The project is an inspirational reinvention of a small town in Jiu Valley (RO) mourning its mining industry's disappearance & transitioning from a male-led economy to a gender balanced one where women’s role is more central.Local enthusiasts supported by change agents stopped community's dissolution by reinventing a former coal mine as a beautiful, sustainable, inclusive central stage.Planeta Planeta is a place anchored in locals' memory, where all actors meet & experience feelings of belonging.
Local
Romania
Petrila Municipality (Hunedoara County, West Development Region, Romania)
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
2022-12-30
As a representative of an organization, in partnership with other organisations
Name of the organisation(s): Planeta Petrila Association Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Mihai Last name of representative: Danciu Gender: Male Nationality: Romania Function: Association Secretary Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Maleia 31 Town: Petrosani Postal code: 332047 Country: Romania Direct Tel:+40 754 683 112 E-mail:office.planetapetrila@gmail.com Website:https://planetapetrila.ro/
The project’s history started years ago, when a former miner from Petrila became an artist&activist. His dream was to use absurd as a core driver for preserving the industrial heritage of an old coal mine&of the town’s identity, in the context of community dissolution risks associated mining’s decline. His viral ideas gathered a community of enthusiasts around him.
The project initially developed around the concept of cultural reinvention of the shrinking town &further evolved in a complex, multi-use Masterplan for the former mining area, developed in a participative framework, also aligned with NEB values: aesthetics, sustainability, inclusion.
The most important output is an integrated Urban Renewal Masterplan for the site (result of participatory local, national, international multidisciplinary workshops&substantiation studies). It includes zoning for activities that support Petrila’s just transition from a mono industrial, polluted, unfriendly town to a climate neutral community, designed for all, ready to adapt to future’s challenges (climate change, future of jobs, aging, robotization, automation, digitalisation), that takes pride in preserving the mining heritage&its memory. The vision is for the city to become attractive for inhabitants, entrepreneurs, artists, visitors, to provide access to new opportunities/experiences, all by maintaining a profound sense of belonging to a place with strong local identity& rich history.
Sub-projects have also been implemented to showcase the potential&impact of NEB-style transformational processes: various artistic installations &adaptive reuses of the building, such as repurposing the former pumphouse into a multifunctional cultural hub. Planeta Petrila hosted tens of events.
The innovative and inspirational approach in reinventing a depressive town through creativity, culture, intergenerationality, inclusion, entrepreneurship&co-design attracted extensive media coverage&visits of EU high-level representatives.
reinvention
belongingness
just transition
bottom-up
creativity
As Petrila mine is one of the oldest mining operations in Jiu Valley and Petrila city faces a just transition process, our objective is to move from this polluting local industry to a green economy, based on circularity/lifecycle thinking, zero pollution & healthy biodiversity. To respond to our objective of a sustainable, climate-neutral future for Petrila, the Urban Renewal Masterplan for the Petrila Cultural Exploitation (former mining site) aims to preserve & convert the Petrila Mine buildings, ensuring the below exemplary aspects:
-sustainable vision: balanced & continuous gain, through NEB-inspired urban renewal and preservation (by belonging to Jiu Valley, Petrila is also part of functionalareas.eu project, where it learns from Cluj-Napoca how to achieve climate neutrality)
-sustainable solution: the industrial heritage is not only a place of memory & cultural/historical values, but also as a source of CO2-free development, that will ease the transition from a monoindustrial area to a clean, resilient economy
The masterplan includes exemplary items of environmental sustainability:
-NEB process: reuse existing structures to eliminate pollution, energy consumption & problems generated by demolition; apply a lifecycle renovation process; gradually recycle & reuse tailings; combine specializations to reuse existing structures in optimal ways; increase green areas; activate the blue-green infrastructure (East River)
-NEB concept: emission-free, energy-positive complex of rehabilitated buildings / spaces (the former mining site), leading to the entire city’s gradual and sustainable revitalization
The masterplan targets a resilient Petrila, which seeks (together with its community) to reinvent & adapt in a climate/environmentally-friendly way, as a small city that is able to perform better & cleaner in the future. Overcoming the mine’s rapid degradation process will bring a green, inclusive, & beautiful future ahead.
