Overview
Geography
Romania is situated in the south-eastern part of Central Europe, to the north of the Balkan Peninsula, both inside and outside the Carpathian Arch, on the lower course of the Danube (along 1075 km, of which 756.6 km represents the common border with Serbia and Bulgaria), and bordering the Black Sea (along 193.5 km) to the south-east.
The sea border enables connections with the countries situated in the Black Sea basin, the Mediterranean Sea basin and thence with the rest of the world. Among a total of 1,575 protected areas spread over 12 million hectares, the Danube Delta biosphere reserve covers 580,000 hectares, while the 20 wetlands of international importance cover about 2.1 million hectares.
The 45’N parallel and the 25’E meridian intersect near the geometrical centre of the country. Romania’s landscape consists of three major levels: the highest is in the Carpathians (highest peak: Moldoveanu, 2544 m), the middle corresponds to the Sub-Carpathians, to the hills and to the plateaus, and the lowest lies in the plains, the river meadows and the Danube Delta.
The landscape has roughly even proportions of mountains (31%), hills and plateaus (36%), and plains and river meadows (33%), and the major landscape levels are structured concentrically (2021 Romanian Statistical Yearbook, 2022, p. p. 3).
The neighbouring countries are (in anticlockwise order): Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria and the Republic of Moldova.
Social
Romania has a total population of 21,980,534 inhabitants, while the resident population is 19,201,662 inhabitants. The gender structure of the population is balanced, with 51.1% females and 48.9% males.
27% of the population lives in two (Sud-Muntenia and Bucharest-Ilfov) of the eight NUTS 2 regions and almost 9.5% of the population is concentrated in the capital.
In 2019, 54% of the population was living in urban settlements, while 46% was living in rural ones. (2021 Romanian Statistical Yearbook, 2022, pp. p. 55-56)
In recent years, the trends of population decline and ageing have continued (at the end of 2020, people aged 65 and over made up 19.12% of the total population, while those under 15 years made up 15.72%) (2021 Romanian Statistical Yearbook, 2022, p. p. 54).
According to the 2011 census, the predominant ethnic group is Romanian (88.9%) followed by Hungarians (6.1%), Romani (3%) and other ethnic groups (Germans, Ukrainians, Turks, Tartars, Russians, Lipovans, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Slovaks, Czechs, Bulgarians, Greeks, Jews, Poles, Armenians, Macedonians, Csangos, Aromanians and others).
The official Romanian language is the native language of over 90% of the population, and is often the second language for minorities.
Political, legal and governance
Romania is a semi-presidential republic which means that it is headed both by the head of state, the President, and the Government, under the authority of the Prime Minister. Both the Government and the presidency hold executive functions and are actively involved in decision making. The country is divided into 41 counties plus the municipality of Bucharest. Each county is administered by a county council, in charge of local affairs, and a prefect responsible for administering national affairs at county level and ensuring the legality of the administrative acts issued by the representatives of the local administration (European Union Portal, 2022).
According to the Romanian Constitution, the state is organised based on the principles of the separation and balance of powers – legislative, executive and judicial – within the framework of constitutional democracy (Constitution of Romania, Article 1(4)).
In October 1993 Romania joined the Council of Europe as a full-fledged member and in early 1994 it entered into the Partnership for Peace with the North-Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In 1995 Romania became a candidate state for EU membership, and in 2002 it acquired the status of an ‘invited state’. In 2004, Romania joined NATO. In early 2007 Romania was integrated as a full beneficiary and provider into the European Union.
General information
| Name of country | Romania |
| Capital, population of the capital (2020) | Bucharest, 1,835,258 (Eurostat) |
| Surface area | 238,400 km² (World Bank) |
| Total population (2020) | 19,265,250 (World Bank) |
| Population growth rate (2010-2020) | -4.85% (World Bank) |
| Population density (2020) | 83.7 inhabitants/km² (World Bank) |
| Degree of urbanisation (2015) | 29.86% (European Commission) |
| Human development index (2021) | 0.821 (Human Development Reports) |
| GDP (2019) | EUR 179,544 million (World Bank) |
| GDP per capita (2019) | EUR 9,268 (World Bank) |
| GDP growth (2014-2019) | 9.54% (World Bank) |
| Unemployment rate (2019) | 3.91% (World Bank) |
| Land use (2018) | 5.57% built-up land 56.77% agricultural land 31.87% forests and shrubland 2.84% nature 2.95% inland waters (European Environment Agency) |
| Sectoral structure (2017) | 62.6% services and administration 33.2% industry and construction 4.2% agriculture and forestry (Central Intelligence Agency) |
To ensure comparability between all Country Profiles, the tables were prepared by the ARL.
