Activism for Socialist Industrial Heritage in Romania: The Carbochim Project Controversy

ABSTRACT This paper provides a critical reflection on urban heritage activism in post‐socialist Romania, starting from a recent case of contentious industrial heritage treatment. We unveil the logic of decision‐making processes for urban redevelopment and the related ongoing civic activism for preserving industrial heritage. For this, we look at the restructuring of the former socialist industrial platform of Carbochim in Cluj‐Napoca. This study aims to better understand activism during a struggle to preserve the socialist industrial legacy, as the link between activism and heritage is undertheorised. From an urban activist perspective, we present a failed heritagisation process because of commercially oriented real estate development. This enables us to critically examine the contention about socialist industrial heritage. Besides fieldwork during 2023 and 2024, and participatory observation, the research material includes an autoethnographic account by a civic activist and official documents from the public arena placed by private investors, the local administration, academia and civil society, about the situation of Carbochim. We point out a shift towards emancipatory activism for socialist industrial heritage, triggered by neoliberal planning policies. This contribution to the international research literature on heritage identifies the promises and pitfalls of activism for socialist industrial heritage, emphasising several needs: to make an independent inventory of the socialist industrial heritage prior to any redevelopment plans; to safeguard industrial legacy by reconceptualising socialist heritage; to democratise decision‐making in defining and managing heritage and to strengthen heritage activism that ensures the right to the city.