the cover of its edition from last February with Cincinat Sfinţescu’s portrait, an eminent professor of urban planning at the University of Bucharest, author of the work that I briefly reviewed in the above biographical note. The work is written in Romanian but it contains a fairly extended and detailed summary in French, allowing us to appreciate the great value of the work.
[…]
In the second chapter, the author refers to the evolution of urban planning in an extremely erudite manner and provides arguments for several projects over the decades …
In the chapter on aesthetics, the conclusion is presented under the form of a doctrine of the art of urban planning.
Volume I ends with a chapter on legislation; this well-known author thinks that the true orientation of urban planning legislation must attempt to harmoniously combine practice and theory; that the law can compel the individual and the community, not only to maintain an urban plan, but also to abide with “the restrictions of the right to property and to direct public opinion”.
We can consider this chapter as a juridical history of urban planning.
In the next issue of our journal we will comment on volume II and its contents as it is as interesting as the first one.
D. Andreas Angulo Pérez
The International Association of Linear Towns
The report/account from 1934-1935 presented to the General Assembly of the Association
The great event of the year is the publication of the two-volume work written by our correspondent, Mr. C. Sfinţescu, engineer. […] It is an indispensable work worthy of being analyzed due to the documentary richness and the importance of its illustrations.
(excerpt from Urbanismul 5-6 (May-June 1938): 224)
Argentine
Prof. C. Sfinţescu received from two Argentinean town planners in Buenos Aires, Mr. F. Bereterbide and E. Vautier, a copy of the fascicle “Que es el Urbanismo?”, edited thanks to the deliberating (communal) council of the country capital, together with the request of sending them his works.
(excerpt from Urbanismul 5-6 (May-June 1938): 224)
Cerul Nostru
Starting with the issue no. 24 on 1st July 1938, the aeronautical propaganda agency of the A.R.P.A. Association has been publishing the study entitled “Urban Planning and National Defense” written by Prof. C. Sfinţescu, engineer inspector general, and published in Urbanismul, March-April 1938.
(excerpt from Urbanismul 7-9 (July-September 1938): 339)
Revista Municipal y de Intereses Economicos
May-June 1938
Among the many praises expressed in relation to Mr. Sfinţescu’s works, the journal adds: thanks to Mr. Sfinţescu’s great prestige, Romanian culture, seen from the perspective of its scientific manifestations on urban planning, can be the object of envy, for few countries in Western Europe and The United States own such works as Mr. Sfinţescu’s creation which can be compared to the ones of well-known planners, such as Inigo Triggs (Town Planning - Past, Present and Possible); Prof. Patrick Gedes (City Development); Thomas Mawcon (Civic Art Studies in Town Planning) ; Raymond Unwin (Town Planning in Practice); the famous books published by great North-American planners, such as H. Hubbard, professor at Harvard (An introduction to the Study of Landscape Design); F. Koester (Modern City Planning and Maintenance); John Nollen (The City Scientific); G. Ford (The Planning the the Modern City); Nelson P. Lewis, or the great works written by the French: Le Corbusier, Marcel Ponte; or the Germans Stübben, Baumeister or Camilo Sitte; or the Belgian L. von der Saelmen (Preliminaires d'Art Civique).
Insofar Urbanismul is concerned, the same publication mentions: … „it is acredited as one of the best publications dedicated to this science …”
The recognition coming from valuable urban planning professors, such as F. Carrera Justiz who has so many merits in relation to the progress of Cuban urban planning and is an expert in all the works and studies on urban planning worldwide, flatters us. But most of all it inspires us to dilligently continue our way, no matter how difficult it proves out to be.
(excerpt from Urbanismul 10-12 (October-December 1938): 403)
Reviews of Urbanismul
Revista Municipal y de Intereses Economicos
December 1939. El Urbanismo rural en Rumania
The American journal mentions in laudatory terms the very important journal Urbanismul; “El urbanismo rural tiene una mayor importancia en Rumania..., forma a piedra angular... y no puede ser tratado sino en un cadro super-urbanistico.”
At the end of the account the journal ennumerates the main points from The norms and instructions for rural activity drawn up by the systematization committee of the Bucegi area, under Prof. C. Sfinţescu’s presidency.
(excerpt from Urbanismul 3-4 (March-April 1940): 112)