Post-communist planning in Bulgaria a fusion of East and West? /

by Kranch, Rebekah L.

Post-Communist planning in Bulgaria, like the nation as a whole, is in a time of transition. Bulgaria is situated in the heart of the Balkan Peninsula, a crossroads between Eastern Europe and Asia Minor. The focus of this research is determining whether there has been a paradigm shift in Bulgarian planning practices fusing communist planning methods with Western planning methods. To understand the current situation in Bulgarian planning, an examination of Bulgarian master plans was conducted, as well as, interviews with key informants in the profession, Dr. Sasha Tsenkova and Dr. Sonia Hirt; in addition to a case study of the capital city of Sofia. The resulting five lessons learned from this research lead to the conclusion that there has not been a paradigm shift in Bulgarian planning, but rather a return to planning practices that were disrupted after the end of World War II.