Urban Spaces

Citys in transition_
Chiinu
KTH_ Royal Institute of Technology

Stockholm 2011
Front page picture:

Hotel National formerly named
Hotel Intourist and built in 1978
by architect v. Salaghinov. It is
currently object of speculation of
local politicians and entrepreneurs
that also have thought about
demolishing this building complex.
Publication designer:
Rebecca Rubin
p.4
Citys in transition_Chiinu
KTH_ Royal Institute of Technology
K 4/5 School of architecture
Stockholm 2011
Chiinu report_KTH Royal institute of technology_ Stockholm 2011 p.5
p.6
CONTENTS
THE PROJECT BACKGROUND AND THE PARTICIPANTS 5

INTRODUCTION 6
Study assigment
PHD REPORT 9
Abstract 10
Biography 11
Urban Transformabilities 12
The Context and History of Chisinau The State in Transition
15
Legality of illegality 24
The hybrid frameworks 31
The planning process and shifting power balance
34
Bibliography 42
ANALYSIS AND MAPPING 45

The importance of infrastructure 46
Green areas problem and potential
52
The potential with in the water and riverside
58
The central axes of Chiinu, abandon structures
64
CIVIC CENTER CHISINAU 69
Student proposals
Juha Kivist 72
Cecilia Rudstrm 76
Justina Bieksaite 80
Luca Gramaglia 86
Cyprien Lger 88
Yun Zhang 92
Patricia Alejos Monsn 96
Daniel Edenius 100
Denis Trax 102

p.8 Chiinu report_KTH Royal institute of technology_ Stockholm 2011
THE PROJECT
BACKGROUND AND
THE PARTICIPANTS
This project is the result of collaboration of
people and institutions.
The Urban studio instructors and the projet
organisers:
Bojan Boric and Bjrn Ahrenby.
Special thanks goes to:
Professor Ivan Kucina, University of Belgrade.
He held a workshop and a lecture in Chisinau.
Vladimir Us, who was our host and organised
all the tours, meetings, supplied us with
important data about Chisinau, etc.
Joackim Granit and Thomas Lund,
Frgfabriken who initiated the New Urban
Topologies project.
Swedish Institute, sponsored the project and
this publication.
Rebecca Rubin, who designed and organised
the publication.
INTRODUCTION
COURSE CONTENT
AIM
In this project we will be exploring the

new urban strategies and architectural
interventions for the city suffering from
the extreme effects of the transition
from socialist to neoliberal political/
economic system. Moldova - today the
poorest nation in Europe faces many
socio/economic,political,
ecological
and urban challenges. It has recently
become a focus of attention trough the
process of the European integrations.
In our studio work we will be inventing
potentials for new synergies among
the cultural, infrastructural, ecological
aspects as well as economic aspects of
urban transformations. This project is
sponsored by the Swedish Institute (SI
see link: http://www.si.se ).
Our work will build upon the initial
research work titled New Urban
Topologies
(see link: http://www.fargfabriken.se/
uploadeddocs/NUTchisinauminsk.
pdf) from the fall of 2010 conducted by
Frgfarbiken - art organization from
Stockholm. Our main objective is to
through our hosts become important
part of the ongoing process of urban
transformations. Through the design
proposals at urban and architectural
scales we will take a proactive role
by serving as the mediators between
the decision makers, various public
interest groups and we will test diverse
approaches of tackling contemporary
urban problems in Chisinau.
p.10
The main segment of our investigation will

be the work on an urban and architectural
scale project in the City of Chisinau in
Moldova. The main theme for the project
is the Civic Center. We will discuss and
develop programs for the structure that
puts the public interest in focus. Through
our investigative design process we will
test various ways in which the proposed
spatial interventions impact the urban
environment.
In this project we are going to actively
participate in the projects that will direct
public attention towards understanding
of the importance of public space as the
forum and the stage for processes of
democratization. We plan to contribute
to the discussion as well as to learn from
this experience while being exposed to
the difficult and very real issues that affect
the development of countries outside the
EU borders today as well as many other
cities around the world. At the end of the
project 2 we plan to produce a publication
that would document the process of our
work as well as conclusions and results of
the project.
During the project we plan to work with
the local authoritites, NGOs, policy
makers, commercial and public actors that
are involved in the process of shaping the
modern society in Moldova.
The project includes an organised study
trip to Chisinau that will include a series of
on-site workshops, meetings and lectures.
At an urban scale, the project focuses
on the development of new strategies
for the future of Chissinau, the capital
city of the poorest country in Europe
which is now facing fresh possibilities
for development as the country faces the
INTRODUCTION
prospect of european integrations. One

of the main objectives of the project
is to dwell deeper into current issues
of urbanisation and develop proposals
for the more socialy and ecologicaly
sustainable development of the city.
At the zoom-in architectural scale we
will determine the positioning, the
program, the scale and relations of the
new civic centre structure(s) within
the existing urban system. During
the project 2 and upon return from
Chisinau, we will develop detailed
architectural proposals.
In the process of the transition
Chisinau faces many dilemmas
characteristic to the former post-Soviet
cities. Today, due to the effects of the
dominant neoliberal economic model,
the process of urban development
appears to be out of controll of civil
authorities and local communities. The
current urban plans are not beying
followed and are also out of date. The
capital investments are given the highest
priority in any process of development
without any regards to the needs of
the ordinary citizens. The processes of
democratization have been weakened
and subjected purely to the short
sighted impulse driven development.
The public urban ground is contested
at all levels. It is the subject of massive
privatization and the boundaries
between public and private space are
continuously blurred. The affected
environments include almost all spaces
in the city, such as public parks and
squares, playgrounds as well as cultural
venues and natural resources, housing,
industrial areas, etc. The urban regulatory

processes have been ignored and today, we
see an unpredictable, unsafe, chaotic urban
development, social deprivation, polution.
In one way there is a new freedom for the
individual investors and corporations but
at the same time the system is limiting
the rights and opportunities for large
majority of inhabitants. We will investigate
the ways in which we as architects and
urban designers can find ways to provide
sustainable solutions that address the civic
space within the current urban processes
and in response to the every day reality.
Chiinu report_KTH Royal institute of technology_ Stockholm
p.11
p.12
PHD Repport URBAN TRANSFORMABILITIES by Bojan Boric
_URBAN TRANSFORMABILITIES
Chisinau, Moldova
Self-Regulation as an Alternative
to Institutionalized Planning Processes
Bojan Boric, Lecturer and PhD student

School of Architecture, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm
Hkensgata 7, 11646 Stockholm Sweden. bboric@forma-ad.com
ABSTRACT
The global upsurge of unplanned
urban development and its various
manifestations have opened the door to
challenging the norms of the modernist
planning model. The principles of
modernist planning mechanisms and
practices, regulatory systems expressed
through zoning regulations, land use
and urban coding can be seen today as
obsolete. The new and perhaps radical
departure from the established methods
and norms, the new alternatives to
conventional planning practices need
to be developed that are based on
learning from experiences from selfregulated and unplanned urban areas.
The unplanned developments need
be seen not as an illness but a part of
the solution to the present and future
urban problems and the role of the
professionals involved, their methods
of work, level and form of involvement
needs to be reexamined.
BIOGRAPHY
Bojan Boric (born
in
Belgrade
in
1968),
moved
to
The United States
in 1986. Received a
Bachelor Degree in
Architecture at Irwin
S. Chanin School of Architecture,
Cooper Union, New York in 1993,
and in 1999 a Masters Degree in
Architecture and Urban Design at the
GSAP Columbia University, New York.
Since 1993, he has been a practicing
architect (RA in New York State and
Virginia) working on a wide range of
projects from interiors to housing,
public buildings and urban design
projects throughout the New York
City metropolitan area, Scandinavia
p.14
With the City of Chisinau in former

Soviet Union as a starting point this paper
discusses processes of self-regulated urban
transformations in relation to the inherited
urban planning models dating from the
Russian colonial era as well as the Soviet
planning system. The present planning
is dysfunctional and disconnected from
realities of the context and I see this situation
as an opportunity to instigate fundamental
reforms in current planning methodologies.
In my paper I will examine and compare
the empirical evidence from Chisinau
based on observation, site documentation
in form of photographic evidence, official
planning and legal documents, transcripts
from recorded interviews, written materials
by other scholars dealing with related field
of research, etc. Parallel with this study I
will juxtapose these findings and develop
a critique of the top down modernist
institutional framework in planning that
includes the zoning and land use practices.
and China. In 1997, together with Jelena

Mijanovic, he has founded an office Forma
Architecture and Design. In 2004, the
office moved to Stockholm. In addition,
Bojan has been involved in several
exhibitions, collaborative projects and
workshops with focus on contemporary
urbanity throughout his carreer. He has
also participated in academic research and
teaching in New York and and Stockholm
where for the past two years he was the
Director of the Masters Program in Urban
Planning and Design at Royal Institute
of Technology, Stockholm. Today, Bojan
teaches at the School of Architecture in
Stockholm as head of the masters level
studio focusing on urban design. Parallel
with teaching and practicing, Bojan is
currently enrolled in the PhD program at
KTH, Stockholm.
Photos 1 and 2: The new adjacent

uses on the former industrial
site, self-regulated spaces. Photo
1. (top) Rugina&Co. Art Park,
Photo 2. (bottom) Luxurious
gated community + go-cart
polygon.
URBAN TRANSFORMABILITIES
Chisinau, Moldova Self-Regulation as an Alternative to

Institutionalized Planning Processes
Bojan Boric, Lecturer and PhD student
School of Architecture, Royal Institute of
Technology Stockholm
Hkensgata 7, 11646 Stockholm Sweden.
bboric@forma-ad.com
My overall research is based on the study
of the relations between the forces of
spontaneous urban development and
the institutional planning frameworks in
contemporary cities. In this paper I will
discuss the nature of urban development
and the processes of self-regulated
urbanizations in the context of the postSoviet planning system. The objective of
this work is to investigate potential for
institutional and planning reforms by
better understanding the dynamics of
urban processes in relation to the evolving
systems of governance and planning
practices. The city of Chisinau, capital city
of The Republic of Moldova is the starting
point of this paper and subject of an
empirical research and analysis.
The processes of institutional planning
and the self-regulated urbanisation are
commonly seen by scholars as dual and
opposing concepts, such as the notion
of the planned vs non-planned city. In
order to be able to discuss very complex
urban processes with more profound
formulations that leave space for new
perspectives, I will begin this paper by
directly dispeling any formulations that
are based on the idea of mutualy exclusive
polarity between the planned and
unplanned city (Provoost 2010). The so
called unplanned cities were also devised
and built by the agency of people and
p.16
are thus also in certain sense planned.

The difference lies in the identity of the
planner (Provoost 2010). This statement
opens the door for new interpretations
of urban transformations not as generic
but context based processes in diverse
settings.
In Chisinau as in most of the former
post-Soviet urban centers in Europe
the evidence of urban transformations
reflects a growing gap between social
classes. This growing disparity is reflected
through differing capacity of various
actors to influence the overall urban
development. The reform processes in
urban governance and planning from
the 90s (the transition period) resulted
in massive privatizations of public space,
selling off of important public facilities,
demolition and abandonment of public
buildings. The transforming institutional
frameworks have introduced new power
constalations and forms of control of
urban space that has kept the core of
the Soviet top-down planning system
in place while adopting the neoliberal
ideologi as the main driving force. If
we consider that the development
of cities is a direct result of processes
within society (Kaminer 2010), we can
see that these processes are complex
and multiple, they are rarely based
on a single, pure ideology or a single
economic system. These complex mixes
and sometimes conflicting relationships
affect the spatial politics, the urban
Photo 3. Chisinau map, 1990
legislation, and planning processes.

