Antonia Panaitescu, Angelica Stan

PhD candidate Urb. Antonia Panaitescu, Professor Arch. PhD Angelica Stan “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urban Planning, Bucharest, Romania.

Antonia Panaitescu is currently a PhD candidate in the field of participatory urbanism. She is coming from an urban planning background, with a bachelor degree in urban planning and a master degree in landscape planning at “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urban Planning. The carrying research is strongly linked to the challenges found in everyday practice, as she is simultaneously a researcher and an urban planner. Her approach is built on a varied work experience, from hands-on interventions on heritage buildings and tactical urbanism, to formal urban planning with big city public administration. She is usually finding herself between theory and practice, a principle that also translates into her research on participatory methods aimed at bringing about a more flexible public space, highly adaptable to citizen’s needs. Angelica Stan is an architect with a PhD in urbanism, doctoral supervisor at the “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanism, author of three books addressing urban morphology, dynamics of peripheries, and urban landscape theory, and numerous collective volumes and scientific articles. Her research explores themes such as urban morphology, dynamics of the urban form through participatory processes, shrinking cities, urban expansion, and intermediate urban spaces.

Patterns of Power in Current Romanian Legal Framework of Participatory Urbanism

Keywords: urban planning, participatory urbanism, power distribution, legal framework, public interest

Abstract: The process of urban planning often encounters a multitude of perspectives, stories and opinions coming from the city’s residents. In most cases it seems that the truth is hidden among the plethora of reactions. Using the legal framework as the main filter, this study presents a perspective on participatory urbanism in contemporary Romania. In a social context characterized by dispersed initiatives, urban participation is divided into two kinds of approach: first, non-governmental approach and the second, mandatory informing and consultation procedure, which complies with the current legislation. While the majority of non-governmental initiatives is dispersed and vulnerable to rapid exhaustion, we question the Romanian informing and consultation procedure – is it outdated or insufficient? In practice, public opinion finds it ineffective (Centrul pentru Inovare Publică, CeRe, Active Watch, ApTI 2024, 6), due to not leading to a real citizen involvement (Mansuri and Rao 2013) in urban planning decision-making. Therefore, we analyse the three main laws that represent the guideline of Romanian participatory urbanism, using a multiple-criteria matrix, trying to find the potential causes for the ineffectiveness of the procedures. This article is an attempt to identify the patterns of power distribution in current Romanian legal framework of participatory urbanism. The main result is an overview image of the main stakeholders, their legal responsibilities and participatory methods used, according to the law. Defining these patterns can lead us one step further to understanding how the truth is defined, in regard to public interest.

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