Country of residence

Romania

Brief introduction

President, FRONTAL Association

Education

PhD in Architecture, 2011, University of Architecture and Urbanism Ion Mincu Bucharest

Academic profile

My main academic interest lays in the area of minimal housing, in the formation of poverty and discrimination areas (slums, ghettos, illegal settlements) and in the conflict that arises around them. Besides on field research I am very much interested in different theoretical models that would allow me to connect ethnicity, poverty and exclusion with their spatial and territorial expressions. The extreme poverty areas that emerged mainly in East Europe during the post communist period and Roma migrant camps in various European countries are my areas of research and intervention and I had the chance to visit a number of these settlements in Romania and around and to work in several of them. As the „new poverty” is strongly related to Roma, I am very interested in various aspects of housing in different Roma habitats, from the vividly ethnically coloured palaces to the most generic, universal shacks that populate Italian cities outskirts. Housing discrimination is an important part of this picture and this is part of the policy design activity I was involved. Other areas of interest to me (teaching and research) are: social and collective housing, public space and the relation between contemporary art and architecture (new media theory).

Publications

• Housing and Extreme Poverty. The Roma Communities Case (Ion Mincu Architectural Press 2006)
• Methodology for improving housing conditions in areas affected by social exclusion (Ministry of Regional Development Romania 2008)
• Roma Preview Pavilion – Venice Biennale of Architecture 2006

Keywords

housing, extreme poverty, discrimination, Roma, public space

Contact

catalinberescu@gmail.com browse members list