Urban Strategy for Improving the Air Quality in Bucharest (Romania)

Abstract

The paper presents an effective urban solution of update for the General Urban Plan (GUP) of Bucharest in order to reduce air pollution. The proposal presented is based on the good urban design planning practice offered by other cities that manage to preserve the air pollution level below an established limit. Firstly, the paper includes a literature review I carried out in order to study the latest scientific research papers related to the subject and the examples of good practice. Furthermore, the paper highlights the present situation in Bucharest generated by the high levels of air pollution and the need to reduce the toxic emissions. Romania has committed through Directive 2016/2284 of the European Parliament and of the Council to reduce the national emissions of certain pollutants. In addition, the proposal of update for GUP was developed according to the present national targets and to the specificity of the city, existing green space, tree density, small size surfaces. If the urban solution presented is applied through the General Urban Plan, the air quality in Bucharest will be considerably improved and the positive effects will not wait to appear in different perspectives, such as: inhabitants’ health condition, urban aesthetic, efficient use of the allocated budget for the improving air quality in the European capital. In order to successfully implement the urban solution, the present research has to be completed by an arboretum study in Bucharest. The topic of the paper is characterized by multidisciplinarity as it takes into consideration research information from Urban Design and Ecology.