Developers Reign in Bucharest

11 September 2006 - 5:00am

Development in Bucharest, Romania, is completely at the will of developers. Can city officials regain control? The Diplomat Bucharest asks the experts.

Development is rampant and out of the city's control in Bucharest, Romania. Officials in the Eastern European country's capital city are without the legal power to impose limits on development, which many see as the root of the built environment's declining quality and sense of urbanism.

"Large projects can find it easy to win the green light for development. However, this also means citizens and authorities may lose their grip on the urban profile of their city."

" 'For the moment, the market dictates what new developments will happen and where,' says Radu-Petre Nastase, associate professor at Ion Mincu University of Architecture."

Architects, developers and public officials comment on the state of development in Bucharest and what can be done to get the city back in control of itself.

Source: The Diplomat Bucharest, September 8, 2006
Bookmark and Share
The areas where we have severe blight and indications of more blight to come are basically the same as they ever were. How in the world are we ever going to move our community development selves into an alternative future that thinks differently about the challenges we face in our cities and low-income suburban and rural communities?