Beyond the blocks of flats. The potential for community participation in the owner-built housing

This study explores the potential for community participation to enhance the environmental quality of owner-built housing in the city of Pitesti, Romania. First, perceptions of the environmental quality of the neighbourhood arising from inhabitants, decision-makers, and architects are explored and their degree of correlation is assessed. Second, an investigation is conducted of the community profile, self-defined objectives and the inhabitants’ and decision-makers’ perception of existing participatory mechanisms.
The study develops a model of perception structured on a spatial and a temporal axis in which participants position their ‘urban vision’ of the neighbourhood. The ‘urban vision’ is a mental concept that involves different definition of needs and therefore generates different priorities. A major finding is that inhabitants and decision-makers share a similar spatial perception of the neighbourhood, resulting in a similar set of priorities. The actual content of their ‘urban vision’ as well as the time frame for action significantly overlap. This opens the potential for community participation. In the study neighbourhood, the community is economically mixed, demographically homogeneous and socially secluded but individuals express a high desire to participate to resolve a neighbourhood problem rather than to interact socially to enhance cohesion. However, tools of dialogue are not yet tailored to match citizens’ preferences for direct and informal ways of participation. The study concludes that the community participation in the case-study unit is still tentative. In other words, there is still doubt and uncertainty regarding its successful implementation although there is real necessity and readiness for concessions among actors. However, the study shows that there is need for local authorities to take the lead in finding ways to progress towards a successful experiment