Cluj-Napoca

Our Neighbourhood, originally uploaded by sonykus.

From the photographer's description:

The oldest rows of these blocks were built in the '50s and '60s. Then, legend has it that former dictator Ceausescu once came to visit the (Atomic Physics and) Chemistry Research Institute nearby. He noticed that the whole place looked too relaxed, almost like a Spa, with decent conditions, lots of parks and green spaces between all those blocks.

He was outraged of this terrible waste of living space, and ordered a second wave of construction, starting immediately. So there came this second wave in the 70s, filling in the gaps between the older buildings with new rows of 5-story blocks, killing out most of the parks and the green lanes left. And thus, the whole thing got as crammed as you can see it today. ...

This picture was taken in a city named Cluj-Napoca in Romania. The city of 300,000 holds the title as the historical capital of Transylvania. There is some controversy about the etymology of the region that seems to fracture down lines of Latin and Hungarian interpretations. Literally translated from Latin, Transylvania means "beyond the forest."

*The city's wikipedia article lists Cluj as a sister city to East Lansing, Michigan, but I can't find any other confirmation on that.*