conferences & debate
16 December 2011, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest
Almost 6 hours into a marathon, structured in two sessions of conferences, each one followed by one debate. The event brought together architects, urban planners and expert economists from Romania, the Netherlands and Germany who explored study cases, failure or success scenarios for urban development, formulae to increase the attractiveness of cities for locals and investors, opportunities and solutions for new urban projects.
How could our cities be more attractive to their locals and to investments? Who and in what way could implement new projects, how could working partnerships be set up, in what conditions and how could funding for all those be attracted? The debate focused on establishing principles and action strategies to find development resources for Romanian cities and architecture. The programme was structured in such a way to facilitate the interaction of partners and build cooperation bridges among various partners. Also, the focus went on improving the dialogue with the public administration.
The following participated in the first session: Gheorghe Pătraşcu – head architect of Bucharest city hall, Şerban Ţigănaş – president of the Romanian Chamber of Architects, Anca Ginavar – general director Regional Development – Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism, Piet Van Ruler – senior partner for urban development Twynstra Gudde, Holland and Liviu Ianăşi – lecturer at the department of urban planning and regional planning, “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urban Planning. This session included presentations having a starting point in defining the role of architecture in urban development or introducing current topics: what makes Romanian cities (still) beautiful, what areas and kind of projects are worth being prioritized for the Romanian cities to be more accessible and more competitive, what types of partnerships may generate new programmes meant to improve truly the projects of architecture, certain areas or the city.
The second session included Damo Holt – director for estate counselling ECORYS Research & Consulting, Olanda, Ellen van der Lei – expert urban development fund European Investment Bank, Luxembourg, Sorina Racoviceanu – director Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies, Romania and Eugen Pănescu – architect Planwerk, partner.
The second part generated more questions and answers around major issues: how and why investments are made in Romania, what are the conditions to attract and absorb funding (from the European to the private ones), how could more partners and investors be attracted into an urban project, the investments agencies and main planning had good results in many countries and cities, but this formula is almost unknown in Romania.
The debates had consistent interventions from Nicuşor Dan – president of Save Bucharest NGO, and architects Teodor Frolu and Cătălin Berescu. The event was moderated by Kai Voeckler – programme director at Archis Interventions and Joep de Roo – director Eurodite.
Organizers: Zeppelin Association, DISC (Dutch Initiative for Sustainable Cities), NAi (Netherland Architecture Institute, Rotterdam) and Archis Interventions.
Partner: Romanian Chamber of Architects.
Supported by: Administration of National Cultural Heritage, ERSTE Stiftung, the Netherlands Embassy, NAi – Netherlands Architecture Institute, Archis Interventions SEE, DISC – Dutch Initiative for Sustainable Cities, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism, Lafarge, Sensio, Geplast, Armstrong.
The video archive of the conference is available here.
