Uploaded on 2014-12-05 by VladCocheci

---------------- People - stock: the local population at a given moment - flow: population changes (births, deaths, in-migration and out-migration) ---------- Housing - stock: the existing housing units at a given moment - flow: changes of the housing stock (changes in number or in characteristics) ---------- Brownfield sites - stock: the existing brownfield sites at a given moment - flow: changes of landuse of different types of land (from industrial to brownfield or from brownfield to any other landuse) ---------- Findings based on the stocks and flows concept: ----------------------------------------------- People While total population of Cluj-Napoca seems to have hardly changed during the last years, this fact is actually due to a dynamical compensation of gains and loses. Being a very large university center, with a population of around 80,000 students studying in 10 universities, Cluj-Napoca attracts a lot of in-migration (mostly from other places in Romania). After finishing their studies, some of the students remain in the city, some return to the places they came from, while others migrate further. The yearly out-migration is compensated roughly by in-migration consisting mainly of new students. Thus, even though the people 'stock' doesn't seem to change very much as number or structure (age groups, professional qualification, education etc.) this is actually due to a very dynamic flow. !['Lucian Blaga' Central University Library building][1] ('Lucian Blaga' Central University Library building) ---------- Housing A large part of the existing housing stock of the city consists of appartments built during the communist regime (most of them built between the 1960s and 1980s during a phase of accelerated urbanization and industrialization). After the collapse of Communism in Romania (December 1989), the yearly number of newly built housing dropped sharply, or, in other words, the flow decreased. Even though, during more recent times (mostly between 2007 and 2010), due to price rise on the residential market in Cluj-Napoca, some communes situated in its metropolitan area experienced a powerful increase in housing stock. For example, between 2007 and 2013, in the suburban commune of Floresti, while the population increased by around 3 times (mostly because of suburbanization), the housing stock increased by more than 5 times! Similar increases of the housing stock, but of lower amplitude, happened in 2 other suburban communes (Apahida and Baciu). Of course, this lack of correlation between population flow and housing stock flow has led to a considerable number of unoccupied houses and apartments, hindering the investors capacity of paying their loans and thus contributing to the crisis of 2009. ![high density and poor quality development in Floresti][2] (high density and poor quality development in Floresti) ---------- Brownfield sites Because of the deindustrialization process, some of the industrial sites of Cluj-Napoca have turned into brownfield. Most of these brownfield sites are under private ownership, but because of the cost of land use conversion, their status remains unchanged. Also, because of their high market value (brownfield sites have good locations in the city and they benefit from well developed infrastructure) their ownership is difficult to transfer to potential investors that prefer instead to build on less expensive greenfield sites. This is the case even for the public owned 'Tetarom Industrial Parks' company, that has built infrastructure for industrial and business developments on greenfield sites. Thus it can be stated that the flow dynamics of brownfield sites in Cluj-Napoca is quite slow and that the stock hardly changes. ![brownfield][3] (brownfield) ![greenfield business and industrial development][4] (greenfield business and industrial development) ---------- How stocks and flows could change in the future for the benefit of the area ------------------------------------------------------------------------ People In the general context of decrease and ageing of the country's population, the potential for attracting in-migration of the universities of Cluj-Napoca represents an asset that, if harnessed, could help the city not only survive, but even grow. In order to do this, it is of critical importance for the universities to try to make their programs more attractive for international students (because the number of potential students in Romania is decreasing year by year). A good example in this direction is already given by the Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy that attracts a considerable number of students from European and African countries. In the same time, much larger universities such as the Babes Bolyai University or the Technical University still face problems in attracting large numbers of international students. ---------- Housing Even though there can be found unused housing units, there still exists a considerable need (potential demand) for housing. Thus, it should be important for policy makers to find ways to facilitate a match between the existing need and the unused housing. Also, the investors should develop a communication system in order to better match demand with supply on the real estate market in order to prevent crisis situations. ---------- Brownfield Cluj-Napoca brownfield sites usually have good infrastructure, a good relation with railway stations and, in many cases, their location is close to the city center. Also, because of the technological solutions used in the former production processes, the brownfield sites are located on banks of watercourses (mainly the banks of Somesul Mic river and of the Nadas creek). Thus, the value of these sites is great not only in economical terms but also in terms of the possibility to improve the general quality of life by opening new public spaces that benefit of a close relation to water. [1]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14178115238024565.jpg [2]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/1417811671736732.jpg [3]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14178117847952591.jpg [4]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14178118246038965.jpg