cep journal_asured students

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Center of Excellence in Planning3-5,Mihail Moxa Street, Bucharest, Romania

Phone: +40.021.212.50.81 Fax: [email protected]

Advanced Studies in Urbanism and Real Estate Development(ASURED) Programme – Student Papers

Foreword

Center of Excellence in Planning - CEPON-LINE JOURNAL1

June 2014

Inside This Issue

This is the first issue of the on-line journal of the Center of Excellence inPlanning (CEP), dedicated to ASURED students work.

The issue presents selected papers from the first ASURED class,October 2013 – June 2015. The purpose of publishing on-line the beststudent work results is to encourage them to constantly improve theirown performance, to recognize their effort and show appreciation fortheir dedication and passion in their activities under the ASUREDProgramme, and to guide the next classes of students in their ownefforts and work.

The papers in this issue are intended to set a bar of quality which mustbe equaled or surpassed by subsequent work and next classes ofstudents.

Mircea Enache, Ph.D.

CEP Director

VOLUME 1 ISSUE

June 3, 2014

1 Impact Analysis – Urban Places;

Authors: Dan Rovența, Jianca Stefan, Ovidiu Ion, Rafael Trebolle, Sorin Doru

Ciomartan

2 Public-Private Partnerships for Affordable Housing in Romania –

Challenges and Opportunities

Authors: Dan Rovența, Jianca Ștefan

3 Analysis of the Pedestrian Street in Bacau City, Romania

Author: Costina Chisarau

4 Reurbanization of Historic Downtowns for Long-Term Sustainability

Author: Celeste Roche

5 The Property Development Process

Authors: Cornelia Dragomir, Florin Ianculescu-Popa, Ovidiu Ion, Sorin Doru

Ciomartan

6 Sustainability and Sustainable Developments

Authors: Cornelia Dragomir, Florin Ianculescu-Popa, Ovidiu Ion

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g3-5,Miha ia

Phone: +40.02 [email protected]

INTRODUCTION

1. Introduction2. Fiscal Impact Analysis3. Traffic Impact Analysis4. Socio-Economic ImpactAnalysis5. Environmental ImpactAnalysis6. Putting It All Together7. Cost of Community Services

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Scope of paperwork

The main purpose of this paperwork is to exercise the instruments,establishing sources, finding data and using specific tools in measuringthe impact of a new development to the surrounding areas and least butnot last, to describe the role of the Impact Analysis in a developmentprocess.

From the beginning we must assume that the impacts of different typesaffect the different areas at different levels and scale. We started withan overview of what a Development Impact Assessment processinvolves and continue with what are the types of Impacts. Identifyingcommon issues between the various types of impacts will help organizeand integrate the information collected during the assessment process.Just as it is important to identify areas of common benefit or cost to thecommunity with regard to a particular project, it is also essential toevaluate the differences among impacts and determine how to addressthe differences which are most significant. Identifying such differencesamong the various impacts of a proposed development or otherdevelopments by comparisons is the key to evaluating whether toproceed with a project and identifying potential alternatives to theproposed project which avoid or mitigate significant impacts.

We must indicate as a primary source of inspiration and guidance theCommunity Guide to Development Impact Analysis, Wisconsin LandUse Research Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison by Mary M.Edwards.

What is a Development Impact Assessment?

Development impact assessment involves a process to comprehensivelyevaluate the consequences of development on a community. Theassessment process should be an integral part of the planning process asit provides extensive documentation of the anticipated economic, fiscal,environmental, social and transportation-related impacts ofDevelopment Area - Timpuri Noi, on its community.

The development impact assessment process makes use of existinginformation, where possible to determine potential impacts of aproposed development. It also employs techniques to gather additional,new information, where necessary. Development impact assessment isto be done using a guide which provides a framework to integrate thesedata, models, spatial and statistical analyses and experiences in otherlocales to predict development impacts. For each, impact area (i.e.fiscal, environmental, socio-economic, and transportation), there are aseries of methods that may be used to collect information that willassist…planners in assessing impacts. In our case, we will use differentsources (e.g. websites with assessment description and guides for specificdevelopments impacts) and our experiences in diminishing the error rate

IMPACT ANALYSIS –

URBAN PLACES

he Impact of Timpuri Noi

development, in a New

Urban Pole of Bucharest

y:

ianca Stefan

an Roventa

afael Trebolle

vidiu Ion

orin Doru Ciomartan

rofessor: Mircea Enache

ate: 30.01.2014

for the assessment.

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Center of Excellence in Planninil Moxa Street, Bucharest, Roman1.212.50.81 Fax: +40.021.212.50.8

Center of Excellence in PlanningMoxa Street, Bucharest, Romania.212.50.81 Fax: +40.021.212.50.82

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What Types of Impacts?

Fiscal Impacts

Fiscal analysis involves assessing the public service costs and revenues associated with the development. Suchan analysis projects the net cost of the development on the fiscal balance sheet of the community. Since fiscalfeasibility plays an important role in determining whether or not to proceed with a proposed development, fiscalimpact analysis is a critical component of any development impact assessment.

Socio-Economic Impacts

Socio-economic impact assessment focuses on evaluating the impacts development has on community social andeconomic well-being. This analysis relies on both quantitative and qualitative measures of impacts.Development impacts are generally evaluated in terms of changes in community demographics, housing,employment and income, market effects, public services, and aesthetic qualities of the community.

Qualitative assessment of community perceptions about development is an equally important measure ofdevelopment impacts. Assessing proposed developments in a socio-economic context will help communityleaders and residents identify potential social equity issues, evaluate the adequacy of social services anddetermine whether the project may adversely affect overall social well-being. It shows a series of methods toconduct public consultation in order to avoid missing perspectives on the issues.

Traffic Impacts

Traffic is a natural result of many development projects and has in its scope the mobility of people involved as adegree of liberty. Thus, in considering a development proposal, it is important to evaluate potentialtransportation-related impacts including additional infrastructure requirements (e.g., more roads, traffic lights,good configuration), and increased traffic congestion. A transportation impact assessment will assist thecommunity in ensuring that traffic in the community continues to flow adequately. When prepared inconjunction with the other impact assessment components, the transportation impact assessment will helpdetermine the feasibility of additional transportation projects needed to accommodate growth and whetherthere are environmental and social issues that need to be addressed if additional infrastructure is required and/ortraffic increases.

Environmental Impacts

Development often leads to environmental impacts including, but not limited to, loss of open space, impacts ongroundwater and surface water quantity and quality (e.g., drinking water supplies), changes in air quality,increases in impervious cover (e.g., paved roads, parking lots), alteration of wildlife habitat and changes inlandscape aesthetics. To the extent that a proposed development affects natural resources in a community, anenvironmental impact assessment is designed to identify the level of impact and assist the community inensuring that development plans avoid, compensate and/or mitigate associated environmental impacts.

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New Urban Pole of Bucharest (Timpuri Noi)

The area of old Lemaitre factories from the XIX century was producing a range of industrial installations for factoriesin Bucharest. Here under the name Timpuri Noi (translate by Modern Times) were produced massive iron sewercovers, which can be seen today on some streets, such as for example Amzei Street.

Description of the studied area

Studied Area Map with PUZ area of study and presumed housing area of impact

After 1990 the factory were privatized by the workers and in early February 2010 the demolition work took over and letthe possibility of new development on site. The main shareholders of the company were the Association of Employees(73.6%) and SIF Muntenia (21.9%) who developed a PUZ (Urban Zoning Plan) to obtain a planning permit. InJuly 2010, the real estate investment Interprime Properties, part of Inter IKEA, acquired Timpuri Noi platform inorder to develop a project "long term" which will include residential buildings and office buildings.

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Description of the proposed Mixed Use Development parameters/population

From the start we must assess the difference between Timpuri Noi area as the development area of Timpuri Noi oldfactory bought by Interprime Properties/IKEA on one side, the Development Area including the prior area is thedevelopment area of Timpuri Noi old factory together with the rezoning area of the PUZ area of urban regenerationand the Studied Area which is the referenced area considered for the impact and is different according to domain ofimpact interest.

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DEVELOPMENT DESCRIPTION PARAMETERS POPULATION1. PUZ STUDIED AREA2. LAND AREA3. TOTAL BUILT AREA4. TOTAL AREA5. LAND OCUPANCY6. FLOOR AREA RATIO7. BUILDING MAXIMAL HEIGHT8. NEIGHBORHOOD ZONES9. BASEMENT AREA10. TOTAL GROSS AREA11. RETAIL GROSS LETTABLE AREA12. HOTEL GROSS AREA13. OFFICEGROSS LETTABLE AREA14. HOUSING GROSS AREA15. EDUCATION GROSS AREA16. LANDSCAPE GROSS AREA17. CARS BASEMENT PARKING CAPACITY18. INVESTMENT ESTIMATION

= 24.4135 ha= 54,060 sqm= 23,430 sqm=324,000 sqm= 44%= 5.99= 162 m= 8= 224,600 sqm= 548,600 sqm= 62,550 sqm= 35,000 sqm= 186,250 sqm= 38,610 sqm= 3,100 sqm=30,763 sqm=5,460 cars= 677,950,000 Euro

---------50020020,0001,200100---

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FISCAL IMPACT ANALYSIS
The purpose of fiscal impact analysis is to estimate the impact of adevelopment or a land use change on the costs and revenues ofgovernmental units serving the development. The analysis is generallybased on the fiscal characteristics of the community (e.g., revenues,expenditures, land values and characteristics of the development) or landuse change (e.g., type of land use, distance from central facilities). Theanalysis enables local governments to estimate the difference between thecosts of providing services to a new development and the revenues, taxes and user fees, for example that will be generated by the development.
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TRAFFIC IMPACT ANALYSIS

Traffic impact studies help communities to:

- Forecast additional traffic associated with new development,based on accepted practices.

- Determine the improvements that are necessary toaccommodate the new development.

- Assist communities in land use decision making.

- Assist in allocating scarce resources to areas which needimprovements

- Identify potential problems with the proposed developmentwhich may influence the developer’s decision to pursue it.

- Allow the community to assess the impacts that a proposeddevelopment may have.

- Help to ensure safe and reasonable traffic conditions on streetsafter the development is complete.

- Reduce the negative impacts created by developments byhelping to ensure that the transportation network can accommodate thedevelopment.

- Provide direction to community decision makers and developersof expected impacts.

- Protect the substantial community investment in the streetsystem.

In order to be able to analyze the impact from a project to a specific area isnecessary to have all the information of the existing situation. For this analysishas been impossible to find information about traffic in the area, not only we donot have information about the number of cars per day, or the average per hour,we do not have any information about which streets have more traffic, and we donot know what kind of vehicles move around the area.

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It was also impossible to find information about the pedestrian traffic in the area. There is a Metro station in the area,but we couldn’t find any information about how many people use it every day.

In order to have an idea and some base information we have used the information about traffic provided for the app.Google Maps. We have checked it in several hours during a weekday, and try to have an idea of the situation of thetraffic in the area. A least we can know which way the cars are choosing for circulation.

We have considered as the area of impact the square limited for the Blv. Dimitrei Cantemir, Tineretului, MihaiBravu, Calea Vitan, Blv. Marasesti and Blv. Octavian Goga.

8:30 At 8:30, the main traffic is in the direction south-north.The picture can show in red colour the intersections withmore problems.This hour is a peak time for commute son this will be one ofthe most affected period of the day with the increase oftraffic.

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12:30 At 12:30 the traffic with some less problems in theintersections.It is still an area with a lot of traffic but there are not bigagglomerations.

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5:00 At 15:00 there is less traffic in the area, focus, mainlyin the intersection in front of the project. The northpart of the area is where the cars are moreconcentrated.

e have analyzed the traffic at 8:30; 12:30; 15:00; 17:30 and 20:00

e have consider these hours because the project has a main used for economic activities (offices and retail) soe main traffic of people would be at these hours.

rom the socio-economical study of the project, we can conclude that the project will suppose an attraction fororkers. More than 20.000 people would start to move to this area, to these people, we should add the parallelrvices and traffic (visits, couriers, etc.)

hat is the current situation?7:30 At this hour the people are starting to leave the office,

so the traffic north-south is more intense.The concentration of cars is still in the perimeter of thearea, and only the main crossroads of TimpuriNoi iswith heavy traffic.

The street NervaTraian, start to have bigconcentrations in the direction to south.

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0:00 At 20:00 the traffic has been reduced, only there isheavy traffic in the street NervaTraian from North toSouth.

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Conclusions of the analysis of the situation

The area has a perimeter with a lot of traffic, but the street that cross it have heavy traffic only in the peakhours, concentrate in the direction south- north in the mornings and north-south in the evenings.

The small streets are almost free during the day. The centre of the area has a intersection (just in front of theproject) with traffic during all the day, is important try to avoid pushing the new cars to this intersection andtake advantage of the boulevard Splaiul Unirii, that is with few traffic during all the day.

Proposals in order to mitigate the impact.

The big pressure will be the increase of traffic in the peak hours, and collapse the street Nerva Traian, that nowis helping in order not to block the perimeters of the area.

During the construction

This would be a big project, and probably it would suppose a construction time longer than two years. The citycan not afford to have problems in the traffic during this time in this area, for this reason, the developer musthave a plan for the movement of the trucks and people during the construction and shouldn´t be allowed to useany of the existing lines of the streets.

The developer should have the construction camp inside the limits of his plot, including the parking for thetrucks and for the workers.

Is is very important not to block any line in the streets Nerva Traian and Splaiul Unirii.

The constructor should guarantee not to block the pedestrian cross in the intersections of Nerva Traian andSplaiul Unirii in order not to oblige the people to invade the area for cars.

The traffic for cars should be controlled in order to have the entrance and exit to the construction camp in the

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street Ion Minulescu

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Mitigation of the impact of the project

The main objective should be to direct the entry and the exit of the cars in order to use the secondary streets ofthe area and have a direct exit to the boulevards of the perimeter.

For the developer should be easier to locate the entrance and exists of the complex in a way are pushing the carsto take a specific street if it want to go north or south.

We propose this distribution of entrance and exit.

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SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT ANALYSIS

socio-economic impact assessment examines how a proposed

evelopment will change the lives of current and future residents of a

ommunity. The indicators used to measure the potential socio-

conomic impacts of a development include the following:

Changes in community demographics;

Results of retail/service and housing market analyses;

Demand for public services;

Changes in employment and income levels; and

Changes in the aesthetic quality of the community.

ocio-Economic Impact Assessment

. Defining the Scope

he project define a city growth pole in an area of Bucharest City with

ixed Use parameters from the General Master Plan in an area of

rban regeneration-reconversion from industrial use to mixed use with

he potential to becoming a growing pole of the city .

. Identifying and Evaluating Development Impacts

. Quantitative Changes

EMOGRAPHIC IMPACTS

emographic impacts include the number of new permanent residents

r temporary occupants associated with the development, the density

nd distribution of people and any changes in the composition of the

opulation, (e.g., age, gender, ethnicity, wealth, income, occupational

haracteristics, educational level, health status) relevant for the scope.

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011 Census Data for Bucharest District 3 - Male/Female acc. to INS - National Census Institute

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We assume that ethnic population shall be similar to the existing one. However a number of expats is possible to alterthe percentage and the amount of different ethnical group. This must be considered by the promoter in the mix useprofile of retail, educational/cultural, etc.

For a period varying from 3 to 10 years there will be an amount of working population in construction, workers thatwill be influencing the actual population.

HOUSING MARKET ANALYSIS

Housing market analysis helps determine whether the proposed development will be beneficial to thecommunity in terms of its effect on our housing market needs.

In our case of a residential development, the market study assists in ascertaining whether there is sufficientdemand for the type of housing proposed and whether a sufficient number of households in the area can affordto purchase or rent the proposed type of housing. Considering the diminishing of population asserted bydemographics surveys in the area the housing developer should concentrate to find the market demand in termsof quality and price per unit considering what for occupants are mostly concerned about.

On the other side if the proposed offices, hotel, education amenities and other work area involved in thedevelopment expected to generate a specified number of high-wage jobs, the community’s current housingmarket absorb the new white collar workers and there is a need for more affordable housing in the impact area.

The development does not help to satisfy current or projected housing needs, as far as for 20,800 office workersthe housing area is providing a cover of 1,200 people.

The proposed residential development does contribute to the diversification of available housing opportunities(types and prices).As far as the development is successful, rents and housing prices are affordable to newsegments (new employees) of the population. The development result in further concentrations of one type ofhousing is not desirable from the viewpoint of the community but the amount of apartments involved is not anissue. However if there is a need for affordable housing in the community, this development does not help tomeet that need.

The development is easily accessible to public and private facilities and services, such as retail establishments,parks and public transportation.

If the residential development is specialty housing, have the unique needs of the special groups been consideredthe designer must consider it properly.

As an observation, the early years of development program (3-10) the population shall keep a certain mix oflow-wages/high-wages population depending of the technology used for the development construction in thearea and in the late years (after construction) the high-wage population shall prevail in the populationstructure.

In comparison with a similar development, considering on one side the capacity and the types of building wecould compare with Asmita Gardens development that it is not occupied because maintenance cost is higher forhigher buildings and less occupied ones.

RETAIL MARKET IMPACTS

New development often attract a variety of new commercial facilities including both free-standing stores andneighborhood or community shopping centers in order to provide with products, services and conveniencesimportant to the quality of life of local residents.

The challenge to accommodating these types of new developments becomes one of minimizing losses to existingretailers in the area, such as those downtown, while allowing the market to respond to the wishes of the

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increasingly demanding consumer.

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he specific figures of the commercial areas considered the demand from 22,000 of daily residents/population6% population using but 0,002% of the land area of District 3) but it will absorb also the demand from thempact area which is probably less.

irst is needed a close look at retail activity, particularly in the central business district for comparison withonservative retail in the area of impact. Key indicators of economic health in the retail sector include vacancyevels, property values, store turnover, retail mix, employment, tax revenues, new business incubation, critical

ass/concentration of retail, and the availability of goods and services demanded by the community. In our casee observe in time an adaptability of the old retail business in the past especially after the implementation ofucharest Mall.

econd, changes in trade area demographics should be estimated. The trade area is generally defined as theeographic area in which three-fourths of current customers reside. A significant increase in population in therea of impact could signal new opportunities for retail expansion or development. The profile of these new ornticipated residents can help us assess future market demand for various types of products or services. In ourase the specific is given by the location density and concentration of demand in the area of development andhe fact that people are not necessarily residents in the area. The decrease of population will act contrary in therea of impact which shall be as large as similar commercial profile location is competitively involved

hird, regional retail competition must be assessed. New retail concepts are threatening traditional retail stores.hese concepts include large non-mall stores offering assortment and low prices for selected types of goods likelectronics, off-price apparel stores, food/drug stores and neighborhood drug stores that offer convenience, outletenters, warehouse clubs and the internet. By recognizing the changes in competition, both locally andegionally, your assessment of proposed retail developments can offer valuable insight into the changing marketnd risk facing the traditional retailers in the community. In our case the concentration versus traditional retailtore will bring a great impact and dramatic changes in the retail space in the area of impact.

inally, with an understanding of general retail trends, changes in trade area demographics, and regionalompetition we can use secondary data to measure market gaps in the community and assess the impacts of theroposed development. Two techniques can be used: retail mix analysis which will show how different type ofetail store can be supported and retail space analysis that will show how the extra space is supported by theommunity in the area of development impact study.

hese steps can help us to anticipate how well the market will respond to changes in the number and type ofetail businesses. In our case (66550 sqm GLA Retail Area) is affecting the retail concentration in Sun Plazaall (81,000 sqm GLA) or Bucharest Mall (70,000 sqm GLA) in the regional area of impact.

t is obvious that this Retail Area will affect also the traditional commercial spaces in the surrounding area ofmpact, and the measures of sustainability of these commercial centers of profit value are not measured by the

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unicipality.