Administrative structure and system of governance
Romania is a semi-presidential republic with diminished presidential powers. The Romanian President is directly elected for a five-year mandate, with a two-term limit. The Romanian Parliament is bicameral and comprises the Chamber of Deputies (Camera Deputaților) with 330 directly elected deputies and the Senate (Senat) with 136 directly elected senators (European Committee of the Regions, 2022).
The President of Romania supervises the observance of the Constitution and the proper functioning of the public authorities. To this effect, the President acts as a mediator between the state powers, as well as between the state and society (Constitution of Romania, Article 80).
According to the Constitution, the state is organised based on the principle of the separation and balance of powers: legislative, executive, and judicial (Constitution of Romania, Article 1(4)).
According to Article 3(3) of the Constitution, the territory of Romania is divided into communes (comune), towns (orașe) and counties (județe); the big towns (cities) are declared municipalities (municipii) through a specific law.
Towns having a large number of inhabitants and being of major economic, social, political and scientific importance at national level or meeting the necessary conditions for development in these fields may be categorised as municipalities (Law no. 351/2001).
The local level comprises 2862 communes, 216 towns and 103 municipalities (cities).
Following the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), the Romanian territory is organised in four Macroregions (NUTS 1), 8 Regions (NUTS 2), 41 Counties (NUTS 3) and the Municipality of Bucharest (NUTS 3). Below the NUTS level, the two Local Administrative Units (LAU) are LAU 1 having no correspondence in the Romanian territorial subdivision and LAU 2 represented by Communes, Towns and Municipalities (Cities).
The Regional Development Act (Law no. 315/2004) established the institutional framework (consisting of Regional Development Councils, Regional Development Agencies and a National Council for Regional Development) for regional development policy in Romania, its objectives, the competences of the development Regions and the specific instruments of regional development policy. The eight development Regions (NUTS 2) are not Romanian administrative-territorial units and have no legal status.
Among the main objectives of regional development are the reduction of interregional disparities; the correlation of the government’s sectoral policies at regional level; and support for domestic, international, interregional and cross-border cooperation. Of these, the first two overlap with the main objectives of spatial planning (Benedek, 2013, p. p. 26).
Regional development is the responsibility of the Regional Development Council as the deliberative body and of the Regional Development Agencies (RDA) as the executive bodies. For the current programming period (2021-2027) the RDAs became Management Authorities for the eight Regional Development Plans.
The Counties (NUTS 3) have competences related to the socio-economic development of the county as well as the management of private and public services of the county as detailed in Annex 3 of the Administrative Code, such as county roads, water supply systems organised in zonal or micro-zonal system, water treatment plants, leisure ports, historic and archaeological sites and ensembles, civil fluvial ports, airports, and the management of public services of county interest. The main public services of county interest consist of environmental protection; the conservation, restoration and upgrading of historic and architectural heritage, parks, public gardens and natural reserves; public roads; tourism; rural development; economic development; and other public services of county interest (Administrative Code of Romania, Article 173).The Counties also share competences with the authorities of the central public administration on specific issues.
The competences of the Municipalities (Cities, LAU 2), Towns (LAU 2) and Communes (LAU 2) include the socio-economic and environmental development of the commune/city/municipality and the management of public and private services of the corresponding territorial level as detailed in Annex 4 of the Administrative Code, such as communal public roads and streets, public parks and leisure areas, the water supply, sewage, heating, water treatment and sewage plants, social housing, leisure ports and civil fluvial ports, historical and archaeological sites and ensembles of national or county interest, etc., as well as the management of public services of local interest. Among the various categories of public services of local interest, two are of major importance: environmental protection and urban development (Administrative Code of Romania, Articles 129, 155).
The Romanian system of government
Romania is a semi-presidential republic. The legislative power is exercised by a bicameral Parliament consisting of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, which are elected by universal suffrage for a term of four years.
