Architects propose solutions for some of Bucharest’s biggest problems

Bucharest is one of the few European capitals with no institution responsible for the metropolitan development, it occupies one of the last places in Europe in terms of air quality and noise, it doesn’t have quality public spaces, and it lacks a housing policy. Moreover, the Romanian capital was included on the 2016 World Monuments Watch, due to the abandonment and demolition of historic buildings, uncontrolled development, and inappropriate rehabilitation. These are just some of the findings of the Bucharest Report 2016, a pilot-document initiated by the Bucharest Branch of the Romanian Architects Order. However, for every problem identified in the report, the architects also offered solutions. For example, in the Urban Development section, the architects pointed out the absence of the Bucharest-Ilfov metropolitan area. “With 90 inhabitants per hectare in 2011, Bucharest was among the busiest cities in Europe, surpassing the Paris density (88 inhabitants/ha), Prague (71 inhabitants/ha), and Budapest (63 inhabitants/ha). Despite the decreasing population trend (a 32.7% drop from 1992 to 2012), the corresponding area for urban development constantly increased, by 18.3% from 1992 to 2012,” reads the report. Thus, these changes need an integrated approach, so that Bucharest and Ilfov county would form a metropolitan area. Some of the possible solutions would be to adopt a Law of Bucharest and the designation of the Bucharest Metropolitan Area, the correlation of the development policies for an efficient management and economic growth, governmental support to encourage connections between Bucharest and other cities, and the specific administration of Bucharest according to its capital status. Bucharest’s division into six districts is also a problem for the Romanian capital, as it has led to the separation of the administrative management, which sometimes has negative effects on the city. “The lack of real collaboration between the General City Hall and the district city halls, but also between the district city halls, led to different approaches to similar problems, but also to significant discrepancies in terms of functionality and urban landscape.” A possible solution would be the administrative restructuring by replacing the six sectors with more districts (20 districts in Paris, 15 municipalities in Rome, 12 sectors in Berlin, etc.). The architects also pointed out the lack of public spaces in residential neighborhoods, the limitation of green areas and parks, the urban landscape degradation, light pollution by placing billboards in the Unirii area, and the urban setting and public monuments which sometimes propose a questionable artistic quality and a location selected on political criteria. As solutions, the specialists recommend an evaluation of the procurement process, but also the encouraging of fair competitions with broad participation. The Bucharest Report includes several sections, namely urban development, public domain and public space, housing and community, cultural heritage and identity, governance, and architectural quality. The full report (in Romanian) can be found