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EMPLOYMENT AND INCOME

Development directly influences changes in employment and income opportunities in community and in thearea of impact. Such changes may be more or less temporary (construction projects, or seasonal employment ifwe discus about construction period of time which may vary from 3 to 10 years or more in our case) or mayconstitute a permanent change in the employment and income profile of the community. The developmentproject should bring long-term job opportunities for community residents (establishment of an office cluster andcommercial area like in our case). Assessing these types of changes is an important component of social impactanalysis because growth in employment places brings additional demands on community services and resources.For example, a development that brings higher-wage jobs to a community may generate the need for differenttypes of housing in the area like was mentioned before in the text (considering that the amount of housing areain the project is less than the office capacity).

Changes in income also influence the social environment in a number of ways such as raising or lowering theaverage standard of living for residents in the area of impact.

PUBLIC SERVICES

The new residents and their associated activities will require a variety of services provided by the areas publicand private institutions. A social impact assessment must determine the quantity and variety of anticipatedneeds. The goods and services most commonly included in a social evaluation are open space and parks; culturaland recreation facilities; education; health care; special care for the elderly, the disabled, the indigent andpreschool-age children; police and fire protection; and a variety of administrative support functions. Theoptimum amount of resources that would be required for the satisfaction of needs is based on either planningstandards, which are guidelines established by professional organizations and government agencies, or servicelevels, which are observed national average amounts of resources expended per capita or some unit of size.

The present level of services in the community is the following:

The current distribution of services in the community (to social groups or to neighborhoods)?

The anticipated needs and accessibility to services of the future population?

Are there organizational or coordination problems currently being encountered by service organizationsor agencies?

May such problems be encountered in future service delivery? If so, what are they?

What are the implications of future service and facility requirements and revenue sources on tax levels,net fiscal balance and service quality?

AESTHETIC IMPACTS

Impacts on the aesthetic quality of a community are often the most obvious sign of development.

In our development case, it presents an adequate response with the real estate boom 2007-2008 in order to speedup the acquisition, and in this respect obtained a proper floor area ratio (FAR) for the development.

Without any impact comprehension for the city, the promoters decide that under a city growth polejustification, is better to have very high figures for the building GLA, in order to maximize the profitability forthe land value.

While aesthetic impacts are often associated with environmental impacts, the highest buildings (110 meters)also have a significant impact on the social well-being of the community and resident perceptions about thequality of life in the community. Except for the lack of sunlight and huge occupancy rate the people are markedin a very positive way about technology and safety offered by the big buildings with high technology included.

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We are referring to the methods available for assessing the potential impact of a proposed development on theaesthetic quality of a community as follows:

1. Setting Characteristics: Review the proposed development for visual and experiential appropriateness to thesurrounding area (i.e., neighborhood character, main street, community entry, business park).

Especially the entrance in the business park is depending on the city configuration of new bridges andneed to be supported by the area involved in the impact. The proposal doesn't show any alternative forthe traffic in the inner area of development.

2. Site Plan Review: Does the proposed development integrate natural resources, buildings, parking andlandscaping which is both functional and aesthetic, and in keeping with desired future character?

The massive blocks of the development area is overwhelming the area of influence and the open spaceand landscaping in the area is minimal in comparison to the area of impact. It is obviously that thedevelopment is supported by the surrounding area as open space. However the landmark function of thedevelopment is a plus for the development and, visibility of the buildings in the area is being positive fororientation in the city.

3. Architectural Review: Are the proposed buildings sensitive to the existing desirable built environment; willthe architectural style provide a new desirable quality for community character?

However we are not in the position to appreciate just some volumes and the detailed simulations of it,but assuming this is done properly, the way the space alternates between blocks of building and theexisting ones, manifest in the impact area a differentiation in technology and expression from anarchitectural point of view.

4. Landscaping Review: Is the development of sufficiently high quality in planting design; amount of greenspace; sensitivity to species selection; and preservation of sensitive areas? Does it “fit” with the desired futurecharacter?

It is hard to compare with the impact area from the landscaping point of view but necessarily, it fits toits own character of space with high density building. A way to naturally dispose the rain water ishowever a must and a sustainable item for the project.

5. Signs Review: Is signage directional rather than advertising information; relates to street graphics more thanconventional signage; consistent in size, number, and materials which reflect desired community character?

The signage should meet the uniqueness of the presented concept and the plazas around the TOD areawhatever there is .

Other technologies involved in aesthetic assessment

1. Geographical Information Technology which provides the basis to plan by documenting and analyzingcurrent growth management factors, allocating new uses and assessing social, environmental, and economicimpacts.

In our case is very simple to look to a Google Earth image to observe that the development area is underpressure of the new proprietary development request even if the Master Plan is considered valid, theauthority decide to issue new building permits in spite of the Master Plan. The land reservation policy isa must for authorities in order to develop the area properly and according their rule.

2. Image Processing Technology which provides the basis to visualize and evaluate the consequences ofalternative planning, management, and design scenarios as each would appear on the landscape.

If you look to the Timpuri Noi Master Plan computer simulation of the volumes of buildings you find ina glance the huge impact on the area involved which is far from imagination. Sky scraper of 110 metersdefines the area of a huge demand in terms of development boom considering also the silhouette of the

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recognizable city landmark.

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3. Multimedia Technology which provides the basis for combining the proposed planning outcomes andvisualizations with relevant ordinances, laws and planning principles.

4. Communications Technology such as the internet and web browsers provide the basis to interactively shareinformation plans and evaluations to a broad spectrum of interested and affected parties and gather feedback onproposed solutions.

B. Measuring Community Perceptions About Social Well-Being

Socio-economic impact assessment is also important for assessing changes in a community’s social well-beingthat result from development. This type of social change is more difficult to quantify than changes in the socialenvironment because the assessment relies on the perceptions of current and new residents about how aproposed development may affect their quality of life. Social impact assessment of this nature is importantbecause it can help local officials, planners, developers and the public identify and address potential conflicts ofinterest that may accompany development.

In addition to quality of life issues, it is important to assess how a proposed development may influenceneighborhood cohesion or cultural differences among members of the community.

QUALITY OF LIFE

The attitudes community residents have toward development and the specific actions being proposed as well astheir perceptions of community and personal wellbeing are important determinants of the social effects of aproposed action. Such attitudes are a reflection of the quality of life residents seek to enjoy and preserve,whether it is limiting growth in order to maintain the proper image of a community.

Changes in a community’s social well-being can be determined by asking the individuals and representatives ofgroups or neighborhoods in the area to make explicit their perceptions and attitudes about the anticipatedchanges in the social environment. Information about attitudes and perceptions should be gathered fromcommunity leaders because their attitudes are important and may lend insight into the overall attitudes ofresidents if community leaders are perceptive and sensitive to community concerns and interests.

Focus Groups: Includes small discussion groups to give “typical” reactions of the general public. Normallyconducted by a professional facilitator. May be several parallel groups or sessions. Advantages: provides in-depth reaction and detailed input; good for predicting emotional reactions. Disadvantages: may not berepresentative of the general public or a specific group. Might be perceived as manipulative.

Interviews: Face-to-face interviews with key persons or stakeholders. Advantages: can be used to anticipatereactions or gain key individual support and provide targeted education. Disadvantages: requires extensive stafftime and an effective interviewer.

Hearings: Formal meetings where people present formal speeches and presentations. Advantages: may be usedfor introductory or “wrap-up” meetings; useful for legal purposes or to handle general emotional public inputsafely. Disadvantages can exaggerate differences without opportunity for feedback or rebuttal; does not permitdialogue; requires time to organize and conduct.

Meetings: Less formal meetings of persons to present information, ask questions, etc.

Advantages: highly legitimate form for public to be heard on issues. May be structured to allow public to beheard on issues and small group interaction.

Disadvantages: may permit only limited dialogue; may get exaggerated positions or grandstanding; may bedominated by forceful individuals.

Workshops: Smaller meeting designed to complete a task or communicate detailed or technical information.Advantages: very useful to handle specific tasks or to communicate, in a hands-on way, technical information;

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permits maximum use of dialogue and consensus building.

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Disadvantages: inappropriate for large audiences; may require several different workshops due to sizelimitations; requires much staff time in detailed preparations and many meetings.

Surveys/Polls: Carefully designed questions are asked of a selected portion of the public. Advantages: provides aquantitative estimate of public opinion.

Disadvantages: susceptible to specific wording of questions; provides only a static snapshot of a changing publicopinion; can be costly.

CONCLUSION

High Density Development is an utopia for Low Tech, but is not for High Tech buildings and cities and we mustpass in a proper manner from one to another by learning how this type of the cities works. High Tech buildingsare “active” buildings and this fact indicates that peoples inside (users) are secured in a most active way. Theylive inside by a lot of procedures, implying a “culture” that brings amenities in their life.

The assumption that the project duration shall be 3 to 10 years is the most acceptable for Bucharest and evenfor Europe. This impact is in our view the most important and it will affect fiscal, traffic, social, andenvironmental as well

The main conclusion from socio-economic point of view is that a Multi Use development has a multitude ofissues, but within the integration, the response of the mixed-use development to the city request is appropriateto its nature.

However a mixed-use development mitigates mobility issues, always a city is dependent on mobility, even whenwe have an inner city (24 hours city) in the city.

This transit should be done through the nature and culture of the population involved in the process.

High, buildings, bridges and new streets go together with progress but the nature of man is the same and thismust be the focal point of any initiative or development of life quality environment and well-being.

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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ANALYSIS

ommunity environmental impact assessment provides a systematicrocess for identifying, describing and evaluating community naturalnd human resources in order to improve decisions about theiranagement. Choosing to assess the community environment does not

mply that all identified resources must be preserved or protected. Itoes imply that the community must be knowledgeable about itsesources, so that development decisions reflect the range of communityalues, not just economic values. An environmental impact assessmentacilitates community planning by assisting local government officials,ommunity leaders, and citizens:identify valuable environmental resources in the community andurrounding area that may be affected by a proposed development;evaluate the community’s capacity for additional development givennvironmental protection priorities;identify the deficiencies or trade-offs between possible developmentlternative or courses of action and the environmental impactsssociated with each alternative;determine which groups in the community may be directly or

ndirectly affected by the project or action.

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Economic development

As view in the presentation block, this is a mixed-use and multi-use development comprising Housing, Office,Hotel, Retail, and Education premises in an intensive and high density development

This type of investment is not common in Bucharest and the amount of work to develop the area is obviously agreat performance for a Developer as long as is a performance for the municipality as long as the area involvesneed urban equipment and have traffic issues.

Considering also the position in the city as a central growing pole, Timpuri Noi shall be a business area withgreat profitability involvement. The Development area comprises also a lot of economic improvements of thearea outside the owner land like: a bridge over the Dambovita channel for the traffic, remodeling of the traffic inthe area, remodeling of the channel with a water feature (channel “exedra”) and some other buildings. All ofthat are on the surrounding areas of developing own by municipality (public) and by others (private).

Social equity

Referring to the fact that population in the area of impact is decreasing and the population supposing to occupythe Timpuri Noi area is probably at a higher living standard, there are some social conflicts. However this istrue, an exception occur for the period of building execution when the workers involved in the execution shall bedistinctive at lower living standard. This must be solved properly by including a mix of different housingtypologies for different income classes, so different incomes and household types can live in this area.

Ecological preservation

The area after demolition of the factory with all the implication of hard technologies excluded from it, isexpected to be in a very good ecological status, but during and after the construction of the new buildings, thearea shall be affected by the new technologies as well as it was or less depending on the options of the developer.In the same time the provisions of the proposal presented before take some advantage from the channelneighborhood and site configuration by an esplanade along the Dambovita channel and a water “exedra” (waterfeature or lake, if we could say so) along the channel. By all means the land ground, open space, air water, sun,plants and other life are the benefit of this land like any other land.

TIMPURI NOI CASE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

This assessment basic information are not taken from the actual design, there are but assumptions of the stateof the art experience in building technology used in Bucharest. Operator of the buildings bring/selecttechnologies and knowledge that give sustainability to the activities and support involved like, designing,construction, operation and recycling of buildings. Some of the items mentioned here are good practicerecommendation inspired from the configuration and proposal of Timpuri Noi PUZ, not necessarily and clearlyexpressed by the design (so they will appear theoretical), but fairly to introduce it in further details, for thebenefit of the community.

The land is now, after demolition, on the way to change the environment parameters and finally it shall beprepared to be built. This development shall change again these parameters according to development.However, what is happening if it becomes a park in the benefit of the population is obviously a differentapproach and different consequences.

Resources impact on environment

From economical point of view a park is not bringing but few business revenue, so it is preferable tobuild some premises to a good business in the area. The amount and the type of development is a matter

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of a feasibility study with an option that could be a park in the area.

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However this is not a zero option of a feasibility study, it is a waste from business point of view. On theother hand, a very dense development brings a very poor ecological attitude. What if we use the landresource in the most profitable way, they say and they did. When money is invested to clean up aformer industrial site (eliminate pollution), then this is a positive ecological development, made possibleby the investment but is not an economy if the investment didn’t produce revenues and could beconsidered a lost if, after a while, huge garbage deposit freely and human indifference/negligence occur.

However when the decision is to highly develop the area, it involves as well, resource efficiency andrecycling , environmental quality, biodiversity, waste treatment, water cycle management, energy, etcin order to eliminate the conflict.

Development impact on environment

The land is now, after demolition, on the way to change the environment parameters and finally it shallbe prepared to be built. This development shall change again these parameters according todevelopment. However, what is happening if it becomes a park in the benefit of the population isobviously a different approach and different consequences.

By building intensively on the land, an owner tends to maximize the benefit from the land sale, but thisis not sure as long as, ultimately we observe a minus for the habitability and thus for profitability. Sothe impact of the economy and development on environment and the social equity implications.

Property impact on environment

The property conflict comes from the understanding of the value of the property coming from theproprietary in opposition with the social factor who probably prefer to have a park.

The mixed-use or multi-use development should at any time give a good part of it to public use andopen public space as well. The way this is happening is a matter of good design and habitability of thedevelopment and must be expressed in public amenities, utilities and facilities.

The private-public partnership needed in our views to develop this area have its reason according thepossible conflict of interests between the owner of the land area of Timpuri Noi and municipality whosimply must develop all the surroundings, giving the sense and equilibrium of the project by looking tothe benefit of the first, where from the issues are coming.

Social equity impact on environment

This development shall change the social parameters by modifying the standards. Different population,compared to the area of impact as per ethnical (expats at work), active age (18-65 old) and high-wages(income) criteria will finally make some difference in the economy of the area population. Gentrificationis a social phenomenon often observed when a development occur and must be taken as a hugedisadvantage for the population in the area of impact where the increase price of the properties canpush out the poor people to sell and leave the area. This is happening naturally when a developmentrise the standard of living in an area, but could also be considered a disadvantage if this is caused byexterior means. In our case the influence of the development shall be not on the people on site which arefew or none but for the peoples from surrounding area of development.

Green cities model impact on environment

Looking at the impact area and assessing the rezoning (PUZ) provisions, is hard to believe that exceptfor the area of development, the city shall provide on their own cost a land to be occupied with greenareas and water features on the other side of the channel, not thinking to profitability. It is obvious thathabitability is a concept against ecology and wild life preservation. However if you think to somecompensation there are some possible responses:

a) Replacement of costly technology (e.g. replace the costly technology to purify air by letting trees toremove pollution). This will bring for every outdoor parking place 4 trees in the area like theregulation in Timpuri Noi, but what about indoor parking place!!!

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b) Avoided cost method (e.g. costs avoided via alleviation of storm water–induced problems, based oncalculating the costs of building conventional ‘hard’ structures for storm water management(underground pipeline network etc.). Now in Timpuri Noi, Bucharest regulations and plannersencourage dewatering by natural means instead of using sewage system of the city which is notadapted to convey the storm water to emissary.

c) Hedonic pricing most commonly applied to variations in housing prices that reflect the value oflocal environmental attributes or even just by the value of view attraction.

d) Willingness to pay of the peoples a “price of access to a site” such as a park.

In conclusion “green city” actually means a new way of enhancing the sustainability of urbanized areasand ecosystem services lie at the core of the concept. If life is valuable then “green” is valuable and thisimpact is solved by sustainability.

Growth management impact on environment

Knowing that economic growth is a limiting factor for wildlife conservation (animals habitats, or people) we willconsider that a source of infinite impact on the site ecology and conflicts put in front of the planners

When economy is in force, the property value is modifying rapidly and the developments increase velocity. Inthat case the development became hard to be managed in terms of efficiency, because the owner is developing inshort time, thinking of profit and not to habitability in the area of impact. Especially for big investments theexecution period is to be considered with attention in order to have a good balance of the population involved inthe process and obliged to live and work together in the same community, its mobility or needs are diversifiedbetween low and high income peoples.

When growth starts, it starts with the necessary access and accessibility. This will be best for the long termdevelopment in connection with different stages and sequence of development. A practical study to show wheregrowth is desirable and where it will be restricted from city point of view (amenities, etc.).

The planner shall be focused on its transportation issues and the road network very well configured not only forcars, pedestrian, public transit and/or bicyclists, but for transit for the city for relating adjacent land use typeslike residential and designating location, for transit-oriented developments or mix modal according todevelopment stages. Timpuri Noi is not an exception from this basic start, but if you look at the streets networkgenerated in the plan you’ll find that most of the peoples involved in the perimeters doesn’t have a quickresponse to access and evacuation of the area.

CONCLUSIONS

1) In Timpuri Noi case the density is a quality of the development directly connected to the scope toincreasing value of land. However this is a quality for sustainability this is not sustained from socialequity and must be compensated properly.