Organs, functions and tasks of the levels of government
Central level – the Government
The central executive power is represented by the Government and the President of Romania.
The Government is the public authority of executive power that functions on the basis of the vote of confidence granted by Parliament, which ensures the country’s domestic and foreign policy and exercises the general leadership of public administration. It is appointed by the President of Romania on the basis of the vote of confidence granted to the Government by Parliament and consists mainly of the Prime Minister and the Ministers.
The Prime Minister is the head of the Government, coordinating the work of its members, in compliance with their legal duties (Romanian Government, 2022).
As a main institutional framework, the Government consists of various ministries, subordinate institutions and agencies and 42 prefectures (for each of the 41 counties and for the Municipality of Bucharest), being organised and functioning in accordance with the Romanian Constitution, based on the Government programme approved by the Parliament.
The central level has the legislative power in all areas and carries out state policy and foreign policy, manages the state budget and maintains law and order. The Government has the right to issue legal acts that are compulsory for local authorities.
Sub-state level – Regions (NUTS 2)
The eight development Regions (NUTS 2) are not Romanian administrative-territorial units and have no legal status.
According to the Regional Development Act (Law no. 315/2004) establishing the institutional framework for regional development policy in Romania, the Regional Development Agencies are the executive bodies of the Regional Development Councils of each Development Region. Regional Development Agencies develop strategies, attract resources, identify and implement financing programmes and offer services for stimulating sustainable economic development, partnerships and an entrepreneurial spirit. The Regional Development Councils – composed of the County Council presidents and representatives of the local authorities of cities, towns and communes – are the deliberative bodies that coordinate the entire regional development process in each Development Region.
Sub-state level – County level
The management of local public affairs is the responsibility of the self-governing deliberative local administrative authorities, namely the County Council (Consiliul Județean) and the Local Councils (Consiliul Local).
The Prefect is the representative of the government at county level. Articles 120 and 123 of the Constitution provide the legal limits of the exercise of authority by the Prefect on the Local Councils, which relate to the functional autonomy, the principle of administrative autonomy and decentralisation as well as the principle of the de-concentration of public services.
The Prefect reviews the legality of acts adopted by the local authorities and the County Council, including the acts of the president of the County Council; the Prefect is also responsible for implementing the central Government’s strategy and programmes at the local or county level as a leader of the de-concentrated units of the central Government.
Among the Prefects – the Local Councils and Mayors, as well as the County Councils and their presidents – there are no subordinate relationships (Constitution of Romania, Article 123(4)).
The County Council is the public administration authority which coordinates the activity of the commune and town councils with a view to carrying out public services of county interest (Constitution of Romania, Article 122(1)).
Municipal level – Local Councils and Mayors
According to the Romanian Constitution, the public administration authorities are the Local Councils and Mayors elected in accordance with the law (Constitution of Romania, Article 123(4)).
The Local Councils and Mayors act as autonomous administrative authorities and manage public affairs in communes and towns in accordance with the law (Constitution of Romania, Article 121(2)).
The Local Council and Mayor are elected by the municipality/town/commune inhabitants for a four-year term.
Romanian judicial power
According to Law no 304/2004, the Romanian judicial system is designed to ensure respect for the rights and fundamental freedoms of each person, as are provided mainly by the following official documents: Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU.
The judicial system is organised as follows: the Highest Court of Cassation and Justice (Înalta Curte de Casație și Justiție); 15 Courts of Appeal (Curți de Apel) and one Military Court of Appeal (Curtea de Apel Militară); 42 Tribunals (tribunale) (one for each county and one for Bucharest) and five Military Tribunals (tribunale militare); specialised courts (tribunale specializate); military courts (instance militare); First Instance Courts (judecătorii). The prosecutor’s offices operate in addition to the courts, conducting and supervising the criminal investigation activities of the judicial police (Law. no 304/2004 Article 4).
Authorities relating to spatial policy
The Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration is the central public administration authority for spatial planning and urbanism.
The Regional Development Agencies (for each of the eight regions) coordinate regional development in each of the regions.
The County Councils coordinate spatial planning and urbanism activities at county level.
Each Mayorality has a dedicated planning department or office for each administrative level (county, town, commune), usually subordinate to a Chief Architect assisted by a technical advisory commission (Pascariu, 2012).