Petrila faces a decommissioned, non-functional mining site and urban degradation(deprived landscape). Our objective is to provide a more beautiful, qualitative life for residents, having as main exemplary aesthetics dimensions:
1.PROCESS:qualitative experiences for residents through reactive art, starting from Petrila’s creative soul-the artist Ion Barbu & dozens of artists he attracted. He started a large artistic movement in Petrila, as a manifesto against Petrila’s extinction due to mine’s closure:
-artistic works:murals (residential&industrial buildings), street&asphalt art, small and large, strategically positioned art sculptures, informal museums, abstract artistic installations
-events centered around the positive benefits brought by culture, sports&technology (unconventional concerts&theater, art exhibitions, local celebrations) & a film, all dedicated to local values&intended to revive citizens’ spirit of pride&fulfillment (esp. former miners’ marginalized colony)
2.RESULT:repurposing the industrial site by merging beauty & functionality. The interventions on Petrila Mine (historical monument) will create a true, unique cultural nucleus, changing its current image (former mining site, trapped in a collective disgust). The masterplan places Petrila Mine as the cultural hotspot of Jiu Valley through mixed use/adaptive reuse. Significant parts of the industrial site will include:unconventional event/exhibition spaces, guided tour routes, green squares, visitable mining points, informal museums, memorial installations. M.In.A Petrila concept will be applied on part of the site: various spaces (the compressor station, the sorting station, the funicular) will be consolidated&repurposed: Creativity&Innovation Center (visitor center, cultural events, sports, RDI infrastructure, digital hub), complemented by cultural, recreational spaces (museums, belvedere), accommodation, offices, co-working. To these is added a green-blue infrastructure on the nearby river
Petrila’s just transition unveils a population with few opportunities and reduced incomes due to its weak, men-led economy, with a marginalized community of former miners (unable to adapt to shifts in the economic, social and environmental paradigm). Through our design-for-all vision, our objective is to shift the predominantly male economic base, to a structure where women have stronger voices and real power. Our goals are to create Petrila’s administrative, economic and socio-cultural pole in the heart of its former mining site, to foster an equitable economic, social and cultural effervescence and to lead to a new societal model (where man is not worthy of pity, but determined to adapt to new trends and to resiliently face any changes). We have a two-level exemplary inclusion dimension:
1.PROCESS: Community engagement in all local actions (participatory processes). The community was not a simple beneficiary, but an active catalyst and entrepreneur of change. Residents were involved in co-designing the urban renewal plan and in co-organizing local events, through NGOs where they are members / individual volunteering. Being always designed as accessible and affordable, Petrila’s opportunities targeted all citizens, because our events and initiatives reflected Petrila’s social and cultural diversity ( individual interests led to community projects).
2.RESULT: Apart from numerous community actions (cultural, sports, touristic, etc.) that would not have been possible without residents’ support, the ultimate result (the masterplan) lays the foundations for a mix of integrated functions of the mining site, with opportunities for all sectors (community, business sector, RDI/educational environment, public administration, creative and cultural industries) and for all people (covering a diversity of needs and interests, at lowest prices and adapted to be accessible to everyone, regardless of physical condition -all types of disabilities).
The whole concept places citizens (women and men, kids and elders) at the heart of interventions - they are thought with, for, about residents (be them people, companies or living creatures – animals, plants, trees). In our vision of regaining joy and belonging through urban renewal, the goal is for every inhabitant, regardless of their background (social, financial, health, education, etc.) to live a European life (decent life quality, environmentally and financially sustainable economy, clean environment, etc.) in their local nest. Citizens’ participation took place by: consulting them for the urban renewal masterplan (needs, expectations, objectives, hopes), through participatory sessions; offering a new vision upon local identity (Petrila Mine is not a forgotten symbol, but a celebration of local traditions through NEB values); gaining a new life meaning in the local hearth (from a gloomy image to a prosperous future); giving the chance to understand local heritage’s potential (events that put under the spotlight the mine’s vast potential functions); demonstrating local beauty and function (artistic interventions / exhibitions that change the angle from which local buildings and the mine are perceived); reviving local pride (the film, the conferences, European Commission’s appreciation).