2) The street network with two bridges involved could be a solution for transit transport in the area, butwithout a complete solution for the modal local, public transportation for bicycle, and pedestrian for22,000 people considering subway connection.

3) Especially the bridge over the Dambovita channels provided for the inside land service are a matter ofproperty compensation and social equity and must be solved by a public-private partnershipdevelopment.

4) A business relationship between a private-sector company and a government agency for the purpose ofcompleting a project that will serve the public, in other words called public-private partnership must beTimpuri Noi development solution. Looking otherwise to the site and admitting that the subway shouldbe solving enough mobility, its location must be the gravity centre of the development higher densityand a sustainable principle of transit – oriented development too.

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) The integration mixed-use development part of the project is providing into the project a goodxperience of a 24 hours city/building in Bucharest and need to be followed by proper public amenitiesetails. In spite of the fact proper amenities are not provided in the design, we consider this is a lack ofttitude of the developers and authorities involved in the process.

) This good integrative program of necessary public amenities is valid also for residential areaompleting the Timpuri Noi development and the outer part of the land owned by others.

) The amount of green areas inside the Timpuri Noi area is providing organization, habitability value,ealthy and recreational environment.

) Assessing the outer part of the project properties we must consider the followings:

a. The esplanade along the channel is an interesting solution that brings both water and treesogether, remembering Dambovita river good years.

b. The lake formed from a channel exedra is an interesting item too, and helps the image and siterofitability

) The assessment consider just the integration premise of design, like collocation of uses, pedestrianonnection, and good signage for orientation, because the integration testing couldn’t be done but aftermplementation so an experience is needed. However, some of the principles already provided shows
hat Timpuri Noi development must be revised in most of the criteria of sustainability
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UTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
e will follow these steps for identifying areas of commonality and
ifferences include:•Review data collected for each impact area (i.e., fiscal, traffic,

ocial and environmental) to identify similar and different concernsbout a proposed development.

• Compile additional information from similar projects in theommunity in order to identify common/different impacts and issues.

• Decide which information is ultimately useful in reflecting realmpacts and assess the significance of fiscal, traffic, social andnvironmental impacts relative to one another. Such decisions can beased on particular standards or criteria (e.g., ranking/coding, accuracyf information, community preference).

s a primary assumption for the Development are Timpuri Noi we mustummarize some of the discontinuities and impacts commonly assessed.

1) High density in terms of population amount and buildingsservices and the land resource used to develop in the era ofdepopulation of the city. This could induce fiscal tension by theconcentration in the development area and some reduction inthe area of impact. This will not bring any interest for themunicipality, but just transfer in the use from differentlocations into the new one and restructuring of the real estatesmarket of the area of impact.2) The private-public property solution for the projectdevelopment, considering the mix property status of the landimpact on the development, and the specification/proposal fromthe decision of the municipality about the outer part of theTimpuri Noi site which was named “directive” with noconnection with planning status of a PUZ which is

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“mandatory”.

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3) Mobility impact about the transit through the development area by public transportationconsidering the street network and two extra bridges provided in the area in order to facilitate thetransit through the city.

4) Mobility impact of the 22000 peoples involved in the traffic surround the development area,supposing of huge attraction by modal share (bicycle, walking) from subway station to the newdevelopments in the area.

5) The integration mixed-use development part of the project is providing into the project a goodexperience of a 24 hours city/building in Bucharest and need to be followed by proper public amenitiesdetails.

6) Impact on residential area completing the Timpuri Noi development solved by a good integrativeprogram by providing different standards of apartments in order to cover the diversity of incomes of thepopulation involved, especially in the construction years, Gentrification is a social phenomenon oftenobserved when a development occur and must be taken as a huge disadvantage for the population in thearea of impact where the increase price of the properties can push out the poor people to sell and leavethe area.

7) The more people act like a planner in our society, the more concerns and solution are issued for theimpact of the social on environment, so we consider that new challenges will enrich our understandingof equitable made places and motivate citizens to participate to debate of the planning process andadopt the integration values of the community, so social cohesion is another scope to be followed inTimpuri Noi development planning.

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COST OF COMMUNITY SERVICES
he COCS approach compares annual revenues to annual expenses ofublic services for various land use categories. Local revenues andxpenditures are apportioned to major categories of land use and theesult is a set of ratios showing the proportional relationship of revenuesnd expenditures for different land uses at one point in time. Variousssumptions are made in apportioning costs across land uses, and thesere most often based on discussions with local staff and officials.
. Define Land Use Categories

. Collect initial local data

. Calculate a default percentage for allocation of various costs andevenues. Allocate expenditures by land use category. Allocate revenues by land use category. Compute the cost-revenue ratios for each land use type.

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lossary and Used terms
impuri Noi area is the development area of Timpuri Noi old factoryought by Interprime Properties/IKEAevelopment Area is the development area of Timpuri Noi old factory
ogether with the rezoning area of the PUZ area of urban regenerationtudied Area is the referenced area considered for the impact and isifferent according to domain of impact interestistrict 3 and 4 of Bucharest is the area of resources reference in terms of

and and population characteristics both quantity and quality (density,mount by sex, age, ethnic, language, etc)

ibliography and quotes
. Edwards, Mary., (2000)Community Guide to Development Impactnalysis, Wisconsin Land Use Research Program, University ofisconsin-Madison.
. Godschalk David R. - Land Use Planning Challenges –Coping withonflicts in Visions of Sustainable Development and Livableommunities. Wood Martin (1.October 2001) Resident Participation, socialohesion and sustainability in neighborhood renewal: developing bestractice models.. Graham Harris – 2007- Seeking Sustainability in an Age ofomplexity. Heikki Setälä- Green city – what does it actually mean?”

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Pgeneral overview

Romania is confronted with

a clear shortage of adequate

and affordable housing,

placing last in terms of living

conditions provided to its

citizens among the other

European Union states. This

paper aims to examine the

public-private partnerships

(PPPs) as a possible

financing option for

addressing the need for

affordable housing units in

Romania, in the context of

the current financial

challenges and budget

strains. The paper first looks

at the concept of affordable

housing and PPP and

continues with an overview

of the UK system for the

provision of affordable

housing. It then presents the

housing situation in

Romania, as well as current

policies for affordable

housing, and looks at a model

for raising the stock of

affordable housing in

Romania through public-

private partnership.

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overnments around the world have realized that the public sector

annot always deliver major investment projects alone, and have

herefore turned to public-private partnerships as one financing solution

hat could be beneficial for both parties. Moreover, the private sector

ad the potential to bring about benefits like increased efficiency and

he increase in innovative ways of delivering public services or

mproved management of the risks involved in completing complex

nvestment projects to time and budget, and providing quality services

hereafter .

ublic-private partnership describes a government service or private

usiness venture, which is funded and operated through a partnership

etween the government and one or more private sector companies.

he Public-Private Partnership projects are long-term partnerships

typical projects have the duration between 20 and 40 years). Another

istinctive feature of the PPP projects is the fact that the private

artner carries the risk for the invested capital, not the public sector, as

t is the case of projects based on outsourcing. PPP projects enable the

isk to be optimally spread, and each subject of the partnership to take

he risks they are able to manage best .

n some types of PPP, the government uses tax revenues to provide

apital for investment, and it jointly runs the operations with the

rivate sector or it contracts out the service to a private company. In

ther types (notably the private finance initiative in UK), private

ector provides capital investment on the strength of a contract with

he government, which is responsible to provide agreed services. The

ontributions of the government to a PPP may also be in kind, which is

he case of the transfer of existing assets. In the case of projects that are

imed at creating public goods, such as infrastructure sector, the

overnment may provide a capital subsidy in the form of a one-time

rant, in order to make it more attractive to the private investors. In

ome other cases, the government may support the project by providing

evenue subsidies, including tax breaks or by providing guaranteed

ublic-Private Partnerships – Concept and
Public-PrivatePartnerships forAffordable Housing inRomania – Challenges andOpportunities
By:Jianca Stefan

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nnual revenues for a fixed period of time.

Wilkinson, Sara & Reed, Richard, Property Development, Fifth Edition,outledge, 2008, p. 19

Daniela PÂRVU, Cristina VOICU-OLTEANU, Advantages and Limitations ofhe Public Private Partnerships and the Possibility of Using Them in Romania,ransylvanian Reviewof Administrative Sciences, 27E/2009 pp. 189-198

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The basic implementation condition of a PPP project is its ability to achieve, from the point of view of thepublic sector, a greater benefit in relation to the expenditures, compared with the situation when the publicsector implements the given project by itself, using its own forces and from its own sources, i.e. respecting theprinciple of value for money.

General Advantages and Risks of PPPs

Advantages Risks

Possibility for smaller investments Limited influence of public authority over theinvestment

Possibility for conducting other publicinvestments

Increase of the prices charged to the users of theinfrastructure

Savings to the budget Reduction of bargaining position of public authorities

Transfer of new technologies High transaction costs

Sharing the risk Poorer quality of the services

More competition on market Limited accessibility to services

More competition on market Decrease of employment in the public sector

Guarantee of the services for a longer term Financial risk for public partner

Decrease of the political influence ineconomy

Opportunity risk for public partner

More transparency in the economy Political risk for private partner

Source: Brzozowska, 2006, p. 24, in Parvu, 2009, p. 4.

Advantages and Risks of PPPs for Housing and Urban Development

Advantages RisksCost savings Additional CostsWhole of Life-Cycle Reduced Control of Public AssetsOutput-Based Contracts Loss of AccountabilityRisk Sharing Mitigating RiskPPPs Deliver on Time Rigidities in Long-Term ContractEnhancing Public ManagementImproved Levels of ServiceIncreased Availability of Infrastructure Funds

Source: UN-Habitat, 2011, pp. 3-53

3 Public-Private Partnerships in Housing and Urban Development, UN-Habitat, Nairobi, 2011.

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PPPs and affordable housing system in the UK

Public Private Partnerships are a key element in the UK Government's strategy to deliver high-quality publicservices and promoting the UK's competitiveness. Partnerships have been a significant contributor to loweringcosts and increasing operating efficiencies for urban development projects ranging from affordable housing towater treatment facilities, roads and hospitals. PPP/PFI (Private Finance Initiative) has grown in 2007 in theUK to £60 billion, out of which housing represents 2,1%, with the largest share being assigned totransportation, hospitals and schools (~67%) 4.

Private-public partnerships have been a solution for large scale investments in the provision of complexinfrastructure projects, but also in affordable housing. Broadly speaking, affordable housing is a term used todescribe dwelling units having a total lease/purchase and maintenance cost that is considered affordable topeople with low and middle incomes. They must be adequate in terms of living standards and location. Usually,when discussing affordable housing, the costs relating to accessibility and maintenance (the cost of heating, forexample) are also taken into consideration. Affordable housing can be owned and managed by local authoritiesor by developers who rent them at lower rents than the ones on the free market. The difference betweenaffordable housing and social housing is that the former refer to emergency shelters, transitional housing orhousing for people with no income.

In the UK5, affordable housing has a broader sense, being defined as social rented, affordable rented andintermediate housing, provided to eligible households whose needs are not met by the market. Eligibility isdetermined with regard to local incomes and local house prices. From April 2012 affordable housing is defined inthe National Planning Policy Framework.

Social rented housing is owned by local councils or housing associations (currently known as private registeredproviders, as defined in section 80 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008), but it can also be owned by otherpersons. These homes are offered at the lowest rents which are set by Government (sometimes called targetrents). The United Kingdom has a long tradition of promoting affordable social rented housing.

Affordable rented housing is owned and let by housing associations and homes and they are managed andmaintained in the same way as social rented homes. But Government allows higher rents to be charged (up to80% of open market rents). Because more rent is charged, the housing providers can generate income to helpbuild more homes. Such rents are often charged on new built homes. Intermediate housing is homes for sale andrent provided at a cost above social rent, but below market levels. These can include shared equity (sharedownership and equity loans), other low cost homes for sale and intermediate rent, but not affordable rentedhousing.

As for the institutional structure, it is the Department for Communities and Local Government that sets thepolicy for housing in England. In Scotland policy is set by the Scottish Parliament; inspecting and regulatingactivities falls to the Scottish Housing Regulator. Social housing in Northern Ireland is regulated by theNorthern Ireland Housing Executive.

The body that funds new affordable housing in England is currently the Homes and Communities Agency(HCA), which is a non-departmental public body. It was established by the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008and incorporated the investment functions of several bodies - the Housing Corporation, English Partnershipsand parts of the Department for Communities and Local Government – as well as the functions of the Academyfor Sustainable Communities and the government's advisory team for large applications.

This reorganization was done following the comprehensive review of English housing regulation done byProfessor Martin Cave, also known as the Cave Review6, which recommended that a new regulator be set up,

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separating the regulation and investment responsibilities of the Housing Corporation.

4 Public Private Partnerships (Ppp) And Affordable Housing By David Hoicka, http://www.slideshare.net/DavidHoicka/public-private-partnerships-ppp-and-affordable-housing-by-david-hoicka

5 Definitions of general housing terms, GOV.UK, https://www.gov.uk/definitions-of-general-housing-terms

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Section 106 Agreements

The current mechanism for securing the provision of affordable housing as part of a planning application fornew housing development is through the use of a Section106 Agreement. This is most often used in England andWales, to ensure affordable homes remain at an affordable price for future eligible households.

Section 106 agreements, also known as planning obligations, are agreements between developers and localplanning authorities that are negotiated as part of a condition of planning consent. The Town and CountryPlanning Act 1990 enables local authorities to negotiate contributions towards a range of infrastructure andservices, such as community facilities, public open space, transport improvements, as well as affordable housing.

In addition to securing affordable housing, other uses of a Section 106 obligation are:

a. restrict the development or use of the land in any specified way

b. require specified operations or activities to be carried out in, on, under or over the land

c. require the land to be used in any specified way; or

d. require a sum or sums to be paid to the authority (or, to the Greater London Authority) on a specifieddate or dates or periodically.

Planning obligations can be positive (requiring a specified action to be taken before the start of a development),negative (preventing development from taking place until a specified action has been taken by the developer) orrestrictive (restricting how the development may be used by the developer) 7.

6 In December 2006, the Secretary of State foconduct a review of the regulation of social hpropose a system of regulation, and an instituMatters: A review of social housing regulatiohttp://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20matters

7 NorthDevon Council, Planning Guide to Sehttp://www.northdevon.gov.uk/index/lgcl_plnning_guide_to_section_106_agreements.htm

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he Situation of Housing in Romania

iving conditions and housing quality

mong EU countries, Romania ranks last in terms of living conditionsnd housing quality.ne of the key dimensions in assessing the quality of housing conditions

s the availability of sufficient space in the dwelling. The overcrowdingate describes the proportion of people living in an overcrowdedwelling, as defined by the number of rooms available to the household,he household’s size, as well as its members’ ages and their familyituation. According to Eurostat statistics, in 2011, 54.2 % of theomanian population lived in overcrowded housing units. It is theighest overcrowding rate registered among the EU countries, with theverage of the EU-28 being 17.1%.

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r Communities and Local Government (CLG) commissioned Martin Cave toousing - in particular to establish objectives for social housing regulation andtional framework, capable of achieving those objectives. Report “Every Tenant

n: Report by Professor Martin” available at120919132719/http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/everytenant

ction 106 Agreementsanning/nonlgcl_planning_unit_customer_charters_best_practice_notes/nonlgcl_pla

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Within the population at risk of poverty (in other words, people living in households where equalized disposableincome per person was below 60 % of the national median), the overcrowding rate in the EU-28 was 29.1 % in2011. Romania registered the second highest overcrowding rates among the population at risk of poverty, with66%, after Hungary (71.0 %).

In addition to overcrowding, some other aspects of housing deprivation — such as the lack of a bath or a toilet,a leaking roof in the dwelling, or a dwelling considered as being too dark — are taken into account to build amore complete indicator of housing quality. The severe housing deprivation rate is defined as the proportion ofpersons living in a dwelling which is considered as being overcrowded, while having at the same time at least oneof these aforementioned housing deprivation measures. Across the EU-28 as a whole, 5.5 % of the populationsuffered from severe housing deprivation in 2011, and among EU states, the share peaked in Romania, withjust over one in four persons (25.9 %).

In terms of housing affordability, according to the latest Eurostat available statistics (2011), an 11.4 % share ofthe EU-28 population lived in households that spent 40 % or more of their equalized disposable income onhousing8. The proportion of the population whose housing costs exceeded 40 % of their equalized disposableincome was highest for tenants with market price rents (26.1 %). Compared to the EU-28 average, 65.3% of thetenants in Romania with market price rents had housing costs that exceeded 40% of their equalized disposableincome, thus putting Romania on the second place among all EU states, after Lithuania (66.5%).

The very low level of housing affordability in Romania even in 2011 should be considered in the context of thedramatic drop in housing prices (both rent & sale) as a result of the crash of the real estate bubble. A study9 wasmade at the beginning of this year on the evolution of housing units prices, comparing the levels registered in2013 to the period before the economic downturn (2008). At national level, the prices of existing apartmentshave dropped 41% in 2013 as compared to 2008, with 684 Euros/sqm. Similar values have been registered forthe main 15 cities in Romania (considered „development poles”), with a depreciation of 42% and an averageprice of 769 Euros/sqm. The same trend can be observed in the price of existing dwellings in small cities (39%,average price 578 Euros/sqm).

The data on the poor living conditions in Romania, and especially regarding the high overcrowding rate, showsthe need for more housing units that are at the same time affordable. However, according to government data ofthe National Institute of Statistics (NIS), in 2010 in Romania were built only 2.7 housing units for everythousand residents, which is almost twice below the European average of 4.9 housing units. In addition,according to data released by the NIS, a decrease was registered in 2011 compared to the same period in 2010.

Institutional structure and programmes for affordable housing

The institution implementing the social and affordable housing programmes in Romania is the NationalHousing Agency (NHA), a public institution established in 1998 for the development of housing construction atnational level and operating under the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration.

Although the term “affordable housing” is not specifically mentioned in the legislation and programmes on theprovision of housing in Romania, the following programmes carried out by the NHA fall under its definition.The three programmes currently being implemented by the agency are:

- Mortgage-financed dwellings

- Rental Housing units for young people

- The Rebirth of the Romanian Village

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The equivalised disposable income is the total income of a household, after tax and other deductions, that is available forpending or saving, divided by the number of household members converted into equalised adults; household members arequalised or made equivalent by weighting each according to their age, using the so-called modified OECD equivalence scale.