The Local Councils of towns and communes are responsible for urban planning at local level and ensure compliance with the upper-level spatial planning and urbanism documents.
The Mayor – acting through the structure subordinate to the Chief Architect – has some specific competences related to spatial planning.
The Romanian Register of Planners (RUR) is a public institution managing the signature rights of the professionals on spatial and urban planning documents and plans. The professionals having acquired signature rights are enrolled in the National Charter of Urban Planners (Pascariu, 2012).
It is worth mentioning some other important stakeholders in spatial planning, such as the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Culture. There are also several state or private companies providing technical infrastructure facilities, such as those in charge of water management, water distribution, sewage systems, energy sources, waste disposal and collection, etc.
Figure 1: Administrative structure of Romania
Figure 2: System of powers of Romania
(source: document elaborated by the author)
Figure 3: Administrative map of Romania
Spatial planning system
The historical development of the planning system after the Second World War coincides with the communist era, which was characterised by a fundamental transformation towards a highly centralised system where the state controlled all dimensions of development (economic, societal, cultural, spatial).
The Communist period 1948-1989
This period is characterised by at least three different stages: 1948-1960 was dominated by intensive reconstruction and major structural change; 1960-1975 was dominated by the consolidation of the new state; 1976-1989 was marked by the increased power of the Communist party and its leader, Nicolae Ceaușescu (Pascariu, 2012).
Regional and large-scale studies were drawn up during the first post-war decades and new master plans for towns and cities were elaborated to support rapid industrialisation and urbanisation processes. Most of the land became state property or was administrated by the state authorities in various forms (Pascariu, 2012).
The 1960s were a time of complex studies forecasting the development of the settlement network as well as the legal and institutional framework. Spatial planning became an institutionalised activity, organised at national level within a network of large public architectural design and spatial and urban planning institutes (pluri-disciplinary public companies). Spatial planning became a public policy of strategic importance, creating the necessary framework for most of the public investments (Pascariu, 2012).
The legal framework for spatial planning became very restrictive once the new systematisation law came into force, introducing concepts such as the built-up perimeter representing a very strict containment of the spatial growth of rural and urban settlements, or the ‘regrouping’ of the inhabitants in some localities that were intended to slowly disappear, with people being relocated to a limited number of villages better placed geographically and better equipped (Pascariu, 2012).
The final stage of the communist period was characterised by comprehensive studies at national scale aiming at a significant restructuring of the settlement network by a rapid, artificial transformation of hundreds of rural settlements into urban ones. The 1977 earthquake occasioned a radical restructuring of the central part of Bucharest and the reconstruction of a large new boulevard leading to the monumental House of People, which later became the seat of the Romanian Parliament (Pascariu, 2012).
Systematisation was perceived by Romanian society and also by the West as one of the most powerful destructive markers of the communist regime, responsible for the eradication of a large part of the built-up heritage of towns and villages and for the brutal reshaping of the urban environment. In December 1989 the Systematisation Law was abolished and a fundamentally different approach, that of urbanism or spatial and urban planning, brought in practically overnight (Pascariu, 2012).
Legal basis
After 1989, the whole legal framework and institutional organisation of urban and spatial planning changed, following the transition toward a liberal economy:
- Law no. 50/1991 for the issuing of building permits, and also addressing urban plans and the procedure for issuing planning permissions.
- Ministerial Decree no. 91/1991 defining the new planning instruments at local and higher levels.
- General Urbanism Regulations issued by Governmental Decree in 1996, defining the general rules for urban planning.
- Guiding documents for the elaboration of urban plans (general, zonal, detailed) were published and the concern for protected areas and heritage in general made possible the elaboration of new legal documents such as the Governmental Ordinance for the protection of historic monuments (GO 228/2000, which later became Law no. 422/2001 for the protection of the historic monuments), which established specific areas of protection, and a law for the approval of the National Spatial Plan Section III – Protected areas (Law no. 5/2000).
- Law no. 350/2001 dedicated to Spatial and Urban Planning clarifies and enforces the planning instruments and the public responsibilities – the law provides for an independent status for planning which was no longer seen as subsequent to the construction sector. The law was significantly revised in 2008 and later in order to improve its effectiveness and reduce the risk of exceptional interpretations.