All the interventions brought the citizen closer to her/his traditional places, which are repurposed to foster positive, beautiful and resilient life experiences and at the same time a modern, carbon neutral and inclusive local economic environment. The co-design process of Petrila Mine’s reconversion was based on empowering residents by including them in decisions and by offering them the chance to see real potential uses of the future-to-be-regenerated spaces, by re-using in a positive way a difficult memory and by building capacity and courage. When the masterplan will be implemented, co-design will transform into co-implementation and further co-monitoring.
Stakeholder engagement efforts covered NEB values & NEB working principles (participatory process, multi-level & gender-balanced engagement, transdisciplinary & intergenerational approaches), by involving them in local initiatives and working for developing the masterplan:
-Local initiative started as a bottom-up movement, which ended up being multi-level: actively supported by local (City/County Council – involved in the Masterplan &related studies, Petrila General Urban Plan&mine’s assets purchase from Ministry of Energy)&national public authorities (Ministry of Investments and European Projects, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Energy, National Committee for Historic Monuments), acclaimed by Ep. institutions (Elisa Ferreira – Ep. Commissioner for Regional Policy)&supported by global bodies (World Bank).
-Exercise of mixing diverse knowledge to achieve a unitary result: locals (knew the local background; the miners became living souls of any thematic project), local NGOs (catalyzed community’s efforts, worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers to set mine’s conversion as priority axis in the urban regeneration strategy, became part of Jiu Valley’s Association for Integrated Territorial Development), international NGOs (Bankwatch, Greenpeace - gave sustainable directions of action), local companies (helped reducing financial burdens), local public administration (the City&County Councils advanced all local initiatives), external experts (architects, urban planners, landscapers, ecologists, specialists in structural assessment&design, engineers, researchers, geotechnicians - combined their expertise to generate the masterplan)&artists (theatre&film artists, musicians, painters, sculptors with local&national reputation - left their artistic legacy on Petrila’s walls&spaces), (inter)national universities (put their academic&RDI perspective in local plans)
-Affiliations that Planeta Petrila Association undertook to absorb knowledge from the outside & use it inside Petrila
Our project is filled with NEB-ispired disciplines / knowledge fields, which transformed Petrila’s gloomy image into a vividly colored kaleidoscope, as a harmonious development movement. The masterplan brought together: urban planning, architecture, landscaping, economy, sociology, environment, climate, energy, engineering (buildings, installations, structural assessment, design), topography, material testing, digging investigation, NTD, geotechnics, RDI, academic knowledge (Paris, Bucharest, Cluj, Iași, Timișoara), culture, history, law. This was achieved through work meetings, workshops, co-participatory sessions, conferences and exhibitions, where representatives of these fields worked closely to ensure that the masterplan takes into account all relevant factors, for a sustainable, pleasant and inclusive area. This led to a holistic, well-rounded, and sustainable development plan that meets the needs of the community and the environment. We added value by including in the masterplan knowledge received from former miners and cultural experts. The locals’ imprint spreads over the entire masterplan, because the document carries inhabitants’ hopes and aspirations, which we clearly identified after publicly consulting them in multiple sessions. The organized events and artistic manifestations (results of a thorough work between citizens – incl. miners, volunteers, local companies, public administration) acquired a unique dimension through the hands-on involvement of artists: painting (incl. murals), sculpture, literature, music, theatre. Even more unique are the informal thematic museums, whose ”bricks” are actually historical objects of local value (eg objects recovered from the mine) and modern artistic installations that depict our place’s profile and memory. Our greatest joy was that our approach had a balanced presence of women and men (in design, implementation and lobby) which is also valid for the involvement of youth, hand-in-hand with the elderly.
