Giurgiu Green Infrastructure - Recovering Danube
Abstract
Placed in the inferior section of Danube on its northern bank, Giurgiu emerged as aMesolithic settlement in the geographic context of the everglade swamps, in the south of theRomanian Plain. Throughout its history the town overcame various turning points - the later part ofthe 20th century marks the last of the series. An urban development communist experiment failure wasfollowed by the political transition of the 1990’s. Economic and social impact of the consecutiveshocks deepened in the times of today’s recession and the environmental crisis is only yet to come. Anurban green network adaptation could help mitigate all these impacts, providing solid ground for thesustainable development of the city. Territorial context and green space assessments were performedon environmental, social, economic and cultural basis. Urban landscape parameters were set to obeythe following principles: environmental connectivity between urban green space system and theDanube flood plain, as well as between the elements of the green infrastructure; wetland restorationwherever possible; complex integration of the Danube landscape in the urban system, aimed to turn itback into a city brand; phytoremediation and socio-economic valuation of the former industrial sites;historic identity valuation within the cultural identity landscape strategy; storm-water valuation withinthe green-space management context; economic efficiency of urban green maintenance, throughminimum intervention requirements and the highest amount of ecosystem service generation. Greenspacestrategy will affect short-term planning, but it will also require mid and long-term integration inthe general urban development agenda.
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