Sofia needs radical actions, if we want it to transform and to start looking like a normal city. The urban environment should provide fair living conditions with no discrimination and with public spaces of good quality and easy access, no matter the social status of each citizen. This stance brings together the members of the Initiative Committee for Changing the City Planning System. Those were also the organizers of the initial Forum FOR City Development which took place on April 5 at Betahaus downtown Sofia. Representatives of different institutions, architects, urbanists, former and present municipal counselors, intellectuals and active citizens participated in the forum. Proposals were tackled in three separate panels: on the status of the architect general, on a new function and space of a Municipal Expert Council of Spatial Planning and on the need of independent research structure in the system of urban planning.

Architect Pavel Yanchev is one of the forum’s organizers. We asked him about the expectations, concerning the future architect general and also about the IC’s proposals?

“To start with, we go from the idea that too many responsibilities have been carried by the architect general so far. Respectively, the society thinks that too many of the city’s problems depend directly on him. Hence “the only guilty guy” phenomenon. We propose the separation of these responsibilities. The architect general should serve as an administrative agent who approves each project, releasing him from being the person with a vision on the city’s outlook in 10 – 20 years. We are working on the establishment of a new structure, taking over the visionary function.”

The need of the creation of a balance between the public and private interest was one of the forum’s accents. According to Valentina Bakalova, a legal counselor in a team of three architects general in a row with the Sofia Municipality this is the balancing figure and that is why the urban planning phase is essential, as different interests meet and negotiate then.

Pavel Yanchev comments the discussion on the establishment of an expert council with the municipal one like that:

“Some participants say business is not well presented, other say it takes part in a whole planning department – outdoor advertisements and you can see the results with all these billboards across Sofia: they have conquered the urban environment in terms of its visual identity. In my personal opinion citizens should always be listened to, but under the guidance of an expert urbanist. However, there should be someone to bear the political responsibility.”

The third panel dealt with the need of a research structure within the urban planning system, involved in the so-called city policies. All experts agreed on the need, but the scale and level of independence of the structure are now being discussed. Associate Prof. Milena Yakimova, a sociology tutor at the Sofia University says the group should be a small analytical unit, in order to avoid its turning into a tool for transfer of political legitimacy of someone, refusing to take political responsibility.

Pavel Yanchev underlines in conclusion that these radical actions are possible here and now, as far as there is political will:

“The new architect general will show whether he is capable of these decisive actions, as there is a capacity of experts, let’s be honest. The municipal council also has funding possibilities, regarding research and planning, therefore only political will is the thing we need.”

English version: Zhivko Stanchev