Evaluating the Potential Conflicts of Collective Housing Development in the Suburbs of Iași, Romania

Abstract

In the post-socialist transition, the lack of local regulations regarding the development of the peri-urban area of Iași municipality led towards a chaotic and fast-growing residential expansion. The increasing trend of complexes of collective housing built-out in the outskirts brought new conflicts and enhanced the existing ones, altering the territorial identity and social cohesion of the community. The main purpose of this paper is to deliver a better understanding of the drawbacks determined by the occurrence of these complexes and to analyse the spatial intensity and variation of the conflicts. To determine the probability to generate conflicts for each residential project, an index was computed based on conflict triggering factors. The results display the spatial patterns of different conflict types throughout the peri-urban area of Iași. Conflicts are generated by lowering the price of households with a drawback at fostering the already existing conflicts. Major complexes of collective houses are, in general, the most expensive but they generate a lower score for triggering conflicts, while small or individual complexes, even though they are cheaper, tend to create the most common conflicts. While world planning trends aim at enhancing a sense of community through a balanced planning of the suburbs, in the specific case of Iaşi municipality, the lack of planning and the chaotic apparition of residential projects leads to a more segregated and disrupted community, therefore enhancing more conflicts.