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Argument › No. 17/2025

Rewriting the Territory. Traditional Dwelling and Large-Scale Infrastructure on Topolog Valley

https://doi.org/10.54508/Argument.17.10

  • / “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urban Planning Bucharest, RO

Abstract

The present article examines how traditional dwelling patterns in the Topolog Valley are influenced when a significant element of the territorial structure, such as the Topolog River, is affected by major infrastructure projects. Beyond the quality of the social space generated by the presence of water, changes are felt on multiple other levels of habitation.

In the case of the Topolog Valley, the study explores the effects of existing hydroelectric power plants and anticipates the possible consequences of a new project currently under implementation: the Pitești-Sibiu highway, which will overlap with the course of the Topolog River for approximately 12km. By juxtaposing the small-scale, everyday reality of the valley with large-scale national infrastructure, the study raises concerns about the impact of the latter on a deeply rooted dwelling tradition.

On-site observations, complemented by discussions with locals, consultations of village monographs, and official documentation on infrastructure projects, have contributed to understanding the situation of the Topolog Valley. The resulting picture, clarified by theoretical concepts from political geography and ecological philosophy, opens up a discourse on the fragility of the territory of habitation. Placed at the intersection of multiple overlapping territories defined by exploitation infrastructures, the Topolog Valley risks gradual degradation, not only from an ecological perspective but also culturally and in terms of identity. In the process of modernizing the infrastructure, an entire modus vivendi, with all its cultural ramifications, could be lost.

This paper aims to highlight the impact of large-scale national infrastructure projects on traditional forms of dweling through the case study of the Topolog Valley. It also brings into discussion the cultural value of these habitation forms and the importance of studying identity- related aspects of the Romanian rural landscape.

Keywords

traditional dwelling, infrastructure, hydrosocial territories, shadow places, Topolog River

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