- Law no. 451/2002 ratified the European Landscape Convention (Law no. 451/2002) adopted in Florence in 2000 by the Council of Europe.
- Environmental legislation arising from EU requirements, with a significant influence on spatial planning activities (2005, 2006 – Environmental Law, EIA, SEZ procedures and others).
- Law no. 315/2004 dedicated to regional development, which provided for the creation of Regional Development Agencies to strengthen the importance of regional development policy in view of the future EU membership.
Planning is also influenced by other laws concerning land restitution (1991 Land Law), the quality of constructions (1995), expropriation for public utilities (1994, 2010), public property, cadastre and publicity (1996) and so on (Pascariu, 2012).
Spatial planning authorities, competences, authorisation process, time frame
The importance of spatial planning as a public policy is recognised and clear competences are established by law for local administrations. Urban and spatial development are to be implemented according to plans that need to be approved by local authorities and put into practice accordingly (Pascariu, 2012).
The Romanian Parliament has the power to enforce the implementation of the National Spatial Plan in law.
The Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration (MDLPA) is the central public administration authority for spatial planning and urbanism with competences related to the elaboration of the Spatial Development Strategy of Romania and the public policies to further its goals; sections of the National Spatial Plan; Zonal Regional Spatial Plans for each region, which form the basis for the regional development plans; General Urbanism Regulations. The ministry also initiates and coordinates both the elaboration and update of the spatial development and urban planning documents for areas with World Heritage historical monuments and identifies and establishes by government decision the boundaries of areas of remarkable landscape/architectural heritage/natural value, followed by the elaboration of guidance/regulations for urban planning, landscape and architecture to be detailed by general urban plans.
The MDLPA approves norms regulating spatial and urban planning practice and for spatial planning documents and urban plans. The ministry’s planning powers have a binding character.
The Regional Development Agencies coordinate and approve the Regional Spatial Planning Document (PATZR) and the Regional Development Strategy.
The local level is represented by the county and local councils.
The County Councils coordinate the spatial planning and urbanism activities at county level with competences related to the coordination and approval of the County Spatial Plan (PATJ), the Zonal Spatial Plans of county importance (PATZ), and the spatial development strategies.
The main planning activities of the County Council, by the Institution of the Chief Architect, are ensuring the compliance of the local spatial documents and urban plans with the provisions of the upper-level documents (National/Regional/Zonal Spatial Plan); elaborating the County Spatial Plan (PATJ) and the Zonal Spatial Plan (PATZ); approving the spatial planning and urban planning documents for the settlements in the county.
The main planning activities of the President of the County Council are elaborating spatial development strategies; elaborating the County Spatial Plan; coordinating the elaboration of the Zonal Spatial Plans; submitting spatial planning documents to the County Council for approval; ensuring the implementation of the spatial planning documents.
The Local Councils of towns and communes are responsible for urban planning at local level and ensure compliance with the upper-level spatial planning and urbanism documents. The Local Councils coordinate and approve the urban plans corresponding to the local level (General Urban Plan, Zonal Urban Plans or Detailed Urban Plans). Their planning activities have a binding character.
The Mayor (acting through the structure subordinate to the Chief Architect) has the following planning competences: elaborating the projects for spatial/urban development strategies and submitting them for the approval of the Local Council; elaborating the urban plans; submitting the urban planning documents/plans to the Local Council for approval; ensuring the implementation of the approved urban planning documents/plans.
The elaboration of urban, spatial and development plans at all levels is outsourced, therefore significant responsibility lies with the planning professionals within private firms but also with research bodies, mainly in universities. In order to provide better oversight in this area, in 2005 the Romanian Register of Planners was set up. (Pascariu, 2012)
Main spatial planning instruments
The Romanian planning instruments are strictly related to the territorial level and are divided into two main categories of plans: urban plans for the local and sub-local levels, and spatial plans for the upper administrative levels. While the upper-level spatial plans have a guiding/strategic character, the urban plans are mainly regulatory/operational plans and are accompanied by urban regulations providing for both land-use provisions and detailed conditions for building. However, the General Urban Plan has a dual character, both strategic and operational. The urban regulations, once approved by the Local Councils, can be enforced as a local planning law. Due to their operational character, the urban plans have a much stronger influence than the upper-level spatial plans in the reshaping of the built and unbuilt environment.