Therefore, the current frictions between
the remnants of the Soviet era and the
emphasis on neoliberalism in Chisinau
affect not just urban space but shape
the planning process. The effects of
recent institutional reforms, in form of
restructuring of the legal system, shift to
the market driven economy, combined
with the remnants of the elements of the
soviet system have resulted in new forms
of hybrid frameworks.
Such mutated forms of hybrid centralized
and at the same time chaotic, ambiguous
and partially decentralized control of
urban space have also resulted in a series
of paradoxical conditions reflected in
the process of urban development. For
example, the legalization of illegally built
structures in Chisinau, the legal tool
applied with apparent randomness, is an
informal process in itself since it is not
regulated by law. Each segment of urban
environment is represented by its legal and
spatial entity. The dynamics between these
types of dual conditions and how they
are manifested through the processes of
urban development are important aspects
of this study. The dychotomy between
rules, the shifts in the institutional system
and challenges posed by the reality of
daily life in Chisinau define a state of
permanent illegality. Thus, these unstable
conditions set the parameters for the
dynamic relations between spatial and
legal formations in urban space. These
conditions of legal illegality (or vice
p.18
versa) have in some cases opened

opportunities for individuals, groups
and small actors to defy zoning, urban
and building regulations to transform
their urban surroundings, through
illegal housing, house additions,
occupation
of
former
common
spaces in buildings, by opening
small businesses in their own homes,
basements and spaces in buildings,
occupation of sections of streetscape
to accommodate for commercial use,
selling on the streets (from card board
box size stalls to established stores,
boutiques or workshops). Some of
these spatial invasions include sport,
culture, artwork and exhibition spaces
and also the entertainment venues.
These types of transformations at the
micro scale reflect efforts by the groups
and individuals to improve their
living conditions after the institutions
providing these services and industries
have collapsed.
The ways the Chisinau is changing
by the effects of daily life in friction
with the plans raises questions such
as what are the appropriate future
forms of urbanization in this context.
The current planning practices aim
towards urbanization by means of
implementation of essentially antiurban practices based on segregation
of uses such as zoning (Neuman 2007).
In Chisinau there are plenty of empty,
abandoned buildings and spaces in
the city core. Through the violation
of zoning ordinances, the spontaneous

occupation of empty spaces has in some
areas introduced new life, continuity
of use of empty spaces, new options for
housing, and other diverse activities
and uses that often result in unexpected
adjacences and new synergies.
In order to illustrate my findings and
provide further evidence about the
specific nature of the context, this research
focuses on case studies in two different
areas of the city: The Central Market in
the Center of Chisinau and the emergent
parking
garage/village
in
Riscani
District. The analysis will describe the
manifestations of hybrid frameworks and
how these affect the processes of urban
development. Through the theoretical
discourse, I will discuss the processes

of urban development and explain the
modes of change in the institutional
structure by relating the emergence
of hybrid frameworks through legal/
illegal frictions and the shifting roles
of principal actors involved in shaping
the city. Furthermore, through the case
studies, I will discuss different ways in
which urban environment is transformed
or could be transformed as well as the
potentials for adjusting planning values
and instruments. The research has been
conducted by interpreting empirical
evidence juxtaposed against various
critical perspectives from related fields
of urban theory, Institutional theory
(including economic theory) and urban
governance.
Photo 4. Soviet planning, Chisinau
THE CONTEXT AND HISTORY OF CHISINAU

THE STATE IN TRANSITION
Chisinau seems to have neve r reconciled

with the processes of urbanization since
it has a very strong agricultural heritage.
For this reason it is also important to view
Chisinau as part of a broader network
within the regional system of towns
and villages. During the past hundred
years, the large and chaotic town and its
built fabric have been constantly under
pressure to urbanize, to develop urban
culture, to absorb global standards and
ideologies of the new period. Still, the
strong presence of the countryside is
evident even today through ways in which
people interact with their environment,
and through their spontaneous use and
transformation of urban spaces. In fact the
self-organizing village has always existed in
Chisinau side by side with the communist
planning during the Soviet era and it
seems that these tendences for microscale transformations were continuously
attempting to break the straight jacket of
the order imposed by ideologies, laws and
by the urban order. Today, these tendences
are evident in the way urban development
defies the grid and the plan. If Chisinau
is to be left alone, completely free of
influence by any authority (its not far from
that right now), it would almost certainly
dissolve its own urban grid and the plan
and subsequently restructure itself back
into a twenty-first century version of the
hybrid urban-rural type of settlement.
The unfinished urbanizations and the
intrinsic urban-rural dynamic are essential
for understanding the present but also
when thinking about the future in this
predominantly agricultural country.
p.20
If seen from the perspective of the last

two centuries, the present processes
of urban transformation in Chisinau
are merely a brief snapshot in time,
representing only a moment in
history of continuous, accelerated and
dramatic changes caused by succession
of regimes, foreign invasions, wars,
colonialisation,
experiments
with
ideologies and changing sense of
national identity.
Moldova, the poorest country in
Europe is land-locked as it is wedged
between the Russian Federation on the
north and the border of the European
Union member Rumania on the south.
The direction of the development
of Moldova and the processes of
european integrations have become
more uncertain due to the political
instability in the breakaway region of
Transdnestria, a conflict not likely to
be resolved in the forseable future.
The population of Moldova today is
about 4.3 million people. The capuital
Chisinau has 752 thousand inhabitants
The urban population is stable or in
mild decline rather then increasing
in size. With about 50% of population
employed in agriculture and about
54% of population living in rural areas,
Moldova is among the least urbanised
countries in Europ. The gray economy
dominates the source of income for
the entire country. According to the
estimates by the UNDP and other
sources, the data on the extent of
grey economy varies between 30%
to 50% of the total GDP. The official
unemployment rate was only 1.5% in
1997, while the unnoficial figures place

unemployment at 25%. About the twothirds of Moldovans live on US$18 per
month (Bulgaru M & Bulgaru O & Sobotka
& Zeman 2000).
Photo 5. Economic Statistics
Chisinau emerged as an agricultural

provincial market town inhabited by
Christians, Armenians, Jews and others.
Historicaly, it is a very tolerant city where
different people lived in harmony for
centuries. In 1812 it was integrated into
the Russian Empire as a new colonial
capital of the region of Bessarabia. During
this period, the town was transformed
through the process of modernization
and expansion. The formal grid with wide
streets and rectangular organization of
squares and new institutions replaced the
irregular village character. The blueprint
of the new town was a transplanted plan
that resembled many other new cities of
the vast Russian Empire. During the later
period of Soviet modernist planning,
the transformation continued towards
the urban development of the Soviet
ideological origin. The masterplan by
Alexiei Schusev, was an embodiment of
the Soviet planning system with many

new demolitions of historic buildings
(especially during the 60s and 70s).
This time period was also marked by
construction of new monuments, even
broader avenues and implementation of
the Soviet planning system composed
of microraions (microdistricts).
According
to
Virgil
Paslauric
Chisinau (Rusu 2011) there are four
significant and distinct periods that
influenced the establishment of the
urban and institutional framework of
contemporary Chisinau:
1. The Tsarist era, Bessarabyan
Gubernyia within Russian Empire
period between 1812-1918;
2. Integration in the Greater Romania,
1918-1940/1941-1944, Chisinau as an
administrative center of the districts of
Lapusna, Nistru; Chisinau was almost
completely destroyed during WWII,
first by invading German forces and
then by the Soviet troops.
3. The Soviet period - when it became
the capital of Moldavian Soviet Socialist
Republic within USSR.
4. Capital of an independent state,
Transition stage 1991- present.
The institutional framework that
shaped Chisinau during the twentieth
century has been in constant flux and
has reflected the politics of the period,
violent shifts between various political
ideologies, economic and cultural
dominances. All of these social turmoils
have left their indelible imprint on
todays city, by creation of new layers of
urban form but even more by clinical
attempts to erase the traces of previous
eras. (Rusu 2011).
Photo 6. Map of Chisinau, 1800. Photo 7. Map of Chisinau, 1817
p.22
Moldova and its capital city Chisinau today

are considered by EU to be in the process
of the transition. These processes started
in the early 90s. The meaning of the word
transition as it is related to the recent
transformations in Eastern Europ is the
process in time that leads to clearly defined
goal or a clearly conceived future. The idea
is that the process will lead to some form of
modernisation. In the most contemporary
meaning of this word the goal is the shift to
the west, joining the EU and NATO as well
as the shift from communism or centraly
organised system to the democracy and the
free market economy (Lewicki 2010). Here
the transition is defined as an ideological
shift from autocratic/centralized to a
pluralized/networked model of governance
but it appears that this shift is producing
constantly mutating hybrid frameworks
within a society leading to multiple
and often unanticipated constalations
that define the mainstream of urban
development.
The transition is meant to signify the
limited time frame for the particular
economical, social and political processes
of transformations. This process of
change from the soviet system of central
government rule to another imported
system of political and urban governance
has already lasted for twentyone years.
Today, we may ask the question if the
transition is indeed a limited period of time
and where is it leading? In the context of
globalising world, one could also conclude
that the process of the transition is a broader
process not unique to eastern Europ, it is
present at various degrees in many parts
of the world (including Sweden) where
liberal economic priniciples have been

integrated into the local institutional
frameworks. Market based decision
making processes permeate almost
all societies today. Chisinau derives
its uniqueness from its long-standing
agricultural
tradition,
frequent
changes in ideologies, complex sense
of identity and shifting spheres of
global influence. As a result Chisinau
has been transforming rapidly for
more then a century and could be seen
as a distinct example of the processes
of accelerated urban transformations
during this relatively brief period of
time. Significant levels of adaptation,
absorption and transformation to the
imported processes of modernization
had never chance to develop and today
the weak central institutions, slow
process of democratisation coupled
with the unpredictable market-based
development have put new pressures
on the civil society to react and to selforganise.
Photo 8. Coliseum Palace private
apartments built in the public park
CHISINAU CENTRAL MARKET
SELF-REGULATION LEADING TO FORMALIZATION OF URBAN SPACE

The information in this reasearch
comes primarily from three sources, the
interviews with the architects/planners
from the IM Chisinau Project who are
responsible for the detailed plan of the
market area, the City Log research from
the recently published book Art Research
in the Public Sphere as well as my own
on-site observations and photographic
evidence.
As a legal entity, the central market is
a municipal company founded in 1994
under the name IM Central Market. The
company has its own bank accounts,
operates independently on the principles
of self-management and full selffinancing. Its responsible for the results
of its work to its partners, banks and the
state. Furthermore, the main activities
of this organisation are, the sale and
storage of food and consumer goods to
individuals and businesses, wholesale
trade, public catering, food testing and
analysis. In addition, a significant section
of the company services cantines for
undergraduate schools within a city center.
The Central Market is an open air market,
situated in the center of Chisinau located
in the historic center of the city.
Photo 9. Entrance to the Central Market
As an urban space, the market is a lively

and colorfull place that sells mainly
localy grown agricultural produce. In the
process of transition, it was affected by
the free market principles characterized
by decentralization of pulic sphere and
p.24
privatization of some of its assets.

The market has in fact exhisted for more
then a century and has historicaly been a
place where farmers from the surrounding
villages sold their products directly to
the city dwellers. As of 2004, parts of the
market were divided in smaller units,
privatized and handed over to the control
of resellers who then began to control
prices by bying goods from the local
farmers and then selling the produce for
the higher price on the market. (Dzokic
& Neelen 2011). According to Project
Chisinau, there are areas in the inner
section of the market that were privatised
during the period between 1994-2010. This
situation, completely driven by economic
interests has caused the spill over of sale
of goods onto the surrounding streets
as the local farmers opted to sell their
produce for the fair price out on the street.
This condition has caused the chaos on
the streets surrounding the market with
informal sellers, parked cars and shoppers
slowing the pasage of traffic and crowding
the streets.
This condition has been seen by the
city as unsustainable and unsanitary, the
remedy being the complete removal of
the entire market from the city core and
the construction of the controlled and
enclosed structure that would completely
erradicate the public character of this
open public space.
The processes of change on this site
show how an array of private economic
interests can be closely related to the
transformations within the institutional
framework of the city as well as to how
the market driven regulation of urban
space by the resellers can trigger a series
of events such as farmers self-organising
to continue selling their products on
the streets and the intervention by
the planning institutions to remedy the

problem. This also shows that the hybrid
institutional frameworks involved in
making decisions in this case rely upon the
inappropriate system of planning values
and misuse the planning methodology.
The sequence of events leading to the
transformation of this site are the result of
the initial top-down market driven actions
that have not included the long term
anticipation of events and have resulted in
actions that remedy the consequences of
previous decisions. The primary decisions
were intitiated as the step towards opening
up of the economic self-regulation and the
free market economics. As a consequence,
the series of events and resulting
spontaneous spatial transformations have
been considered by planners as a serious
urban problem and have served as an excuse
to remove the central market from the city
center. This process called urban clean up
is an attempt by city authorities to further
formalize, introduce a more acceptable
form of commercial activity and establsih
control of the city center. The current
market facilities, which are today open to
the street and to the public are to be in the
future replaced by an enclosed shopping
center introvert type of structure that
would stabilize, clean, and sanitize
the area from typicaly urban conditions of
congestion, chaos and overcrowding. The
proposed new parking structures are to be
constructed to serve new users as well as to
ensure that the street selling is not possible
any more.
Photo 10. Future Plans for the Central Market
My assesment of the sitution is that even

though the urban chaos was present on
the site it was apparent that this pressure
on the area generated a varied and active
content which in many ways represents
everything urban, intense, full of life.
The system of values within the planning
profession maintaines the norms and the
same systems of values aimed at controling
and separating uses have already been
seen as failures in the past. These norms
in this context are used as a platform to
remedy the present urban condition
caused by another imposed condition, the
privatization of public space and forces of
the free market.
The new detailed urban plan is designed by
Project Chisinau. The project will include
the construction of business/commercial
center(15-16 stories), hotel complex,
office center, multi-storeyed parking and
two underground parking areas. The
project is to be completed by 2025 and
the plans also include reorganisation
of the neighborhoods adjoining the
central market. The project is based on
the assesment of the conditions of the
site. The planners, acting upon their best
professional judgment have determined
that the area suffers from a series of
disfunctionalities. According to them,
the area is unsanitary, overcrowded, the
number of automobiles is much greater
than the street capacity allows, and there
is a lack of architectural-urban integrity.
They also claim that the already privatised
inner court area of the market is posing a
problem since it is harder to control and
change.
This clinical and beaurocratic approach is
wrapped under the agenda of creating a
greater public good. In order to satisfy
the needs of the newly established power
elites, the same old planning methods and
ideologies are selectively implemented.
In this case the street vendors, ordinary
peasants and others benefiting from the
market are pushed out of the picture.
Such serious miscalculations set the stage
for long lasting negative consequences for
the people in the city.
GARAGE/HOUSE
A POTENTIAL FOR A FUTURE URBAN VILLAGE

