| Placemakers Initative
Several members of the Urbasofia team were involved in the activities of YPLAN, a project funded by the Swiss-Romanian Cooperation Programme and coordinated by the Urban 2020 Association. During the first half of the year, the project focused on finishing the awareness campaign (with presentations held in 9 high-schools in Bucharest) and on realizing the workshops and urban walks with high-school students.
During the six workshops and four urban walks organized in March – June, a group of 25 high-school students worked on two axes in the peri-central area of Bucharest: Lascar – Viitor and Tepes Voda. The students, with the support of the project team and the aid of ten volunteers from the “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanism in Bucharest, have realized detailed analysis of the urban context and design proposals for eight public spaces – four along each of the two axes. The Swiss partner of the project, the Institute of Spatial Development from Rapperswil, coordinated, through Proff. Dirk Engelke, one urban workshop (focused on realizing the concept for the eight public spaces) and one urban walk. Members of the Urbasofia team were also involved in realizing a Geoblog for mapping public spaces in Bucharest, to be used in acquiring feedback regarding the public spaces which will be implemented (see website), and in editing an online guide of planning processes, as the basis for the lectures realized within the design workshops (in Romanian – download here). |
The project, which is scheduled to be finalized in October 2016, will continue with the on-site implementation of four public spaces, on the basis of the ideas expressed by the high-school students during the workshops. The final conference, which will be organized mid-October, will present the project’s main outcomes and possible follow-ups regarding the definition of a public policy for re-defining small public spaces in the city of Bucharest, Romania.