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TERRITORIAL CONCENTRATION OF THE POOR PEOPLE

IN THE PETROŞANI DEPRESSION

Andra COSTACHE1

1Valahia University of Târgovişte

Abstract: The paper analyses the features of the deprived urban areas from Petroşani Depression, characterized by the residential concentration of the poor people, but also by poor living conditions, households with limited access to utilities and low acces to urban services. These areas have been identified following field surveys applied in the six towns of the studied region. Key words: Petroşani Depression, poverty, deprived urban areas

1. Dimensions of poverty in the Petroşani Depression. In the Petroşani Depression, the level of poverty is a direct consequence of the

regions’ evolution in the last 50 years and of the economic restructuring. These factors have had an impact on the structure of active and inactive population and influenced the income sources and the income level, which are the main prerequisites of poverty.

Compared to the national average for urban areas, in the cities of Petroşani Depression the income from wages, from self-employed activities or from goods saling (other than agricultural products) have a lower weight.

On the other hand, there are higher than the national urban averages the value of social transfers and the amount of services that are covered by certain discounts provided by employers (in this case the National Pit Coal Company) – Table 1. This reflects the dependence of incomes on the welfare system and on the coal-extracting activities (the revenues of 14.3% of households rely solely on wages, social benefits or social transfers from CNH - Negulescu et al., 2004).

Table 1 Structure of the total household income

Type of revenues Petroşani Depression – urban (%)

România –urban

(%) Cash income 78.8 85.3 Wages, allowances, bonuses 37.2 57.3 Self-employed activities, sale of goods other than agricultural products 1.3 4.6 Sales of agricultural products 0.4 0.6 Revenues provided by the welfare system - Pensions - Unemployment benefit, support allowance - Other social transfers

36.6 22.9 2.0 11.6

18.8 14.6 1.1 3.1

In kind income 21.2 14.7 The amount of free or discounted services, provided by the employer (NPC)

17.1 0.7

The value of agricultural products produced by the private households for own use

4.1 14

(Stănculescu, 2004)

The structure of inactive population and of the workforce, as well as the ratio between the two categories show a discrepancy between the number of people dependents or

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benefiting from social transfers and the number of those who receive a wage. In the Petroşani Depression, the total activity rate is of 36.6% and the overall employment rate has an average of 28.7%, below the national urban averages (44.4% and 40.1%). The economic dependency ratio is of 2.48 inactive and unemployed people/ employed person.

Among the inactive population, the housewives own a significant share (14.6%, nearly three times the amount recorded in urban areas at national level – fig. 1). The towns Uricani, Lupeni and Aninoasa are characterized by a critical situation in terms of economic dependence, which is correlated with the high values of poverty rate.

05

101520253035

Petroşani

Petrila

Vulcan

DP

-urban

% Pupils,students

Housewives

Pensioners

Others

Fig. 1. The structure of inactive population (Data source: Stănculescu, 2004)

According to the World Bank (Stănculescu, 2004), about 28 000 people from the

Petroşani Depression live in poverty and the average poverty rate (19.43%) is closer to the Romania’s urban average (17.63%). For the individual settlements, the study emphasizes values of the poverty rate lower than national averages for the cities whith the same demographic size (fig. 2). Still, the actual dimensions of the phenomenon in the region are revealed by the food poverty rate and the rate of extreme poverty, which have values of 2.35, respectively 1.93 times higher than the national urban average. Thus, 6.31% of the Petroşani Depression’s residents are living on the edge of survival, their revenues barely covering the food needs (food poverty). The extreme poverty rate (percentage of people who can cover food needs but not the non-food ones) is of 10.38%.

In the cities of the region, poverty is much deeper in some cases, e.g. at Uricani the food poverty rate exceeds 4.1 times the average for Romanian cities of comparable size, and the extreme poverty rate is two times higher than this average. A difficult situation characterizes the town of Aninoasa, where the poverty rates are 1.3-1.8 times higher than the average calculated for the Romanian cities with more than 10,000 inhabitants.

The poverty rate is correlated with the unemployment, the lack of education or the lack of professional qualifications, but also with ethnicity. According to the above mentioned study, the most affected by poverty are the single parent families (in which women, widowed or divorced, are the head of the family), the large families (whose family head, usually a Roma ethnic, received a poor education and had no job) and families whose income are based on social transfers (8% of households, most of them below the food poverty line) and on different types of pensions.

The local peasants (momârlani) are less exposed to poverty than the immigrated workers and their families, as the agricultural products can cover consumption needs and they can represent even income sources when sold on the local market.