Most housing in Chisinau are the Soviet
era apartment buildings and high rise
developments fom 50s and 60s. There is
also a substantial stock of the detached
single family houses in the city center
area. The majority of urban residents live
in the Soviet type high rise buildings. After
independence residents were offered an
opportunity to purchase appartments they
lived in at very low costs. Since the 90s
nearly all housing has been privatised and
with that emerged an active real estate
market (Anderson 2001).The housing
market researchers who studied the real
estate price development depending on
the standard factors have determined that
there is no substantial difference in the
patterns of land price market values as they
exist in the developed and stable markets
within the EU. The central locations with

good local amenities, connections, etc. are
more expensive then in the perifery of the
city.
It is quite remarkable that such forces
should be so clearly observed amid the
confused and chaotic conditions of an
economy relying on old central planning
mechanisms, new market mechanisms,
and elements of corruption and crony
capitalism. (Anderson 2001)
Unlike many other transitional cities in
South and Eastern Europ, Chisinau does
not have an extensive informal housing
settlements as there is no great population
increase that would place demand on
housing. However, the micro-scale,
self-build modifications of the existing
buildings and streets are widely present as
Photo 11.
Housing extensions
and faade renovations
p.26
well as are many other forms of breaches

of formal zoning regulations at all levels.
There are many facades in a city that have
been partialy renovated, indicating the
extent of the private residences within a
colective surface of the street frontages.
There is an abundance of illegal
additions in shape of protruding rooms,
balconies, shops, basements, car washes
in the middle of the street. All scales of
commercial contents have penetrated
the otherwise rigid system of zoning
rules. The uniformity of apartment block
buildings has been transformed by
individual actions of inhabitants to suite
their personal needs. Partialy due to the
lack of enforcement, these widespread
micro-scale interventions have added a
diverse character to the city landscape
and have achieved a profusion of small
scale commercial activities by violating
the zoning regulations.
The selforganised acts by the inhabitants who
transformed buildings and urban space
through these actions have allowed new
spatial qualities and activities to take
form.
As mentioned earlier, in the recent years
the land values and real estate prices
have been going up in the areas close
to the city center. As a result of such
processes, the land values in good
locations have especialy increased. This
process has instigated an emergence of
illegaly built homes on top of the Soviet
planned garage structures from 1989. In
these areas the land is more affordable
despite close proximity to the center.
I have visited one of these emerging
parking garage/villages belonging to the
Stauceni Village in Riscani District.
This spontanous settlement is a case
with potential for encouraging the
self-regulated, bottom-up intitiatives
by inhabitants to convert the existing
inexpensive but solid built structures
into small scale housing and to use the
land in a more efficient way. The resulting

smaller scale types of self-built housing
structures are not well represented in
the overall range of housing options in
Chisinau. However, they could represent a
viable option for the low to medium level
income population.
Photo 12. Areal map of the Stauceni Vilage
parking garages
These recently converted one-level garage

complexes belong to the communal
housing associations from the early 90s.
The garage structures were built according
to the Soviet planning standards and
the General Urban Plan from 89 in
neighborhoods
with
multi-storeyed
buildings.
This particular area I visited belongs to
owner cooperatives built on the public
land. Its official name is -20 (
)
meaning
garage-constructive cooperative.
It is possible to buy a one level garage with
the basement for about 4-5000US dollars.
Many owners have illegaly built one or
two extra stories on top of the garage
structures. There are 3 types of garages:
One level garage with a basement that
sell for 5-6000$, garages with one level
with 2 basements, selling for 6-8000$,
and garages with one level, an attic and
a basement, for the price of 10-15000$.
Some garages have kept their functions

at the bottom level but some have
been converted to other uses, such as
car repair shops. There is electricity
in the village but no water. According
to the zoning regulations this area is
an industrial zone, the construction of
homes or conversion of garages to other
uses is not allowed. The existing auto
repair shops operate without permits.
The resulting shape of the village is
characterized by the structured and
linear arrangement in plan, due to
the original parking organisations. On
the other hand, the housing additions
are each different in size, shape and
material, they have wild wines growing
on the facades. In the country famous
for its good wine, these characteristics
reveal the informal almost romantic
character of the village. The scale of
the street is narrow, just wide enough
to allow two cars to pass by each other
and the intimate nature of the street
has a human scale. A couple of years
ago it was possible to legalize the
already constructed houses but this is
not allowed any longer. The process of

legalization was never established as a legal
mechanism but was apparently randomly
applied during certain periods of time. The
villages constructed on these sites, however
correspond well with the needs and the
budgets of the local population since the
apartments in the city center average at 614
euros per square meter. The new settlement
opens possibilities for transformation and
the more efficient re-use of the parking
areas which, if legalized and with proper
infrastructure, could create new hybrid
urban environments throughout the city.
Furthermore, such form of evolving and
adaptable urbanisation stemming from
bottom-up has existed through centuries
and could be allowed to coexist with other
types of housing options within a city.
The evolutionary processes of occupation
of under-used urban spaces should be
actively encouraged by the institutions, the
legal system as well as by the planners. This
form of self-regulated spatial organisations,
if recognised may allow for emergence of
high quality dense rural-urban hybrid
living/working/commerce models, and an
Photo 13. Housing built on parking garages - forming a village
p.28
LEGALITY OF ILLEGALITY
alternative form of housing options.
The urban complexity produced by
spontaneous urbanizations, is evident in
many areas left to develop on their own in
Chisinau. However, this proposition is not
without controversy since there are often
disputes and conflicts arising between
different users where there is not enough
of the common basis upon which the
ground rules can be established.
The public administration of the Chisinau
Municipality Public Adminisntration is
based on a group of legal acts such as the
Law of special Status of Municipality and
the Law of Local public Admininstration.
The Chisinau Municipality consists of
a group of territorial-administrative
units: The city of Chisinau (divided in
five districts), six urban mayoralities,
and 26 rural localities represented by 11
mayoralties. All territorial-administrative
organisations except the Chisinau city
enjoy local autonomy in regards to the
finances, public services, etc. This larger
scale legal framework has not changed

much since the Soviet times.The UNDP
report describes the ambiguity of the
transitional governance structure still
in flux and process of reform:
As new draft Law of special status of
Chisinau is not yet approved, there are
many contradictions and discrepancies
between different legislative acts that
regulate the public administration of
Chisinau Municipality. In the same
context, the organizational structure of
Chisinau Municipality Mayoralty is an
inertial product of former Soviet system
and already several years is subject of
reorganization attempts(UNDP 200711) In its report, the UNDP identifies
three main problems that impede the
implementation of development plans
by the city. These are identifued as
three gaps within an institutional
system:
-The management gap .The public
sector is blamed because of the lack
of skills, poor performance in setting
MINISTER OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND CONSTRUCTION

Minister Device
Deputy Minister 1
Analytic Department
Monitoring and
Evaluation
of Policies
Audit Department
Deputy Minister 2
Deputy Minister 3
General Direction:
Architecture, Construction
and Housing
General Direction:
Regional Development
Direction: Architecture
Projects, Urbanism and
Spatial Design
Economic and Technical

Regulation
Direction: Policy
and Regional Cooperation
Direction: Construction,
Building Materials
and Modern Technologies
Direction: Relationships
with Regional
Development Institutions
Direction: Housing
Department of Regional
Statistics
Direction: Relations
and Attracting
International
Investment
Legal
Department
Financial
Department
Management
Department
Human
Resourse
Department
Department
Secretary
Photo 14.
The decision making hierarchy.
up objectives, poor policy design and

execution, lack of coordination between
agencies and excesive reliance on law and
authority for getting things done.
-The comprehension gap. The report
points out to the public servants lack of
understanding of the relation between
the current administrative processes
and possible advancements in public
management. The report recommends
necesity of reform towards more effective
management system.
-The confidence gap is reflected
through the distrust between diverse
stakeholders within and outside of the
system, the general public, private actors,
the government, etc.
The UNDP report recognizes the
implementation of development plans
by the city as important and mentions
no flaws in the development plans. The
report merely ciriticises slowness in
implementation of the plans on grounds
of ineffectiveness. Even more remarquable
is that the public servants are to blame for
most of the issues listed within the three
gaps because among other things they
Photo 15. Car Wash, built in the middle of the street.
p.30
tend to follow the laws.

Does the UNDP report simply dismiss
the relevance of laws and promotes
and encourages the illegal acts simply
because they are more efficient,
regardless what the outcome may be?
This question remains unclear.
By criticising the public servants
for excesive reliance on law and
authority the UNDP report touches
upon another possibility, perhaps
inadvertently. By being merely, critical
the report provides no alternative
answer to what other then law or
institutions can all the stakeholders
rely upon. Could there be other forms
of institutional framework that could
be relevant institutional basis and thus
replace the insuffuficient, obsolete and
stringent legal procedures?
According to Patsey Healey there
is another important institutional
system in cities that she calls soft
infrastructures. These
are
the
institutions of social life that she
claims have equal legitimacy as
government institutions. Institutions
are the frameworks of norms, rules
and
practices
which
structure
action in social contexts (Giddens,
1984; DiMaggio & Powell, 1991).
They are expressed in formal rules
and structures, but also in informal
norms and practices, in the rhythms
and routines of daily collective life.
They structure the interactional
processes through which preferences
and interests are articulated and
decisions made. They are a kind of soft
infrastructure of the governance of
social life.(Healey 2007)

If we refer back to the case of the central
market and the garage/house village;
What if the planning decisions were made
more in tune with the institutions of soft
infrastructure. As mentioned earlier the
self-organizing village has always existed
in Chisinau. The garage/villas as well as
the informal parts of the Central Market
are integral parts of the daily collective
life rather then just an urban problem to
be solved (or neglected) according to the
zoning and other regulation. In case of the
garage houses, the village exists in space
but as a legal entity it has an undefined
status and it therefore never reaches its full
potential in real space. The lack of formal
recognition of institutional legitimacy for
the village, water infrastructure cannot be
installed and the further completion and
establishement of better living conditions
remaines suspended in time. Could
the establishment of wider diversity of
institutional legitimacies be achieved by
motivating new means of collective action
based on the contextual informal norms
and practices. Could these practices also
become one of the important mechanisms
for establishing legitimacy within a legal
framework and bridge or at least reduce
the confidence gap between various
actors.
The UNDP report also blames the
incomplete legal reform processes for a
lot of uncertainties and overlaps between
jurisdictions,
responsibilities
among
various administrative units and agencies.
According to the information from the
Chisinau Project the legislation stipulates
the demolition of all illegal construction.
However, in practice all is negotiable
and the necessary permit documents can
sometimes be obtained afterwards. Even
when the owners build the structure and
receive permits afterwards, they continue
to make further modifications. In 2011
there were 400 illegaly built objects of
all types and functions and only 7

were demolished. Majority of these
interventions are additions, to and
adaptations of existing buildings
The amount of fines for illegal
construction
charged
by
the
municipality last year is about one
million lei (64,000 euro) Despite this
the State Construction Inspection
complained that local authorities
continue to issue building permits for
projects which are not in compliance
with the General Urban Plans. The
courts often delay the examination of
cases of unauthorized construction,
apply symbolic fines or, in some cases,
legalize buildings without any fines.
Many of the buildings are located on
the public land. As a remedy to the
issue the State Construction Inspection
Agency proposes the increase of fines
for illegal construction and further
elaboration of the legislation that
regulates construction, demolition of
illegal construction. The Valea Morilor
is a major urban park in the city center
with the most illegally constructed
objects in the city. Residential
buildings had been built in some areas
of the park. There used to be a lake in
the middle of the park that has been
dried out years ago and the remains
of the mamooth have been discovered
in the ground under the lake. There
are roumors that a luxury housing or a
hotel is to be built in the middle of this
lake but its not clear right now what
the future will bring.
Right now there are about 100 houses
built in the park and even though the
decision was made by the town hall to
tear down these houses, only 5 have
been demolished since 2007. Allegedly
the complications in the legal process
are due to difficulty in identifying
the owners and the autorities are not
allowed to prepare reports in the
absence of the owners. There are also
reports on tacit agreements with some

officials from the local government or
the state building inspection who obtain
the necessary documents to the violators.
It is much easier to obtain the permit
documents after the construction. The
process of legalization appears to be
informal and is in itself not regulated by
law. However, the process of legalization
exists and the procedure is based on few
steps, first the State Building Inspection
prepares a report, issues a fine certificate
(2-3000 Lei for individuials and 7-9000
Lei for legal persons) this is normaly
followed by the final acceptance and the
formal legalization of the project.
The most planning problems and
contradictions in Chisinau are the result
of confliciting definitions within the legal
framework, the most visible problems
relate to the enforcement of the legal
framework on urbanism, but many of
these problems have their roots in the
legal framework. One of the key problems
is the fact that the legal framework
on urban planning does
not correlate with
other laws
i n
the field of local public administration

(especially the new laws on local public
administration adopted in December
2006). (Vitorovic 2009)
The issue of illegal and informal
development is still largely defined as
a major problem by governments and
planners that seek cure in the traditional
planning practices based on the outdated
planning practices.The problem, however
is not in the unplanned processes
but in the current structure of legal
institutions involved in the framework
of urban governance which still work
within strict hierarchical systems and
base their system of values on the set
of formulated beauracratic parameters.
These hierarchies are inherited from the
past and still exist even though they no
longer have the authority and resources
to enforce the urban plan or the law.
The institutions also lack insight in the
complex processes occurring in cities
and therefore lack the relevant system of
values needed to determine appropriate

