Without documents, I don’t exist. Innovative model of participatory intervention in informal settlements

Finished

The project “Without documents I don’t exist. Innovative model of participatory intervention in informal settlements”(„N-am acte, nu exist. Model inovativ de intervenție participativă în așezările informale.”) is the first project to regulate informal settlements in Romania, a continuation of the steps taken by the MKBT on this issue: in 2020, as a result of a two-year research and advocacy project carried out in partnership with PACT Foundation, Reșița Local Action Group, Valea Corbului Initiative Group, and DEP Bumbești-Jiu Association, our legislative initiative was enacted, bringing into law a definition of informal settlements (Law 151/2019) that permits interventions and funding to be directed to them.

In this project, we implement the new legal provisions through a pilot model of participatory urban planning intervention on Bistra Street, located at the end of the Câlnic neighborhood in Reșița. This is one of the marginalized urban areas of the city, inhabited by a community with a precarious material situation, in mostly degraded, improvised, and informal housing. The project aims to help people in the community living there for decades to formalize their housing situation and obtain deeds for the land on which they have built their houses. At the same time, the intervention in the Câlnic neighborhood will include an urban restructuring of the area to allow public investments to improve the quality of life of the people in the neighborhood.

More than 64,000 families live in informal settlements in Romania, according to a 2014 study by the Ministry of Development. More than 200,000 people have no papers for the house they live in. As a result, they cannot get permanent identity cards and have limited or no access to basic infrastructure and services such as running water, electricity, education and health services.

The project will run for 18 months, from February 2020-July 2021, and will involve several phases of work: a detailed census and community needs analysis, a participatory urban planning process resulting in an urban regeneration Zonal Urban Plan and a new land parceling for the area. On the basis of the land parcel, families living in informal settlements will receive legal assistance to obtain a title deed for the land where they live.

The progress and results of the project will be published on www.locuireinformala.ro.

The project “Without documents, I don’t exist. Innovative model of participatory intervention in informal settlements” is developed by MKBT in partnership with the Municipality of Reșița and Humanitas Pro Deo Resita Foundation and receives a grant of 55,294.00 euro through the Active Citizens Fund Romania program, funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through EEA Grants 2014-2021.

The content of this website does not necessarily represent the official position of the EEA and Norwegian Grants 2014-2021. For more information go to www.eeagrants.org. Information about Active Citizens Fund Romania is available at www.activecitizensfund.ro.

>>> A photo gallery capturing the world of the Câlnic neighborhood in Reșița;

>>> A guide to interventions in informal settlements by MKBT which explains the new legal provisions and the process of intervention to regulate informal settlements (responsibilities of the community and the authorities, steps to follow, etc);

>>> A guide to participatory urban interventions in informal settlements, in Romania.

>>> Listen to this episode of the narrative podcast “Conversation On Housing”, about the on-the-ground reality encountered by our colleagues from MKBT in informal settlements over the last few years.

Photo: Housing in the Câlnic neighborhood, Reșișa, by George Popescu

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