There is a strict correspondence between the territorial level and the type of plan:
The main upper-level spatial plans are: the National Spatial Plan (Plan de Amenajarea Teritoriului Național - PATN) and the National Spatial Development Strategy (Strategia Națională de Dezvoltare Teritorială); the Zonal Spatial Plan (Plan de Amenajarea Teritoriului Zonal - PATZ); the County Spatial Plan (Plan de Amenajarea Teritoriului Județean - PATJ).
The Zonal Spatial Plans may address the upper territorial level of the county, becoming Regional Zonal Spatial Plans (Plan de Amenajarea Teritoriului Zonal Regional - PATZR), Intercounty Spatial Plans (Plan de Amenajarea Teritoriului Interjudețean - PATIJ), Cross-border Zonal Spatial Plans (Plan de Amenajarea Teritoriului Frontalier), or they may address the intercommunal level, such as the Metropolitan Spatial Plan (Plan de Amenajarea Teritoriului Metropolitan - PATZM), the Peri-urban Spatial Plan (Plan de Amenajarea Teritoriului Periurban - PATP) or the Intercity/Intercommunal Spatial Plan (Plan de Amenajarea Teritoriului Interorășenesc/Intercomunal - PATIO or PATIC).
The urban plans are: the General Urban Plan (Plan Urbanistic General - PUG) for the scale of the city/town/commune; the Zonal Urban Plan (Plan Urbanistic Zonal - PUZ) usually regulating functional urban areas comprising a group of plots/parcels; the Detailed Urban Plan (Plan Urbanistic de Detaliu - PUD) detailing provisions for one or several plots.
Whereas the General Urban Plans are the responsibility of the local administration which should initiate and finance them, the lower-level urban plans (Zonal Urban Plans or Detailed Urban Plans) can be initiated and financed by the private sector (either legal or natural persons).
Content of the plans
The General Urban Plan (PUG) represents the main operational planning instrument which regulates land use, functional zoning, transport/traffic, infrastructure, protected areas and historic monuments, and details the building provisions (building set-up and volumetric conformation) and limits the maximum built-up area, representing a strong instrument of control in local spatial planning. Its elaboration is strictly correlated with the local development strategy. The General Urban Plan covers the entire administrative territory of a city/town/commune and is updated every ten years. The Local Urbanism Regulations attached to the plan details contain provisions for each functional area of the city/town/commune, that once approved by the Local Council can be enforced as a local planning law.
Complementary to the General Urban Plan and to the Spatial Development Strategy at metropolitan/peri-urban scale, the Urban Mobility Plan ensures that spatial development corresponds to urban mobility and transport needs.
The Zonal Urban Plan (PUZ) regulates land use in the main functional areas of the city (historic centre, industrial zones, recreational zones, residential zones, etc.). Like the General Urban Plan, it has a text containing the Local Urbanism Regulations attached. The Zonal Urban Plan can modify to a certain extent some of the regulations set out in the General Urban Plan.
The Detailed Urban Plan (PUD) mainly regulates the structure of the building(s) on the plot and the land-use parameters at the smallest scale, usually at the plot level. It is meant to detail the provisions of the upper-level plans, where necessary, without modifying them.
Participation
According to the law (Law no. 350/2001 regarding Spatial Planning and Urbanism), public participation (information and consulting activities) is compulsory in upper-level spatial planning and urbanism processes. Public participation is regulated by Ordinance no. 2701/2010 of the Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism, which provides that the public must be involved in all the phases of the elaboration of the plans and during the decision-making process, from the initiation stage to the approval of the final plan.
Interdependencies and mutual influences between planning levels
The interdependencies between planning levels are clearly laid out by law, especially in relation to upper-level spatial planning or urban planning documents and plans. The Romanian planning system ensures correlation both vertically (between territorial levels) and horizontally (between neighbouring planning units).
For instance, the provisions of the National Spatial Plan are compulsory for all other upper-level spatial planning documents which detail it (and which correspond to the subordinate scale) (Law no. 350/2001, Article 41(3)).
The provisions of the Zonal Regional Spatial Plan are compulsory for the spatial plans at the lower level and for urban planning documents and plans (Ordinance no. 233/2016, Article 4(3)).