Photo 16.
Transformations of existing housing
approach in planning.
The present ambiguities in the legal
framework and selective tolerance
towards
some
forms
of
illegal
construction allow authorities to
establish a permanent state of tension
and control by maintaining the sense
of instability among the population
since the ilegaly obtained privilege
can be taken away at any moment. One
could relate this idea as the metaphor
for disciplining and controlling of the
urban space through Foucalts critique
of institutionalization of society through
spatial organization but also of more
psychologically rather then physical
methods of restraint. (Foucalt 1977)
some cases of illegal construction of
objects (without proper permission,
infringement of building norms and
rules, inefficient use of the land...) have
been observed. The legal framework
concerning the legalisation of the
informal settlements is poorly developed

and there are no laws in preparation on
this issue. The Ministry of Constructions
and Territory Development (MCTD)
adopted Ordinance No. 20 on 05.02.2009
for measures to reduce the number of
unauthorised buildings. This ordinance
stipulates that it is forbidden to carry
out technical expertise with the purpose
of legalising unauthorised buildings
(built without certificates of urbanism
and building permits). The ordinance
also emphasizes that it is forbidden to
issue a certificate of urbanism for the
establishment of the urban regime (or
similar acts) with the purpose of legalising
the constructions edified without
authorisation. The local governments
are also advised to intensify the control
on how their sub-entities observe the
legislation in the field of urbanism and
territorial development. (Vitorovic 2009).
Photo 17. Zoning regulations formalization of the new aesthetic
The very bureacratic and analytical tone of

the NALAS report illustrates the lack of
understanding of the context. It is correct
to claim that in Chisinau there is a lack of
large informal housing settlements such
as those in Belgrade and Tirana but there
are other forms of informal structures,
diverse in content and definition that as
a sum hugely dominate the development
of Chisinau. Therefore the conclusion
of the report is that there is no attempt
to adopt any new laws. In other words if
the reality does not fit the predetermined
formulations accepted by the current
institutional system, the issue is not
relevant or it does not exist. The planning
legislation is inconsistent with the
additional laws supporting the planning
process. The country does not suffer from
many informal settlements. Particular
measures are undertaken to deal with
informal settlements. However, there is no
intent to adopt a law for the legalisation of
these settlements. (Vitorovic 2009)
During the period between 2002-2006
UNDP assisted the Chisinau Minicipality
in development of the General Urban
Plan 2025 (approved in March 2007). By
projecting the conventional modernist
planning tool in form of Land Zoning
Regulations to be the principal guidelines
within the current strategic plan. The
new regulations have not presented an
innovative set of guidelines that fit the
already transformed urban environment

and thus perpetuates the practice of
inappropriate technology. Zoning is
based on the idea of segregating land uses
from one another, an anathema to the very
idea of a city, which is to bring people and
uses together. Zoning has turned out to be
a classic case of inappropriate technology.
Appropriate technology illustrates that
there is not one rule, indeed not one
structure, process, or doctrine that applies
in all circumstances in deciding on the
aptness of the transfer. (Neuman 1996)
The zoning regulations in their present
form are separte from the current processes
of already transformed and appropriated
land uses. This dychotomy between the
rules and the daily reality contributes to
a state of permanent illegality. Besides the
process of changing zoning regulations,
obtaining the permits is overly beauracratic
and time consuming. For example it takes
180 days for approval of zoning change
and the process of obtainining a building
permit procedure has 30 stages and takes
292 days(IFC 2011). Furthermore there
is an immense discrepancy between the
documents which defined zoning laws and
the actual processes that shape everyday
urban reality. The processes of selfregulation have produced multiple and
complex system of functional adjacences.
Chisinau urban development has a
separate life of its own outside the present
legal framework.
Photo 18.
Process to
obtain the
construction
permit,
comparative
diagram
p.34
THE HYBRID FRAMEWORKS

The planning decision processes, in
Chisinau have mutated into hybrid forms
of centralized and at the same time chaotic,
ambiguous and decentralized control
that engages technocrats, beaurocrats,
politicans and corporations, crony
capitalists and politicians to establish a
web of decision making processes. They
together draw the most benefit from the
combination of the established planning
doctrines and the market economy.
The missing part in this equation is the
weakness of civil society, legal clarity,
and the lack of mechanisms to achieve
appropriate balance.
My intent is not to romanticise the notion
of the self-regulated urbanity. Instead, I
investigate the context specific conditions
and aim to define the important
parameters for reform of the current
planning processes. In order to be able
to go beyond the intitial appearances and
presumptions it is neccessary to discuss
the terminologies in relation to the
mechanisms of urban transformations that
shape cities today. The term self-regulated
urbanism has been widely used in recent
times and has also become fashionable
among scholars from various fields as
part of the dicsourse within planning
theory, urban governance and institutional
theory. The term is also associated with the
notion of the unplanned and spontaneous
development of cities stemming from the
micro scale and the frictions between the
top down vs bottom up forms of urban
development.
The city and its form are the
manifestation of the processes within a
society (Kaminer 2010). At any given time
the citys development is not posing the
question of the planners preferences but
the structure of society itself (Kaminer
2010). Kaminer goes further to define

the polarity between the planning
doctrines and defines them according
to economic polarities. For example
he associates the Keynesian central
planning and regulated city (Soviet
Planning would fit the extreme end of
this category) and on the opposite end
of the spectrum he sees the emergence
of the informal city as the direct result
of the free-market economy. Therefore,
Tahl Kaminer claims that the urban
development processess are based
on a single, pure ideology or a single
economic system. However, we see
today various degrees of hybrid value
systems within urban politics that
change and shift in time affected among
other things by fluctuations in global
economy, politics, etc. For example, In a
single city one could find the remnants
of the central Soviet Planning system
along with the various forms of
market driven urban development and
manifestations of informal city. One
may also find combinations of various
forms of centralized and the more
recent complex city-wide networked
institutional frameworks, etc.
According to Michael Neuman,
the
centralized/autocratic
system
offers security and welfare while the
individuality is discouraged. He also
states that in the pluralized/network
society model there are various groups
that organize themselves according to
their own interests but also with the
aim to ensure the protection of rights
such as liberty and equality. Today, in
the processes of rapidly changing cities
worldwide, the centralized and the
network-based systems often coexist
not only as parallel systems, but they
overlap, merge and mutate depending on

the conditions of the local context, the
global political and economic changes.
These have been proven to be unstable at
any given moment and can cause reversals
in the processes of institutional reform. In
Chisinau this unstable shifting condition
is manifested in the frequent changes in
politics between various governments as
well as in the contested urban territories.
The effects of these processes serve as
evidence that the regulatory system of
governance, written laws, and drawn plans
do not adequately correspond to the
realities of society in flux. The present
institutions lack sense of direction,
vision and tools and often the clear legal
mandate to enforce the laws. Reality of
daily life demands a very different, more
adaptive approach based on a flexible
system of governance but also a change in
planning criteria and a new platform that
engages with the daily realities and learns
from experiences. This restructuring from
the top-down may open the door for new
and diverse urban uses, better balance
of power in decision making processes,
improvements in planning tools and more
sustainable urban environment.
The self-organising procesesses of
urbanization exist in every city in the world
at variety of degrees, often described as
spontaneous and chaotic, these processes
are seen as complex, micro scale organised
processes conventionaly considered to
be external to formal planning. For this
reason most of the informal housing
around the world are seen as results of
self-organising processes where present
planning system has failed its inhabitants
and where citizens themselves are
changing the city. It is widely accepted
now that these multiple and parallel
processes are essential to growth of
cities where the informal and unplanned
urban environments are the direct result
p.36
of shortcomings of the planned city.

However, Michelle Provoost rightly
points out that the unplanned is also
a form of a planned city, the difference
being according to her that what we
call the planned city stems from a
central institutional authority where
the planning of the urban environment
is conducted by professionals in
the field of planning. Thus, one can
view the processes of self-organising
urbanity as a form of planning in
progress by adopting to conditions as
they come by non-professionals actors
who directly engage with their local
context. Here the decisions are often
made spontanously through processes
of conflict resolution and negotiations.
It could also be argued that the
developers shopping centers and other
commercial projects are also examples
of self-organisation, if we adhere to the
definitiion of the unplanned as `not
planned by professional planners
(Provoost 2010) The way the question
needs to be formulated is not about the
simplistic formulation of the planned
vs the unplanned city but how do we
address the reality of institutional
systems and how can the institutional
planning system address these complex
constallations in an effective way. in
other words the often individualistic,
spontaneous and creative efforts of
some citizens have also mutated to the
diverse forms of control of urban space
often associated as negative results
caused by the top-down strategies
within the centraly planned city. The
current debate on the relation between
the planned and unplanned and the
idea that there is some sort of duality is
limiting and simplistic explanation. If
one is to relate these processes to the
way they are studied within the field
of institutional economics, the similar
questions are posed and the simplified
definitions of dualitties between planning

and non-planning within economic
processes are dismissed. If the cities
within the context of the free market
society are a direct result of the economic
processes then the same laws that guide
these economic processes are reflected in
the form of the city. Here it becomes the
quesiton of urban governance and the
institutional framework at the macro scale
but also the key question is what needs to
be reformed and how.
A better question emerges, I suggest,
when, rather than juxtaposing planning
and markets, both are subsumed under the
more overarching concept of governance.
Then the question is no longer to plan or
not to plan, but: What is the most effective
form (or mix of forms) of governance?
Asking this question in the historical
sense (i.e. in an ex post evaluation) we are
undertaking institutional analysis; raising
it in the context of addressing a policy
issue or problem we are doing institutional
design. (Alexander, 2007)
If we refer back to the case study of the
Central Market we may conslude that the
processes of self-regulated urbanisation
take many shapes and are rooted in
every segment of society and at any
scale, starting from the micro level street
markets and illegal housing construction
to the office, shopping centers, hotels,
villas and luxurious residential estate
development at the macro scale. The
central planning processes and the selfreguled urbanisation do not run parallel
with each other independently but are
in constant friction, and in some cases
closely integrated and co-dependent.
The self-regulated and the informal
are often associated with the inventive,
bottom-up and spontanoeus efforts of
citizenry. However, we can also see that
the self-regulated processes differ and
exist at various levels of society and in
the context of Chisinau are often the

consequence of processes of top-down
institutional reforms often imposed
by the lack of the new structure and
legislation combined with the week
remains of the obsolete system of
Soviet planning. In case of the Central
Market the self-organisation processes
based on the bottom-up intitiatives
by the farmers and the top-down
processe of privatisation need to be
distingushed and differentiated. The
top-down and close to the center of
power planning processes are driven
by shifting political power centers and
economic interests. Such informal
top-down political constructions have
often limited the citizens right to the
city in a new way.
Whether successful or not the evolution
of urban space in Chisinau rarely
corresponds with the existing zoning
rules. Could the more clear context
based vision of the future for Chisinau
promote more effective and adoptable
system or urban regulations while the
legal reforms are being developed.
This transitional instability provides an
opportunity for a live urban laboratory
where new possibilities for more
interactive practice based knowledge
can be developed. These experiences
could then be used to improve laws
and planning methodologies.
THE PLANNING PROCESS

AND SHIFTING POWER.
Planning is not homogenous: we are in
a pre-or multiparadigmatic era, when
various forms of planning, or planning
paradigms are recognized (Alexander,
2007)
An ambiguious professional role of the
planner positioned between public and
private realm well depicts the nature of
processes of transition where the week
processes of restructuring of the legal
system are coupled with new hybrid
frameworks that combine remnants of the
soviet institutions and the market driven
self regulated development.
IMP Chisinau Project is a municipal
Institution providing urban planning and
architecture consultancy which provides
services to the Town Hall through the
General Planning Deaprtment. This
is not a unique case as there are other
similar publicaly owned organisations,
such as INCP Urbanproject that provide
services for the private development
projects. Officialy the Chisinau Project
is described as a public organisation that
functions according to the principles
of self management. It provides
services such as general urban plans,
detailed plans, engineering networks
planning,
infrastructure
networks,
architectural design services, land surveys,
urban analysis, etc. The clients of this
organisation are both public, such as
municipality and private developers and
real estate investment companies.
This complicated role with much potential
for conflict of interest seems to be key in
determining the planning processes in the
city. In this way the public institution plays
a double role by presenting themselves
as serving the interest of the public
while at the same time being commited
p.38
to the interests of a private investor. Is

this an issue that opens potential for
corruption or is it the mere stage within
a transition from communism to free
market system through development of
urban governance. The institutional
perspective dissolves the publicprivate
duality, subsuming both under the
overarching concept of governance.
This view enables us to abandon sterile
debate about the relative merits of
public intervention vs. untrammeled
private enterprise, or between planning
and the market.(Alexander 2007)
In the country where any capital
investment is extemely welcome such
dual role can be complicated by the
often conflicting interests between the
public and private sector. The question
the economic theorists raise, however is
if there is or ever if there ever was any
clear distinction between the public
and private sector. According to them,
planning was never solely the public
activity, and given that neoliberalism
has been a dominant ideology at least
since the 90s, the economic theorists
have a point here. In reality planning
processes are no longer distinguishable
in terms of the choice between planning
or the market, These are unsatisfactory
explanations for planning as a generic
societal activity, because their basic
premise is fundamentally incorrect.
They all assume a clear dichotomy
between planning, associated with
public intervention, as opposed to the
supposedly unplanned market. But
(except in extreme cases) planning
and markets are not distinguishable.
(Alexander 2007)
The result of such processes can be seen

in the current detailed plans presented
by Chisinau Project. The plans for whole
new areas in the city are based on the
grandiose utopian visions reminiscent
to a combination of the Soviet planning
mass housing projects and glossy images
of Dubai skyline. At the same time many
spaces in the city are littered by abandoned
industial buildings, half demolished
cultural centers, empty lots. There is a
remarqable dychotomy between the newly
built luxury housing developments and
the abandoned areas of the city. Many new
projects are the result of public/private
partnerships that come from the tradeoffs commonly accomplished through the
mutual contractual agreements between
the municipal organizations and the private
investors. For example, the municipaility
provides land for the development and
in return the developer may promise to
provide certain public functions and allow
for low rents for a number of municipal
employees, etc. The same consultancies
(such as Chisinau Project) set the
guidelines for zoning, draw detailed plans
and prepare architectural drawings for the
investor. In these circumstances planners
and architects have an apparent role of
grand visionaries but in practice they serve
as neutral facilitators rather then proactive
participants in the decisionmaking
process. In short, the practice of planning
seems to have been hugely affected by
the legal and institutional structure that
defines its social role and power (Teitz
2007). Photo 19. Soviet planning meets Dubai
Currently the structure of decision