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Studiu. Cum a evoluat pretul apartamentelor in 2013, Jan 20th, 2014, http://www.capital.ro/studiu-cum-a-evoluat-pretul-partamentelor-in-2013.html

http://www.capital.ro/studiu-cum-a-evoluat-pretul-apartamentelor-in-2013.html

http://www.capital.ro/studiu-cum-a-evoluat-pretul-apartamentelor-in-2013.html

EMPLOYEE NEWSLETTER



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he Programme for mortgage-financed dwellings was the first programme of the agency, as the agency was theirst institution to grant mortgage loans and the main promoter of the mortgage market in Romania. Theurpose of the programme was to build personal property housing units financed from mortgage loans and toreate a privately owned housing stock.

here are two types of dwellings provided for through this programme: apartments and houses. The dwellingsre built on lands assigned by the local authorities to NHA during the execution of the construction works. So,he plots of land are taken over from the public patrimony of the state or of the administrative territorial units.ocal councils also provide the infrastructure of the mortgage-financed locations. The owners of the dwellingsay also purchase or take out a lease on the land from the local authorities.

he amount of the loan for the construction of housing is provided to the loan beneficiary in instalments, andhe payment is made directly to the constructor.

he agency organizes and performs the procurement of the design and execution of works and obtains theuilding authorization, as well as checking the financial trustworthiness of the applicants for the construction ofousing units for private ownership.

he loan beneficiaries for the construction of housing units through the NHA are mandating the NHA toepresent them during the performance of the contract for the construction of a housing unit. The constructionf housing units, their acceptance and delivery to beneficiaries is followed up and carried out by the NHA,ogether with the beneficiaries of housing units.

ow, in light of the new legal provisions allowing for private financing, the National Housing Agency can noonger rely on subsidies from the state budget as sole financing source, thus being allowed to set-up any type ofartnership for the development of new residential complexes.This will be explained in detail further on whenresenting the steps undertook by Romanian institutions to implement a policy allowing for private-publicartnership in affordable housing development.

nother programme carried out by NHA in parallel with the programme for mortgage-financed housing is theental Housing Units for Young People Construction Programme, which is in place since 2001. This is a special

ental dwelling construction programme, addressing young people, aged 18 to 35, who cannot afford to buy orent a housing unit on the free market.

he rental housing units for young people are built through the NHA. Upon their completion, these housingnits are handed over to the local councils which assign them to eligible young applicants. The lands where theousing units are built as well as the necessary utilities are provided by the local councils. Thus, just as with thether programme carried out by the NHA, the housing units are built on plots of land belonging to the public orrivate patrimony of administrative-territorial units, granted for free use to the National Housing Agency, forhe construction execution period.

hese units may be bought by the leaseholders (tenants) at the end of at least one-year uninterrupted lease, onhe basis of an application to the local councils.

he need and opportunity to build housing is analysed and established by the Ministry of Regionalevelopment and Housing and the local councils, on the basis of the applications for housing units and the

vailable plots of land for building.

nvestment promotion and financing related to the construction of rental housing units for young people areade through the Ministry of Regional Development and Housing, in its capacity as main fund manager and

he National Housing Agency, in its capacity as implementing authority.

herefore, the financing for this type of housing has two main sources:

• State budget and external loans: the design of the technical project and execution detail phases, as wellas the execution of construction-assembly works are financed from sources of the state budget and/orexternal loans purchased and guaranteed by the state, through the Ministry of Regional Development

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and Housing and the National Housing Agency;

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• Local budget: the design of the pre-feasibility and feasibility study phases, which substantiate thenecessity and opportunity, the main characteristics and the technical and economic indicators ofinvestments; the provision of urban utilities and equipment is financed from sources of local budgetsand from the sources of the economic agents that operate utilities networks.

The Rebirth of the Romanian Village programme addresses the teachers, the doctors, the nurses and the policeofficers who work in rural areas, but the mechanism is merely at the beginning and, in face of the lack offunding, it has had little success so far.

Another state programme for affordable housing, even though it is not explicitly named as such, is the NationalProgramme supporting the construction of privately owned housing, initiated through the GovernmentEmergency Ordinance no. 51/2006, and later approved by Law no. 12/2007, with further amendments andcompletions (Law no. 351/2007 and G.E.O. no.215/2008, approved by Law no. 67/2009).

This programme is carried out by the Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism and it consists ingranting, from the state budget, subsidies of 30% of the value of the built housing unit, provided that thesubsidy does not exceed 15,000 euros. The purpose of the programme was to develop the construction of newhousing, by granting subsidies from the state budget and creating a system for subsidizing housing constructioncosts, in order to maintain a reasonable ratio between these costs and the income of the population.

The applications for subsidy are addressed to local councils by applicants living in the administrative-territorialarea where the plots of land for the construction of housing units are located. In order to establish the subsidyamount, local councils take into consideration the value of the housing unit, established by summing up theexpenditures presented in the general cost estimate of the building. The annual proposals for subsidiesestablished by local public authorities are sent to the Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism, with aview to substantiating the draft state budget for the year when the housing units of the subsidy beneficiaries arecommissioned. The amounts representing subsidies are allocated from the state budget, through the budget ofthe Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism, upon the substantiated request of local councils.

The beneficiaries are, again, young people, aged no more than 35 years, interested in building a privately ownedhousing unit, who concluded a contract for the construction of a housing unit with mortgage loan with economicagents specialised in the construction of housing units and/or with real estate project developers.

Another government initiative aimed at increasing the affordability of housing was adopted in 2013, was ameasure to facilitate the acquisition of dwellings rented in NHA buildings by their tenants, including facilitationof mortgage loans guaranteed by the state, through the government programme “Prima Casa” (First Home).The ceiling for mortgage loans made through this programme was 500 million lei. Moreover, the sale price of aNHA housing unit in 2013 was 326 euros/sqm (including VAT). The depreciation value from the date ofcommissioning the dwelling until the moment of the sale is subtracted from this price10.

The price of an NHA dwelling is a small one compared to the prices on the real estate market in Romania.According to a survey conducted in July 2013 by the real estate webportal Imobiliare.ro, the average price ofexisting/old flats on the free market in the main Romanian cities can be more than three times higher than theNHA prices: Bucharest - 1,093 euros/sqm, Cluj-Napoca - 930 euros/sqm, Timișoara - 797 euros/sqm, Constanța -859 euros/sqm, Ploiești - 785 euro/sqm and Brașov - 835 euros/sqm11.

10 This value was set by Order 2401 of 30 July 2013 issued by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration.

11 Chiriașii ANL își pot cumpăra locuințele la prețuri de dumping, September 1st, 2013, article available athttp://www.bizbrasov.ro/2013/09/01/chiriasii-anl-isi-pot-cumpara-locuintele-la-preturi-de-dumping/

http://www.bizbrasov.ro/2013/09/01/chiriasii-anl-isi-pot-cumpara-locuintele-la-preturi-de-dumping/

EMPLOYEE NEWSLETTER



The need for affordable housing

Governments have the obligation to provide all citizens with the opportunity to have a decent home, that theycan afford and in the communities in which they wish to live. Of course, the involvement of local authorities inproviding an appropriate mix of quality housing for people with incomes that do not allow them free access tothe housing market is crucial. There are many categories (such as teachers, doctors, residents, police officers) forwhich local authorities have an interest to provide them with a home at a cost they can afford. Also, affordablehousing can solve the housing problem for young graduates whose early career earnings are small and medium.

In Romania, the National Housing Agency was founded in 1998 with the aim to provide social and affordablehousing to people who could not afford to rent or buy a dwelling on the free market. And the programmes it hascarried during these years have helped tens of thousands of people get a decent home and it provided veryaccessible renting prices for young couples. For example, in 2012, the rents in NHA buildings started from 34lei/month for a studio to 59 lei/month for a one bedroom apartment and 116 lei/month for a 2-bedroomapartment, which means a price up to ten times lower than the ones on the free market. The lowest rent paid inBucharest is 360 lei/month for a studio, 730lei/month for a one-bedroom flat and 790lei/month for a two-bedroom flat12.

Also, just through the Programe providing housing for young people under 35 years old, the agency madeavailable 30.840 dwellings since 2001. However, this merely covers a fraction of the existing need at nationallevel, since every year there are 100.000 applications for obtaining a dwelling through one of the NHA’sprogrammes. Regarding the NHA housing units for rental, in 2012, there were only 292 dwellings madeavailable to be rented in Bucharest.

Thus, given the increasing need for affordable housing countrywide coupled with the limited financialpossibilities of many Romanians, it seems that the agency is far from meeting its target.

Private-public partnerships as a solution to the budged cuts for housing?

In 2012, the NHA had 4.400 housing units for young people in execution and 1.259 units contracted withmortgage-financing. However, the 13,4 million euros it got after the budget adjustments, only allowed theagency to deliver 800 units for rental.

The lack of funding had also hindered the Agency’s plans for starting a very ambitious development project for10.000 housing units in Ghencea, a neighborhood in Bucharest.

Another initiative that was stopped is the „Rebirth of the Romanian village”, that promised the construction of10 houses in every village for teachers, medical staff and police forces13. But, in order to be able to start theseprojects, the National Housing Agency had to find financing on its own.

It seems that the Government started to take some action for attracting private developers to invest inaffordable housing in partnership with the state only when realizing that the economy did not show signs ofrecovery. It is only in 2012 that the NHA started to seriously look for private investments, when its budget wascut almost in half14.

So, it is maybe mainly because of the budgetary constraints that the policy initiatives forpromoting/encouraging the construction of affordable housing units by the private developers/investors havestarted to appear in 2009, mostly reacting to the economic crisis, as an attempt to re-launch the real estate

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sector.

12 Chirii de la 34 de lei pentru locuintele ANL, article available at http://www.ziare.com/casa/chirie/chirii-de-la-34-de-lei-pentru-locuintele-anl-119216713 Seful ANL: Nu putem vinde case in pierdere de dragul de a incasa 2-3 lei, September 18th, 2012,http://www.ziare.com/casa/anl/seful-anl-nu-putem-vinde-case-in-pierdere-de-dragul-de-a-incasa-2-3-lei-1190693

14 Seful ANL: Nu putem vinde case in pierdere de dragul de a incasa 2-3 lei, September 18th, 2012,http://www.ziare.com/casa/anl/seful-anl-nu-putem-vinde-case-in-pierdere-de-dragul-de-a-incasa-2-3-lei-1190693

http://www.ziare.com/casa/chirie/chirii-de-la-34-de-lei-pentru-locuintele-anl-1192167

http://www.ziare.com/casa/chirie/chirii-de-la-34-de-lei-pentru-locuintele-anl-1192167

http://www.ziare.com/casa/anl/seful-anl-nu-putem-vinde-case-in-pierdere-de-dragul-de-a-incasa-2-3-lei-1190693

http://www.ziare.com/casa/anl/seful-anl-nu-putem-vinde-case-in-pierdere-de-dragul-de-a-incasa-2-3-lei-1190693

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A programme for attracting private capital for the construction of affordable housing

In the meeting of 30 June 2010 (OUG 112/2010), the Government approved the Emergency Ordinanceamending and supplementing Law no. 152/1998 on the establishment of the National Housing Agency. Thisnormative act introduced the possibility of developing a housing construction programme in public-privatepartnership15.

The law was amended as a consequence of the large number of applications to obtain housing led through theNational Housing Agency, with the aim to promote measures to accelerate the process of building housing unitsfor rent and/or for sale by attracting private investors. Thus, the Ordinance provides for the promotion anddevelopment of a programme on building housing units for rent and/or for sale by attracting private capital, onthe basis of public-private partnership contracts, as well as the possibility, within the programme, to finalizebuildings already under various stages of execution.

The following year, in 2011, the Ministry for Regional Development and Tourism undertook the first steps tolaunch a programme for housing development with private funding, named „Construction of rental housingunits, by attracting private funding”.

There were several problems that pressed the Ministry to propose measures in order to accelerate theconstruction of rental housing by attracting private investors:

- The large number of requests for obtaining housing,

- The impossibility of the local authorities to provide finance for rental housing,

- Inadequate funding from the state budget for the construction of more housing for young peoplethrough the program implemented by the National Housing Agency

- Limited access to obtain a mortgage loan for buying a house;

In the proposal16 of the Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism (MDRT), the estimation was for theconstruction, by private investors, of 1,000 housing units that are leased to them for a period of 20 years, duringwhich they will rent them to people who cannot afford a dwelling, based on criteria established by the state. Thefeasibility studies, concession documents and award documentation are paid by the state, while the land is alsooffered freely by the state.

According to the calculation presented in the proposal MDRT, the private companies were to participate withover 40 million Euros including VAT, money which will cover the work of design and construction andmounting. To these, other costs are added, for maintenance, of nearly 20 million.

The investor was to recover the money through a system of uniform periodic payments that will be madethroughout the concession period (20 years), except for the time while the housing is being built (up to twoyears). Based on the same calculation, these payments were estimated to be 5 million per year. Theoretically,the state planned to recover its investment from the rents collected. The estimatation was made for theconstruction of 1,000 one-bedroom apartments, with a cost per unit of 450 euro/sqm, including VAT.

The private investors seemed interested at the time the Ministry’s proposal and welcomed the initiative tochange the legislation. "At the moment, the biggest problem is the current legislation regulating themunicipalities and local councils' ability to borrow money, the laws on municipalities’ property rights over land,as well as the ability of municipalities to ensure payment of the amounts to be paid by potential tenants.

15 Housing construction programme in public-private partnership, Ministry of Regional Developing and Housing,http://www.mdrl.ro16 Andrada Ghira, Ce spun dezvoltatorii despre proiectul de case al Elenei Udrea, September 5th, 2011, article available at

http://www.money.ro/ce-spun-dezvoltatorii-despre-proiectul-de-case-al-elenei-udrea_1074961.html


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We will support this initiative", declared Andrew Prelea, CEO of Ozone Homes, one of the leading companies in

Romania in the area of real estate development. The company showed real interest in the Ministry’s legislative

proposal of a public-private partnership for building affordable housing and had a series of meetings with the

Ministry representatives at the beginning of the year17.

However, the real estate development companies are only interested in a PPP as long as it is profitable.

Companies, such as Adama, the largest player on the real estate market in Romania, were very frank about this:

„Adama, which is focusing on developing housing for the medium-income market segment, is interested by such

a partnership as long as there is a business to be made from such a collaboration.”, said Asher Lax, the Sales

Director of the company which is owned by the Austrian Immofinanz18.

The proposal was endorsed unchanged by the government and on December 22nd, 2011, the Government

amended the Law 152/1999 on the organization and functioning of the National Housing Agency, in order to

allow the NHA to attract private capital for the construction of rental housing19. A few months later, in April

2012, the Government approved the programme Construction of rental housing, achieved by attracting private

capital20.

The programme is implemented and conducted by the Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism

(MRDT), through the National Housing Agency (NHA), by concluding public works concession contracts.

The financing of the design, construction and operation of the housing units are provided by private investors

from own or attracted sources. The financing of the economic, technical and legal structure of projects, including

the elaboration of studies for the substantiation of the concession decision and of the contract award

documentation necessary to implement the program are conducted by NHA from state budget sources.

In return for the housing units developed, a share of the rents received will be directed to the private investors,

in addition to some unitary payments made regularly, to be reimbursed by the National Housing Agency from

state budget sources.

In return for the housing units developed, a share of the rents received will be directed to the private investors,

in addition to some unitary payments made regularly, to be reimbursed by the National Housing Agency from

state budget sources. The site servicing works and the urban-technical equipment are to be provided by the local

public authorities and/or investors, in line with the contracts concluded by the NHA with the administrative-

territorial units and/or private investors. Thus, the site servicing and urban-technical works outside the housing

development project perimeter are to be carried out by the local public authorities, while the funding will be

provided from state budget sources and/or local budget. The site servicing and urban-technical works for the

housing to be developed within the perimeter is done either by the local public authority, if funds can be

allocated for this purpose, or by the private investor under the concession contract.

17 Ce spun dezvoltatorii despre proiectul de case al Elenei Udrea, September 5th, 2011, article available athttp://www.money.ro/ce-spun-dezvoltatorii-despre-proiectul-de-case-al-elenei-udrea_1074961.html

18 Andrada Ghira, Udrea vrea locuințe sociale pe banii privaților. Ce spun dezvoltatorii, September 5th, 2011, article available atwww.money.ro19 Government Emergency Ordinance 121/2011 for amending some normative acts, published in the Official Gazette no.931/29.12.2011.20 Government approved programme on construction of rental housing, achieved by attracting private capital, Press release ofthe Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism, April 18th, 2012,http://www.mdrt.ro/en/comunicare/presa/comunicate/guvernul-a-aprobat-programul-constructia-de-locuinte-cu-chirie-realizate-prin-atragerea-capitalului-privat-


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The private investor is the one that, in addition to assuming the responsibility for the construction, will managethe housing built, collect rents and maintenance costs. Upon termination of the concession contract, the assetsrealized under the Programme would remain in the public domain of the state and under the management of theNHA.The local councils of communes, cities, municipalities, respectively of the Bucharest Municipality sectors andthe General Council of Bucharest Municipality set up the necessary measures to be taken for registration andanalysis of the applications for housing, as well as receiving the applications and the supporting documentsrequired, to be analysed by committees set up for this purpose.Regarding the beneficiaries, one of the conditions set by the programme is that the average income of the holderof the housing application needs be at least 50% of the gross average wage in the economy, but not higher than100% of the gross average wage per economy.The amounts received as rent are to be distributed as follows: 50% of the amount constitutes revenue to thestate budget, 30% of the amount goes to the private investor, and 20% of the amount goes to the NationalHousing Agency.Amounts collected from rents going to the National Housing Agency, will be used both to financing housingconstruction programmes and for general administrative expenses of unoccupied dwellings.Also, an important aspect is that the housing units that are built from public funds are not required to fall intothe minimum market price any more. The programme for the construction of rental housing units with privatefunding allows also for the private investors to promote housing developing projects, in addition to the localauthorities. Finally, the Rental Housing units with private financing can now be built by the NHA also onlands owned by natural or legal persons, and not only on plots owned by the state or the territorial-administrative units (UAT).

A possible model for privately financing affordable housing in Romania

One solution that could cover, at least in part, the demand for affordable apartments, might be "InclusionaryHousing"21. This is a program more and more used in the United States for increasing the number of affordablehousing with the help of private developers. Inclusionary" is defined as a requirement or a voluntary option toreserve a certain percentage, usually ranging between 10-30% of the total number of apartments, in a newresidential project to low-income families.For the successful implementation of the programme, the most important aspects are: the reserved percentage,the categories of income that can qualify for the program, the facilitations offered to the developer, as well asthe duration of the programme. In exchange, developers can get special non-financial facilitations under theform of larger urban planning indicators; flexible functions in the approved urban plan, etc.This method could substantially and uniformly increase the number of affordable housing units throughout thecity and will increase the areas with mixed-communities. Thus, gentrification of the neighborhoods could beavoided, making the residential areas more diversified, in terms of income and professions."Inclusionary Housing" can take the form of mandatory programs, but the most efficient are considered to bethe voluntary ones, based on the facilities provided to developers. The location of these housing units having aspecial price could be evenly spread throughout the site of the development project, on one side of the plot oreven in another location (when it is impossible to build at a low price because of the high price of land).Also, the developers who do not wish or are not able to build these lower-cost residential units may choose, forexample, to pay a solidarity tax to a government fund for the construction of social or subsidized housing.These programmes could offer a variety of ways for the developers to indirectly cut costs that could make themincrease profitability of their investment. In order for the developers to willingly and actively participate in theprogram, the profit is one essential requirement.