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Fig. 2. The poverty rate in the towns of the Petroşani Depression (%)

(Data source: Stănculescu, 2004)

The recovery from the state of extreme poverty is a difficult process that exceeds in most cases the financial resources of the affected people. The solutions adopted by those who lose their jobs or have not had a stable job are less effective and do not provide long term income security. The most frequent coping mechanisms are: seeking the support of the local authorities; borrowing money from friends or relatives; finding a temporary job, without an official labor contract (e.g. day-labourers in agriculture and construction); gaining money from the sale of scrap metals or harvesting and selling berries, mushrooms and medicinal herbs. Migration for employment abroad was also a coping mechanism in the context of revenue loss, but it was efficient only for those affected by poverty that had a certain level of expertise and which were benefiting from the support of family and friends.

2. Territorial concentration of the poor people in the Depression Petroşani As in other urban areas, in the cities of the Petroşani Depression there are several

areas characterized by the residential concentration of the poor people (fig. 3). These are mainly the neighborhoods inhabited by the mine workers (colonii - colonies), which are located on the outskirts of towns or in their historical center. The inhabitants of these residential areas (districts or parts of neighborhoods), are people with a similar educational and professional profile, that have been severely affected by the economic restructuring and by the changes of the labor market. The formation of poor urban areas following the deprivation of residents and the out-migration of those with a higher mobility is a commonly found process in the industrialized regions of Romania.

The urban areas inhabited by the poor people are characterized by damaged houses and apartment blocks (because of their age, of abandonment or lack of maintenance), limited access to utilities, housing overcrowding, squalid living conditions and, in some cases, a specific atmosphere (caused by the presence of people "on the street"), which creates a feeling of lack of orders and insecurity (the appearance is not confirmed by the behavior of the inhabitants).

In the city of Petroşani, among residential areas with a high concentration of poor people there are the following neighborhoods: the neighborhood Colonie, located on the left

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side of Jiu de Est river, between the river and the national road Petroşani-Tg. Jiu; Bosnia (a residential area of mine workers, located on the left side of the road Petroşani-Petrila); some parts of the district known as Aeroport (Airport), e.g. Venus Street, Saturn Street, and Saşa.

Unlike other deprived areas mentioned above, Saşa is not a workers' district; it has developed as a group of small households, mostly poor and very crowded, inhabited by Roma people (there are also some isolated traditional households). The access to Saşa is difficult, being ensured by an unmodernized road that branches of the national road on the right side of the Jiul de Est river, upstream of the Livezeni bridge. The first group of households is located approx. 1 km away from the national road.

Fig. 3. Deprived urban areas1 in the Petroşani Depression:

Petroşani: 1 – Colonia, 2 – Aviatorilor District, 3 – Saşa; Petrila: 4 - Lonea; Aninoasa: 5 - Colony "Sus pe Vale", 6 - Colony "Centru II"; Vulcan: 7 – Dallas District, 8 - Vulcan Colony; 9 – Miners’

colony from Crevedia Valley; Lupeni: 10 - Ştefan District, 11 - Colony from the historical center,; 12 - "Vâscoza" District; Uricani: 13 - "Oraşul Vechi"

In the town of Lupeni, among the areas that are concentrating poor people are the old

town center, the Ştefan district and, partly, the district "Vâscoza". The quarter "Vâscoza" is located right next to the factory Vâscoza, now mostly decommissioned. The district includes blocks of apartments with 2-3 floors, the oldest dating from the early 1950s; the deprived area is extending to the old town center, including several blocks located along the ring road. In

1The concepts of "deprivation" and "poverty" are frequently used as synonyms. However, according to the distinction made by Townsend (1979, cited by Voicu, 2008), deprivation refers to the assessement of the physical, social or environmental situation and to the lack of access to meet specified needs, while poverty is a general state of lack of resources . The difference is the lack of control over resources (poverty) and the unmet needs (deprivation). Identification of deprived urban areas has been achieved on the field, taking into account the quality of housing, the households with limited access to modern facilities, the absence or inadequacy of facilities or services in urban areas. In Petrosani Depression, the deprived urban areas are corresponding to the areas of residential concentration of the poor people.

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the eastern part of the city, on the right side of the Jiu River, in the old center, there is another deprived area, a sector of miners’ colony, with duplex houses. The houses are damaged, and the population is represented mostly of Roma ethnics (e.g. Avram Iancu Street, Revoluţiei Street).

a. b. c.

Fig. 4. a. Houses in Saşa, Petroşani; b, c. Lupeni - neighborhood "Vâscoza"

The Ştefan district, located on the left side of Jiul de Vest river is known for poor

living conditions and a high exposure to hazards caused by the mining activities (induced subsidence and discharge of the lakes accumulated between the waste dumps).