making in the public sphere is based
on a highly hierarchical model which
is not functional and the decision
makers often are either influenced by
private sphere, political influence or
are unable to effectively implement
the existing institutional mechanisms
to make improvements for the sake
of general public interest. The public
participation in decision making
processes is unsatisfactory even
though the legislation exists in place
that guarantees such hearings and
open public debates about important
public projects. The various reports
from UNDP and NALAS show
diverging information. UNDP report
is more critical while NALAS report
presents an official recitation without
verification if the procedures are
actually followed.
The Chisinau Municipality has
established a new forum for open
public debate, Sustainable Urban
Development and public debate forum.
The Citizen Center, an institution
established within a city hall manages,
organises and publicly distributes
information about these events
where various stakeholders, such as
executive officials of the municipality,
political parties leaders, NGOs, civil
society representatives, and media
hold debates on urban development
issues. (UNDP 2007-11) However, the
UNDP report goes further to state
that there are mixed results regarding
the implementation of this project:
Despite a large consensus and
commitments of all stakeholders, the
tactics of implementation is facing
serious difficulties and efficiency
problems(UNDP 2007-11).
The following are the findings of
the NALAS report - Legislation
and Analysis: The consultation of the

population during the elaboration and
approval of the planning documentation is
regulated by the law on the principles of
urbanism and by the regulation approved
by the governments decision on the
consultation of the population in the
process of expansion and approval of the
spatial and urban planning documentation.
The public is involved before the process
even starts as well as during the process
..(Vitorovic 2009).
My findings in this case show very
different picture, perhaps more in tune
with the UNDP report. Even if the law
may be in place it does not mean that it
will be properly implemented. According
to Oberliht a local NGO, the public
participation is not a signinficant element
in decision making process. Rather than
beeing an integrated and effective part

of the dialogue with the public, it is an
orchestrated and controled process
reduced to a level of formality. The indebt and constructive public debate
is virtualy non-existent during these
presentations. The events are pourly
organised, not well attended and
advertised, they serve only to formalize
decisions already made and to satisfy
the legal procedure.
Today, I was present (February 29,
2012) at one of the public consultations
organized at Riscani District Court in
which the Town Planning presented
a new urban plan for the area (http://
chisinau.md/public/files/planuri/
PREZENTAREA_PUZ_FINAL_ro.pdf).
It is hard to describe what I saw at
the public consultation. Someone
had invited a class of students from
Photo 20. Art Chiosc on the parking lot,
p.40
Oberliht Association
PHD Repport URBAN TRANSFORMABILITIES
by Bojan Boric
a school in Chisinau that, besides a few

people who could be counted on fingers,
formed the entire audience. A collaborator
of Chisinauproiect has read the three
documents, in a mechanical way, then the
institutes director, tried to explain the
general features of this document (which
should follow the General Urban Plan
in 2007 and which in turn has serious
problems: for example future Cantemir
Blvd in Chisinau). There were very few
reactions from the audience towards
the content of RCP, only one of the 20
students present expressed his opinion
about the potential loss of jobs for the
drivers of informal minibuses (which
will be eliminated until 2025). one of
the architects attending the meeting was
surprised by the aura of enthusiasm
present in the room. The same architect
has noted that there were not any
independent specialists from various fields
present in the room to discuss and analyze
the material presented.
After half an hour of discussion, the
secretary, who made notes in her notebook,
put the book under his arm and sat there
until the end of the meeting. He also
stopped making any further records of the
problems mentioned by those present in
the room.
At one point the group of high
school students rose from their seats
to go.then almost simultaneously
Architecture
and
Urban
Planning
Department representatives concluded
the discussion, invited the audience to
come to Chisinauproiect (or website of
Municipality).In conclusion it seems
that we are dealing with a staged formality
of the Department of Architecture and
Urbanism in Chisinau, the talks were held
just because they or international bodies
are require by law to provide transparency
of decision making process. It is certain that
unfortunately only 1% of the population
of this city is aware of plans by the City
Hall, and we must ask ourselves as to

why everything happens as it happens.
Tomorrow (March 1, 2012) will be held
the second day of hearings. (http://
chisineu.wordpress.com/2012/02/29/
planul-urbanistic-zonal/)
Photo 21. The General Urban Plan, 2006
If most of the planning decisions are

made without or with limited public
participation, then the legitimacy of
such acts as well as the legal framework
resulting
form
such
processes
(including General Urban Plan) may
also be regarded ilegitimate by those
excluded from such processes.
However, Patsey Healey brings us back
to perhaps some of the fundamental
questions: How, by whom and on which
principles is the dialogue between
different actors established? How to
maintain the balance? She also reflects
upon the importance of the planning
tradition, The planning tradition has
repeatedly asserted the substantive
values of social justice, material wellbeing, environmental sustainability
and protection, and the importance
of democratic voice to citizenship
and identity. These interlink with
the procedural values of inclusivity,
innovation and creativity, fairness
and reasonableness and of developing

a grounding in a rich and well-argued
knowledge base. (Healey 2007)
What if this knowledge base does not have
the capacity to deal with the challenges of
the processes in the contemporary city? Is
this a question of tradition or the evolution
and accumulation of new knowledge?
Another question one should ask today is
on what platform is the qualitative basis
of good urban environment established
and for whose benefit?
The planning enterprise is therefore
involved in ongoing struggles in all kinds
of places over appropriate modes and
cultures of governance as well as over
specific socio-spatial outcomes, expressed
in concepts of the good city and good
governance(Healey 2007)
However, the question may also be posed
if the good intentions and the system of
values are enough to help us define an
appropriate role for the planner as well
as to develop appopriate planning criteria
today where there is such a mix of forces
at play. Perhaps the mix of forces in such
circumstances as in Chisinau, is decisive
in determining the direction in which the
balance is going to shift. Even the good
intentions of some of the participants can
lead to disastrous outcomes.
In case of the Central market one may
ask what kind of value stance would
be appropriate by the planners to adopt
if the professional is required to be
guided by the traditional knowledge,
the values of the good city and the
balancing act between unequal powers?
How could the planner under pressure
by the influences of the investors position
him/herself without compromising the
planning practice. Furthermore, through
the assesment of the conditions of the
site the planning decisions could easily
be accepted as reasonable since the
professional judgment of the planners
in a very logical way lists a sequence of
p.42
problems to be solved for the greater

public good and the problems
list is accumulating: congestion, lack
of capacity and architectural-urban
integrity. Perhaps it is the value stance
that has to be learned and acquired
through the recognition of other value
stances and instead of the good city
it could be a vibrant city, adoptable
and integral with the inherent qualities
of the place. What is there for the
planning enterprise to contribute
to all of this? As I have argued
elsewhere (Healey, 1997a), I believe the
planning contribution to be in part a
consequence of position, a vantage
point from which relations transect
and intersect in specific spaces and,
in so doing, accumulate a recognition
of places and their qualities. But it is
also a consequence of a value stance.(
Healey.) Still, planning profession
and for that matter architecture need
to evolve knowledge and capacity
to adress urban development and
transformations according to present
processes and by studying modes of
urban evolution and thus develop
understanding of what Healey calls
situatedness of planning activity.
In the context of the post Soviet city,
the role of the planner is yet to be tested
through greater involvement of more
participants in the planning processes,
such as farmers who sell on the
market, the citizens who buy groceries
at the market and others concerned.
Would some kind of concensus lead
to the adjustment in the organisational
strategy of the market is unknown but
the only plans on the table right now
are those for the shopping center,
parking, and the office tower.
The time is now to investigate new
potentials for better performance
of reforming institutional systems, ...

Institutions perform more effectively
when they innovate based on local
knowledge and practices instead of
imports, is a proposition ripe for empirical
testing.(Neuman, 1996a, 1996b). One may
conclude that during Chisinaus history as
well as today, each new era became a testing
ground of the attempts to modernize
the society by imposing the technological
import of the institutional frameworks,
invented and tested elsewhere and not
neccessarily relevant in the local context.
This also meant that the new system of
values, governing systems were repeatedly
succeding each other, sometimes violently
and swiftly, without regard to the
potentials for spontaneous development
and innovation by the local culture.
Inherently tolerant and multicultural the
society of Chisinau self-organizes and is
in the processes of changing its own city.
If encouraged the society itself could help
develop a more innovative and context
specific hybrid frameworks based on
diverse initiatives and thus form a new
foundation for more innovative and place
specific urban institutional framework.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Provoost, M.(ed.) 2010 New Towns for

the 21st Century, the Planned vs. The
Unplanned City
INTI Conference, SUN architecture and
authors, Amsterdam
Neuman M. 2007, Multi-Scalar Large

Institutional Networks in Regional
Planning, Planning Theory & Practice,
Vol. 8, No. 3, 319344, September 2007,
Routledge, London
Kaminer, T. 2010, City and Society: The

Keynesian New Town and the Ressurection
of Capitalism,
New Towns for the 21st Century, the
Planned vs. The Unplanned City. INTI
Conference,
SUN architecture and authors, Amsterdam
Dzokic A., Neelen M. 2011 Cities Log:

Chisinau, Chisinau Art Research in
the Public Sphere,
Rusu S.(ed.). KSA:K, Chisinau
Alexander, E. R. 2000, Why Planning

Vs. Markets Is An Oxymoron: Asking The
Right Question
University of Southern California, Los
Angeles, California
Rusu S. 2011, Reconfiguration of

Urban Space, Chisinau Art Research
in the Public Sphere, KSA:K, Chisinau
Teitz, M. B. 2007, Planning and the

New Institutionalisms, Institutions and
Planning, Niraj Verma(ed.)
Elsevier Ltd, Oxford UK
Vitorovic, Z. 2009, Zajazi K (ed),

Vidmar J (ed), Mohor M (ed). NALAS
Report: The Legislation and analysis
of the implementation of spatial and
urban planning in Albania, Kosovo,
Macedonia, Moldova,
Republika Srpska and Turkey as
compares to the case of Denmark
Publisher: SOS: Association of
Municipalities and Towns of Slovenia,
NALAS: Network of Associations
of Local Authorities of South East
Europ. Narodna in univerzitetna
knjinica, Ljubljana
Alexander, E.R. 2007, Institutionalist

Perspectives on Planning: Why? Where?
How?, Institutions and Planning, Niraj
Verma(ed.), Elsevier Ltd, Oxford UK
Foucault M. 1977. Discipline and

Punish, The Birth of the Prison,
Sheridan A. (transl.)
Random House, Inc., New York
Healey, P. 2007, The New Institutionalism

and the Transformative Goals of
Planning, Institutions and Planning, Niraj
Verma(ed.), Elsevier Ltd, Oxford UK
Anderson J. E. 2001, Emerging

Housing Markets in Moldova, Journal
of Housing Economics 10, (419428),
Department of Economics, University
of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska
Lewicki, M. 2010, Time in Transition,

Atlas of Transformations, Baladran, Z.(ed),
Havranek, V.(ed)
Published by tranzit.cz, Prague
p.44
IFC 2011, Doing Business 2011 - Moldova:

Making a Difference for Entrepreneurs
A copublication of The World Bank and
the International Finance Corporation,
Washington DC
Bulgaru M, Bulgaru O, Sobotka T, Zeman
T. 2000, Past and present population
development in the Republic of Moldova.
In: Tom Kuera et al. (eds.). New
Demographic Faces of Europe. Springer
Verlag, Heidelberg
UNDP,
2007-11.
United
Nations
Development
Programme
Moldova
(UNDP) Project Document
Chisinau
Municipality
Development
Project, Chisinau.
Interviews:
Dorina
Tedesko(alias),
Architect and Urban Planner. Chisinau
Project, Chisinau, Moldova
Websites:
(http://chisineu.wordpress.
com/2012/02/29/planul-urbanistic-zonal/)
p.46
p.48
ANALYSIS Studentwork URBAN STUDIO
ANALYSIS AND MAPPING

