Bucharest architects, in dialogue with the candidates for the Capital’s town halls

The Bucharest branch of the Order of Romanian Architects (OARB) is starting a series of meetings with the candidates for the Capital’s mayoral positions, to hold a dialogue on the city’s architectural and urban priorities.

The discussions, which will take place mainly at the OARB headquarters, will focus on topics of major interest for the future of the Capital, such as compliance with the deadlines for issuing authorizations or the completion of the General Urban Plan and the zonal ones. They will be video recorded to be published online on the organization’s YouTube channel.

OARB initiated the “Declaration for local elections Bucharest 2024”, which will be handed to all the candidates for the capital’s mayoralties who have accepted the invitation to dialogue on the architectural and urban priorities of the city. According to this Declaration, a new challenge to which the Capital must respond was launched by the European Commission and the Council of Architects in Europe through the New European Bauhaus Strategic Program (the New European Bauhaus)*. This initiative is a turning point in which the European political class, architects, urban planners, engineers, artists, teachers and researchers call together for a global approach that combines economic and environmental values with social and cultural ones.

In the context of these transformations, the architects from Bucharest launch a call to the future mayors and offer them their support for the fulfillment of requirements that are the basis of both the fulfillment of the old European aspirations of the Capital, the major themes of the city, as well as the new challenges of the European Union :

1. Compliance by the mayor’s offices with the deadlines for issuing documents regarding the authorization of the execution of construction works, respectively building permits and town planning certificates;

2. Completion of the General Urban Plan (PUG) and limitation of derogations through Zonal Urban Plans (PUZ);

3. Digitization of procedures: online submission of applications for town planning certificates and building permits;

4. Permanent dialogue and within the legal terms between town planning departments of town halls and architects;

5. Issuance of documents regarding the authorization of the execution of construction works according to standardized and transparent procedures at the level of the Capital;

6. Architects’ and public’s access to urban data in geographic information system (GIS);

7. Consultation of the Bucharest Branch of the Romanian Order of Architects, for the Technical Commissions for Territorial Planning and Urbanism in the Bucharest town halls and for important decisions regarding architecture and urbanism;

8. Construction discipline, compliance signature;

9. Involvement of town halls in protecting and enhancing the architectural heritage;

10. Increasing the quality of public architectural design procurement through solution contests;

(P)