Integrated territorial investments: challenges and opportunities – case study of Romania

Abstract

In order to facilitate the delivery of integrated development strategies, the European Commission has identified two separate tools: Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) and Integrated territorial investment (ITI). ITI is an instrument, which has been developed for the delivery of funding in geographical areas with particular territorial features, ranging from specific urban neighbourhoods with multiple deprivations to the urban, metropolitan, urban-rural, sub-regional, and inter-regional levels. The Romanian Partnership Agreement for the 2014-2020 programming period highlighted that Romania will prioritize the implementation of ITI in the Danube Delta Biosphere. In this document, unfortunately, growth poles (GPs) are not specifically considered for ITI implementation at this time, though this new instrument could bring significant benefits to Romania's growth engines. The present paper aims to explore the possibilities of ITI application in Romania's GPs, building on the existing concept of integrated urban development, which is already functional in Romania. The exploration will take into account the manifold problems that have appeared in Romania during the 2007-2013 implementation period, including significant criteria that should be developed in selecting ITI areas: the record of contracting rates and absorption rates as potential options. At the same time, the paper aims to introduce an innovative matrix for prioritization of actions within an ITI, in order to maximize their impact. A case study will be developed for Bucharest -as potential area for ITI implementation -emphasizing the role of climate change indicators within the proposed matrix.

Energy Transition in Marginalized Urban Areas: The Case of Romania

“…To address the needs of marginalized communities, the European Commission has developed the concept of community-led local development (CLLD) to describe a bottomup approach, with a partnership created to encourage cooperation between the public sector, private sector and civil society, with the main aim of developing and implementing an integrated development strategy. Building on the LEADER programme that was applied in rural areas during the 2007-2013 programming period [17], the CLLD instrument is considered appropriate for urban areas with a population of less than 150,000 people. The available funds (ERDF and ESF financial support) can be integrated to support the local development strategy (LDS) [18].…”

Untitled

“…It is pointed out that ITI have been introduced with the intention of financing the sustainable development of territorially demarcated areas, including urban districts and entire cities, metropolitan areas, as well as partnerships of local and regional self-governments (Gaman et al, 2015). The investments are directed towards solving various problems affecting demarcated territories.…”

Integrated Planning as a Tool for Sustainable Development of the Regions

“…Based on the experience gained, albeit for a short period, a number of researchers critically analyze the real effects of the implementation of ITI in some European countries and give recommendations for their future implementation (Ferry, Kah, & Bachtler, 2018) (Van Der Zwet, Bachtler, Ferry, McMaste, & Miller, 2017) (Kociuba, 2018) (Gaman, et al, 2015) (Trusculaski, 2020). A common statement is that through integrated territorial investments, administrative units working together learn to act more dynamically for their development.…”