Student research
_The importance of infrastructure

_Green areas problem and potential
_The potential of the water and riverside
_Importaint axes and abandoned structures
p.49
THE IMPORTANCE OF INFRASTRUCTURE
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p.50
Comunications Moldavia/ Chisinau Our

work has been divided in two different part:
the first consisting on an investigation on
a larger scale about connections between
the city center and the neighbourhood of
Chisinau; the second one focusing on the
analysis of public transportation in the city
center.
Chisinau Municipality is a strategic
railway junction that connects the city to
the west of Romania, Galati in the south
and east Odessa, Ukraine. About the
roads infrastructure we underlined the
accessibility to the city by European roads,
and how for the future the city is trying
to increase creation on new European
transport corridors together with improved
mobility in Chisinau.
After this first part we focused on the city
centre, looking at the public transportation
network. Our research mainly focused on
trying to understand how transports work.
Analysing how this network works trough a
multilayers scheme, we got the congestion
present in city centre streets is due to the
superimposition of all the three kind of
transports in the same roads, even though
the old part of the city with not orthogonal
narrow streets is not served enough by bus
and trolley.
For solving this congested situation
Chisinau municipality have thought for
the future about the creation of new streets
and increased use of the belt running
outside the city center beside a different
organisation of public transportation. After
having analysed the public transportation
network of Curitiba (BRA), it is a model for
its perfect coordination between transports
and urban development, we have tried to
use it in Chisinau situation: we believe that
by trying to differentiate the use of three
different kind of public transportation, the
congestion in the street could be resolved,
or at least improved. At the end of the
intensive virtual research, we moved to
Moldavia to see how things really work in
the city. Thanks to this experience some
of our thoughts changed: we understood

the importance of the minibuses system
for the local people, how theyre a kind of
practical way of transport, beside our ideas
of improving bus and trolley network were
confirmed by local people as well as our own
experience. The study trip to Chisinau has
resulted in having discovered and defined
areas of interest for the insertion of a civic
center in relation to public transport:
- A proposal of improving connections
between two different parts of the city
divided by the river and the railway limit
creating a civic centre on the second main
road.
- A proposal of reconnecting three different
points situated on the main axe of the city.
- A proposal of creating a new university
centre situated on the main axe of the city
after fixing the accessibility to this area.
Railway
Chisinau is crossed by the railway. The
railway infrastructure of the city includes,
central station, lines train maintenance and
support services and movement. Chisinau
Municipality is a strategic railway junction
that connects the city to the west of Romenia,
Galati, in the south and east Odessa and
Ukraine via the black sea. The railway is
very important to guarantee the economic
relations between the Moldavia and its
neigbouring countries.
Road infrastructure
The key idea of the new period should be
increased creative Chisinau competitiveness
in European network of cities based on the
creation of favourable climate in the city for
innovation and economy. There is a good
road network density in the municipality,
but is in a poor condition physically of the
foundation and especially road asphalt.
Goal 1: Increase economic space in Chisinau
city by European transport corridors,
together with improved mobility in the
municipality of Chisinau.
Goal 2: Ensure the conditions of conservation,
rehabilitation and expansion of existing
natural heritage.
p.51
Comunications to
Chisinau
COMUNICATIONS TO
CHISINAU
The most important suburbs are
connected by interurban buses
nowadays; they are thinking about
integrate some train stations in a future
subway network to include suburbs in
the main network transport.
This plan try to merge underground
and aboveground rails (some of them
are now working as train stations).
FUTURE PLANS
present situation
For future situation is already planned

to develop a network of three belts
outside the city to clear it of traffic and
also reduce the circulation intensity.
Suburbs would get a better connection
between them and also with the main
city.
The future network of public transport
could use this system of main roads.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Future plans
Street and road system , Existing
p.52 Street and road system planed
There are three different kinds of

public transport in Chisinau: trolley
bus and minibus.
Currently
the trolley-bus network runs
Street and road system planed
in a correct way but it is different with
the bus and minibus.
Mostly the minibus network: overlap of
routs, no define stops, private service...
The core of the city is crowded of routes,
and maybe it would be necessary try to
clear the public transport network.
PROBLEMS:
*Buses and trolly are frequently
running late, its old vehicles
*The mini buses often double the lines
of other public transport and are not
safe.
p.53
TRAFFIC AND INTENSE INTERSECTIONS

The traffic inside old city is really high
(as we can see in this sketch) and also
chaotic.
It would be necessary to liberate
some areas to avoid traffic jams in the
downtown.
Minibus system will be designed to circle

the city center, used by pedestrians as a
quick way of getting to other part of the
center.
Trolley circle inside the city running in
two lanes in the middle of the main streets.
They connect the core of the city with the
belt.
Bus circle fast on the belt made by
interesting point of the city and from each
one they depart to the neighbourhood.
Traffic intensity
Intensity and comunication lines
p.54
INTENSITY AS AN INCENTIVE FOR GROWTH
p.55
p.56
GREEN AREAS PROBLEM AND POTENTIAL

CHIINU - ONE OF THE
GREENEST CITieS IN EUROPE
33% of Chiinu consists of green areas.
You might not imagine all this green
areas when you think of the post-soviet
union country with a capital containing
mainly concrete blocks. During the
Soviet Union regime the largest
sector in the Moldavian economy was
agriculture and the country was one
of Soviets largest supplier of produce.
Since Moldavian gained independence
in 1991 the agricultural sector has
decreased while the service sector has
grown to become the largest part of
the Moldavian economy. But you can
still see the past in cities like Chiinu,
a city surrounded by fields but also
divided by parks.
When looking at Chiinu city centre it

separates itself from its suburbs by
uncross able boundaries in form of large
parks. Surely these could be used in a
better way, linking the city to its suburbs
and create better opportunities for urban
plans?
When arriving in Chiinu our group
had decide to try to understand the city
structure by looking at the green obstacles/
opportunities in the city. We spent hours
upon hours walking around in the parks
and forests in the east, north and west
part of the city to fully understand their
characteristics as city boundaries.
Much of these areas where unused for
reasons like pollution, lack of access and
lack of funds to fix them.
When talking to people in the city and
looking at the areas surrounding the
greens it became clear that there was a
p.57
Green areas / city barriers

Urban areas
90.4% of the population
400 inhab./ha
Rural areas
9.6% of the population
10 inhab./ha
p.58
Moldova has a past as

the first provider for
fruits and vegetables for
the former soviet union.
Urbanizations
So they have the
knowledge of how to
grow food.
With the end of the

Soviet Union, all the
economy of the country
has been desorganised.
In a sustainable
way, chisinau will
grown a part of
its own food and
developt jobs.
In this perspective,
places to sell the
production could be
developped, to become
civic center.
ECONOMIC
VALUES
WHY URBAN
AGRICULTURE
COULDGreenary
BE A GOOD
WAY TO DEVELOP
CHISINAU ?
WHY URBAN
AGRICULTURE
COULD BE A GOOD
WAY TO DEVELOP
CHISINAU ?
Chisinau is known as
a green city with lined
trees and lots of wide
green spaces.
The problem is that some
of those green spaces
create a gap in the city,
cutting it into pieces.
The green areas used like

this will become places of
meeting and exchanges
(people could grab
themselves their food for
exemple).
The urban farmers
and the cooperative
gardens will link the
heart of chisinau with
its surroundings.
THE BIG GREEN SPACES WILL BE

A LINK AND NOT ANY MORE A GAP
! THEY WILL PLAY A BIG ROLE IN
THE LIFE OF THE CITY, GATHERING
PEOPLE AND DEVELOPPING AN
HEALTHY ECONOMY.
SOCIAL
VALUES
p.59
MOLDAVIA
ECONOMY
WAS BASED ON
AGRICULTURE
Moldavia stays the poorest
country in Europe despite all
the improvements that have
been observed. Business is
mainly slowed because of
issues to access financing,
corruption and government
bureaucracy.
Moldavia has experienced
economic difficulties, like
many other former Soviet
republics. Since its economy
was highly dependent on
the rest of the former Soviet
Union for energy and raw
materials, the breakdown in
trade following the breakup
of the Soviet Union had a
serious effect, exacerbated
at times by drought and civil
conflict but economic growth
has been steady since 2000.
The
government
has
liberalised most prices and
has phased out subsidies on
most basic consumer goods.
A program begun in March
1993 has privatised 80% of
all housing units and nearly
2,000 small, medium, and
large enterprises. Other
successes
include
the
privatisation of nearly all
of Moldavias agricultural
land from state to private
ownership, as a result of
an
American
assistance
program, completed in 2000.
p.60
MOLDAVIA
ASSETS
Moldavia has few natural
resources but a lot of arable
lands.
Chiinu has a continental
climate,
characterised
by hot dry summers and
windy winters. Winter
temperatures are often
below 0 C , although
they rarely drop below
10 C. In summer, the
average temperature is
approximately
25
C,
however,
temperatures
sometimes reach 35 to 40
C.
So, Moldavia is a good
place for farmlands and
agriculture. The fertile
soil
supports
wheat,
corn,
barley,
tobacco,
sugar beet, and soybeans.
Beef and dairy cattle are
raised, and beekeeping is
widespread.
Moldavias
best-known product comes
from its extensive and
well-developed vineyards
concentrated in the central
and southern regions.
It is also known for its
sunflower seeds, walnuts,
apples, and other fruits.
FARM MARKETS
A NEED IN
CHIINU?
The Central Market
has since 1825 been
the
place
where
Moldavians
haggle
over prices for fresh
products.
But according Vasile
Bumacov, the Minister
of Agriculture and
Food Industry of
Moldavia, the Central
Market of Chiinu
is monopolised. It
deprives direct farm
goods producers of
access to the Market.
The Central Market
is
a
municipal
enterprise, but almost
80% of its territory is
privatised.
Beside the Minister
underlines the lack
of sanitary conditions
especially for fish and
meat.
But the main issue
is that despite many
markets in the capital
of Moldavia, they all
are
uncomfortable,
ordinary farm goods
producers can not get
access to them.
THE AREA IS IDEAL

FOR AGRICULTURE AND
FOOD PROCESSING,
WHICH ACCOUNTS FOR
ABOUT 40% OF THE
COUNTRYS GDP.
Opportunitys for urban agriculture
p.61
by Rostdeore
Selected for Google Earth
ID: 23847325
p.62
THE POTENTIAL OF WATER

AND RIVERSIDE
BRIEF HISTORY OF
SUPPLIES IN CHISINAU
WATER
The water supply company was

founded in 1892. The first water tower
was built in
1887-1892, as part of the first centralised
water supply system in Chisinau city.
The first water supply system had a
capacity of 200 buckets per day. The
water supply network was 35 km long.
In 1997, the legal form was changes
to Joint-Stock company. Water supply
sources
- Dniester River, underground bore
holes. Total length of managed network
is over 2500 km. Dniester water station
was built in 1965-1958.
The construction of the Water
treatment plant was finished in 1979
and had a capacity of 375 thousand m3
per day. The water treatment consists
of sedimentation in horizontal water

tanks and other types of regents.There
is a need for quick rehabilitation of
wastewater treatment plant objects,
and the main problem the process
of sludge treatment. This problem
has not been solved for a years
and at present sludge is treated by
mineralization on drying beds. Due
to this process which damages the
environment, ecological situation in
the municipality becomes worse. The
concept of water supply and sewerage
system development for a period
2005-2009, which has been approved
by Chisinau municipal Council,
previews the program of water main
and sewerage system rehabilitation
and wastewater treatment.
p.63
PRESSENT CONDITIONS
STRUCTURE
-PRESSENT AND FUTURE.
Suburbs would get a better connexion
between them and also with the main
city.
The future network of public transport

could use this system of main roads.
Stormwater pond
Street and road system planed
p.64
Stre
POTENTIALS
Adding different
importaint aspects.
people density
interaction points
potential developing area
water
PROPOSED STRUCTURE
p.65
p.66
p.67
p.68
THE CENTRAL AXES OF CHISINU,

ABANDONED STRUCTURES
Chiinu changing nationality.

Getting in contact with Chiinu is
not that easy. In the beginning of
our research we tried to understand
the city by its urban structure and its
inhabitants. That is why our first focus
was on the topography as it influenced
the implantation of Chiinu. We also
analyzed the demography and ethnics
so as to understand the evolution of the
citys society.
The second step was about zooming
into the city center for a very simple
reason: the first material we received
from Chiinu was a couple of maps
only showing the center. From this
material we figured an interesting issue
about the two main axes of the city:
Boulevard tefan cel Mare i Sfnt and
Boulevard Grigore Vieru that seemed
to structure it very strongly.
To finish we reminded ourselves not to
forget about the surroundings and we
tried to understand how the city center
is defined that is to say what its boundaries

are.
Once inside the city, some of our distant
impressions revealed relatively correct but
some others completely wrong. We first
thought about a city which was in great
lack of public space but what we saw is a
city full of unused or abandoned places
waiting for somebody to use them. The
crossing axis, tefan cel Mare i Sfnt was
working as a real commercial and dynamic
street, especially during the municipal
holiday we arrived on. But the second one,
Boulevard Grigore Vieru which seemed
very impressive and important from
above (i.e. our maps) revealed to be one of
those wide unused public space, or more
precisely, only massively used by cars.
Visiting the city and meeting its inner
actors was an amazing input to these
researches. It now allows us to launch a
realistic and visionary project of a possible
civic center for a more democratic urban
development of Chiinu.
CITY STRUCTURE -THE NET / THE GRID
CHISINAU IMPLANTATION
SCHEME
A main axis crossing the city following

the longitudinal hill structure.
CHISINAU STRUCTURAL
SCHEME
The main crossing axis (boulevard

Stefan del Mare) separates the old
middle age net structure from the 18
century grid structure
NET
GRID
TWO AXES FOR CROSSING AND ARTICULATION

The two axes where mainly gather those buildings have a strong catalytic potential for
spreading development into the city center
p.71
Importaint axes and abondoned structures.

p.72
The Red Mill

Built in the middle of the 19th
century, this is one of the first
steam mills in this part of the world
and an industrial architectural
monument of local importance.
In Soviet times, the roster of city
monuments included more than
1,500 objects. In the revolutionary
90s only 575 was left in the list.
This is not one of them.
Former theater
Unfinished bridge of a bypass

road around Chisinau (just
outside the map)
Unfinished blocks series 143MK (series Cahul)
Columna Cinema,
unfinished
Closed thermal station

Intended to supply the industrial
area, but the Soviet Union
collapse eliminated the need for
it and heat loss in heating mains
laid above ground have made the
supply of residential customers
unprofitable. Closed in 1999. Rail
connected, 180 m chimney.
Stonehenge of Chisinau
Abandoned housing
construction facility
p.73
p.74
Student proposals CIVIC CENTER CHESINAU Urban Studio
CIVIC CENTER CHISINAU