21 Inclusionary zoning, also known as inclusionary housing, is an American term which refers to municipal and county planningordinances that require a given share of new construction to be affordable by people with low to moderate incomes. In practice,these policies involve placing deed restrictions on 10%-30% of new houses or apartments in order to make the cost of thehousing affordable to lower-income households. Solutii din import pentru piata de locuinte din Romania, Mai 31st, 2010http://www.wall-street.ro/editorial/358/Solutii-din-import-pentru-piata-de-locuinte-din-Romania

http://www.wall-street.ro/editorial/358/Solutii-din-import-pentru-piata-de-locuinte-din-Romania

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Following are some examples of facilitations that developers could obtain:• Allowing for the increase of urban planning indicators over existing zoning regulations (buildability,density, height, etc.). This allows developers to build more apartments, without the need to buy moreland.• Facilitating the reduction of the minimum size by 5-10 %.This facilitation can lower the total price ofthe apartment.• Reduction of parking requirements by 5-10%. The developers are required by law to build a certainnumber of parking spaces, according to the total area built, but some buyers could not be interested inbuying a parking lot.• Flexibility in design. This option could introduce solutions to maximize the living area, where this ispossible (changing densities, heights).• Tax reductions or exceptions. Although there should be done an impact study before, as thisrepresents a reduction in the revenues to the state budget, this facilitation is quite important for thedevelopers. One option could be to postpone taxation until the moment the apartments are sold.• Speeding the process of obtaining building permits and approvals. This is a solution that couldpotentially have a great impact in Romania, where the bureaucracy is heavy and the waiting period toobtain permits is quite long. The waiting time until obtaining the building authorization (1-2 years ifthere is no PUZ) represents an additional cost that will be found in the final price of the apartment.One or more measures from the examples above could be implemented, and every added measure hasthe potential to further reduce the final price of the apartment, while the application of all facilities canreduce the final price up to 30 % or more.

"Inclusionary Housing" is an example of program that have virtually no effect on the revenues to the local andstate budgets and that can be applied immediately, without logistics, personnel and additional costs from thestate.

Selected bibliography:

NOTĂ DE FUNDAMENTARE la Hotărârea Guvernului nr. 352 /2012 pentru aprobarea Programului„Construcţia de locuinţe cu chirie, realizate prin atragerea capitalului privat”Law no. 152/1998 on setting-up the National Housing Agency, republished, with further amendments(Government Emergency Ordinance no. 16/2010, G.E.O no. 33/2010)Public-Private Partnerships in Housing and Urban Development, UN-Habitat, Nairobi, 2011Wilkinson, Sara & Reed, Richard, Property Development, Fifth Edition, Routledge, 2008Daniela PÂRVU, Cristina VOICU-OLTEANU, Advantages and Limitations of the Public Private Partnershipsand the Possibility of Using Them in Romania, Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences, 27E/2009 pp.189-198

European Commision, www.ec.europa.euEurostat Database http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.euDepartment for Communities and Local Government, www.communities.gov.ukNorth Devon Council www.northdevon.gov.ukMinistry of Regional Development and Tourism, www.mdrt.ro

Online journalswww.capital.rowww.bizbrasov.ro

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www.ziare.com

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Introduction

Reurbanization ofHistoric Downtownsfor Long-TermSustainability

By:Celeste Roche

Professor: Edgar Kiviet t

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n its first life, the American city was a slum: dirty, crime-ridden and

nappealing. But because people continued to move to cities as

anufacture overtook agriculture due to technological advancement,

he city had to change. Workers’ rights, human rights and

nvironmental regulation all moderated the city into a clean, safe,

olerable place. As the conditions of cities improved, families moved in

o be close while working; entertainment and other amenities developed

o support holistic lives, all within walking distance. The advent of the

utomobile and interstate highways, coupled with the decline of heavy

ndustry, shifted the focus and funding in the United States to the

reation of suburbia: cities fell into disrepair and were again dirty,

rime-ridden and unappealing.

ver the past few decades, life in the United States has shifted back

owards cities, citing environmental concern, social equity concerns and

ersonal references of younger generations. However, it can be difficult

o actively reurbanize an area that was, at one point, actively

uburbanized.

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ew Britain was for a long run one of the great industrial hubs of theortheastern United States. When manufacture declined, so did theopulation, though it never dropped so low for New Britain to lose itstatus as a city. However, this technical population-based designationid not stop people from attempting to turn the city into a suburb ofartford (the state capital, whose authentic suburbs abut Newritain’s fringes). New Britain always had some quaint more suburban

tyle neighborhoods—the main issue came when it was decided thatoth a highway and freeway would be put down directly through theraditional downtown of the city.

ap showing the intersection of Route 72 (Highway) and Route 9 (Freeway) inowntown New Britain.

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Many of the problems in New Britain and similar cities result from having too low of a population density in anarea that was originally built to support people quite literally living one on top of the other. Reurbanizationseeks to increase the number of people who spend time in an area, whether working, playing or simply living. Anincrease in the number of people in an area contributes to safety and also brings resources into the area ingreater density. Those resources tend to be put towards improving infrastructure and amenities, making thearea more pleasant for people to be in.New Britain does not have much opportunity for infill development—fewer than three acres of land in the citycan be considered vacant, and less than one acre is considered virgin or green. Of those properties, they aredivided into small parcels, suitable for only small houses or pocket parks.While some properties could lend themselves to intensification and will probably experience an increase inlaborers or residents when the rapid transit busway opens in 2015, simply filling buildings currently in use willnot fully reurbanize even the core of Downtown, due to the huge amount of carrying capacity that was removedwhen the highway and freeway were dug through the city.Regarding the potential for adaptive reuse, there are plenty of properties— particularly brownfields—mostlyformer industrial facilities, which could be converted into housing or mixed-used properties, and they could verywell become a “hip and sexy” housing option for recent graduates of the local university.As far as full-fledged redevelopment goes, New Britain is rife with properties that could use a thoroughurbanistic makeover.

Possible SolutionWhile there are many things that can be done to reurbanize New Britain, the emphasis should be put on itsdowntown (the area most intended to be urban), especially as twelve bus lines currently merge there, and a highspeed busway system will also have a station there in the near future. It should be an area that is dense enoughthat people can feasibly get around to a variety of services without needing to use a car.New Brite Plaza is a suburban-style strip-mall in Downtown New Britain. The entire strip is single story,though even the houses, church and synagogue behind it are multistory: they were part of the older, moretraditional downtown. New Brite houses predominately low-end retailers and services (such as off-track bettingand a discount department store). More than half of the multi-acre property is covered with a single-levelparking lot. One member of the Orthodox Jewish congregation located just north of the plaza describes the walkacross the shorter side of the parking lot as “comparable to wandering in Sinai, but with a greater chance ofbeing hit by a car and a lesser chance of manna appearing.” The plaza is also known for attracting certainindividuals who are considered less-savory: the homeless, sex workers, drug addicts and so on.Redeveloping New Brite into a more traditional multistory mixed-use pedestrian-centered model couldconceivably have numerous benefits. For one, it would assist in reestablishing the urban core by creating awalkable space. Having residencies on top of offices on top of retail would undoubtedly drive up the activepopulation in the area.This would make the setting more intimate and more public at once by increasing the amount of time peoplespend in the area, as well as the amount of people who visit— there would more than likely be a decrease incrime in the plaza. Furthermore, restructuring the plaza into a pedestrian-driven center would recreate visualharmony and spatial continuity that is disrupted by the highway and the low-lying plaza. The distinct shift inarchitectural trend creates the sensation that there is a division between the two sides of Main Street. Creatingmultistory buildings in the place of New Brite would bring the area back into its own neighborhood.Nearby parking is available in two municipal garages, and the bus depot is a short walk from the property.Reducing the parking should not create an issue if people learn to use the underutilized parking garages andpublic transit.Creating underground parking could become problematic due to the proximity to the highway and freeway, butthere is the possibility that there could be one level of underground parking, which would leave visitors withapproximately the same number of spaces as they currently have—perhaps a few more, even. If there is oneoutlet on Martin Luther King Drive (east) and one inlet on Main Street (west), traffic should not be an issue ifthere is sufficient lead-in area for the inlet.If there is no cue for cars to drive into during peak hours, there would probably be a bit of a tie-up on MainStreet, and even though New Britain’s Main Street is not as busy as it was in its heyday, the congested arterycould become a problem for emergency response vehicles being dispatched from Downtown and the southernportion of the city.

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Image of New Brite Plaza from: http://www.chartweb.com/

Image of New Brite Plaza from: http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/

Previously, there was a plan proposed to revamp New Brite Plaza, replacing the bulk of the property with astadium for the local university. The university, instead, built on its own property in the northeast of the city.While a stadium would add economic value to the area, it would have visually crushed all surroundingbuildings, none of which are even visible in the renderings.

Artist’s rendering of stadium from: http://ysoa.architecture.yale.edu/UDW/projects/newBritain/

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New Brite is currently valued at about USD20million, so redevelopment to the effect of dismantling andrebuilding in a new form would run into numbers that may seem unrealistically high. The incentive couldalready be there, though.There is substantial literature regarding social justice in urban redevelopment (e.g. Goodman and Monti, Montiand Burghoff), and there is a belief that if local government commits to involvement, then an area can beredeveloped without experiencing total gentrification (or as some developers like to put it “repositioning ofresidential tenancy.”).In a city as rife with poverty as New Britain, concerns of social justice are particularly valid. While such aredevelopment project isn’t suitable as a public-private partnership in a city that attempts to be capitalistic andmarket-driven, this project would be an ideal one in which to employ a substantial citizen-stakeholderengagement model.Few people in New Britain are at all fond of New Brite Plaza—but public feedback would help developers todesign a suitable mixed-use area, possibly filling in some gaps in the housing market. More people would live inDowntown if there were spaces in Downtown geared towards them: nearly all apartments are two bedrooms orfewer and under a thousand square feet. Families with more than a couple of children and young students andprofessionals wishing to live with roommates often cannot find their place in Downtown due to a lack of varietyin the options that are available.With the new CTfastrak rapid transit busway system opening within a two-minute walk from the plaza and theDowntown Bus Depot moving to within a few seconds of it, creating a space that can take advantage of foottraffic brought about by mass transit can generate huge returns for businesses of all varieties, including for
landlords, as proximity to mass transit generally increases property values. (Estrin)
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Although the author would love to redevelop New Brite Plaza into aproperty suited to an urban center, she doesn’t have the money to do itjust yet.New Brite Plaza will be one of the properties used in upcoming citizenengagement planning and development workshops. Residents will beinvited to remodel the property according to current zoning regulations,possibly and hopefully designing structures more suited to Downtown.Particularly compelling plans may be developed into marketingmaterials for consideration by potential investors. Potential investorswill be actively courted. Because of the lack of undeveloped land in thecity and the lack of undeveloped land available for purchase adjacent tothe city’s borders, the vertical development of land should be regardedas having the same asset-building potential as the acquisition of a greenpatch near the city line would.While private investment in New Britain is lacking, especially after aparticularly bad administration brought about two instances of bondratings being lowered in the same fiscal year, the new mass transitoptions opening in 2015 and the continued expansion of CentralConnecticut State University into Downtown New Britain and otherareas of the city should create some amount of excitement in the localreal estate market.Given that the city lacks virgin land, redevelopment is the only optionfor many investors. An infrastructure overhaul coupled with anincreased population of upper-middleclass students could be a largeenough incentive for an investor with a heavier portfolio. The City mayalso be willing to provide additional incentives, such as tax abatements,given that the current state of New Brite contributes to crime in thecity— which has direct costs associated with keeping the police forcewell-used, but also indirect costs in harming the reputation of the city.

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References and Acknowledgements

Special thanks to the residents of New Britain who shared their views of and hopes for New Brite Plaza inpersonal communications and through the I Remember New Britain Facebook group.Special thanks to the Honorable (former) Mayor Tim Stewart, Executive Director of the Greater New BritainChamber of Commerce for information regarding the stadium plan.Estrin, Michael. "Public Transportation Affects Home Values." Bankrate. N.p., 20 Sept. 2013. Web. 22 Dec.2013.Goodman, Michael D., and Daniel J. Monti. "Corporately Sponsored Redevelopment Campaigns and the SocialStability of Urban Neighborhoods: St. Louis Revisited." Journal of Urban Affairs 21.1 (1999): 101-‐27. Print.Jr., Daniel J. Monti, and Daniel Burghoff. "Corporately Sponsored Redevelopment Campaigns And TheDemographic Stability Of Urban Neighborhoods: St. Louis Re-‐ Revisited." Journal of Urban Affairs 34.5(2012): 513-‐32. Print.

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Introduction

Analysis of thePedestrian Street inBacau City, Romania

By:Costina Chisarau

Professor: Edgar Kiviet

This paper is a study case of

a walkway situated in the

heart of Bacau, a city of

150.000 people in the North-

East of Romania.

Some important

characteristics will be

considered, as protection of

the people, the feeling of

being invited to spend time

in a place, the delight that

space produces on us.

The goal of this paper is to

analyze the conditions and

parameters of the pedestrian

street in Bacau, in order to

determine if the space is well-

used, defensible, attractive,

with identity and state

changes that would improve

the functionality and

representativeness of the

area.

Context: Bacau – 150.000 inhabitants, situated in the north easternpart of Romania;Nicolae Balcescu Street is one of the oldest streets in Bacau. It has beenthe main street of this city since the 17th century. Initially a promenadebordered by mainly 2 to 3 story buildings, this historical road wastransformed into the main traffic transit path during the dictatorshipyears. The promenade zone was established on one side of this new mainstreet.

the main street -1920 the main street – 2014

After the fall of the communist regime in 1989, the city of Bacau (asmany other East Romanian cities) started a transformation under therise to power of the private sector. A business boom occurred and themain street was at the very heart of this phenomenon. Due to the broadwalkways and the embedded social status of this “downtown” area,small local commercial businesses flourished here. Everything fromrestaurants to barbershops to clothing, department stores and so on.Functions were mainly focused on the large influx of people using thebroad space as a promenade which resulted in a direct tie between thebordering buildings and the walkway. The public was invited inside tobuy, eat or just relax on their weekend stroll. This interaction betweenthe inside and the outside governed the functionality of the surroundingcommercial spaces up to the economic depression.

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map of Bacau, year 1897

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Over the last few years, things changed again. The current situation of this unique space, which bears the onlypromenade in the city, is much more different than it was five years ago. The economic downturn has producedsignificant transformations in the way the promenade relates to the commercial ground floors that border it.Most small businesses are forced to relocate and the ones that survive have very short lifetimes here. Their placeis now taken by banks and corporate public relations offices (Orange, Vodafone, Tarom etc.). Now, most of thepeople pass by or go straight to the spots they have to reach, not taking time to sit down, have a pause, stand,enjoy the views. The walkway has become itself a transit path, like the street next to it, moving easily awayfrom its initial social role it played within the city.

map of Bacau, year 2013; the position of the pedestrian zone on Nicolae Balcescu Street

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Tp

he analysis of the next parameters will reveal some more important aspects about the actual state of the

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edestrian zone, in order to better understand what needs to be done for improvements.

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The need of feeling protected is a decisive human factor in the city. Acomfortable, inviting space is one that offers the sensation of protection– physical, as well as psychological. We prefer the places that give usshelter in case of rain, snow, over-heating, pollution and at the sametime, make us feel safe from crime and violence. The feeling of beingsafe is crucial for people to use urban space. Usually, the activity andpeople make for a safer city, in terms of real protection and as well asperceived protection.

new parking places; people crossing the street freely

Protection against vehicular traffic

In the last 50 years, cars have invaded many of the world’s cities,including Bacau. This brought along huge amounts of traffic andincreased rate of accidents. Instead of working on the source of theproblem, politicians and traffic planners searched for ways to fix thedamaging results and went for finding more space for cars, on streetsand in parking places at the street level.The main street in Bacau has recently been modernized, to create morespace for parking on one side of the road. This street, that was initiallyused by pedestrians only, afterwards added the use of car transit, is nowmore used by automobiles than ever, because many drivers come here insearch for a parking place. Making more parking places in the citycentre, at the street level, meant bringing more traffic into the citycentre. This turned out to be a wrong change, which contributed to thebad functioning of the city. Good parking places are usually made in theproximity of the city centre, so that cars are encouraged not to enter thezone and stop close to it; after this point, people walk.

Protection

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The pedestrian space is situated adjacent to the main traffic street of the city. Although there are three zebracrossings along 320 m, people still commonly walk free of them. This shows the necessity that people feel forhaving a stronger connection between the two sides. The free movement between the two sides of the road ispreferred over walking the distance to one of the zebra crossings. Although the distance would be of only 140m,which is usually acceptable, many times of the day, the main street is not used by cars, so people have thetendency to attribute it to them.

walking to the theatre

The pedestrians walking often on the space of the cars show the opportunity of introducing the concept of“street sharing” between cars and people. This change can be taken into consideration along with the study ofthe hours most used by the two parts and with organizing the means of sharing the space through negotiation.With the main street that margins the pedestrian zone, people on the walkway have the perception of a widerspace, as the main zone reserved for people is not enclosed by buildings at both its edges. When there are no carspassing on the street, the space seems emptier although there are some people strolling. Still, there are alignmenttrees towards the street, which help counteract this effect and somewhat define the space.

the main perspective over the pedestrian zone

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The visibility of the walkway is very good. Situated in the heart of the city, open towards the street on one side,everyone drives by it on their daily routine. The main sitting public places, the benches, are very exposed, withtheir backs unprotected, situated higher than other parts of the street. It might be part of the reason why sittingon a bench is not so popular. Other things that contribute to this people’s choice can be the noise, car horns andtraffic fumes, as sketched in the image below.

But even when cars are not on the street, the benches are not used. The sense of protection when sitting isreduced by over-exposure. There are people walking, but few of them sit down.

