STUDY VISITS BUCHAREST21- 27 JUNE 2015

During the study visit week a group of students will have the opportunity to get to know the city of Bucharest from different points of view, and use it in designing new concepts for public space in the city. The week will consist of Conferences, Field trips, and work sessions along side Romanian urban planning students.

Organising team

dr urb Pietro Elisei Nicoleta Silvia Ioana

Sabina Dimitriu

Wendy Laura Cinta

With the support of

Matei Cocheci Livia Morega

URBASOFIA arose in response to the need for a better cooperation between practitioners, researchers, industry/private investors and developers, and other professionals involved in town planning in Europe providing services in:• Strategic urban and regional planning• Social inclusion and urban regeneration,• Strategies for smart cities• Communication, dissemination and networking.

We offer knowledge in EU projects, participatory planning processes and stakeholders involvement and in developing cultural heritage projects.

VAST EXPERIENCE IN :• EU-funded projects• projects connected to territorial cohesion and social inclusion • landscape and environmental planning • design and coordination of integrated projects in urban renewal

ABOUT US

dr urb Pietro Eliseiphone no: 0731 159 785

Nicoleta Silvia Ioanaphone no: 0730 710 298

Livia Moregaphone no: 0741 23 2128

CONTACT & ADRESSESAccommodation: Antique hostel, Splaiul Independentei, Nr. 2A, Sector 3Confrence venue: Ion Mincu Univesity of Urban Planning and Architecture, 15- 17 Academiei streetWorkshop venue: Centre o Excellence o Planning 3-5 Mihail Moxa street

Organizers

LEGEND

Location hostel

Route day 1

Route day 3

Route day 4

Venues

1 Ion Mincu University, Academiei 17

2 Centre of Excellence in Planning, Mihail Moxa 3-5

Office district of

the city

NEW RESIDENTIAL

DEVELOPMENT

DAY 0 Sunday, June 21st15:25 - 16:0517:30 - 18: 4519:00 - 21:00

Arrival on Otopeni airport, transfer to hostel by busGet together and informal walk through the city centerDinner

DAY 1 Monday, June 22nd9:3013:0014:30 - 17: 0020:00

Gathering in Lobby to start tour of the historical center Lunch @ La mama restaurantOpening conferenceDinner @ Trattoria Buongiorno

DAY 2 Tuesday, June 23rd9 30 - 12 4513:00 - 13 4514:00 - 17 0018 00

Guided tour - Communism and Socialist architectureLunch @ La Mama Restaurant SWISS - RO workshop : Part 1 Understanding the cityFree evening

DAY 3 Wednesday June 24th9 30 - 19 4520 00

Field trip by minibus: Flows of Bucharest & city regionDinner @ SUBURBIA

DAY 4 Thursday, June 25th9 30 - 19 0019 00

Work day @ CEP, Moxa 3-5Free evening

DAY 5 Friday, June 26th9.00 12.30 14 00 20.00

Joint Swiss-Romanian Workshop: Proposals & concepts End of conference buffet lunchYPLAN LAUNCH CONFERENCE / Free afternoon for Swiss studentsFarewell Dinner @ Caru cu bere

DAY 6 Saturday, June 27th Transfer to Bucharest Otopeni Airport

PROGRAMME 21-27 JUNE

DAY 0 SATURDAY JUNE 21Arrival

15:25 - 16:05

18:30 - 19: 45Antique Hostel, Splaiul independentei

19:00 - 21:00City Grill, 19 Covaci street

Arrival on Otopeni airport

Get together and informal walk through the city center

Dinner

DAY 1 MONDAY JUNE 22getting to know the context

Main sites of the historical tour

Bucharest has a rich history, full of hidden stories and secrets.During this Monday morning I will accompanny you on a walk through the city center and discover all of them. We will go through the evelopemnt of the city from 15th to 20th century, and see how the city transformed and survived wars, fires earthquakes, communism ... and how it is slowly developing its new identity: From Little Paris to Little Berlin and finally, just Bucharest.

