Throughout the transition to democracy, historical Romanian cities and towns, although they have great cultural and tourist potential, have faced major risks because of uncontrolled urban development. Partners-Romania has identified several issues as key to this problem:

• Inexperience and lack of interest among those in charge of developing local strategies to involve community members in the decision making process
  
• Poor communication and coordination among public institutions (economic, social and cultural)
  
• Inertia among citizens, as well as a lack of awareness regarding their role and responsibilities in decision-making processes that affect their community

In response, Partners-Romania selected a pilot area, a downtown section of Constanta called Peninsula. This is the oldest part of the city and could be very attractive to tourists and local and foreign investors. But the beautiful monuments and public buildings have been badly maintained. There were tensions between those who were impatient to invest and build in the area and those who wanted to protect the historical and cultural heritage. The city seemed to lack any strategy to integrate the two approaches.

Partners-Romania designed a project with two objectives: to support the development of a local strategy through a participatory process involving local resources and external consultants, integrating economic development and protection of the Peninsula neighborhood; and to test the participatory approach in order to build new knowledge and skills for urban planners and technical staff in the urban development field.

First, Partners-Romania identified the main stakeholders: elected officials and technical staff in Constanta, representatives of other public institutions responsible for public service delivery, representatives of Peninsula inhabitants, private business interests, local NGOs and religious groups. A group of urban planners from Bucharest and other cities facing similar problems was also involved, as were professors and students from urban planning institutes. Partners-Romania then worked with local officials to identify citizens’ perceptions on priorities for Peninsula development, as well as their ideas to solve the critical issues. A ten-day workshop brought stakeholders together to build a long-term vision for the Peninsula development. Participants identified the crucial issues facing Peninsula as the lack of a dialogue among officials, citizens and the primary sector; the absence of an official structure to enforce preservation values; the need for a common vision in the community; and the low quality of public services, housing, transportation, and security in the area.

A Local Peninsula Development Agency was established, with Partners-Romania providing technical support. A shortage of resources and political changes have hindered implementation of the project thus far, but the Constanta experience in devising a new participatory urban planning approach has been publicized through newspaper articles and urban planning courses, and has proved to be extremely valuable in the development of similar projects.