PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
In Romania, the urban planning of land-use is currently carried out by using traditional urban design methods – only occasionally in digital format - accompanied by an estimation of the Environmental Assessment (EIA) in relation to the physical planning. The conventional methods used to assess the environmental impact, are inaccurate and not very relevant, and lead to assessments that are: • Carried out only with a limited amount of measured data and with little or no modelling; • Are limited to the local scale, and only consider small scale local emissions on an ad-hoc basis; • Do not integrate geo-references data (neither for the pollution sources nor for the urban features), so they are not in a position to assess the many environmental impacts caused by multiple emission sources.
OBJECTIVES
The objective was to develop and demonstrate the functionality of an integrated, computerised land-use planning system, constructed on a GIS platform and to assess and forecast the environmental impact of human activities. The project aimed at increasing awareness among public and local authorities of the effectiveness of an integrated modelling software running in an Open-GIS environment, compared with the separate use of different PC programs and conventional maps.
RESULTS
The major benefit of the pilot system was the reduction of the environmental uncertainty in unsupervised land-use planning. The project also resulted in an integrated system facilitating environmental impact assessments for industries, local authorities and other bodies with an interest in environmental planning. For the first time ever in Romania, the effects of land-use planning options were assessed by an entirely computerized system. The system included the following: – a set of software modules that calculate the environmental impact of urban development options and the actual impact of pollution in all environmental media; – a GIS platform to which all the data is sent and serves as a common ground for processing; – an user interface that allows the local authorities to interrogate the system and interpret the results offered. The system also evaluates and displays the current state of the environment and illustrates the environmental impact of existing or planned industries. The ex-post evaluation performed in mid-2005, namely two and a half years after the project ended confirmed that the environmental assessment has successfully integrated the air pollution models developed through the project and revealed that the data transmission and processing on the GIS platform are being used by the local authorities for physical planning purposes. The impact of the project consisted in: i) automation of the environment-related work within the decision–making process (at local scale) and ii) increased awareness of IT tools (for other local authorities across Romania). A follow-up ex-post evaluation was carried out in June 2005 by the LIFE external monitoring team. It confirmed that the environmental assessment has successfully integrated the air pollution models developed by the project and showed that (two-and-a-half years) after closure the data transmission and processing on GIS platform are still in use by the local authorities for physical planning purposes. The IT tool is also used by the EPA for: - Elaboration of the EIA Studies, part of the environmental permit required by law for the new facilities (20-30 EIA Studies per year); and - Verification of the illegal discharges (2-3 checks per year). The website (Romanian only) remains active at: http://life-assure.inmh.ro. The major benefit of the pilot system was the reduction of the environmental uncertainty in unsupervised land-use planning. The project also resulted in an integrated system facilitating environmental impact assessments for industries, local authorities and other bodies with an interest in environmental planning. For the first time ever in Romania, the effects of land-use planning options were assessed by an entirely computerized system. The system included the following: – a set of software modules that calculate the environmental impact of urban development options and the actual impact of pollution in all environmental media; – a GIS platform to which all the data is sent and serves as a common ground for processing; – an user interface that allows the local authorities to interrogate the system and interpret the results offered. The system also evaluates and displays the current state of the environment and illustrates the environmental impact of existing or planned industries. The ex-post evaluation performed in mid-2005, namely two and a half years after the project ended confirmed that the environmental assessment has successfully integrated the air pollution models developed through the project and revealed that the data transmission and processing on the GIS platform are being used by the local authorities for physical planning purposes. The impact of the project consisted in: i) automation of the environment-related work within the decision–making process (at local scale) and ii) increased awareness of IT tools (for other local authorities across Romania). A follow-up ex-post evaluation was carried out in June 2005 by the LIFE external monitoring team. It confirmed that the environmental assessment has successfully integrated the air pollution models developed by the project and showed that (two-and-a-half years) after closure the data transmission and processing on GIS platform are still in use by the local authorities for physical planning purposes. The IT tool is also used by the EPA for: - Elaboration of the EIA Studies, part of the environmental permit required by law for the new facilities (20-30 EIA Studies per year); and - Verification of the illegal discharges (2-3 checks per year). The website (Romanian only) remains active at: http://life-assure.inmh.ro.