RESULTS:
Multidisciplinary local&(inter)national workshops through which renewal studies&future scenarios for the Petrila Mine were co-developed
Local&national exhibitions, giving a new meaning to the mine:Petrila Culture Mining, Shrinking Cities, Genius loci
Studies: historical study for mine’s classification as historical monument
Participative interventions for connecting with the local historical heritage:converting the former pumphouse in a cultural space
Artistic interventions for enhancing local belongingness/pride:murals, transforming mine’s parts in artistic installations(Preserve Petrila Mine), statues(I.D. Sarbu-local famous writer)
Informal museums that put local features under contemporary spotlight: Museum of Mining Savior in former Rescue Station, Mother’s Museum, Ion D. Sîrbu Memorial House
Events for attracting citizens in co-creation processes, by repurposing old mining spaces towards positive intergenerational exchanges&community-building: National Underground Theater Festival, Days of Industrial Heritage, Concerts (Nightlosers Concert - first concert on a railway footbridge in Romania), Night of Open Galleries, Classic Unlimited (classic music concerts in the former mine), Interplanetary Festival of Theater & Underground Circus, Present! (reading tent at the mine), Fridays for Future: mine planting of over 300 seedlings
Awareness interventions: participation in conferences
IMPACTFUL INTERVENTIONS:
StartUp Petrila:featured in Venice Architecture Biennale
Planeta Petrila Movie:2018 GOPO Award-Best Documentary Film
Petrila Cultural Exploitation:event about mine’s adaptive reuse
Open Mines Day:cultural, recreative&sports actions, workshops, first ever pedestrianization of Mine’s Street
INP FUNDING from Stamp of Historical Monuments
OUTPUTS:
Urban Renewal Masterplan-Petrila Cultural Exploitation:green, inclusive&aesthetic renewal of former mining site
Planeta Petrila Association:local ecosystems’ cooperation
2 Ep. Commission visits
This one-of-a-kind project(given the uniqueness of the entire organizational process, enhanced by an artistic spirit) brings innovation by:
-approaching the idea through adaptive reuse, started as individual initiative among citizens&later transformed into an NGO ambition: over time it attracted the public administration& larger local community, (inter)national experts and European institutions’ appreciations
-concentrating efforts not to erase 150 years of history around differently sized art: from acupuncture-type artistic installations to ambitious events with renowned artists, plus an internationally acclaimed film
-mixing art(artists polarized around Ion Barbu) &science (the involved architects, urban planners, engineers, etc)
-respecting anthropological principles in adapting specific demographics to European trends
The masterplan for the mine embeds 3 fundamental components in a truly unique concept:
-MInA (Museum of Industry&contemporary Arts) Petrila includes most of the historical monuments, plus the area for socio-cultural & tourist activities
-The industrial & business park includes spaces that can be furnished with industrial & business buildings, part of the Valea Jiului Industrial & Business Park
-The research & development area, in coop. with University of Petroșani: a center of creativity & innovation around a robotics & digitization hub
By implementing the masterplan, the space will acquire a unique mix of NEB-inspired uses, with pleasant and useful functions:
-spaces for micro-production/manufacturing, to support new economic agents’s emergence
-flexible cultural spaces, to accommodate activities already tested within the mine spaces (theatre, concerts, exhibitions) +new activities
-indoor & outdoor spaces for events, both public & private for rent
-unique museum spaces and tour routes integrated with spaces with other destinations
-consolidation&permanence of already developed spaces (Pompadou Center & Museum of Miners' Rescuers)
The methodology revolves around a hands-on co-design, alternatively initiated between artists as creative spirits (Ion Barbu & a cohort of diverse artists attracted along the way) and professionals as scientific minds (architects, urban planners, etc.) that took concrete forms together with the community and its guardian – the public administration. Planeta Petrila is an urban renewal process that, starting from the functional conversion of Petrila Mine, led to the transformation of the entire urban landscape, identity and energy. This exercise of reimagining Petrila Mine and its hearth is owed to modest people working hand in hand with top experts and to locals collaborating with foreigners, that want a human-economy-environmentally-friendly future, built from the re-depiction of the industrial past. The methodology works as an x-ray of locals’ expectations and specialists' projections related to the functional reconfiguration of the Petrila Mine, outlining a whole new local identity. Thus, our methodology combines interdisciplinary techniques of creatively reinterpreting an industrial heritage site through art inspired by anthropology, tools of audience development, techniques of public involvement (individual commitment leading to collective co-design), urban expertise and attraction of foreign vision, to create a local planet of belonging and meaning, where future-oriented ambitions build on past historical heritage. Starting from individual artistic manifestations and a collective disappointment as genuine reactions to mine's closure, this bottom-up process now sums up a common force, the echo of which spread, through a snowball effect, not only throughout the community (inhabitants became active participants in events/processes, also as co-organizers or helping hands), but also among outside artists and experts (from the country and from abroad), who left their mark on the evolution of this complicated and long-lasting renewal mechanism.