In Petrila, the deprived areas have been identified among the colony type of residential areas (e.g., on Republicii Street, on Progresului Street, on 22 Decembrie Street, or in the district known as "Dallas"). The largest colony is Lonea, held out from Cimpa to the confluence of Taia brook with the Jiul de Est River. The characteristics of deprived areas occur mainly in a sector of apartment blocks on Muncii Street and in Lonea district, and more subdued in the colony located on the interfluve Jieţ - Jiul de Est.

In Aninoasa, buildings or building complexes inhabited by mine workers are encountered in the sector with traditional households located between Iscroni and Aninoasa (near the mine), and in the city itself, in the upstream sector of Aninoasa valley. The most extended deprived area is the colony "Sus pe vale", formed by duplex houses and single-level apartment blocks, highly degraded, without sewerage and with a desolating aspect. The narrowness of the Aninoasa valley imposed the elongated shape of the colony "Sus pe vale" (basically a single row of blocks, located on the left side of the valley, on a street with a length of approx. 1 km). Another large deprived area is located between Centru II Street and the national road DN 66A Câmpu lui Neag-Petroşani; the colony is composed of duplex houses inhabited by Roma ethnics. Other deprived areas, much smaller, are the sectors of colony such as those on the Progresului Street or the group of houses located on the right side of Jiul de Vest River, between the industrial railway and the road Iscroni-Aninoasa.

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a. b.

Fig. 5. Housing in two deprived areas of Aninoasa: a. Colony "Sus pe vale"

b. Colony Centru II

At Vulcan, the most important concentrations of the poor people are also the miners’ colonies. Thus, on the right side of the Jiul de Vest River, the colony is composed of duplex-type houses, and the inhabitans are mainly Roma ethnics. The position of the colony (between the river and the railroad that serves the coal preparation facilities from Coroieşti) enhances the social exclusion and the spatial segregation. The district looks miserable, the houses are degraded and they are located near the enclosure of coal processing facilities and the waste dumps. A source of income for the population is the collection of waste coal along the railway at the edge of the colony. So far, the only visible "intervention" of the local authorities is the planning of a children's playground on a vacant lot at the edge of the colony. The same features (poor housing conditions, duplex houses, the predominance of Roma ethnics, spatial segregation) are found in the colony located on Crevedia valley, near the E.M. Vulcan (Vulcan Mining Exploatation), between Vulcan and Dealu Babii (fig. 6a).

a. b.

Fig. 6. Vulcan: a. A colony of houses in the Crevedia Valley; b. Renovation of an apartment block in Dallas District (August 2008)

Another neighborhood that is characterized by the concentration of the poor people is

the micro-district 3B - "Dallas" (the name comes from the apartment blocks with 10 floors). As in the case of the colony located near the coal processing facilities, the neighborhood location, on the right side of the Jiul de Vest River, and the damaged access road are creating the impression of isolation and marginalization. There are frequent cases of abandoned and degraded apartments and deficient urban facilities (e.g. the apartment blocks on the Traian Street, on Eminescu Street and on Şt. O. Iosif Street). In some cases, there were completed

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certain rehabilitation works (such as waterproofing) or even the total renovation of apatment blocks, in the PHARE MAAR Project (fig. 6b).

In the town of Uricani, there are two main areas of concentration of the poor people, ”The Old Town” – “Oraşul Vechi” (on the left side of Jiul de Vest River – e.g. on the 1 Decembrie 1918 Street, no. 1, 3, 5, 9 and 11; on the Aleea Jiului Street no. 1, 3; on Muncii Street no. 11A, 13, 17; on Revoluţiei Street no. 1-5) and ”The New Town” - “Oraşul Nou” on the right side of Jiul de Vest River (e.g. Aleea Brazilor Street). In 2006, a few blocks from the deprived area located in the Old Town (on 1 Decembrie 1918 Street) have been renovated through a program funded by the Romanian Social Development Fund (the Social Development Scheme for Mining Communities).

References

Costache, Andra, (2010), Vulnerabilitatea aşezărilor umane şi riscurile sociale în Depresiunea Petroşani: rezumatul tezei de doctorat, Valahia University Press, Târgovişte, 108 p.

Negulescu, Arabela Sena, coord., (2004), The Jiu Valley Region: multi-dimensional assessment, Main Report, World Bank, 72 p., www.avj.ro

Stănculescu, Sofia Manuela, (2004), Poverty assessment, în Jiu Valley Region Development – Romania. Annex H: Livability, World Bank, p. 14-22, www.avj.ro

Voicu, B., (2008), Deprivare, in Zamfir, C., coord. Dicţionar de sărăcie, ICCV, http://www.iccv.ro/oldiccv/romana/dictionar/, accessed on 25.07.2008