Green Structure Plan for Chişinău

As a Master Thesis, Johanna Hagberg and Karin Winroth made a Green Structure Plan for Chişinău.

The Master Thesis is not finished, however, the text below might function as an inspiring abstract:

The plan is based on sustainability from an ecological, social, and to some extent economic perspective, and it gives the answer to what a Green Structure Plan is and how it can be used as a tool for sustainable urban development. Further, it investigates how a Green Structure Plan can be applied to the city of Chişinău. 

The work with this dissertation has passed through three phases: preparations, an eight week long field study and then processing of the gathered material. During the inventory and analysis phase a range of different methods were used to get as a diverse and precise perspective of the city as possible. The methods we have used for the inventory are: literature studies; a case study of Borlänge Green Structure Plan; site visits, observations and photography; studies of maps and plans; interviews; and a public workshop with citizens. Methods used for analysis are SWOT-analysis, Lynch-analysis, and Patrik Grahn's eight park characters.  

One of the greatest challenges of today’s society is to achieve sustainable urban development. The values of environment, nature, and culture need to go hand in hand with values from a social and economic perspective. The preconditions to create enduring sustainable development of the urban environment are to a great extent determined by how the built environment is preserved and developed (Boverket 1999, p.12). Chişinău has great potentials for connected green structures with high social, cultural and ecological value. There are vast green spaces in the suburbs and a river floating through the city. Also, the city is connected with the only larger forest area left in the country, Codrii forest. However, fractioning of green links, increased traffic, lack of finances for maintenance, pollution, and unregulated growth within green areas are threats to green spaces today. For a sustainable development of the city these threats need to be adjusted. Also, it is important to keep the historic traces and the identity of green spaces as they are important factors from a social and cultural perspective. 

We have partly based our project on the General Urban Plan for Chişinău from 2004. New ring roads are planned within and outside of the city to handle the traffic situation. Our first proposal concerns the management of increased amounts of traffic in the city, where the purpose is to protect the existing green links and encourage a more sustainable network of transportation. Also, we have focused on the River Bîc which is a backside and barrier today going through the city. The river is threatened by the risk of flooding and pollution from domestic and industrial waste. However, it does have great potential as a green spine through the city, becoming a public green parkway. To decrease the frequent risk of floods, a plan has been made by the Water Management projecting Institute, Acvaproiect, where the river is broadened, slopes are reinforced with concrete and where the water flow is controlled by valves. In comparison, our suggestion is to prevent flooding in a more natural way, going back to the original meandering shape of the river. If slopes are stabilised by planted vegetation new habitats will be created, supporting the local flora and fauna. Also, a flood plain can prevent flooding as well as becoming a recreational parkway and tourist attraction.

Inventories, analysis and proposals are also made for existing park areas within Chişinău. People use these spaces as their living room. Older men play chess, ladies talk, and young couples sit on benches. There are three types of green space in Chişinău; public gardens, parks and forest-parks. Due to similar maintenance, character and function some of these areas are not used according to their potential. We have offered a new way of categorising the green space according to Uppsala's park program, based on the existing classification in Chişinău. We believe a diversification of the maintenance, function, and character of green space will create more efficient use and increase the value of the green space, since more people will have the opportunity to find a park suitable to their  needs. 

This thesis should be seen as a first step towards the sustainable development of Chişinău. Further inventories and analysis are needed in order to cover all green space in the city. We have provided an example of how to include economic, ecological and social factors when planning for the green structure through added habitats for the native flora and fauna, reinforced green links, increased quality of public green spaces, and a sustainable transportation network. The economic investment needed provide a long-term profit through the improvement of people's health and life quality, by attracting tourists and business inventors, and by stabilising the ecological system in Chişinău.

A pre-feasibility study of a Waste to Energy Plant in Chisinau

Linus Karlsson and Tomas Linderholm Jönsson finished their master thesis this spring.  Their thesis aimed to explore the economic and environmental opportunities for waste incineration with energy recovery, also known as Waste to Energy in Chisinau. 

From the abstract:
At present, the solution to the waste situation is unmonitored landfills with smaller sorting operations. Environmentally, this is a poor solution and although there are plans for change, no specific strategy has been presented. Another important issue is Moldova's dependence on foreign produced energy. What makes the waste to energy so interesting for this region is that it contributes to an improvement in both of these issues by using the waste as fuel to reduce energy dependency.

The results of this study show that implementation of a waste incineration plant in the Chisinau energy system is economically and environmentally feasible, given the current conditions. The proposed plant is designed to annually handle 400,000 tonnes of waste, and would with the assumed waste composition deliver 560 GWh of district heat and 260 GWh of electric energy. This production provides an annual profit of 31.6 million Euro, which gives a positive net present value after the project amortization.

Compared with the city's current solution with landfills and gas turbines, the project also provides a significant environmental improvement. During the plant's design lifetime, greenhouse gas emissions are 6.8% with the assumption that only a portion of the carbon content of the waste is of fossil origin. 

Thanks for your work Linus and Tomas!