Protection against crime and violence

Social inequality, the habit of people and the background of a nation are often fundamentals for why people areafraid of theft and the invasion of private life. In Romania, this is a deep strong feeling in the character ofpeople since the communist regime, when people where imprinted the “panoptikon” effect of constantly being infear that you could be watched and listened to. They were encouraged to honest work and compromise; anyform of art expression was not allowed, as it implied freedom.With this background, people have the same behavior now, even though the country is a democracy and thisaspect is seen very much in the attitude towards public space. The relation between public space and privatespace is usually cut and replaced with over-protection of the private. In these conditions, the ground floor of thecommercial street closes all the lights after the functioning program and the blinds are shut, remaining lit onlythe luminous logos of the companies.The black ground floor has a repellent and unsafe feeling. The walkway is lit at night with soft, yet insufficientlighting. This offers the space a pleasant atmosphere near the road, but the lack of activities in the evening andthe black margins of the surroundings make the zone look uncomfortable.The way ground floors are designed has a great impact on the vitality and attractiveness of urban space. Theyare the only thing one sees when walking along a building. At night, when not much happens at the groundfloors, the furniture, flowers and even the exposed products can be testimonials of the presence of other people,which is a grateful feeling. This is why, light is better to be kept on, blinds not shut, inviting people to walkalong and take a look at the exhibited products in the window. But unfortunately, there are too few stores thatact this way, for the walkway to be animated. Permeable margins could send people the message that the city ishospitable, which in this case, doesn’t happen.Consolidation of the city vitality, so as a considerable number of people to walk and spend time in the commonareas, raises the security and also the feel of safety. The presence of other people indicates that the place is areasonable secure one. There are other people around to see if anything happens. A lively city is a secure andcomforting city.

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In the evening, on the walkway in Bacau, there is no sense of security that one usually has when there are morepeople around. The space is not animated. It is deserted and unprotected. At night, people avoid this place,choosing the pub areas or the mall.

at night the walkway is not activated

Protection against unpleasant sensory experiencesThe comfort sensation is influenced by many factors, as temperature and clearness of air, humidity, wind orsolar heat. Good weather is an essential condition for people to spend time outside their homes. When the sun isshiny, one sees more smiles on people’s faces because we are happy we can go outside and also, sun exposureencourages the production of endorphins. But too much exposure is not searched for in Romania, as the sun isvery powerful in summer, often reaching up to 40 oC at noon.On the analyzed walkway, buildings allow for the sun to enter the zone. But protection from it, when in need, ishardly found. The wind is not a problem, thanks to all the existing urban facilities, which have a good effect oninterrupting the draft. There are no protection areas, for sheltering when it rains, snows or when the sun is toopowerful, with the exception of the recessed ground floor. The entire area is open and has no cover; the only wayone can find protection is reaching for the recess of the ground floor (of one meter), as seen in the followingimage.

The trees and flowers between the benches are small and they do not provide shade. The proximity of car trafficcan make the environment polluted and dusty at rush hours. Not being protected against many unpleasantsensory experiences, the space is only rarely suitable for reading and relaxing: in weekends, when there is no cartraffic and if the weather is very good. People usually pass by and don’t stop to spend more time.

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There is more that the urban realm should provide, besides protectionqualities. These are often not enough to make places successful and usedwith pleasure by people. They are functional qualities that provide thebasic needs for a place to be able to get used. But if they are coupledwith qualities that invite and delight people, the public spaces are attheir best.

WalkingThe reasons why people go for a walk are many and the city is morevibrant as there are more people moving through it. They make thespace look more dynamic, attractive, alive and interesting. The presenceof people is the main attractor in an urban space, more important thansculptures, architecture or other facilities. If in one place you seenobody, you will assume there is nothing interesting to be done or seenthere, so you will find it of little significance. The encouragement ofpeople to walk is a vital part of every urban project, which aims atincreasing the quality of the city. The compact city, based on the mixand quality of public transport, pedestrian traffic and cycling, is theonly urban model that we can count on, for our future. A walk throughthe city is understood as a background for the social interaction thattakes place on the way. As the living room we spend our evenings athome, having a good time with friends, is a decisive factor in definingour standard of life, the same does the public space inviting to peopleinteraction for the standard of our city life. When designing a house,often the most surface area is given to the daytime activities zone. Thisis usually made up of the dining and living area. We refer to the spacewhere we interact with our guests, our friends, our families, as the“living room”. This is no coincidence. Human beings, as individuals, area social species, relying on each other in order to sustain our lives.Socializing is how we connect to the world and through it we establishand strengthen our connections with the people we need in our lives.Thus, the space inside our houses that is dedicated to this interactionbecomes the heart of a home; it serves an essential part of our daily livesand is, therefore, the “living” room. The city’s living room is the publicspace. It provides the same function as the day time zone in our homes,but on a larger scale. It is the space in which new connections areformed, where a community reinforces its bonds, the place in which anindividual can feel a sense of belonging, which fulfills his social needs.The characteristics of the pedestrian area are generally favorable in thecase of inviting people for a stroll. There is plenty of room for walking,which is a good aspect, but sometimes it may look empty. The walkwayincreases accessibility to key areas, linking The Cathedral -Trandafirilor Park – Luceafarul Commercial Center – The Statue ofBacovia, but it is on the other side of the road from the Cinema Centraland Bacovia Theatre. The facades at the upper levels are in a badcondition and have a boring or low quality architecture, which doesn’tsupport an attractive urban image. The surfaces close to human noticeare of medium quality. The ones facing the street are chosen with moreattention than the side and back ones, but still the overall aspect isgood.

Invitation and Delight

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There are no obstacles on the way. One can walk straight ahead from the beginning to the end of the pedestrianzone. One inconvenience is that the other side of the street has the pedestrian zone more narrow, with nobenches, nor other amenities for people. Furthermore, there are more activities available on that part of thestreet, like small shops, bookstores, jewelry shops and three bars, besides Cinema Central and Bacovia Theatre,whereas, the pedestrian zone is dominated by big companies. Making the public space of the two sides moreattractive for people would increase the sense of identity of the place, offering a more representative image ofthe city centre. Also the theatre, one of the few historical monuments that survived the dictatorship demolishes,would be much more valued, as people would have the opportunity and necessary angle available to view it.

Standing, staying and sittingPeople walk, stop or sit when the quality of urban space invites them to do so. The overall conditions for peopleto stop and stay in a public space are: nice microclimate, placement towards the margins, with your backprotected preferably in niches, a good view, low level of noise to allow for conversations and absence ofpollution. People also prefer to be able to see other people, trees, flowers, water, interesting architecture andstatues.In the study case, the places where people can sit down are many, but they are not used very often. They arecomposed of wooden benches with curved sitting, comfortable and with backrest. But they are not protected atall from sunlight and they are very exposed. Instead of being placed one in front of the other, they are organizedin groups of three, back to back to other groups of three, facing nothing interesting, with the green area betweenthem. Some people choose to stand on the margins of the building, watching the beautiful arrangement of publicspace, instead of using it, as in the sketch below.

In time, the trees between the benches will grow and will filter the light nicely, offering comfortable shade and amore protected feeling, but until then, people will have to settle with the recess of the ground floor. It is usefulto observe how the defined spots for sitting are not used, people finding their own better alternatives.

For sitting, people often choose the protecting margins of the buildings over the exposed benches.

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Known as the “margin effect”, the limits of the buildings defining the public space often attract people likemagnets. Here, our senses can define and understand space, we can see what happens in the street, our back isprotected and we are out of the pedestrian traffic. The microclimate is better and we feel a physical andpsychological support, so it is a good space for spending some time.The support points situated usually at the margins of a public space offer the sensation of not being alone and ofhaving the situation under control. They are useful as waiting places, especially when one is alone. They have avery important role in attracting people to spend time in the public space, offering psychological and practicalsupport. On the studied walkway, the offer of individual objects to lean against or stand next to is very low. Thetrees that could play this role are situated along the road, too close to the car traffic, so nobody uses them.The attractive possibilities that public seating offers are people watching, relaxing, resting, the possibility ofchatting and socializing; but few people use it. Private cafe sitting is missing, as the nearby pubs are on theother side of the road and don’t have enough space to make outside terraces. If both two sides of the road wouldprovide enough space for people’s activities, the three bars would have the opportunity and space to take outtables and chairs to create some terraces. This would create a better mix of public and cafe seating.

Visual contactWatching the life of the streets is, as said earlier, one of the most important and attractive things to do, whenone is outside their home. “People watching” is a universal activity, which takes place whenever we walk, sit orstand. The most populated benches are the ones that offer good views over different kind of attractions andespecially over other people.In the case study, “people watching” is possible, but it is not practiced. As the benches are situated back toback, one gets to see people walking by. A positive aspect about the positioning of benches is that they aresituated in groups of three, arranged in a concave form, which encourages visual contact and conversation. But,in spite of this, there are few people who really feel invited to sit and interact.

people walking, but not sitting

The contact between interior and exterior has a decisive role in a city, making the experience more interestingand enriched for the one inside, as well as for those outside. The commercial windows usually have a positiveeffect in this sense, creating visual connections that activate the city.

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The windows on the analyzed walkway are open towards the exterior, establishing, with some few exceptions,good visual connections. They are diverse and seem to attract people walk along them. Lately, many of thesmall boutiques and cafes were replaced by big companies and banks, which have much limited program withthe public and after 4 pm. the activity on this walkway starts to go down.A barrier in creating more visual contact and more face to face communication is the high sound level caused bythe high amount of traffic. A background noise of 60 dB is considered the maximum value that people can standto, when trying to keep up a normal conversation, at a normal distance. In our case, on a normal day, the trafficnoise doesn’t reach such high levels, but people still don’t feel invited to sit, spend time and interact.

Play, relax and self-expressionThe playing of children has always been an integrant activity in a city. In the past, children used to play aroundthe places that their parents worked in. But the modernist planning started the rethinking of games and sportszones as dedicated spots in the city. If the city is seen as having the people at its roots, it is not necessary todivide the activities of children from the one of their parents. Quality cities have incorporated solutions for play,outside activities and self-expression, so as families can enjoy their free time together.In Bacau, on the main walkway, children are not encouraged to play or do any kind of activity. The closeness tocar traffic scares parents to leave their children free and have fun. There are no kinds of facilities that invitechildren to play with or around them.There are no ways in which adults are encouraged to make some outside exercise and enjoy their free time.Every adult just transits the zone and doesn’t get engaged in any kind of local outside activity. It would bebetter if there were some inside and outside destination points, dedicated to create a route for art, culture andrelaxation activities, in which people could get involved in their free time. This way, locals, as well as touristscan discover and rediscover the less known places in town, which would be in a better way valued. For example,Bacovia Theatre can be restored and its XVIIth century facade can be appreciated by people; the Art Gallerycan be renovated and attributed an outside space where artists can present their works closer to the passer-by;the Central Library, whose basic activity was recently moved in a park, can make place for a Cultural Center.These buildings can play a decisive positive role in creating a strong identity for the city and encouraginginteraction and self-expression.

The human scaleIn urbanism as well as in architecture the most important vantage point is the eye level. What we create aroundus and that which we perceive is a landscape that gets smaller as we progress from childhood to adult. Childrensee spaces much larger than they appear to us. Their eye height lends great size to the architecture around them,which progressively diminishes as we get older. As adults, when asked how far we are willing to walk to get to adesired place, the answers are usually around 500m. But this distance is highly relative and is susceptible towarping due to several psychological factors. Obstacles, overcrowding, sequential sidewalks short-circuited bydriveways, parking meters and the occasional misbehaved bike rider make our pedestrian lives long andfrustrating. In order to create a human friendly environment, a special care must be taken in order for the publicspace to become an inviting and inspiring experience.In the case study, the central street of Bacau holds many opportunities for creating an organic expressionplatform. The ways through which this can be realized are various and offer multiple means of exploring.

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Sustainability

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Social sustainability is a vast and provocative concept. One of its mostimportant aspects regards providing an equal chance to all socialcategories to have access to the common space within a city and to itsmodes of transport. This equality rests on the possibility of having theoption of walking or biking in a combination with public transportsystems. Pedestrians, or people who don’t possess cars, must have accessto what the city has to offer as opposed to living a life hindered byunsatisfactory means of transport. If a city is to be permeable to newcitizens, it must adopt strategies that allow newcomers or those sociallychallenged to have access to both public areas of social interaction andadministrative and social services quarters. Social sustainability possessesa democratic significance which prioritizes an equality of chance for all tomeet “others” in a public space. This is conveyed through an inviting andeasily accessible public space, which serves as an attractive venue forinformal and organized social gatherings.In the case study, Bacau’s infrastructure provides a reasonable amount ofpublic transport routes that link the outskirts of the city to the center.Although the 6 numbers of buss-routes can usually handle the demandedloads, pollution associated with the diesel engines used inside the bussesthemselves hinders the sustainable aspects of using public transit. Fourmajor buss-routes where proposed to switch to electric power in 2008 butthe project is still on hold (in spite of the installed concrete columns thatwere supposed to carry the electric cables needed for the system). A muchdeeper concern regards bike lanes which are basically missing even thougha large proportion of the socially challenged use them as their main meansof transport around town. Bicycle riders are forced to ride either onsidewalks (where they are persecuted by pedestrians) or on the mainstreets (where they are neglected and often injured by drivers). Teenagersuse the broad sidewalks of the studied site as a makeshift bike course.This is met with mixed feelings among passers-by, some being annoyedothers tolerating their presence. They are amongst the few to try andmake use of their public space, and find new ways in which the space canbe activated. During the warm seasons, social gatherings of usually youngpeople give life to the site. They are the generation that will benefit themost from strategies implemented in the mid-term.The measures required for social equilibrium involve not only thereshaping and refunctioning of available public space, nor through a justgood practice of urbanism and architecture. The cultural aspect of thecity and its community weigh heavily in the development of a sustainableurban environment. This implies that, within our case study, the culturalcommunity of Bacau will have to be involved from the beginning.Through the expression of art in all its forms, the site can re-spirit theurban dwellers. The project must act as a platform of free interpretationof space and its uses. The economic power of a city dictates the measuresit can afford. In most circumstances, be it powerful or weak economicsystems, the openness of a system such as a city is one of its mostimportant strengths in order to attract different potential inhabitantswhich can contribute to the overall wellbeing and growth. An accessiblecity center with plenty of space for public gathering, urban loisir, art andcultural manifestations that is tailored to the needs of its citizens is afragile but potentially beneficial step towards a sustainable urbanenvironment.

Urban space and social sustainability

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he city needs a reinforcement of its identity, as most of the people haveorgotten what that is. The great demolishes in the communist timesucceeded to erase the connection of the city with its past, with itsaluable traditions, monuments and heritage. Because of those sad eventsnd because of no recent urban regeneration to revive the town, peoplere used to this state of being and find it normal one. An important issuehat is not operated and could be is the positioning of the city on theoute towards the monasteries of Moldavia, which are classed, accordingo UNESCO, as a heritage of worldwide interest. Many foreign travelersass through, sleep here, but don’t explore the city. Consulting someravel site forums, like tripadvisor.com, we find out that visitors thinkhere is nothing to be done in the city, but the reality is that interestingctivities are not promoted, as there is no integrated program regardingourism. The authorities are busy in finding ways to invest money in bigseless construction projects, but the way those public buildings workfterwards is left underdeveloped, so they usually remain empty.trategies having at their starting point the wellbeing of locals are totallyissing.here is a serious necessity of redefining the identity of the city, reconnecteople within a sense of community, make a better living environment for

ocals and create an image for the city at a national and internationalevel.he current representation space of the city, the walkway adjacent to theain street, doesn’t manage to bring improvements in this sense. This has

o be transformed into a spinal column of the city, which offers qualityublic space to the people, links the most important attractions, createsew destinations, revives the urban life and offers the city a strong image.ne way to do it is by splitting the city centre in partial zones for

ntervention, so as people can get used to the change and the authoritiesan have better control over the management of the project. The finaloal is to enlarge the pedestrian zone from the Cathedral to the Tricolorquare, increasing the sense of identity of the place, creating comfortingublic spaces along the way and integrate this with street sharingolutions. The most important attractions in the city are on this street,ut they are separated by four lanes of car traffic and there is a serious

ack of good public space for them to be enjoyed.he new public space would offer value to these attractions, providing theecessary space in front of them, so that they can be observed andnjoyed. It would also provide more green spaces, water, fountains,tatues, cozy sitting and standing places, which would increase theitality of the town. It would also increase the sense of community, aseople would be aware of their city, of their common heritage and wouldtart seeing the city as their common ground for self-expression andnteraction.he process can take place in three steps, reaching the final point through

hree projects, which would develop one at a time.

Conclusions

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S
tep 1
-enlarge the pedestrian zone of the street between Luceafarul Complex Store and Decebal Hotel;- create quality urban spaces along the street, taking care of the human scale; -offer rhythm to thewalking path through trees, fountains, statues;-create comfortable, protected and inviting sitting places and where is possible create standing andpausing places;-a part of the cars will go round on the parallel streets, Mihai Viteazul and Razboieni, which are nownot very used; on the main street use: people priority, limited speed, time framing, space sharing;

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-move the parking spots along the main street to a different location, in front of Decebal Hotel;

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-create destinations, which people can go to and spend time or just pass by and enjoy the view ofinteresting architecture which is also offered more value;-create outside spaces dedicated for activities that are now inside, but can be taken outside when goodweather, like art gallery, cafes and restaurants;-restore and renovate the oldest historical monument in the city centre, Bacovia Theatre, and thebuildings that act as magnets through the activities they provide, like Luceafarule Complex Store, AdalGalleries, The Art Galleries, Cinema Central; revive these buildings, creating programs that help themorganize events more often; support high quality public activities for the community;

Step 2

- enlarge the pedestrian zone of the the Nicolae Balcescu Street from Luceafarul Complex Store to theStatue of Stefan cel Mare;- unite the new public space with Trandafirilor Park and with the Cathedral Park;- offer the main view of the Cathedral to the people, as the main perspective view of the walkway, seenfrom far away; offer the statue of Stefan Cel Mare to the people as a close view seen from nearby; theymark the beginning of the walkway;- offer more representativeness to the city centre and main walkway with the cathedral closing theperspective and being perceived as a continue presence, as one strolls through the city centre;- reorganize the intersection at the Cathedral, so as the street in the back of the main street can enterthe roundabout;- create new parking places under the parking places of Hotel Moldova;- unite the walkway with the cafe zone along Unirii Bdl. by marking the route between them withalignment trees, good lighting and other public space accessories;

Step 3

- enlarge the pedestrian zone on the Nicolae Balcescu Street from Deceban Hotel to Tricolorului Square,freeing it to the people;- unite the walkway with the single usable square the city has, Tricolorului Square;

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- improve the quality of the public facilities in the square: create objects to lean on, stand next to, directthe eye to interesting views, use water and green spaces, create protection from unpleasant sensoryexperiences, ensure good lighting etc.;- renovate the Culture House and the Prefecture House, two of the most representative buildings of thecity;- make the Culture House more active, with more programs for the community sustained by theauthorities; create more outside activities in the square and programmed events, concerts, fairs;- analyze deeply the car traffic and come with solutions so as drivers can manage without using themain street; for example: unite the street Ionita Sandu Sturza with the street Vasile Alecsandri, throughthe back of the Prefecture, so that cars can avoid the centre of the city; or: remove the parking placesalong Razboieni street and move them on a new parking in front of Hotel Decebal, so that cars candrive both ways on Razboieni Street; this issue is to be examined more;- extend the outside spaces for cafes that are now on one side of the square; make summer terraces in thesquare;- encourage the appearance of street entertainment, performers and street art produced by individuals;free the right to self-expression in public, with free of charge authorization, of portretists, painters andother artists in the square; the authorization can be issued free of charge through a contract whichstates the identity of the performer and that he/she would engage in artistic performances that do notviolate the rules implied by the law; art can play an important role in public space, encouraging peopleto interact and exchange ideas, which is the ideal sense of public space;- create a Community Hub or a Mediatheque, or a Cultural Center in the building of the CentralLibrary, as the books have been moved to another place, which is more far away, in a new very bigbuilding, where nobody goes to; it would be better if the books were brought back and continue theinitial function of the building, creating a new part of building, for modern reading experiences andpublic interaction;- connect the Park of G. Bacovia with the new walkway;- improve the value of the Statue of G. Bacovia, by removing the fence that separates it from the newwalkway;

This is a type of project that plays a vital role in increasing the community sense among people, connectingthem with each other and with the city. With this intervention, the authorities show that they turn theirthinking towards the needs of the locals and understand that the quality of life can be changed along with thereputation of the city, through integrated strategies which have the people as a pivot.

