METROPLAN

Project Code: PN-III-P1-1.1-PD-2021-0030

Contract number: PD 77

Domain: SH5_6 - History of art and architecture, arts-based research, SH2_10 - Land use and regional planning

Title of the project: The impact of suburbanization in Romania’s metropolitan areas - the need for new territorial planning and management instruments

Acronym: METROPLAN

Implementation period: 01.04.2022 – 31.12.2023

Total contract value: 214685.00 lei

The project tackles the issue of uncontrolled suburban development around Romanian cities driven by the lack of adequate planning instruments, with significant negative effects on the environment and the quality of living. It aims to identify the metropolitan areas with the highest suburbanization dynamic since 1990 by using CORINE Land Cover Data. Based on a set of indicators regarding environmental quality, public service provision or access to technical infrastructure, weighted through an expert opinion questionnaire, we propose the restrictiveness index as a tool for assessing the negative effects of uncontrolled suburbanization. The index will enable the selection of 2 local administrative units for a detailed morphological and public service provision analysis.

The research will approach three scales for analysis (national, metropolitan and local), with the assessment used as a baseline for proposing a new planning instrument: the metropolitan plan. Besides the integration of environmental and spatial planning methods of analysis for highlighting the impact of urban sprawl, the project also explores an applicative direction by defining the requirements for a Metropolitan Plan that could aid in the mitigation of these negative effects.

The proposed result indicators are 3 articles published in Web of Science journals and one book (abroad or CNCS A). The results will be also disseminated through a project website and 3 presentations at scientific conferences.

Objectives of the project

1. Identifying the metropolitan areas in Romania with the highest suburbanization dynamic since 1990.
2. Assessing the negative effects of uncontrolled urban development in 5 metropolitan areas, highlighting the local administrative units with the highest restrictiveness and the effects on the quality of living.
3. Defining a new planning instrument at metropolitan level – the Metropolitan Plan - and listing its principles, content and possible procedures.

Estimated results

• Three articles published in Web of Science journals: one article comprising the national level analysis (Objective 1 of the research) – published in a Q3 / ESCI journal; one article showcasing the application of the methodology for computing restrictiveness at metropolitan level – published in a Q1/Q2 journal; one article on the effects of uncontrolled suburban development on the residents’quality of living (local level) - published in a Q3 / ESCI journal.
• One book synthesizing the findings of the research project, published abroad or in a CNCS A publishing house (e.g. “Ion Mincu” University Publishing House).O carte de sinteză a rezultatelor proiectului de cercetare, publicată în străinătate sau la o editură CNCS A (ex: Editura Universitară ”Ion Mincu”).

Project results

Books:

• Cocheci, R.-M. (2023). Suburbanization in Romanian Metropolitan Areas. A Spatial Planning Perspective, Foreword by Alexandru-Ionuț Petrișor, Editura Universitară ”Ion Mincu”, București, ISBN 978-606-638-304-2:
  https://editura.uauim.ro/pub/573
  Cocheci. 2023. Suburbanization in Romanian metropolitan areas - a spatial planning perspective.pdf (10 MB)

Articles:

• Cocheci, R.-M.; Petrișor, A.-I. (2023). Extended suburbanization and land cover dynamics in post-socialist metropolitan areas. Evidence from Romania. disP - The Planning Review, 59(2), 88-102. https://doi.org/10.1080/02513625.2023.2257490
• Cocheci, R.-M.; Petrișor, A.-I. (2023). Assessing the Negative Effects of Suburbanization: The Urban Sprawl Restrictiveness Index in Romania’s Metropolitan Areas. Land, 12, 966. https://doi.org/10.3390/land12050966.
• Cocheci, R.-M., Petrișor, A-.I. (2023). Challenges for sustainable suburban communities: comparing suburbanization in Romanian and Italian metropolitan areas. Italian Journal of Planning Practice., XIII(1), 47-75. http://www.ijpp.it/index.php/it/article/view/106

Conference presentations:

• The 1st International Electronic Conference on Land (IECL 2022), 17-19 May 2022. Poster: Urbanization patterns in post-socialist Romania: A ranking of metropolitan areas based on suburbanization dynamics using CORINE Land Cover data (co-author: Alexandru-Ionuț Petrișor).
• The XLII edition of the International Geographic Seminar ”Dimitrie Cantemir”, 14-16 October 2022, Iași, Romania. Presentation: Assessing the negative effects of suburbanization in Romania’s metropolitan areas – the urban sprawl restrictiveness index (co-author: Alexandru-Ionuț Petrișor).
• AESOP Congress Lodz 2023, 11-15 July 2023. Presentation: Managing suburbanization in post socialist countries. A new planning instrument for Romanian metropolitan areas (co-author: Alexandru-Ionuț Petrișor).

Project team

• Asist. urb. dr. geogr. Radu-Matei COCHECI – project manager
• Conf./CSI (biol.), CSI (geogr.) dr. ecol., dr. gogr., habil. urb. Alexandru-Ionuț PETRIȘOR – mentor.