The entire concept can be replicated in other European areas facing similar just transition pathways/have mining sites that are closed or in the process of being closed, by adapting this vision to local specifics (urban landscape, citizens’ needs, economic situation, environment):
-The methodology (bottom-up, hands-on approach, based on reactive multidisciplinarity) is transferable to any community with similar ambitions (citizen-led start&real public administration engagement)
-Civic engagement workshops for co-design&participatory interventions can be carried out in other communities, by transferring the used methodologies/tools
-Studies can be used as research base for similar analyses
-Artistic interventions&their exposure methods can inspire new creative works by local artists from the interested cities
-Museums of appreciation/recognition for local values/identity can be set up in any locality, gathering traditional elements in a physical space of collective memory
-Events (and especially their vision&concept) can be organized in other mining sites, as long as they highlight the local splendor&the specific aesthetic of the area where they are held. Obviously, each event will be different depending on the creative genius behind them, given each artist’s uniqueness of vision&creation
-The greatest generated learning, namely the urban renewal masterplan, can be used as an intervention model for other cities facing similar deficiencies regarding the preservation, safeguarding&functional conversion of existing mining buildings/sites
Planeta Petrila Association is open to passing on, to any interested factor (be it a citizen, NGO, public administration, urban planner, etc.) all the knowledge generated within this extensive process of reviving a former industrial site&transforming it in a place of inclusion, sustainability&aesthetics, with the help of its people. The Association could even share its establishment/organization processes¤t functioning.
The global challenges tackled by the project are:
AGING: Urban Renewal Masterplan’s concept and various interventions (architectural, environmental, cultural, entrepreneurial) focus on the idea of making Petrila attractive again, especially for young people or even digital nomads, and to slow down its rapid depopulation and aging
POVERTY: addressing the increasing poverty rate that followed the decline of the coal extraction industry was a focal point of the project; by setting the foundation for attracting non-polluting industrial activities, cultural & creative industries, RDI and IT&C investment the project aims to create new, better paid jobs
CLIMATE CHANGE: the former mine was one of the largest energy consumers in the region and generated GHG emissions, aggravating pollution; interventions included in the Masterplan aim to gradually transform the area in a positive energy district, that also encourages alternative mobility
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: the setting of the project is a brownfield area with a long traditional but also historical pollution problems; regeneration sets the ambition of making the area frequentable to all by reducing air, water and soil pollution + waste, encouraging recycling and reuse of different materials, expanding green areas, creating a green-blue corridor
DEMOCRATIZATION: one of the most valuable outcomes of the Planeta Petrila lifecycle is the success of creating a strong local ecosystem of change agents (from simply residents to artists, architects, designers, entrepreneurs, NGOs), by using co-design and co-implementation tools for the first time in town’s history; this ecosystem is growing and is already involved in most of local decision making processes, with local public administration’s support
GENDER INEQUALITY: in a mining town where most women were housewives, the project brings a fresh approach that creates multiple opportunities for them to learn, share, express themselves and achieve a fair work-life balance