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Nowadays, we have substantial evidence that confirms the more and moreimportant impact of sustainability upon real estate valuation. The conceptof sustainability impacts the activity of the valuers, who must take intoconsideration the fact that vacancy rates and operation costs could bemore reduced in the case of green buildings. Also, the expected increase ofthe sustainability recognition will lead to a reduced capitalization ratewhen selling a real estate and, implicitly, to a higher resale value comparedto the traditional buildings.In Romania there is an incipient green building market, considering thatthere are only five green buildings, which hold a BREEAM certificationand are located in Bucharest. On the other hand, the perception of theprofessions in the real estate industry does not always reflect reality; 41%of the architects wrongly consider that the green buildings’ cost is 11- 20%higher compared to the traditional buildings’ cost, and 26% of thearchitects believe that its level is even over 21% higher. There is animportant number of reasons for the immediate and rigorous considerationof sustainability in the valuation practice, but also in the “toolkit” of the

Summary

SUSTAINABILITYANDSUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENTSA Real EstateAnalysis and RealEstate ValuationApproach

By:Cornelia DragomirOvidiu IonFlorin Ianculescu-Popa

Professor: Edgar Kiviet oIweaapibspsaspmam

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ther professions in the real estate industry.t is impossible to ignore sustainability as some issues are embeddedithin legislation such as planning and building regulations, for example

nergy efficiency and water economy. However, developers should beware that these regulations represent the minimum allowable standardsnd not best practice. Developers should adopt best practice whereverossible. The standards and quality of the built environment should be

mproved for both inter and intra-generational benefits. Sustainability cane embedded throughout the development process, from inception to siteelection and acquisition to the financing of the scheme. The design androcurement phase is another key area where decisions will have aubstantial impact on the sustainability of a project. Environmentalssessment tools are growing in their scope and enable benchmarks to beet, which the market recognizes and acknowledges. In all areas ofroperty development and at all stages in the process the trends are forore sustainability. Over time the tools adopted in industry are modified

nd improved thereby allowing developers to deliver buildings to thearket that are more sustainable than previously.

What is Sustainability?
here could be as many definitions of sustainability and sustainableevelopment as there are groups trying to define it. To a large extent allhe definitions are concerned with:
• comprehension of the relationships between economy,environment and society;• equitable distribution of resources and opportunities;• reduce negative environmental impacts of development andguarantee quality of life.

o some degree, different ways of defining sustainability are useful forifferent situations and different purposes and, for this reason, variousroups have created definitions. The definition most frequently referred tos the one established by the United Nations World Commission onnvironment and Development report, “Our Common Future”, in 1987.his definition states that: “Sustainable development is development thateets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future

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enerations to meet their own needs.”

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Property development has some very significant impacts on sustainabilityissues:

• Development land and sustainability• Development finance and sustainability• Planning and sustainability• Sustainable design and construction

Development land and sustainabilityThe sustainability issues that affect land include loss of habitat andbiodiversity, and contamination of land either by natural causes or as aresult of a previous use. Development of land with contamination can addsignificantly to costs and developers need to take appropriate steps toreduce their risks when acquiring land that has been previously used.

Development finance and sustainabilityAs well as the traditional sources of finance for property development, newareas are emerging as financial institutions and lenders adopt and promoteCorporate Social Responsibility and risk management strategies. Thesedeveloping forms of finance either make sustainability a requirement ofthe finance package and/or offer incentives and discounts on finance forsustainable developments.To reduce the exposure of commercial loans, banks place importance onbusinesses’ ability to manage environmental liabilities. Environmentalconsultants estimate the nature and likelihood of risks and their adviceinforms the bank’s decisions on whether to accept, avoid, manage ormitigate risks, or to seek insurance cover. This works when risks arequantifiable and there is certainty; however, the qualitative nature ofmany risks generates ambiguity.The banks identify clients’ environmental risks and help to reduceexposure. Where necessary, loans are made conditional on clients takingmeasures to reduce risks. Loan decisions are informed by three riskconsiderations: direct, dominated by land contamination; indirect,including regulatory impacts and changes; and reputational. Thus, largerdevelopment schemes may be considered by the banks under theseprovisions as well as smaller property development schemes that are onland previously used or contaminated.

Planning and sustainabilityThe key sustainability issues that relate to planning are:

• transport• ecology and site conditions• zoning and land-use issues.• resources• community

Transport impacts on work, leisure and recreation patterns and on theenvironment in which we live. The increasing dependence on cars and roadfreight has significant environmental, social and economic impacts.Carbon emissions from transport accounts for a quarter of total carbonemissions for a developed nation. The social impacts revolve around thefrequency and severity of accidents, the impacts on health from inhalingemissions, whilst the economic impacts revolve around the costs of socialand environmental impacts. For a sustainable environment we need toprovide access in a way that has less impact.

Impact on Property Development process

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In planning terms this can be achieved by developing and implementing policies that:• improve and promote walking, cycling and public transport and changing habits to reduce car use;• manage freight transport by moving more by rail and reducing heavy truck traffic;• make streets, bus stops and tram stops safer, including lower traffic speeds and better security;• reduce oil dependence and shifting to cleaner, renewable energy for transport;• ensuring transport impacts are reflected in investment decisions and the costs that users pay;• plan in a more integrated way to involve the community and link land use and transport.

Sustainability on a regional and local level can be affected by which land is zoned for different uses. Clearly, theproperty developer has less influence individually on the regional plans. However, they should identify theprevailing trends in the locations or regions in which they operate. Consultation with the local authority planswill highlight authorities’ intentions with respect to zoning and land-use issues.

Sustainable design and constructionThere are numerous ways the construction phase of property development can be environmentally friendly.Firstly, there is the selection of the contractors on the tender list, secondly, the procurement process and,finally, the activities during construction itself.Some contractors are committed to reducing environmental impact and adopting social responsibility in theirbusiness operations. Frequently, case studies of sustainable building projects illustrate the contractor’s expertisein these types of development. Other ways of selecting contractors would be on past performance in respect ofthe construction of sustainable buildings.Developers can also build up a list of contractors with whom they work well on certain projects and this list mayform the basis of selection for a project. Design and build issues will depend on the property type and location.Key sustainability areas that impact on property development are:

• reducing carbon dioxide emissions;• minimizing pollution;• using resources efficiency.

Building MaterialsEmbodied energy is the energy that it takes to create the materials used in construction. Materials such as brickor concrete have a high embodied energy because the manufacturing process has a very high energy demand.However, offset against this must be the capacity for a material to retain heat, which will then be released backinto a building. It is necessary to work out what is the best combination of materials for a project. The intendeduse has to be taken into account, along with the heating system and other installations to be used, not just theconstruction technique and materials.Pollution from the construction process can take many forms other than the pollution into the atmosphere ofgreenhouse gasses; fuel spillages, fly tipping and mud/silt from sites or lorry wheels are the most common. Inaddition, many construction materials can pose a pollution risk in their manufacture or in use.Although using resources to their maximum efficiency is a good mechanism for achieving increasedsustainability, it may not always deliver the best product for end-users. It is important to look to the end-usersand make decisions based on utility, not only efficiency. The design and construction phases of developmentschemes are important here.Waste management during construction can increase profitability and lower construction costs as wastedmaterials are paid when purchased and disposed of.Sustainable property developers need to consider waste to save money and reduce environmental impact.Developers pay to dispose of construction waste, and landfill taxes and costs are increasing. A wastemanagement strategy can help to design out waste, minimize waste creation on site and ensure any resultingwaste is dealt with appropriately and this results in a tidier, safer site.Where developments involve demolition, a pre-demolition audit is necessary for effective waste management.Contractors and/or developers need to identify the type and amount of waste generated on site. Firms can locatenearby recycling sites, reclamation companies, composting facilities, manufacturer take-back schemes, transferstations, landfill sites and incinerators. This is an emerging area and it is vital for contractors to measure andbenchmark construction, refurbishment and demolition waste. The construction industry needs to establishminimum reporting requirements for construction, refurbishment and demolition waste and to generateappropriate performance indicators and benchmarking figures.

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Another way in which developers can increase the sustainability of a development project is to require thedesigners to specify the reuse of materials if the development involves the partial or complete demolition of abuilding. Also, the designer can specify recycled materials such as recycled concrete for hardcore or recycledtimber. Reuse is better than recycling as no further embodied energy is used to transform the materials from oneform to another. However, the use of recycled materials is preferable to the consumption of raw resources andmaterials. Environmental assessment methods such as BREEAM give credits to projects that incorporaterecycled materials.

In respect of materials the following should be considered during property development:• Environmental impact of materials. All materials have varying levels of environmental impact, forexample excessive logging of timber can lead to deforestation and loss of the carbon sink.• Responsible sourcing of materials, for example timber that comes from a sustainable source.• Provision of recycling facilities for materials used within buildings during their life cycle; includesinternal storage and provision for external collection.

WaterWater shortages are becoming increasingly common in different locations and water needs to be used. Thisreduction in supply has coincided with increases in consumption. Developers can influence users to reduceconsumption and running costs by including such measures as water efficient appliances (low flush toilets),water metering, leak detection systems and water butts. Environmental assessment schemes quantify what isconsidered reasonable consumption levels for the different property types.

Health and well-beingSustainable buildings are promoted on the basis of benefits to health and consideration is given to optimizingthe health of occupants in the design of a project. These reasons are frequently cited as a good rationale forsustainability in buildings. In this respect developers should consider such features as:

• maximizing natural day lighting;• sound insulation to reduce the transmission of airborne and impact sound;• in residential property, provision of adequate private space for occupants;• not using materials containing VOCs;• decreasing the amount of air conditioning and/or use of recycled air in large commercial buildings toreduce the likelihood of sick building syndrome.

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arket research and sustainabilityhere has been a significant change in attitudes towards sustainability

ince the early 2000s. Surveys show that many people believe thenvironment to be very important. Marketing firms conduct primaryonsumer research to investigate the percentage of the population forhom environmental, social and healthy lifestyle values play an

mportant role in purchasing decisions.uch research concludes that there is a shift in consumer attitudes towardsustainability and it is these general trends and shifts that filter down toroperty development. Property developers need to keep abreast of socialnd cultural trends, especially relating to sustainability, to ensure thatheir properties meet market requirements, reduce environmental impactsnd are future-proofed to some extent.evelopers need to be aware of these changing attitudes and perceptions

o sustainability in order to ensure their products meet marketxpectations and do not become victims of a new type of buildingbsolescence: environmental obsolescence.

roperty Market Vision

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Marketing sustainable developmentsDevelopers need to identify their target market, work out the optimum ways of reaching that market andinclude the features that are attractive to that section of the market. It is not uncommon now to have two-tiermarketing for residential projects where one set of brochures and campaign adverts is targeted at a more maturepurchaser and another set that are focused on a younger, singles household group. Generally speaking,marketing campaigns focused on sustainable schemes will seek to highlight the social and economic andenvironmental benefits of buying or renting the particular property. Furthermore, marketing campaigns mightseek to infer that sustainable buildings will hold their value more as time goes by.Promoting and selling sustainabilityIncreasingly, property developments are being promoted to the market and sold on their sustainabilitycredentials. For example, in the residential sector, the volume house builders are selling developments as beingsustainable because they are close to the city centre, energy and water efficient and so forth. Equally, with thecommercial sectors such as offices, developments are promoted on the basis of their BREEAM assessmentratings. One of the stated aims of the BREEAM was to promote sustainable buildings in the marketplace.It has been argued previously that selling sustainability features like energy efficiency was difficult becauseconsumers were unable to physically see the features being promoted, whereas kitchens and bathrooms werevery tangible to people. This appears to be diminishing as levels of awareness are increased about the benefits oflow running costs.

Sustainability Appraisals“Sustainability Appraisal” is a tool that provides for the identification and evaluation of the economic, socialand environmental impacts of a proposal.A Sustainability Appraisal is used by planning authorities to assess whether proposed plans and policies meetsustainable development objectives.Sustainability Appraisal should:

• take a long-term view of the expected social, economic and environmental effects of a proposed plan;• check that sustainability objectives are turned into sustainable planning policies;• reflect global, national, regional and local concerns;• form an integral part of all stages of plan preparation.

Sustainability and Environmental Appraisals are processes that allow some or all sustainable developmentobjectives to be integrated into policies, programmes, projects, activities and decision making at an early stage.They are designed to help identify potential environmental, social and economic effects and issues as early aspossible, allowing alternative solutions or mitigation measures to be explored. Alternatively, positive effects andopportunities for performance enhancement can also be identified and promoted. These methods allowsustainability and environmental issues to be considered in a systematic, transparent and auditable way.

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ustainability in Real Estate Analysis and Real Estate Valuationustainability has become important to the real estate industry. Today,ords such as green buildings, sustainable buildings, corporate social

esponsibility and others, are more and more present in the real estateesearch, as well as in the real estate practice.

sustainable building can be defined as a building with good planning,esign, construction, operation and management practices, which reducehe negative impact upon the environment. Also, a sustainable buildings economically viable and contributes to the increase of the satisfactionegree of its occupants, as well as of the community it belongs to.

aluation

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A recent study highlighted the fact that the first five components of sustainability are (RICS Green Gauge -2010):

• Energy efficiency (73%)• Waste management (43%)• Energy supply (32%)• Transport issues (30%)• Land contamination (30%)

The same study highlighted the fact that sustainability is nowadays “guided” by three major factors:• the customers’ demand,• the legal requirements and• the responsibility towards the environment.

Definition of a Green BuildingA green building represents a building which is designed from the structural point of view, built, modernized,operated and re-used in an environment friendly manner which assures an efficient utilization of the resources.The green building is a building with high energy efficiency (A class or upper class) and which has a reducedimpact upon the environment.The main elements taken into consideration in the analysis and valuation of a green building are:

• Location sustainability• Energy efficiency• Water efficient utilization• Occupants’ health and safety• Building operation and maintenance• Innovation degree

In Europe, several sustainability evaluation and certification methods or tools were developed at internationallevel, of which most well-known are BREEAM and LEED.In the United Kingdom, Building Research Establishment developed a widely used calculation instrumentcalled BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), and in the USA,Green Building Council developed the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) system.Although there are other systems as well, these three obtained the international recognition.The BREEAM system classifies and certifies a building from “Acceptable”, “Good”, to “Very Good”,“Excellent” and “Exceptional”; the LEED system classifies a building as “Certified”, “Silver”, “Gold” or“Platinum”, and the DGNB system awards a “Bronze”, “Silver” or “Gold” certificate.Each system analyses a building with its own method, according to several criteria, not only based on theenergy and carbon releases, including issues such as management, health and safety, transport, water, materialsused, land utilization and environment. All the schemes provide rigorous training to assessors, who thus becomeofficially authorized, acquiring competences for the performance of analyses and being informed regarding thepoints that can be awarded.Thus, a well-trained valuer will be able to provide counselling regarding the points acquiring and maximization,and to guide the customer and the design team towards the best possible classification. Although these schemesare not obligatory, we cannot underestimate their importance. Buildings with low references will be consideredas obsolete and inadequate, affecting the owner’s financial interests.

The Impact of Sustainability upon Real EstateWe expect the elements that compose sustainability to affect the value of real estate in several ways. Theadditional value can result from utilities cost savings, from the additional rent income, from the reducedvacancy rate or from the reduced capitalization rate.The costs related to the development of sustainable buildings are not inefficient expenses; they are ratherinvestments that create cost savings or an income premium.A series of global studies performed especially on mature and transparent markets highlighted the idea that theeffort to meet the sustainability requirements has the characteristics of an investment in the real estate field.

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The main conclusions of this research were the following:• The increase rate of the green buildings segment is much higher than the average, and the vacancyrate is more reduced than the average.• The “green offices” market increased in 2007 by over 7%, and the vacancy rate reached 4.6%; in 2009the increase was 14.9%, while the vacancy rate was 9.3%.• The return on investment in green buildings was not significantly affected by the crisis, the risk relatedto these investments being lower than the market average. The surprising side of this study was that, ina period of strong recession, the green buildings’ return on investment rate was not significantlyaffected, unlike the investment in other high quality properties.• The rent from the green buildings show a premium (Green Premium) and the sale price of the assetsrepresented by the green buildings is higher;• “Green Premium” resisted in a crisis period and reached an average of 6 percentage points for theLEED certified properties;• Energy efficiency is almost entirely taken over by the market rent. The energy efficiency washighlighted by the fact that for 1$ of energy cost saving the rent increased by 0.95$;• The “green buildings” price confirms the market’s “goodwill” by the fact that the price of theseproperties was approximately 11-13 % higher.

