Tactical urbanism: a tool for community awareness in bottom-up urban regeneration projects. Case study: Petrila

Abstract

This paper presents a particular situation in urban regeneration projects, the first bottom-up industrial regeneration project: the Petrila Mine in Jiu Valley, Hunedoara. This process is representative because it is a premiere in Romania, being the first example of bottom-up industrial regeneration. What is even more important is its role in shaping the new local identity, after the closure of the coal mines. The aim of the paper is to present the process as a whole, considering also specific objectives: to present the physical relation between the former industrial site and the town and the difficulties of their functional reconnection, the role of professionals in recognizing the valuable industrial heritage buildings and the impact of this project in local, regional and national scale. Also, another specific objective is to underline the major impact of informal practices regarding heritage or public space, in general.

Qualitative methods are used to describe the former and current situation of the industrial site and the town. Also, this research uses specific urban planning tools to represent and describe the impact of tactical urbanism applications. In conclusion, it sets the current stage of the process as an intermediate one and it describes the following steps that need to be undertaken in order to transform a bottom-up up initiative into a large urban regeneration project.