Strengthening Capacities for Regulating and Upgrading Informal Settlements
Published on
25/11/2025
About this challenge
Romania
Challenge description
The Municipality of Sfântu Gheorghe faces a long-standing and structurally complex challenge in the informal settlement area known as Őrkő, composed of three distinct, adjacent informal settlements. These areas have developed spontaneously since the 1970s and today accommodate over 1,195 residents (mostly Roma) living in 333 housing units, many of which are built from conventional materials and without permits, outside planning regulations, or on land with unclear or incompatible legal status (public domain, private domain of the municipality, public domain of the Ministry of Defence or privately-owned land by third parties).
Despite sporadic municipal interventions (infrastructural and soft alike), Őrkő remains the largest and most socio-economically deprived urban marginalised area in the municipality, characterized by:
Exclusion from basic urban utilities, including limited legal access to electricity, insufficient road access, and partial connection to water and sewage networks (the majority rely on informal electricity connections and three public wells).
Housing built without permits, often non-compliant with safety norms, located on land without legal tenure
Poverty and labour market exclusion, with up to 80% of working-age residents unemployed and high drop-out rates.
Partial spatial segregation reinforced by physical isolation at the urban periphery and the absence of mixed-use or integrated neighborhood development.
In 2024, the municipality conducted a legally required detailed analysis, completing formal identification of all three informal settlements, carrying out household-level socio-economic assessments and preparing three distinct action plans for their future regulation, legalisation, or relocation. These steps revealed a critical need for methodological, operational and strategic support to implement a full-scale integrated intervention combining urban planning, social inclusion, legalisation, service provision and de-segregation measures.
Despite sporadic municipal interventions (infrastructural and soft alike), Őrkő remains the largest and most socio-economically deprived urban marginalised area in the municipality, characterized by:
Exclusion from basic urban utilities, including limited legal access to electricity, insufficient road access, and partial connection to water and sewage networks (the majority rely on informal electricity connections and three public wells).
Housing built without permits, often non-compliant with safety norms, located on land without legal tenure
Poverty and labour market exclusion, with up to 80% of working-age residents unemployed and high drop-out rates.
Partial spatial segregation reinforced by physical isolation at the urban periphery and the absence of mixed-use or integrated neighborhood development.
In 2024, the municipality conducted a legally required detailed analysis, completing formal identification of all three informal settlements, carrying out household-level socio-economic assessments and preparing three distinct action plans for their future regulation, legalisation, or relocation. These steps revealed a critical need for methodological, operational and strategic support to implement a full-scale integrated intervention combining urban planning, social inclusion, legalisation, service provision and de-segregation measures.
This city is looking for
While important steps have already been taken - such as investments in basic living conditions, zoning plan updates, cadastral registration and human resources development - the municipality still faces limited capacity to design, sequence and operationalise an integrated de-segregation and urban upgrading process.
Through the City-to-City Exchange, the municipality is looking for a peer city with strong expertise in:
Developing a coherent long-term model for legalisation, upgrading and/or relocation adapted to mixed land-tenure situations.
Household-level engagement methodologies, including safeguarding, trust-building, co-design processes and post-relocation support.
Reducing territorial segregation, promoting spatial equity, upgrading informal settlements, or integrating marginalised Roma communities in mainstream neighbourhoods.
Improve cross-departmental municipal governance mechanisms for sustained multi-annual implementation, beyond project cycles.
Developing participatory and affordable housing solutions that are technically compliant, legally sustainable and acceptable to the community.
Preventing the further expansion of informal settlements through regulatory tools, early-intervention mechanisms and community-based monitoring.
This support is essential to ensure that the municipality can deliver a sustainable, inclusive and non-segregating transformation of the Őrkő area in line with EU principles on non-segregation, human rights and integrated urban development.
Through the City-to-City Exchange, the municipality is looking for a peer city with strong expertise in:
Developing a coherent long-term model for legalisation, upgrading and/or relocation adapted to mixed land-tenure situations.
Household-level engagement methodologies, including safeguarding, trust-building, co-design processes and post-relocation support.
Reducing territorial segregation, promoting spatial equity, upgrading informal settlements, or integrating marginalised Roma communities in mainstream neighbourhoods.
Improve cross-departmental municipal governance mechanisms for sustained multi-annual implementation, beyond project cycles.
Developing participatory and affordable housing solutions that are technically compliant, legally sustainable and acceptable to the community.
Preventing the further expansion of informal settlements through regulatory tools, early-intervention mechanisms and community-based monitoring.
This support is essential to ensure that the municipality can deliver a sustainable, inclusive and non-segregating transformation of the Őrkő area in line with EU principles on non-segregation, human rights and integrated urban development.
City size
Small city (50k to 250k inhabitants)
Author
Gergely Buja
Romania
Director
Municipality of Sfantu Gheorghe