Student proposals
Juha Kivist
Cecilia Rudstrm
Justina Bieksaite
Luca Gramaglia
Cyprien Lger
Yun Zhang
Patricia Alejos Monsn
Daniel Edenius
Denis Trax
p.75
INCEPTION
EXISTENCE
_DENIS TRAX
proposals CIVIC CENTER CHESINAU Urban Studio

denisStudent
trax
@ kth|urban studio 2011
p.76
11
ECONOMIC APPROPRIATION
index of formal & informal usage
in puplic spaces
p.77
CONTEXT
MEANS
IN
F
AL
MAL
Economic use in a formal

building structure
radiates outward into
public space (e.g. big
windows or advertising
signs) and motivates
people to enter the shop.
OR
Ordinary formal shop in

lower floors (mostly
groundfloor) of a
building structure. Dense
accumulation creates a
shopping street, area or
mall.
FOR
M
TYPE #1
SCALE
Is planned prior to
construction or to
existing structures to
be transformed. Close to
the center and easily
accessible location is
an advantage. Requires
high economic capital and
statutory authorization.
CONDITIONS
LOCATION
MEANS
SIZE
IN
F
AL
MA L
CONTEXT
Marketplace is built
very open and easily
accessible. Many people
share an open space for
their economic benefit
and create a dense market
space. The formal planned
roof structure creates a
place for informal trade.
OR
Formal roof construction

creates a physical
protection for a
marketplace. The
structural organization
and physical structure of
the market is mostly done
informally.
FOR
M
TYPE #3
SCALE
Needs easy access for
people and motor vehicle
and enough parking space
in relation to the
vendors and customers.
Requires permission
to sell? Who has the
authority?
CONDITIONS
LOCATION
p.78
SIZE
MEANS
IN
F
AL
MA L
CONTEXT
Economic use in
additional formal shop
structure radiates
physically into the
public space and uses
the existing conditions.
Can be created
retrospectively to
existing building fabric
like an underpass.
OR
Additional formal shop

in existing underpass
structure. Mostly a very
small and thin shop area.
Shop structure placed
into the underpass as an
existing and physicallyprotected public space
(shopping mall effect).
FOR
M
TYPE #5
SCALE
Is planned to
existing structures &
infrastructure to be
transformed. Close to
CONDITIONS
Marketplace is built open

and easily accessible.
Many people share an open
space for their economic
benefit and creates a
dense market space. The
formal planned roof and
shop structure creates
a place for in-/formal
trade.
CONTEXT
MEANS
SIZE
AL
IN
MAL
OR
Formal roof constructions

in addition to small
shop structures create
physical protection for a
marketplace. Structural
organization and physical
structure of the market
is partly done formally
because of the given
building fabric.
FOR
M
LOCATION
TYPE #4
SCALE
Needs easy access for
people and motor vehicle
and enough parking space
in relation to the
vendors and customers.
Requires permission
to sell. Who has the
authority?
CONDITIONS
SIZE
LOCATION
p.79
MA L
CONTEXT
IN
Economic use in a informal
F
stall structure mostly
AL
surrounded by public space.
Often provides access for
people and motor vehicle and
partly hidden visibility
SCALE
to the public.Permanent/
temporary location by
Is (NOT!/) planned to existing
temporary stall interior.
open space structures. Requires
Very flexible economic
low economic capital and (NO!/)
structures.
statutory permission. Ability to
MEANS
very easily change the location.
Often hidden in marginal public
area. Often illegal but partly
tolerated activity.
OR
Elements of simple stall structures as informal

stall of different large sizes in existing public
space. Often temporary stall or stall elements
beside or nearby known and popular public area.
Could be a permanent location, but elements of
informal stall are taken away by night.
FOR
M
TYPE #9
CONDITIONS
SIZE
MEANS
IN
F
AL
MA L
CONTEXT

building structure mostly
surrounded by public space.
Often provides easy access for
people and motor vehicle and
good visibility to the public.
OR
Stand-alone building
structure as formal
shop of smaller sizes
in existing public
space. Often functional
lightweight construction
for low-priced high
usability of space.
FOR
M
LOCATION
TYPE #7
SCALE
Is planned to existing open space structures to

be transformed. Close to the center and easily
accessible location is an advantage. Requires high
economic capital and statutory authorization.
CONDITIONS
SIZE
LOCATION
p.80
CONTEXT
MEANS
AL
IN
F
AL

building structure mostly
surrounded by public
space. Often provides
easy access for people
and motor vehicle and
good visibility to the
public.
M
OR
Stand-alone building
structure as formal
shop of different sizes
in existing public
space. Often functional
lightweight construction
for low-priced high
usability of space.
FOR
M
TYPE #6
SCALE
Is planned to existing
open space structures to
be transformed. Close to
CONDITIONS
SIZE
MEANS
IN
F
AL
CONTEXT
AL
M
OR
Elements of shop interior as (in-)formal stall

of different sizes in existing public space.
Often lockable permanently stall or stall
elements in known and popular public area.
Sometimes with a simple open roof construction.
Economic use in a
informal stall structure
mostly surrounded by
public space. Often
provides easy access
for people and motor
vehicle and good
visibility to the public.
Permanent location by
lockable (in-)formal
shop interior. Flexible
economic structures.
FOR
M
LOCATION
TYPE #8
SCALE
Is planned to existing open space
structures. Close to the center
and easily accessible location is
an advantage. Requires economic
capital and statutory permission.
Ability to easily change the
location.
CONDITIONS
LOCATION
SIZE
p.81
LOCATIONS IN CHISINAU
p.82
p.83
CIVIC CENTER PROJECT RESETTING A BLOCK.

TWO FACTS:
1ST: THE OLDEST PART OF THE CITY HAS BEEN CUT INTO TWO BY A NEW
CIRCULATION AXIS AND DOESNT DEVELOP AS AN ACTIVE CITY CENTER
2ND: A LOT OF PUBLIC SPACE IS UNUSED BY THE CITIZENS
OBJECTIVES:
*RE - GIVE PUBLIC URBAN ACTIVITY TO THE HISTORICAL CITY

*DEVELOP THE CITY TOWARDS THE RIVER
*DEVOLOP A CULTURE FOR APPROPRITATION OF PUBLIC SPACES BY
CITIZENS
CIVIC CENTER PROJECT

SITE
p.84
SITE
SITE

SITE

SITE

SITE
ANALYSING THE SITE

SITE
Offices & housing
Bank
Student residence
Unfinished Tower
Old housing block
Sport complex
p.85
ROJECT
CONNECTION
CONECTION
CONECTION
CONTINUOUS
PUBLIC SPACE
..... THAT COULD
EXPAND....
TROUGH THE
OTHER BLOCKS
CONTINUOUS
PUBLIC SPACE
..... THAT COULD
EXPAND.....
CONTINUOUS PUBLIC SPACE
..... THAT COULD EXP
METOLOGY
CIVIC
CENTER PROJECT
PROGRAMATIC INTENTIONS
PROGRAMMATIC INTENTIONS
working together to organise
Workshop
Associative
Sport
Art
Events
Organises
Piazza
part of
Student
Accomodation
Planning
Office
Civic urban
development
exposition
public
meeting
Sport
Art
Events
contemplation
Urban
laboratories
Civic
appropriation of
public spaces
Urban
museum
Occupy
youth

CONECTION
A continuous pedestrian
boulevard
CONECTION
CONECTION
Opening and conection

with the pedestrian
axis
Symbolic sign :
Cars zebra crossing
instead of pedestrians
BANK in the middle :
REMOVE
TOWER in construction :
H
UG
RO
TH
G
IN
GO
H
UG
RO
TH
TH
RO
UG
H
G
IN
GO
GO
IN
G
REMOVE
GO
IN
G
old HOUSING BLOcK

too high, enclosing and
overshadowing the site
TH
RO
UG
H
OPEN GROUND
FLOOR

CONECTION

PIAZZA
Piazz
Sport
Art
Events
contempl
CONTINUOUS
PUBLIC SPACE
Linking with the
boulevard:
PAND.....
TROUGH THE OTHER BLOCKS
KEY CONCEPTS A PUBLIC

SPACE FOR ANYONE, TO DO
ANYTHING
Bring some public actors &
organisers so as to make it really
happen
CONTINUITY OF THE PUBLIC
GROUND AT ANY SCALE

PIAZZA

PIAZZA
USING VEGETATION
Linking
Piazza
Sport
Art
Events
contemplation
with the boulevard, using vegetation

PIAZZA
Piazza
Sport
Art
Events
contemplation
Piazza
Sport
Art
Events
contemplation
Alien - fun - usable

PIAZZA
contemplation - resting - playing
Piazza
Sport
Art
Events
contemplation

PIAZZA

PIAZZA
SPORTS
Piazza
Sport
Art
Events
contemplation

PIAZZA
Piazza
Sport
Art
Events
contemplation
EVENTS
URBAN MUSEUM FOR URBAN CULTURE

exposition
public
meeting
Urban
museum
URBAN CULTURE
p.88
Piazza
Sport
Art
Events
contemplation

PIAZZA
Piazza
Sport
Art
Events CIVIC CENTER PROJECT
CIVIC APROPRIATION OF PUBLIC SPACE
contemplation
Workshop
Associative
Sport
Art
Events
1st Floor
MOVING INSIDE THE TOWER

CIVIC URBAN DEVELOPMENT
Planning
Office
Civic urban
development
Workshop
Associative
Sport
Art
Events
WORKING TOGETHER

PIAZZA
Piazza
Sport
Art
Events
contemplation

CIVIC APROPRIATION OF PUBLIC SPACE
Workshop
Associative
Sport
Art
Events
1st Floor

CIVIC URBAN DEVELOPMENT
Plannin
Office
Civic urba
developme
p.89
STATE CIRCUS TURNS CIVIC CIRCUS

DANIEL EDENIUS
URBAN STRATEGY
Reuse existing values in a broad sense
The city as a playground
Suburb activating network
4-H farm and indoor and outdoor

playland connected to the circus
Church of Saints Constantine

and Helen
CIVIC
CENTER
Recycling center
New eco-duct connects

to the inner city
National
d
ance Blv
Renaiss
aM
le
Ca
lor
oi
Conceptual site model
Section A-A, 1:400
There is rusted reinforcement and

crumbled concrete in many of the
innumerable unfinished/abandoned
constructions in Chisinau - worthless,
dangerous structures. This house
factory elements, which have been
protected by the roof, I intend to reuse
at the circus site and at the same time
making room for something new here.
(I do not want to just put a new
program in an abandoned building or
make a high-tech addition in contrast
to it.)
Section B-B, 1:400
4H farm
Position
Leaving the circus - the icon - alone,
but connecting with it since the
program links with the restaurant is
important, and still keeping in contact with the street
New paths between

pastures for the animals
Protective bank
There is rusted reinforcement

and crumbled concrete in many
of the innumerable unnished/
abandoned
constructions
in
Chisinau - worthless, dangerous
structures. This house factory
elements, which have been
protected by the roof, I intend to
reuse at the circus site and at
the same time making room for
something new here. (I do not
want to just put a new program in
an abandoned building or make
a high-tech addition in contrast
to it.)
POSITION
Site isometry, 1:1000
Play sculptures
and things to discover are placed
along the promenade
p.90
Leaving the circus - the icon

- alone, but connecting with it
since the program links with the
restaurant is important, and still
keeping in contact with the street
PROGRAM FOR THE CIRCUS

The circus is updated technology
wise, but
restored as a whole to its original
state. The main
attraction is still classical circus.
For the children!
KIDS' HAVEN
The qualities that the decay

nevertheless
causes are utilized where possible.
This is also
to show the condition that this
national
symbol was allowed to fall into.
For example
the overgrown terrace is saved
for outdoor
dining.
However, solely traditional circus

is not enough
to make it economically viable.
The auditorium
can also be used for the following
purposes:
Contemporary circus
Concerts (it has great acoustics)
Theater
Shows (rave, television, fashion,
etc.)
Sport (professional wrestling,
boxing, etc.)
Symposia, fairs, etc.
The green slope west of the

circus
is transformed to a kids' haven
with a 4-H farm and indoor and
outdoor playland.
Upper plan, 1:400
Additional activities:
A restaurant with outdoor
seating is added
Exhibitions in the lobby
Veterinarian for both the circus
animals and
pets
Circus school for kids
Opportunity for young people
to be involved in
the care of the animals
The basement is retained in
abandoned
condition.
Besides horror rounds, it hosts
laser tag games.
Legend has it that in the basement
of the circus
a child is often heared crying.
People who
worked in the circus, tied it to
the place where it
was built - a former City cemetery.
It got to the
point that any failure, bankruptcy
or artist death
was attributed to the site on
which the Chisinau
Circus stands.
Note that although the target

audience is children, it is just
as
much a social meeting place
for
the adults bringing the children
there.
PROGRAMMATIC IDEAS
SITE ANALYSI
S
CHISINAU CIRCUS [CLOSED]
The State Circus

in Riscani district
1981 (although
was built in
they first started
drawing in
1965), designed
by S. Shoikhet
and A. Kirichenko
(Hotel Cosmos).
This
in the draft master area, along the river Bic, was
plan of Chisinau
sports area. The
the
circus has a capacity so-called
spectators. The
of 1900
diameter of the
internal arena
13 meters. The
is
dome is collapsible
decorated with
. The interior is
sculptural circus
motives. A
special feature
of this
entrance is located circus building is that the
one floor below
animal facilities,
the stage and
so there is no smell
enter.
when you
The Circus was
leased out to a
Cypriot company
for a period of
29 years in 2008.
The company
pledged to restore
the
honor its obligation building, but did not
(2011), the Economics. On March 31 this year
Court of Appeals
the contract. The
Ministry of Culture annulled
reopen it in a couple
hopes to
in poor condition. of years, but the building is
Nothing has happened
was closed for
since it
repairs in 2004.
The more it falls
apart, the more
expensive the
reconstruc
be. 100 million
tion will
lei (22.9 million
Euros) is a sum
mentioned.
Lower plan, 1:400
2nd floor (upside
SIS
SITE ANALY
down)
Concrete plant
Rcani
Preliminary working
area
P
Housing
Buiucani
Ciocana
Green slope, former
Central
Zoning map
cemetary
Vet
+41
Botanica
Historical (inner)
Old pool
+54
Housing
Magnolia/Dan
buildings
Mostly apartment the ground
on
with businesses
floor and in extensions
"
The
ate
Grigore Vieru Blvd
+49
+41
Italian restaurant
and club
+41
Housing
Ma
tern
ity
+51
+50
+47
Ho
rist
1:5000
unbuilt
Monument of
Olympic Stadium
ce Planet
+52
+42
"Tu
used
Green valley that
populated.
to be densely
Place for the planned
National Stadium.
+44
Jazz Cafe '44

tel
Closed circus
city
High-rise
Hospital
height
Average
Low houses
Industrial
Underground
passage
Kiosks
Mall
Housing
+45
Oce "Bioprotect"
Housing
+42
Housing
Apartments
Apartments
School
Hotel "Gloria"
Ho
spi
tal
Hospital
p.91
A PLACE FOR A CIVIC CENTER

