General Urban Plan - Salciua commune, Alba county

The main objective of the General Urban Plan for the Salciua Commune, as a technical documentation with regulatory characteristics,  was directing and coordinating the spatial and urban planning projects, and also, identifying the main short, medium and long-term development directions of the commune.

As work methods, we have used the multi-criteria analysis of the current situation and of the development trends, thus highlighting the dysfunctions and intervention priorities within the territory, and guiding the planning policies, while respecting property rights, promoting public interest and sustainable development of the commune.

Starting from this basic documentation, the Plan has the following objectives:

 

- Setting directions, priorities and regulations of planning and urban development of the commune

- Establishing the general use and land-use regulations within the village limits

- Rational and balanced use of land necessary for the proposed zoning

- Improving the quality of transport infrastructure

- Specification of natural hazard areas and intervention measures

- Development of  the public utilities system

- Improved quality of life

- Defining the boundaries of an area of great value regarding the cultural landscape

- Creating a background for investments in public utilities and services

- Correlating public and private interest for efficient land-use

- Providing support for the issue of planning and building permits

 

This General Plan is accompanied by an Illustrated Regulation Guide for Urban Planning and Architecture.

The Illustrated Guide explains, in terms everyone can understand, how to harness elements such as tourist landmarks, traditions, river fronts, the heritage narrow railway, traditional architecture, in order to generate and promote rural development.

Also, this Guide presents (at a very detailed level), the types of traditional architecture present in the area (from the settlements in the river valley to the ones on the hills and mountains), and its defining building elements.

Thus, it promotes the preservation of traditional constructions, even if they suffer certain interventions with no visible effects, (in order to suit modern requirements), by using building or rehabilitation methods that are compatible with the old architecture and materials, with the help of which, the defining elements of the local architecture can be preserved and emphasized.

Finally, this Guide has a chapter on sustainable construction, which summarizes the methods through which constructions can be built or adapted, in order to have as low an impact on the environment as they can.

These two documents (the General Plan and Illustrated Guide), used together, result in a useful tool that  can help explain the architecture and urban planning regulations (often inaccessible or difficult to understand by the general population), to the people that haven’t got an education in the field, or to the communities, who actually can directly determine how the area develops.