Rejuvenate the city, approaching NEB through placemaking in Burgas

The urban context is a trivial example of the urban planning and housing policies from the second half of the 20th century in Bulgaria. In the 1950s and 1960s the city of Burgas underwent a process of industrializing its economy at a fast pace resulting in a rapid increase of its population. The construction of the largest crude oil refinery plant in Southeast Europe on a site in the Northwestern outskirts marked a peak of the urbanization process in the 1960s. As a response to the urgent need for housing thousands of people moving to the city as workers at the refinery, the urban plan paved the way for the development of Slaveykov residential estate – one of the largest in the city. 

Planned in the 1960s and constructed during the following decades, today the district is a home for about 35,000 people. Its initial masterplan followed the urban development principles of the time – with a park at its core, a commercial building located nearby, the necessary social infrastructure and most importantly – vast open spaces between the buildings. Similarly to the other large-scale housing developments in Bulgaria, the priority in the implementation of the plans was set on providing a large number of housing within short deadlines and tight budgets. This determined the architecture of the district – repeating patterns of uniform prefabricated multifamily buildings and standardized typology of schools and kindergartens. Due to the delayed construction of the district center, its architecture showcases more recent trends in construction from the 1980s. Being part of it, the Mladost sports hall is probably the most recognizable building of the district in terms of architectural appearance.

The sports hall is one of the architectural elements and spaces supporting the major urban axis of the city – one of the most important and busiest traffic arteries connecting Burgas to the national highway network. Located close to one of the city landmarks – the roundabout between the three large-scale residential districts which used to represent the concept of the industrial city during the second half of the 20th century (Slaveykov, Izgrev and Zornitsa districts with roughly about 35, 25 and 10 thousands inhabitants respectively), the sports hall is accessible by car, foot and public transport and is within a convenient distance for the entire Northwestern part of the city. It also stands at important pedestrian connections between these districts and hence the open spaces in front of it possess the prerequisites for becoming a thriving and vivid local center. Although some of their spatial connections to the district park are compromised by contemporary developments, the open spaces surrounding the sports hall include quite large green areas with a decent tree canopy, especially in the northern part, providing contact with nature and comfort in the hot summer.

The RELAUNCHTOWIN project pioneers an innovative approach towards urban public space and neighbourhood's social life through the lens of community health and urban nature development. Building upon the understanding that multifunctionality of buildings and urban spaces lies at the basis of their vitality, the project envisions to enrich the functional program of both with the aim of bringing diverse social groups together during project implementation and strengthening their connections and their attachment to the place.  

It considers the sports hall as more than a place for exercise and excitement at sports events and aims at enhancing its role as a cultural, social and wellness space too. The hall annually hosts a number of national and international tournaments and is renowned for the rhythmic gymnastics, boxing and volleyball events as well as sports dancing contests. It provides training rooms for both sports clubs and citizens. Besides refurbishing the sports hall and transforming it into NZEB, the project seizes the opportunities for fostering social and intergenerational exchange thus establishing the place as a community hub for well-being. 

Capitalizing on the advantageous location of the area and its role set by the urban plan, as well as following the strategic development plans of the local government (the Municipal Plan for Integrated Urban Development 2021-2027) the project’s ambitions are to revive the underused open spaces surrounding the hall and to convert them into an attractive community place. The topics of urban health and well-being are set at the core of these intentions. Aiming at inclusiveness and openness, the programming of the open spaces includes a public square, a neighbourhood park with spaces for physical activities for children and adults, a sensory and therapeutic garden and an accessible community garden. The added greenery in the forms of a green buffer, community orchard and urban forest will improve the comfort for visitors while supporting the biodiversity.

Involving the local community and diverse social groups is one of the core elements of the project. A focus is set on people with disabilities, retired adults, minorities, children and refugees (a lot of war refugees from Ukraine and economic migrants from Turkey have settled in Burgas in the last couple of years).  

A kick-off event held in the beginning of June 2024 in the form of a day-long festival has unlocked citizens’ participation. The festival was planned within the project activities aiming at strengthening the local community, fostering place attachment and raising the citizens’ awareness of the importance of active lifestyles and urban biodiversity. The event introduced visitors to the project goals and the scope of intervention and provided them with the opportunity to present their opinions and ideas. An important benchmark for the upcoming project implementations was represented by the results of an ongoing online survey opened in parallel with the information campaign on the festival. The survey aimed at revealing the building and open space usage patterns as well as gathering data about citizens’ satisfaction with the state of both at the time and about their assessment of the proposed interventions.  

The first community meeting and workshop held on September 28th aimed to further involve the community in the project implementation. Through the deployment of the principles of placemaking and utilization of the ideas of "PARK Action Pack" – a resource developed by BG Be Active (the project partner undertaking the community engagement activities) the event made the first steps of co-creation. In this spirit the citizens were invited to comment on and suggest improvements to the initial designs of the internal and external spaces. Very importantly, they were able to discuss their ideas directly with the designers. The feedback gathered from the event is another important benchmark for the project – with discussions outlining not only the personal views of the participants on the visual qualities of the designs but also raising practical questions about the opportunities for future maintenance and management of the project results. 

The kick-off event opened the dialogue with the local community while the first community meeting set the stage for active participation in the project implementation. The venue selection for both was more than obvious and appropriate – the open spaces in front the sports hall. Presenting the ideas and designs for the renewal of a public open space at in situ events is a proven tool, utilized by the project for enabling wider participation and strengthening the attachment to the place.

The holistic approach to urban regeneration and implementation of NEB principles undertaken by RELAUNCHTOWIN project demands interdisciplinary partnership and continuous actions following a sound plan. The first tangible results are expected in the first months of 2025 with the  completion of the new cladding and insulation of the sports hall, followed by mechanical, electrical, plumbing and engineering (MEP) works and installation of a photovoltaic system. A significant milestone already reached by the project towards these results is the contracting of a construction company for these works. It was only possible through a public procurement procedure – a pre-structured, obligatory and often prolonged procedure successfully undertaken by the MUA.  

The following steps, related to the transformation of the open spaces, involve the other project partners more actively. Considering the feedback gathered from the participatory events, they will have to elaborate the technical designs for the public square, green areas, community and therapeutic gardens. A predictable challenge in this phase is the need for reaching spatial, functional and aesthetic coherence between these designs and with the new design of the sports hall. Besides their particularities these elements together comprise a public space which is aimed at becoming a local focus for neighbourhood community life and therefore the urban design should be utilized in support of the aesthetic qualities along with the social and sustainability goals of the project. This will demand balanced and effective communication both within the project partnership and with the local community.

[1]     As of 31.12.2023, according to National statistics institute of Republic of Bulgaria