The County Spatial Plan must be correlated with the provisions of the National Spatial Plan, Zonal Regional Spatial Plans, the sectoral governmental programmes and any other development programmes, while the provisions of the County Spatial Plan are compulsory for the other spatial plans, urban planning documents and the plans detailing them (Law no. 350/2001, Article 42(2)).
The urban planning documents and plans transpose onto local scale the provisions of the National Spatial Plan and of the Zonal Spatial Plans or County Plans (Law no. 350/2001, Article 44(2)).
At the local scale, the Local Urbanism Regulations of the General Urban Plan are enacted as a local law, becoming compulsory for all public and private stakeholders involved in the planning process. The Zonal Urban Plans can detail or even modify to a certain extent the provisions of the General Urban Plan. Detailed Urban Plans, however, by law cannot modify any upper-level plans (Law no. 350/2001, Article 48(1)).
Figure 4: Planning system of Romania
Important stakeholders
| Institution/ stakeholder/ authorities (including webpage) | Special interest/competences/administrative area |
|---|---|
| County Councils (for each of the 41 counties) coordinate spatial planning and urbanism at county level | Coordinate and approve the County Spatial Plan (PATJ), the Zonal Spatial Plans of county importance (PATZ), and the spatial development strategies.
The responsibilities of the President of the County Council include:
|
| Government and the ministries | Coordinates:
|
| Ministry of the Environment (Ministerul Mediului, Apelor și Pădurilor), the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure (Ministerul Transporturilor și Infrastructurii, ), the Ministry of Culture (Ministerul Culturii), etc. | Issues the technical approval of upper-level spatial or urban plans. |
| Planning consultancy firms and bodies (private firms and public universities such as: Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism, several technical universities which also have schools of architecture like Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iași, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca (https://www.utcluj.ro/en/), Politechnic University of Timișoara https://www.upt.ro), etc. and research institutions) | Involved in researching or elaborating the spatial planning documents, with the public administration as the beneficiary. |
| Regional Development Councils and Regional Development Agencies (for each of the eight regions) | The RDAs endorse the Regional Zonal Spatial Plan (PATZR) and since 2021 elaborate the Regional Operational Programmes. |
| Romanian Register of Urban Planners - RUR | RUR manages the signature rights of the professionals on spatial and urban planning documents and plans. |
Fact sheets
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Fact sheet for planning levels_local.pdf (1.45 MB)
Attachments
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Attachment 1: Detail Urban Plan
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Attachment 2: General Urban Plan Bucharest
List of references
Benedek, J. (2013): The Spatial Planning System in Romania. In: Romanian Review of Regional Studies IX (2), 23-30.
European Committee of the Regions (2022): Division of Powers. Romania. Available at: https://portal.cor.europa.eu/divisionpowers/Pages/Romania.aspx (Accesse 11 June 2022).
European Union Portal (2022). Romania – EU member country profile. Available at: https://european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/country-profiles/romania_en (Accessed 5 April 2022).
National Institute of Statistics (2022): Romanian Statistical Yearbook 2021. Available at: https://insse.ro/cms/sites/default/files/field/publicatii/anuarul_statistic_al_romaniei_carte_0.pdf (Accessed 22 May 2022).
Pascariu, G. (2012): Overview of Romanian Planning Evolution. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301731689_Overview_of_Romanian_Planning_Evolution (Accessed 22 May 2022)
President of Romania (2022): Romania. Geographical Facts. Available at: https://www.presidency.ro/en/president/romania (Accessed 22 May 2022).
Romanian Government (2022): Romanian Government. Available at: https://gov.ro/en/government (Accessed 11 June 2022).
Laws
Administrative Code of Romania (Governmental Ordinance no 57/2019)
Chamber of Deputies (2022): Constitution of Romania, 2003. Available at: http://www.cdep.ro/pls/dic/site.page?id=339 (Accessed 5 April 2022).
Emergency Ordinance no. 57/2019 on the Administrative Code of Romania
Law no. 350/2001 on Urban Planning
Law no. 351/2001 on the approval of the National Spatial Plan
Law no. 315/2004 regarding the Regional Development of Romania
Ordinance no. 2701/2010 of the Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism on the approval of the method for the public consultation in the elaboration of the upper-level spatial planning documents and urban plans
Ordinance no. 233/2016 of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration on the approval of the implementation method and norms of Law no. 350/2001
