Lawn for relaxing at Mercur and “upgrade” for the fountains in Mihai Viteazu Square

Craiova City Hall has started the actions for the urban regeneration project aimed at Mihai Viteazu Square. The municipality requested the issuance of the environmental permit for the project “Urban REGENERATION by revitalizing the central area, REGENERATE Craiova. According to the memorandum submitted to the Dolj Environmental Protection Agency, the green areas will be rethought, and the artesian wells will benefit from an “upgrade”. The value of the investment is estimated at 80 million lei, and the proposed implementation period is 5 years.

Upgrade or 404 error for fountains

From the brief description of the project, presented in the memorandum submitted to APM Dolj, the area in the city center will undergo notable changes. The existing fountains in the square and the one at the intersection with Lipscani “will be upgraded”, according to the project, while the fountains on Calea Unirii would follow the path of error 404, that is, they would be removed from the landscape and replaced with trees and planters.

It is certain that the town hall intervenes, finally, to change the face of the neglected fountains in the center, which, as the administration itself admits, “does not enhance the urban image of Craiova”.
The area proposed for revitalization is between AI Cuza and Popa Şapcă streets, Unirii str., Mihail Kogălniceanu str. and Ioan Maiorescu and Felix Aderca streets. Practically, the most important public square in the city will undergo a reconfiguration. The main interventions will target not only the decorative fountains, but also the pedestrian routes and the green space.

Meadow for connecting with nature

According to the data in the memo, the town hall is taking an important step in the transition from “Don’t step on the grass” to the green wave for settling on the green space. It is not clear, however, what the transformation of the area of ​​trees into a meadow means and whether the trees in the area of ​​the little park from Mercury will be affected by the intention to create a meadow for relaxing and staying here. According to the information mentioned in the document submitted to the APM, “the area of ​​trees on the market plateau will be redeveloped to create an urban lawn with grass, which will allow “unobstructed access of citizens to the grass”, for relaxation and connection with nature”.

At the same time, the town hall proposes to fill the alignment trees on Popa Şapcă Street and those on Calea Unirii and Lipscani. Another proposed green solution is the location of an “urban nursery” consisting of 65 removable planters that will allow the growth of a wide range of tree species and their relocation to green areas of the city when they reach maturity. The trees will be chosen, the municipality states in the memorandum, so that they are variously colored depending on the season.

The floor will be changed

The floor will be replaced with a modern, permeable solution, according to the indications in the project. The “nature based” solution is intended to prepare the land to cope with possible flooding caused by storms.
Following the urban regeneration proposed by the local administration through the REGENERATE project, the public space in Mihai Viteazu Square would be enriched by the development of “comfortable, obstacle-free, shaded” areas and by “the development of the market plateau in accordance with the importance of the location, through multifunctional solutions which allows the adaptation of the layout for multiple use scenarios: fairs, exhibitions, concerts, shows, etc.”.
In the area of ​​the Holy Trinity Church, stands will be placed, in the shade of the trees, and elements of urban furniture, and in the vicinity of the Modern cinema, urban installations dedicated to games and activities dedicated to the residents of the area will be placed.

Citizens of Craiova can submit observations regarding the project proposed by the mayor’s office at the APM Dolj headquarters, in Craiova, 1 Petru Rareş str., e-mail: [email protected]. The memory can be consulted HERE.