The Impact of Sustainability upon the ValuationMore and more research confirmed the significant impact of sustainability upon the real estate value, which willforce valuers to take this aspect into consideration in the valuation process. Real estate markets will most likelybecome progressively sensitive to sustainability issues, and this is the reason why valuers must be informed andaware of this when they inspect the properties.Under the given circumstances, the valuation activity will be affected in the following manner:• In order to be able to identify and value sustainability elements, valuers will have to develop their knowledgeand expertise by understanding the new technologies, the specific legislation, the public and fiscal policies, aswell as the market’s attitude towards sustainability;

• Valuers will have to identify the sustainability elements and, if these elements are recognized by themarket as having an impact upon the value, these shall be taken in account when estimating the marketvalue;• When collecting information regarding a property, valuers must also include information related tosustainability issues, even if no direct impact upon the property value is indicated at the analysis date.This can be an important issue in the valuation of new properties that normally have highersustainability performances than older comparable properties.• New questions the valuer can ask himself/herself during the valuation process:• Is there an energy certificate for the building?• What are the sustainability characteristics of the subject property compared to most properties on themarket or to comparable properties?• Are there any sustainability deficiencies that can be recovered?• Does the building have sustainability elements that could affect tenants’ or investors’ perception inthe future?• Is it likely for the subject property to attract customers with sustainability responsibilities(multinational companies, etc.)?• Is the building likely to depreciate following the sustainability characteristics thus leading to moremodernization costs that will affect the future cash flow?• Are there any regulation proposals that could affect the rents, vacancy rates or generated cash flows?• Does the state of the building, from the sustainability point of view, affect the risk rate perceived onthe market?

The valuer profession was involved in achieving the sustainability-valuation link through The VancouverValuation Accord project, which established a formal framework in order to highlight the link betweensustainability and property value. The desiderate regarding the access to information, education and resourceswas mentioned for the valuers, in order to help include sustainability in the valuation process.

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Comparison ApproachThe adjustment of comparable for sustainability differences requires careful analysis. It is not always enough toconsider an adjustment based on costs, because sometimes the market is not ready to recognize those costs.

Income ApproachThe capitalization rate can be affected by the buyers’ perceptions of sustainability. It is likely that, in time, thebuildings that do not meet the sustainability criteria, become less attractive and lose their value fastercompared to sustainable buildings.The sustainability-related issues that may affect investors’ perceptions are:

• The impact of the operation costs evolution (including energy)• The impact upon rent and net income• The property ability to attract tenants with a good reputation, with long contract terms• Obtaining of an advantage by using the opportunity created by the environment changes and socialperception.

The awaited increase of the sustainability recognition will create the gain of a reduced capitalization rate at theproperty sale, and, implicitly, a higher resale value compared to the traditional buildings.

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ow is seen the Building Sustainability in Romania?he European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) wasdopted at European level, with minimum building performanceequirements. The directive was implemented starting with January006. The most common regulation form adopted by the member statess the thermal insulation of the exterior of the building. Severalountries also established restrictions related to the lighting and coolingystem. The European Energy Performance of Buildings DirectiveEPBD), also known as “EU legislation for green buildings” wasdopted in Romania through Law No. 372/2005, which took effect on 1anuary 2007.he general framework of Law No. 372/2005 includes the following:

• The general framework for the calculation of the buildingenergy performance;• The application of a series of minimum requirements related tothe energy performance of the new buildings;• The application of a series of minimum energy performancerequirements for the existing buildings and which enter in amodernization process;• The energy certificate of the buildings;• The inspection and valuation of the heating/cooling systems;

he building energy performance certificate is a technical documenthich has an informative character, certifies the energy performance ofbuilding with a view to declaring and displaying the energyerformance of the building, and has a 10-year validity period.t European level there is no strong mechanism for the implementationf the EPBD, therefore the building sustainability issue was re-iscussed. Among other issues, all member states must make sure, until1 December 2015 at the latest, that the new public buildings have aero or smaller energy consumption, as per the European Parliamentirective No. 2010/31/EU of 19 May 2010.he durable plan does not only refer to the reduction of the energy andarbon consumption. The so-called Triple Bottom Line philosophyuggests that the real durable development takes into considerationnvironmental issues, together with the economic and social impact.

urrent Status in Romania

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Based on the available data, in Romania there are currently 8 existing green buildings, BREEAM or LEEDcertified, 4 are under construction and 1 is just a project, most of them being office developments.

Regarding the perception of sustainability in Romania, a relatively recent study performed by The RomaniaGreen Building Council provides a clearer image of sustainability’s perception in the local real estate industry.The study was based on a sample of 363 potential respondents and 66 answers were received, representing theequivalent of a response rate of approximately 18%.On the local market there is an obvious concern regarding the green buildings, the trend being very clear:

• 44% of the developers declared they were involved in green buildings development in Romania orabroad and 89% affirmed that they plan to develop green buildings in the near future.• 56% of the architects declared they were involved in green buildings projects, and 89% of themaffirmed they were ready to incorporate green materials and technologies in their projects.

The main impediment in developing green buildings was considered to be, both by developers and architects, thehigh cost of these buildings. To the question “from your experience, what is the cost of green buildings?”

• 44% of the developers answered that the cost is 1-10% higher compared to the traditional buildings;• 41% of the architects consider the cost is 11-20% higher compared to the traditional buildings, and• 26% of them believe that the cost is even over 21% higher.

It is obvious that the architects overestimated the construction costs. The official data provided by the USGreen Building Council shows an additional cost for the development of a LEED certified green building of 0%– 4% compared to the similar cost of a traditional building belonging to the same category which does notprovide high energy efficiency or does not meet environment standards.

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ustainability is already part of the thinking of an important number oflayers on the real estate market and regulations tend to be moreriented towards this new dimension of the social and economic reality.large number of studies showed the impact of sustainability upon the

eal estate value, confirming the idea that sustainability in the realstate industry is not a cost but an investment. The valuation activityust extend its interest and knowledge borders by considering the

ustainability issues during the valuation process. Therefore, the maineasons for the immediate and rigorous consideration of sustainability inhe valuation practice would be:

• Priority orientation of investors towards sustainability;• Sustainable buildings’ performance exceeds the performance ofthe traditional buildings (socially, economically andfinancially);• Neglecting sustainability will reduce the quality of thevaluation services;• There is a growing interest in for consulting services andinvestment in sustainable properties;• Reflection of sustainability in real estate valuation is alreadypossible; validation of such a decision depends only on thevaluer’s ability to explain and justify the assumptions used inthe valuation report.

onclusions

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. Wilkinson, S. and Reed, R., (2008) Property Development 5thdition, Routledge.. Anghel I. şi M. Onofrei (2009), “Sustainability Issues in Propertyaluation”, Theoretical and Applied Economics, supliment, (May 2009).. Eichholtz P., N. Nils Kok şi J. Quigley (2010), “Sustainability andhe Dynamics of Green Building New Evidence on the Financialerformance of Green Office Buildings in the USA”, RICS (oct.2010).. Sustainability and residential property valuation, RICS informationaper (2011), Published by: RICS.. Valuation Information Paper No. 13, (August 2009) Sustainabilitynd commercial property Valuation, Published by: RICS.. RICS Green Gauge (2010), September 2011, Published by: RICS.. Romania’s Greenest Buildings Report, 2013, Published by: Romaniareen Building Council.

ibliography

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What is a property development?Property development is a process that involves changing orintensifying land use to produce buildings for occupation.Real estate development is a high risk activity which often involveslarge amount of money tied up in the production process, offering aproduct that is relatively illiquid and indivisible.Success very often depends on attention to detail and quality of thedecision process it leads. Success is cannot be judged only by the size ofthe profit or loss from a financial standpoint.The property development is a complex process that can be divided intostages and occurs in a considerably interval of time. The final product isunique in terms of physical characteristics and location.What are the stages of a property development process? The mainstages of a development process are as follows1:

• Initiation• Evaluation• Acquisition• Design and costing• Permissions• Commitment

THE PROPERTYDEVELOPMENTPROCESSThe Role of the RealEstate Agent in thePropertyDevelopment Process

By:Cornelia DragomirOvidiu IonFlorin Ianculescu-PopaSorin Doru Ciomartan

Page | 67

Professor: Edgar Kiviet • Implementation• Let/manage/dispose

The property development is not entirely sequential activity and phasesmany times superimpose or repeat.

InitiationThe development is initiated when a parcel of land or a site is consideredsuitable for a different use or more intense one, or where demands for aparticular use results in a search for the right site.The initiative can come from any of the actors or stakeholders in thedevelopment process who are seeking a suitable site in anticipation ofdemand or need for any use.Alternatively, the initiative may come from stakeholders whoanticipate a potentially higher value use for an existing site due tochanging in demographic, economic, social, physical or other conditions.In order to identify the most suitable use, the initiator will try toresearch the market for the potential needs and to obtain the planningconsent for change of the current use.

EvaluationOne of the most important stages of the development process isevaluation, because it influences the decision of the developer. Theassessment includes market research, both general and specific termsand the financial evaluation of the proposal. The financial assessmentprocess must ensure that the cost is reasonable and sustainable.For private developments, the assessment of the potential profit isdetermined in relation to the risks incurred. Organizations from thepublic sector and non-profit organizations, it will try to ensure thatcosts are recovered. An additional objective for the financial assessmentis to determine the value of the site.This stage of the development process should be carried out prior to anyengagement of the developer. The assessment involves a combinedadvice from the part of professional team which was hired by thedeveloper, but the decision to continue and take the risk in the end restswith the developer.

The scope of this paper is to

describe the role of the real

estate agent in the property

development process which

can be more complex and

not just to intermediate or

represent a party in a

transaction. We started

with an overview of the

very complex activity of

property development,

reviewing it as a series of

stages involving many

actors with different

objectives, operating within

the overall context of the

building cycle and its

interaction with the

business. Development may

be initiated by any of the

main actors identified but it

can only take place with the

consent of the landowner.

Page | 68




AcquisitionOnce the decision to proceed is taken, there are many other decisions and measures to be taken before the sitecan be purchased and development began. These steps are listed below:

• Legal investigation (a review of all legal issues related to the site, such as ownership, planningpermissions and any easements)• Ground investigation (the capacity of the site to accommodate the proposed use)• Finance (the suitable and most favorable financing must be obtained for the proposed development)

Design and costingDesign is an ongoing process that runs in parallel with other stages, increasingly detailed as the developmentincreases in certainty. Initially, the design work will be kept to a minimum in order to keep the costs downbefore developer commitment. There should be sufficient details to allow the quantity surveyor to prepareinitial cost estimation.

PermissionsAny development requires planning permission from local authorities before construction starts. In many cases,the developer may apply for an application for an outline approval before getting the full approval. An outlineplanning agreement establishes the approved use of the site and for the proposed project the size and density.An outline planning agreement does not allow the developer to proceed with the development scheme and adetailed planning consent is required.A detailed application typically involves the submission to the planning authorities of drawings and detailedinformation on siting, means of access, internal and external design and landscaping.The developer must make initial estimates probably realistic time and cost of obtaining proper permissionduring the assessment phase.In some cases, there are a variety of other legal approvals that must be obtained before development starts.

CommitmentA developer must ensure that all required preliminary work has been undertaken before any substantialcommitment in terms of development. All entries regarding the land, finance, labor and materials, and theacquisition of statutory permissions must be satisfactorily negotiated before any agreements are signed makingthe developer responsible for any major expenditure.

ImplementationThe implementation phase can begin once all the raw materials necessary for the development process are inplace. At this point there is a commitment to a particular site and to particular buildings at a particular costspread over a particular time.The developer should have the same interest in running and promoting the project and also the market has to bemonitored continuously in order to ensure that the final product is right and if the specifications must bechanged.

Let/manage/disposeEven this phase of development occurs in the latter stages of development, for the developer must be in mind atthe beginning of the development process. In many cases, the tenant or the buyer is secured at the beginning orduring the development process. The success of the development will depend on the ability to ensure a willingtenant or at the estimated rent or price.The development process and the responsibility of the developer should not stop with the occupation of thebuilding.

The financial success of the development cannot be assessed until the building is complete, let or sold.

Who are the main players in the property development process?Within each stage, and over some or all of them, there are a variety of major players who contributes to theproperty development process and may have very different perspectives and expectations.

Page | 69




The players of a property development are listed below:• Landowners• Developers• Public sector• Planners• Financial institutions• Building contractors• Agents• Planning consultants• Valuation surveyors• Architects• Quantity surveyors• Engineers• Project managers• Lawyers• Accountants• Objectors• Occupiers

LandownersLandowners play an important role whether actively or passively. They can actively initiate the development ofa desire to sell or improve the value of their land.

DevelopersDevelopers’ goal is to make a direct financial profit from the development process. The kind of developmentundertaken varies considerably. Some companies are specialized in a specific type of development, such as office,retail, and also, in particular, geographic locations while other real estate developers prefer to split the riskacross types, locations, and countries.

Public sectorLocal authorities are mainly concerned with developments for their own occupation or community and theprovision of infrastructure. The involvement of local authorities in the development process will depend onwhether they want to encourage development or development control in order to maintain and respectstandards.

PlannersThe main purpose of planning is to encourage development and prevent unwanted development.

Financial institutionsWhere development is fully funded by the developer, financial institutions have an important role in thedevelopment process. There are two main types of money needed for development:

• Financing for Development, which covers development costs during the development process• Funding that covers the cost of holding the completed development as an investment.

Building contractorsBuilding contractors are used by developers to build the development scheme and their main objective is directfinancial gain. Building contractors operate in a specialist activity in the development process, starting at a timeof maximum commitment and risk for the developer.

AgentsReal estate agents may have a role in the initiation of development process and or bringing together some of themain players in this process. They also form the link between the developer and the occupier. They play a veryimportant role in the development process and are often involved in each stage of the process. Agents are able tofulfil this role due to their detailed knowledge of both the real estate market in terms of demand and currentrents or prices, based on their contacts with developers, occupiers, financial institutions and landowners.

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Planning consultantsPlanning consultants negotiate with local authorities to get most valuable permission to development,particularly with the large or sensitive scheme.

Valuation surveyorsValuation surveyors are employed at the critical evaluation stage to provide a detailed analysis of thecharacteristics of the market in terms of the underlying demand and competitive supply. Many financialinstitutions insist on market analysis when considering a development funding proposal.

ArchitectsArchitects are employed by developers to design the layout and construction of new buildings or renovatingexisting buildings. They can also manage the contract on behalf of the developer's construction and certifycompletion of construction. It is important that the architect is hired at the earliest possible stage to ensure thatall design work is done when construction is scheduled to begin.

Quantity surveyorsQuantity surveyors advice the developer on the likely costs of building contract and its related costs. Their rolemay include estimation of costs for designs produced by architects, administration of construction contract,construction monitoring and approval of payments to the contractor.

EngineersStructural engineers are used to work with the architect and quantity surveyor to advice on the design of thestructural elements of the building. They will also participate in the supervision of construction of the structure.

Project managersProject managers are used to manage the team of professionals and construction contract on behalf of thedeveloper. Project managers are normally only employed on larger and complicated schemes. They should beappointed before any other professional from the team of the project.

LawyersLawyers are required at different stages throughout the development process, from site acquisition fordevelopment to completion of leases and contracts of sale. They are often involved in legal agreements coveringfinancing arrangement entered into by the developer.

AccountantsIn some cases, expert accountants can be used to provide advice on tax and VAT regulations that can have amajor impact on development costs.

ObjectorsThere are two categories of objectors that can cause delays and possible abandonment of development projects:

• Self-interested neighbors of the proposed development• Well-organized professional bodies, at local or national level

Developers must be aware of their interests and be prepared to accommodate or reject their opposition. Ideally,these negotiations should be conducted before making a planning application in order to avoid delays.

OccupiersUnless the occupier of a building is the developer or is known at the beginning of the process, then the occupieris not regarded as a key player in the development process as they are often unknown until the development iscomplete and let or sold. Their request for accommodation triggers the development process and influences bothland prices and rents, to which the developers have to respond. The occupier is an actor within the process andhis requirements should be investigated at the beginning of the process. If the occupier of the scheme is knownearly on, then the occupier is the most important player in the process. The building will be constructed inaccordance with the requirements of occupier, which can be highly specialized. The developer may need toconvince the occupier to compromise on their requirements to provide a standard and flexible type of building,so that the investment market for the building is wider in the event of disposal. The developer is also concerned

Page | 70to protect the value of the building as collateral for loan purposes.

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An example of the Real Estate Agent role in the development processAs a response to the request of small apartments and reconfiguration of space in order to have residentialdevelopments sales, arose a situation when apartment prices exceeded family budgets and thus we had lessresilience to market demands. Obvious, the prices must be correlated with population segments, but theminimization of apartment costs by diminishing the apartments through a late redesign is appropriate to thegoal.The adapted plans of housing blocks by reducing residential units should be done in order to meet the targetpopulation wages.A similar request situation appeared when a Real Estate Agent and consultant for an office buildingdevelopment suggested transforming evacuation cores to main cores providing accesses to each of it. Thebuilding becomes a suite of office buildings with smaller offices fit out for smaller business according to marketdemands.Then in the refining period of the solution (after consultation with another Real Estate Agent) appeared areturn to the scheme with a single access hallway and corridors for bigger and smaller rooms, as well as that ismuch more flexible and permitting an architecture with its own rules of composition, configuration buildingeasier perceived, accessed, managed, etc.We believe that a broader consulting since the initiation phase of urban development, comprising the majorstakeholders, including users, is always necessary for an exhaustive description of the requirements of theconcept, so we have the necessary criteria.In the particular case of a design, there must be determined criteria in order to take the necessary decisionsbefore the solution to be delivered together with the final expression and not after or during the early stages.That attitude is suitable to achieve the design quality, and we must add also efficiency/effectiveness of thedesign. However, what prevails in such case is that the project sells.In addition compared to other actors is that the Real Estate Agent can specify the quality of the experience of "what sells " as opposed to " what people want" which makes him to provide infallible economic criteria which weconsider essential, as long as the primary principle by which we conduct our work is that the economic valueprevails.

ConclusionsThe most important factor in Urban Development Plan lies mainly that the Real Estate Agent is permanentlyconnected with the real estate market. He conducts the business with extensive assessments and is the idealconsultant for the beneficiary.We could extract a definition of Real Estate Agent and I would say that Real Estate Agent is a person veryknowledgeable about their local area with the ability of making capital out of a property. That’s the reason whythe Real Estate Agent should be involved in the process of Urban Development Plan from the very beginning tothe very end.Development is a team effort. The Lenders, contractors, professional consultants, and other specialists describedin this paper represent the major players with whom developers must be familiar, but they are not the onlyones. As development becomes increasingly complex, other talents and specialists must be found.Successful developments depend on the developer’s ability to manage the many participants in the developmentprocess. The developer must be able to recognize quality work and must know when to ask questions, whom toask, and what to ask.

Bibliography1. Wilkinson, S. and Reed, R., (2008) Property Development 5th edition, Routledge.2. Peiser, R. and Frej, A., (2003) Professional real estate development. Washington, D.C.: The UrbanLand Institute.

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