Revitalizing Bucharest's legendary AMZEI Square: fueling growth through the local creative economy

Last week, The Institute launched AMZEI – a program of exhibitions, workshops, and fairs, as a strategic initiative for the urban revitalization of the Amzei area through the local creative economy. The Creative Quarter aims to create a cultural destination in the heart of the city and explore possible scenarios for regenerating Amzei Square.

The first events of the program were launched on Friday, consisting of two original exhibition concepts that explore the history of the area and the city through interactive installations and public consultation, as well as site-specific compositions: “Amzei Then and Now” and “Amzei (Re)Arranged. From Bob to Plate.” These exhibitions represent an initial effort to contextualize the discourse about the area’s potential for the city. Within these lab exhibitions, visitors contribute their own input by expressing their opinions on how the area can become more vibrant and creating their own artistic compositions using elements specific to the market.

By establishing a new cultural destination in the city center, the AMZEI initiative aims to support local creative entrepreneurship, foster co-creation processes, and facilitate interdisciplinary dialogues addressing strategic urban development themes. It intends to revitalize underutilized spaces through revitalization scenarios and pilot some of these initiatives in the Amzei area.

The “Amzei Then and Now” exhibition

The exhibition was developed by the Creative Quarter in partnership with BAZA. Open the City, and presents the most important historical stages of Amzei Square and its urban fabric, examining its evolution while also presenting subjective and emotional stories that residents and entrepreneurs have with the area. The exhibition aims to engage the public and gather their opinions on the area’s potential.

“The drawing was the method for understanding the transformations of Amzei, observing the dynamics between space usage and public movement, the activation and deactivation of places. The superimposed layers were gently removed and reconstructed using historical plans, aerial photographs, period photos, personal memories, and a touch of artistic license. The lines and details invite sharing, clarification, and precise reshaping, enticing a re-affection for a once precious place, as a preparation for what it could become again,” said Maria Duda, architect at BAZA. Open the City, regarding the “Then and Now” exhibition.

“Amzei (Re)Arranged. From Bob to Plate” exhibition

In addition to the exhibition developed in the Amzei Creative Corner, visitors also interacted with an installation exhibition created in collaboration with Liana Popa – “Amzei (Re)Arranged. From Bob to Plate” – as part of the #ArrangedByLiana initiative. It offers a creative decomposition and rearrangement of the specific elements of the market through large-scale designs and compositions inspired by elements found in Amzei Square. The exhibition includes an interactive component where visitors can create their own original compositions.

Furthermore, the first edition of AMZEI Market Makers was also launched, featuring a selection of local entrepreneurs and artists who complement the existing offerings in the agri-food market with jewelry, books, records, plants, and design objects.

What’s more

Moreover, the entire AMZEI initiative focuses on three strategic directions of applied research, translated as Urban Living Lab, namely: revitalizing underutilized public spaces through co-creation and co-governance processes; the role of the local creative economy ecosystem in these processes, and interdisciplinarity and the role and importance that markets, food distribution chains, the natural environment, and civic communities have in sustainable urban development.

These directions are integrated and pursued throughout the year, using an applied research methodology developed in collaboration with BAZA.Open the City. The process involves a series of roundtable discussions and informal meetings with specialists in urban development and regeneration, sociologists, and architects whose expertise can directly contribute to improving the quality of public spaces in the city. This process forms the first Urban Living Lab focused on revitalizing underutilized spaces through the creative economy, with a specific focus on Amzei Square.

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