Integrated territorial investments: challenges and opportunities – case study of Romania

Abstract

In order to facilitate the delivery of integrated development strategies, the European Commission has identified two separate tools: Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) and Integrated territorial investment (ITI). ITI is an instrument, which has been developed for the delivery of funding in geographical areas with particular territorial features, ranging from specific urban neighbourhoods with multiple deprivations to the urban, metropolitan, urban-rural, sub-regional, and inter-regional levels. The Romanian Partnership Agreement for the 2014–2020 programming period highlighted that Romania will prioritize the implementation of ITI in the Danube Delta Biosphere. In this document, unfortunately, growth poles (GPs) are not specifically considered for ITI implementation at this time, though this new instrument could bring significant benefits to Romania’s growth engines. The present paper aims to explore the possibilities of ITI application in Romania’s GPs, building on the existing concept of integrated urban development, which is already functional in Romania. The exploration will take into account the manifold problems that have appeared in Romania during the 2007–2013 implementation period, including significant criteria that should be developed in selecting ITI areas: the record of contracting rates and absorption rates as potential options. At the same time, the paper aims to introduce an innovative matrix for prioritization of actions within an ITI, in order to maximize their impact. A case study will be developed for Bucharest – as potential area for ITI implementation – emphasizing the role of climate change indicators within the proposed matrix.