The site is located up in North-West part of Chisinau center. A very important street of Mihai Viteazul of
infrastructure and shipping crosses selected site. Also site is included in concept of development till 2020
prepared by municipality offi ce Chisinau Project. Another very essential issue in this site is plenty of
greeneries and assets such as lake and river. Matter of fact, the site itself already provides a variety of activities
people do there but it is only used by people who live there or nearby. The site actually is not attractive to
people from other suburbs because it is diffi cult to access and reputation of area is not very good. People of
Chisinau prefer to hang out in the city centre (Cathedral Square) or in semi-private Dendrariu park which is
adapted for recreation and is secured by fence.
DEVELOPMENT 2020
According to the concept,
proposed by Chisinau
Project, all industrial areas
alongside the river will be
converted to residential areas.
Selected site is included in
concept and in the future is
going to cause a lot of urban
and infrastructure problems
because at the moment very
intensive street of Mihai
Viteazul which continues to
the bridge, is separating green
areas.
p.92
p.93
ANALYSIS OF THE SITE
In this case, the concept is based on design of totally

new axis. If the connection between green spaces is
desired and there is no possible to join them gbecause
of intensive street, the idea is go under the street to
create a new pedestrian walkway that could provide
range of various activities and could be accessed from
each part of the street. This axis links the river and lake
water by water canal at the same level so it becomes an
extension of river but in urbanized context. Landscape
is formed by slopes and ramps.Cosy spaces in between
could be used for public event.
p.94
Existing inventory of selected site was analyzed by layers, separating few important assets that this area provides. Schemes above proved
once again that very intensive street of Mihai Viteazul became a boundary. Earlier done workshop and programmatic diagram of selected
site shows that at fi rst sight it seems that activities people do in this site are not linked to each other but when analyzing possible existing
connections it is obvious that everything is related and could not be cut down. The aim of the project should be the design of network of old
and new activities, routes, paths, exchanges, connections and everything must lead to one destination - recharge of unused public spaces
WORKSHOP IN CHISINAU:
programmatic diagram
During the workshop I was asked to explore my selected site and write a story what Ive experienced there in simple words. Somehow all
the action happening in my selected site reminded me of a movie with people, motions, emotions, speed, scents, colours, etc. Analyzing
my story word by word, I came up with few keywords which illustrated the main actors in selected site, as well as showed the problems and
led to possible solutions. Explanation of keywords: By MOVEMENT I understand the action of cars, public transport marshrutkas, railway,
trains and people. In this case, very intensive street becomes both a separation and connection, as well as railways or people. By HABITS
I tried to illustrate activities people are doingin this site which I noticed, such as fi shing, growing a tomato tree, going to work and man
more. By EXCHANGE I was trying to explain that these habits are sort of connected to each other and probably could lead to new assets.
By RECHARGE I suggested to create new HABITS or activities that could help to develop the site, to connect different parts which are now
separated and to link important objects. These factors infl uenced my further concept of development
p.95

p.96
p.97
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION NETWORK IN

CHISINAU
Situation and caracteristics of the infrastructure in the city.

The current Chisinaus infrastructures system, studied
during the first step of our urban strategy development,
shows some problems related to: *Age of transport trucks
*Sovrapposition of different lines in the same streets
MAP OF THE MAIN FLUXES IN THE CITY CENTER
Situation and caracteristics of the infrastructure in the city.

These problems are the basis of the current situation in the city characterized by
delays on almost all the public transportation lines, congestions in the three main
parallel streets of the city (STEFAN CEL MARE BOULEVARD, STREET 31 AUGUST
1989, STREET BUCURESTI). Actually the university area even if is a strategic spot
in the city, because of his position on one of the main road and is crossed by the
three main public transportation system, its not so easily reachable.
HOW TO GIVE GOOD ACCESSIBILITY TO THE NEW UNIVERSITY CAMPUS?
- RENOVATION OF THE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM
- STREET LANES DIFFERENTIATION
- BICYCLE TRACKS NETWORK ALL OVER THE CITY CENTER (BIKE AS 5th
KIND OF REAL TRANSPORT)
p.98
THE BICYCLE
NETWORK:
THE LANDSCAPE
ROLE:
BUILDINGS
REUSE:
NEW BUILDINGS
INTRODUCTION:
NEW FACILITIES
FOR STUDENTS
AND BIKES:
GREEN AREAS:
In the area are present two of the most important

university in Chisinau (the medicine one and
the pedagogical one), but they are completely
disconnected one from the other and not related
with the huge green park just beside them. The
main goals of the project are to reconnect the
two university poles with the creation of several
meeting points in between, all related with the
bicycle path crossing the area, and with the
connection between front and back. Beside these
ones the more housing for student has been
adressed.
p.99
Planned city center
Residential areas in the industry valley

Industry areas
Site
Planned city center
Planned city center
Industry areas
Site
Street
Water system + property
Public open space
Structure

Industry areas
Site
Street
Water system + storm water pond + property
Public open space
Structure
Green network + social network
Parking + garbage station

Industry areas
Site
p.100
Current situation
The site is located

in the industry valley of Chisinau city ,2km from the
The site is located in the industry valley of Chisinau city ,2km from the city center.
The residential area is surrounded by railwaysroad freight transport and factories.
city center. The
residential area is surrounded by railwaysroad freight
proposal is about new public space which encourages the relationship between
transport andThe
factories.
The proposal is about new public space which
inside settlement and outside.
encourages the relationship between inside settlement and outside.
The site is located in the industry valley of Chisinau city ,2km from the city center.
The residential area is surrounded by railwaysroad freight transport and factories.
The proposal is about new public space which encourages the relationship between
inside settlement and outside.
Group : low-income people

Enlarge self build house when
family grows
Per-capita living space : 11.6 ( 14
person living together), 2001-2008,
Group
low-income
per: capita
living people
space remained
GroupEnlarge
: stable
low-income
people
at about 22 square
meters in
self build house when
Chisinau
family
grows build house
Enlarge
self
Average cars per household :1.2
Per-capita living
space : 11.6
( 14
when family
grows
Perperson living together), 2001-2008,
Use of garden : drying clothes,
capita living
space remained
capita per
living
space
: pets
11.6%
planting,
storing
things,
stable
at about
22 square
meters
in
Chisinau living together),
( 14 person
Average cars per household :1.2
2001-2008,
per capita living
Use of garden : drying clothes,
space planting,
remained
stable at
storing things, pets
about 22 square meters
in Chisinau Average cars
per household :1.2 Use of
garden : drying clothes,
planting, storing things, pets
p.101
p.102
p.103
CULTURAL+SOCIAL+ COMMERCIAL+
EDUCATIONAL+SUSTAINABLE
Chisinau is the capital of Moldavia with a population of 665000. The aim of work there is try to create a new civic center, because they do
not have a real place to meet each other and be able to enjoy time. When we visit the city and we participated in a workshop there I could
understand Chisinau has so much potential but the most of the city is still underdeveloped. In my tours along Chisinau I noticed there were
so many buildnings unfinished or abandoned. So it does not need more new buildnings but it would be great to recover these existing
buildnings with new uses.
My project try to connect the most importaint points of activity in Chisinau along the main axe, which also joining green areas. But the
studdy of all the axe showes discontiuities in the last part. So my project is focused in the development of these three points to create the
continuity which is lacking now. To improve this continuity is also necessary a good network of public transportation, which is already running along all this axe but goona create also a bike lane to enhance the use of bikes. It also will reduce the use of the private cars because
it is a problem in Chisinau nowadays.
I did a research about what kind of activities are missing there, I discovered so many interesting things about what this city needs, like
places to take care of old people, student accomodations, libraries, exhibition space, skate parcs, concert halls.... My project is about all city
but had to focus just in one point. I chose the middle one, the merged bridge for pedastrian and bicycles. The aim is not just to join green
areas, but also produce different kinds of activity in the same place, like a civic center should be.
p.104
_PATRICIA ALEJOS MONSN
p.106
p.108
Arts And Culture
Auditorium
p.110
Exhibitionhall/ Studios / Workshop

p.111
Urban strategy
Site analysis
existing green
area
Chisinau
Moldova
industry
green
polluted water
railway
public
connective
movement
pedestrian
service
reusing
pedestrian connections
borders
industrial areas
borders
connections
green park
clean river
library
railway museum
speed train
site
reuse of old industrial buildings
green park
_JUHA KIVIST
p.112
proposal
clean river
reuse of old industrial

buildings
train connection
railway museum
Functions
existing green
area
Site analysis
service
ing
pedestrian connections
borders
industrial areas
site
green park
proposal
river
reuse of old industrial

buildings
p.113
_green plaza
_platform
CHISINAU CIVIC CENTER

URBAN STUDIO
JUHA KIVIST
Functions 1. level
railway
museum
library
passenger
platform
Floor plan 1:1000

1. level
Functions 2. level
railway
museum
shop spaces
plaza
library
restaurants
cafe
Floor plan 1:1000

2. level
building
market
park
agricultural
market
housing
civic
center
station
Zoomed section A-A
Section A-A 1:750
Section B-B 1:750
Section C-C 1:750
p.115

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Citys in transition_

KTH_ Royal Institute of Technology

Front page picture:

Chiinu report_KTH Royal institute of technology_ Stockholm 2011 p.5

ANALYSIS AND MAPPING 45

CIVIC CENTER CHISINAU 69

Chiinu report_KTH Royal institute of technology_ Stockholm 2011 p.7

p.8 Chiinu report_KTH Royal institute of technology_ Stockholm 2011

Chiinu report_KTH Royal institute of technology_ Stockholm 2011 p.9

In this project we will be exploring the

The main segment of our investigation will

prospect of european integrations. One

industrial areas, etc. The urban regulatory

Chiinu report_KTH Royal institute of technology_ Stockholm

PHD Repport URBAN TRANSFORMABILITIES by Bojan Boric

Bojan Boric, Lecturer and PhD student

Chiinu report_KTH Royal institute of technology_ Stockholm 2011 p.13

With the City of Chisinau in former

and China. In 1997, together with Jelena

PHD Repport URBAN TRANSFORMABILITIES by Bojan Boric

Photos 1 and 2: The new adjacent

Chiinu report_KTH Royal institute of technology_ Stockholm 2011 p.15

Chisinau, Moldova Self-Regulation as an Alternative to

are thus also in certain sense planned.

PHD Repport URBAN TRANSFORMABILITIES by Bojan Boric

Photo 3. Chisinau map, 1990

Chiinu report_KTH Royal institute of technology_ Stockholm 2011 p.17

legislation, and planning processes.

versa) have in some cases opened

PHD Repport URBAN TRANSFORMABILITIES by Bojan Boric

of zoning ordinances, the spontaneous

discourse, I will discuss the processes

Photo 4. Soviet planning, Chisinau

Chiinu report_KTH Royal institute of technology_ Stockholm 2011 p.19

THE CONTEXT AND HISTORY OF CHISINAU

Chisinau seems to have neve r reconciled

If seen from the perspective of the last

PHD Repport URBAN TRANSFORMABILITIES by Bojan Boric

1997, while the unnoficial figures place

Chisinau emerged as an agricultural

the Soviet planning system with many

Chiinu report_KTH Royal institute of technology_ Stockholm 2011 p.21

Photo 6. Map of Chisinau, 1800. Photo 7. Map of Chisinau, 1817

PHD Repport URBAN TRANSFORMABILITIES by Bojan Boric

Moldova and its capital city Chisinau today

liberal economic priniciples have been

Chiinu report_KTH Royal institute of technology_ Stockholm 2011 p.23

CHISINAU CENTRAL MARKET

SELF-REGULATION LEADING TO FORMALIZATION OF URBAN SPACE

As an urban space, the market is a lively

privatization of some of its assets.

PHD Repport URBAN TRANSFORMABILITIES by Bojan Boric

the planning institutions to remedy the

My assesment of the sitution is that even

Chiinu report_KTH Royal institute of technology_ Stockholm 2011 p.25

A POTENTIAL FOR A FUTURE URBAN VILLAGE

within the EU. The central locations with

PHD Repport URBAN TRANSFORMABILITIES by Bojan Boric

well as are many other forms of breaches

land in a more efficient way. The resulting

These recently converted one-level garage

Chiinu report_KTH Royal institute of technology_ Stockholm 2011 p.27

Some garages have kept their functions

not allowed any longer. The process of