More importantly you will have the opportunity to get background information to fundament the concepts you will develop by understanding the mixture and contrasting traits of Bucharest.

Can you guess what are the main sites in the photos?

XVth Century XVIIth Century XXth Century

1 Ion Mincu University, Academiei 18-20

2 Centre of Excellence in Planning, Mihail Moxa 3-5 9:30

Antique Hostel, Splaiul Independentei

13:00La Mama, Lipscani str

14:30 - 16:30“Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urban Planning , 18 - 20 Academiei

20:00Trattoria Buongiorno

Gathering in lobbyStart tour of the historical center

Lunch

Opening conference - understanding the context: Urban planning in Romania • Welcome word from Prof. Tiberiu Florescu, dean of the Faculty of Urban Planning - “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urban Planning• Presentation of Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil – Dirk Engelke.• The Romanian Planning System – Assoc. Prof. Gabriel Pascariu, President of the Romanian Professional Association of Urban Planners• Bucharest’s Dynamic Master Plan - urban planning and large scale projects in the city - tbd• Discussion

Dinner

DAY 2 TUESDAY JUNE 23

Recent history and its consequences

Romania has been a communist state for 25 yeas of its history. This period has left many marks in the minds of the people but also in the cities. Bucharest, the crown jewel of the Communist dictator, has been trnsformed in spectacular ways, usually at the expense of important historical and architectural heritage.

During the tour you will have the opportunty of accessing uncharted territory, go behind the monumental fronts of the main boulevard, learn information about this recent piece of history and have a deeper understanding of the reasons behind recent changes of how te community uses and interacts with public space in the city.

Socialist architecture in Bucharest

1 Ion Mincu University, Academiei 17

2 Centre of Excellence in Planning, Mihail Moxa 3-5

9 30 - 12 45Antique Hostel, Splaiul Independentei

13:00 - 13 45La mama, Lipscani

14:00 - 17 00Center of Excellence in Planning, 3-5 Mihai Moxa

18 00

Guided tour - Communism and Socialist architecture

Lunch

SWISS - RO workshop : Part 1 Understanding the city

Programme conference• Introduction• Comparison Romania - Switzerland• Case study Bucharest - University Square• Defining structre - Dirk Engelke• Free afternoon or site visit

Free evening

DAY 3 WEDNESDAY JUNE 24from North to South: flows of the city

For the past 10 years Bucharest has developed immensely. High input of investments and large scale infrastructure projects have changed the face of our city.

The Northern part developed into a corporate hub, but how is the commuting infrastructure serving this increasing flow of people?

The Southern outskirts is in full development. New housing complexes are popping up over night without proper, and much needed, long term planning. Yet more and more people are moving to these areas. Is the infrastructure and services holding up to this constant increase in use?

During the trip we will see:- Pipera and the Promenada mall area- Housing areas: low rise and high rise- Largescale infrasctructure: Basarab overpass- One of the more successful mall area developments: Sun plaza- New housing developments in the outskirts: Popesti Leordeni

Office district of

the city

NEW RESIDENTIAL

DEVELOPMENT

9 30 - 19 45Antique Hostel, Splaiul Independentei

20 00

Field trip by minibus: Flows of Bucharest and city regionRoute• Start in Union Square• Follow main boulevards eading North: Recent office building development,flow of people, cars, public transportation• Continue through the upscale residential areas of Bucarest: Pipera, Floreasca• Communist residential neigborhoods: Titan, Vitan, Berceni• Outskirts of Bucharest: urban spawl in last 5 years

Lunch on the road

Dinner @ SUBURBIA - tbd

DAY 4 THURSDAY JUNE 25Designing public space in Bucharest

After the 3 days of seeing and experiencing the city, the swiss students together with a group of Romanian urban planning students will work together to define new concepts of design for public space in the city.

