Local Context
Bucharest is the capital and the biggest city in Romania as area and population (2 millions citizens, the urban area covering a 228 sqm area). Bucharest is the single city in Romania with metropolitan area status.
The development strategy for the municipal and metropolitan area of Bucharest has been elaborated for a horizon of time up to 2025. The vision of this strategy is that Bucharest will become a European metropolis, having a well defined regional, continental and inter-continental role.
The General Urbanistic Plan (GUP) for Bucharest Municipality is focused on stimulating economical, social and spatial development, according to sustainable development principles. Thus, it is ensured a much diversified offer necessary to attract public and private investments, respecting in the same time the interests at national, local community and each citizen level.
Presently, the Bucharest Municipality has serious problems in ensuring a healthy life environment for its citizens, the air quality being an environmental aspect negatively influenced by the multiple pollution sources. The air pollution in Bucharest has a specific character firstly because of the emission conditions, respectively the existence of multiple sources, various heights of pollution sources, as well as a non uniform spreading of these pollution sources, dispersed on the whole city area.
Thus, Bucharest is one of the most polluted cities in Romania because of the intense traffic, thermal power plants, and industry (the latter's role decreased only in the last few years due to a reduced industrial activity, and due to already enforced measures for protection). With a distribution of approximately 37% for auto vehicles older than 8 years (378 thou. out of a total of 1 million, according the most recent data of Romanian Auto Register - RAR) and with a perspective for continuous increasing of the vehicle park (of approx. 10-15% in the last years), traffic has got an important quota from the pollution level (92% of total atmospheric pollution with NOx in the city centre). On the second place, according to emission inventories are the thermal power plants for major pollutants (e.g. 92% of the SO2 pollution), following the polluting industry (equipments, chemical industry, apparel industry etc. main contributor to pollution with PM, where only 27% are attributable to thermal power plants, and 26% to traffic), these sources being placed on a wide area, from east to west and south of the city. A significant importance has also the 3-dimmensional pollution impact, once with the increased construction of residential areas with 10 level apartment's blocks.
Another particularity of Bucharest city, from urbanistic point of view, and which contributes at a high level of pollution is that the main avenues and boulevards of the city are in a star shape and its centre is the centre of the city also, these representing the main connexions between the centre with the other areas of the city (Figure 1). Thus, this urbanistical concept is clearly over fulfilled by the development and expansion rate of the city, as well as by the increased traffic of a continuously developing auto vehicle park. The perspectives of a permanent deterioration of the air quality are quite evident and concerning.
