Urban Semiotics in Bucharest City Center Through the Analysis of Buildings’ Names and Commercial Signs

Andreea-Loreta Cercleux (), Radu Săgeată, Bianca Mitrică and Elena Bogan
Additional contact information
Andreea-Loreta Cercleux: Interdisciplinary Center of Advanced Research on Territorial Dynamics (CICADIT), Faculty of Geography, University of Bucharest, 050663 Bucharest, Romania
Radu Săgeată: Institute of Geography, Romanian Academy, 023993 Bucharest, Romania
Bianca Mitrică: Institute of Geography, Romanian Academy, 023993 Bucharest, Romania
Elena Bogan: Faculty of Geography, University of Bucharest, 050663 Bucharest, Romania

Land, 2024, vol. 13, issue 12, 1-23

Abstract: The present research focuses on buildings’ names and commercial signs analysis as an important component of Bucharest city center semiotics in relation to place identity. Insufficient studies have focused on the direct relationship between commercial signs and place identity, and no scientific approaches in this sense have been identified at Bucharest level. The buildings’ names and commercial signs used as case studies are from the second part of the 19th century until the present. The profound economic and social changes that have taken place in Bucharest during more than 150 years are reflected in the findings. Relying on a complex methodology, a typology framing the case studies identified in the field highlights situations that are not necessarily in accord with the passage of time, but rather with certain city planning decisions and in relation to space use. The novelty of this paper lies in the investigation of some components of Bucharest city center that tend to be forgotten, providing in the end information in relation to their degree of appreciation and therefore preservation, or on the contrary, abandonment and loss. In this complex approach, the role of territorial actors involved in actions such as inventory, framing, and finding preservation solutions is discussed.

Keywords: urban semiotics; commercial signs; advertising; place identity; identity construction; Bucharest (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/12/2025/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/12/2025/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:12:p:2025-:d:1531011

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().