The input from experts during the conference through presentations, context anlysis offered by the romanian students and on site visits will form the basis of the proposals,which will be presented in their final form during the final event on Friday.

public space 1

public space 2

9 30 - 12 45Center of Excellence in Planning, 3-5 Mihai Moxa

13 00

14 00 - 19 00

19 00

Work morning• Impressions of students regarding the first workshop day.• Best practices regarding public spaces in Switzerland.• Presentation by Swiss students.• Division of students into four teams.• Develop ideas for two public spaces in Bucharest (long term concept and temporary intervention)• Work on the concept

Lunch - tbd

SWISS - RO workshop : Part 2 Concept and design

Free evening

2 Centre of Excellence in Planning, Mihail Moxa 3-5

DAY 5 FRIDAY JUNE 26Solutions and concepts developed

9.00 Center of Excellence in Planning, 3-5 Mihai Moxa

12.30

14 00

20.00 Caru cu bere, Stavropoleos street

Joint Swiss-Romanian Workshop Proposals and Concepts

Content • Finalizing presentation of concepts and ideas for two public spaces in Bucharest• Presentation of the project proposals developed• Conclusions. Discussions

End of conference buffet

YPLAN LAUNCH CONFERENCE

Farewell Dinner

Saturday, June 27th

Transfer to Bucharest Otopeni Airport

Y PLAN LAUNCH CONFERENCE

13:30 – 14:00

14:00 – 14:10

14:10 – 14:25

14:25 – 14:45

14:45 – 15:30

15:30 – 16:00

16:00 – 16:20

16:20 – 16:40

16:20 – 17:00

17:00 – 17:30

17:30 – 17:45

Welcome and participant registration

Keynote speakers Representative of the Foundation for Civil Society Development (FDSC)

Foreword: YPLAN, a project for public spaces in BucharestDr. Pietro ELISEI, Project manager and research coordinator, Urban2020 Association

Partnership rationale and implementation team: Asociația Urban2020; Centrul de Excelență în Urbanism (CEP); HSR Institut für Raumentwicklung (HSR IRAP)

YPLAN – Young Placemakers Initative: Project presentation Project team, Urban2020 Association and CEP

Coffee Break

Swiss good practice: “Youth room - appropriation of public spaces by youth” & Swiss initiatives for youth involvement in urban planning - Dirk Engelke, HSR IRAP

The Swiss perspective: results of the study visit workshops on urban space redesign Dirk Engelke, HSR IRAP

Capitalization related initiatives “Urban Laboratory” (2014), Urban_Dream_Scape (2014) and “Something cool happens in my school” (2013) – Andreea Lipan, Komunitas Association project coordinator

Interactive Q&A session, discussions and feedback

Conclusions and closing

Center of Excellence in Planning, 3-5 Mihai Moxa

Photo sources:Bucuresti optimist: https://www.facebook.com/BucurestiOptimist?fref=ts

The YPLAN project aims to raise awareness on public space issues in Romanian cities, given the fact that public space quality greatly influences social, economic and environmental quality in urban areas. The lack of participatory planning culture in post-communist problems is clear in the case of Romania, whereas countries highly advanced in involving ample target groups in planning, such as Switzerland, can offer much-needed expertise. As a result, the YPLAN project seeks to enhance civic engagement among young people and socially empower them through different educational and design activities – all this through extending a long-standing partnership in planning research between experts of URBAN 2020 and IRAP.

The project’s main scope is to facilitate the transition towards sustainable participatory planning and civil empowerment in Romanian cities through innovative best practice transfer of Swiss youth involvement experience and an applied public space co-design process . The specific objectives seek to heighten the awareness towards the importance of social public spaces, planning and civic involvement among 7,000 high-school students in Bucharest, build capacity in participatory planning and design processes among a pilot group of 30 students and assure the on-site implementation of two of the student projects, as well as the possibility to replicate the YPLAN experience in other cities and ensure a lasting impact of the initiative.

The project’s main target group is the young generation of high-school students who have the opportunity to be formed as pro-active citizens through the transfer of knowledge assured within the project. However, university students, community members, Universities and the Municipality of Bucharest are also direct or indirect beneficiaries of the project’s activities.

Y PLAN LAUNCH CONFERENCE PROJECT DESCRIPTION