Opinions gathered during the debate on principles and the practice in the field

Through their profession, planners help extend the possibilities of choice and the development chances of physical and juridical persons. The planners acknowledge the social responsibility of the city plan by indicating the forms of social and economical inclusion of disadvantaged groups.

In democratic societies, the planning’ activity is coordinated with the public interest, the responsibilities and the ethical code are legal defined, the conflict of interests is clearly expressed and the modality of association precisely stated. All the above represents the results of the debates and plenary consultations with the experts, in order to represent the position of this professional group towards their own profession and towards the clients.

We would like to conclude with these words the first debate regarding the forms of planners associations in Romania. We thank all who contributed to this domain. We would like to mention, for those interested, that the bibliographic material annexed to this debate will remain on the site.

Information

The opinions gathered during the debate are synthesized and organized in two categories: association principles and the right to practice.

1. Principles:

Each architect’s or planner’s right to practice must be oriented towards the affirmation of the freedom of spirit.

The need to establish quality criteria in the planner/architects practice doesn’t automatically mean that this is the government’s responsibility; this can also be achieved by an organization of practitioners, like the architects or planning association.

The association right must be founded on the guild’s will to find new forms of organization which will defend the customers’ interest and not the one of the guild. Defending the customers’ interest needs continuous perfecting forms of the members of the guild to help them comply with the new changes of the professional environment.

The associate members establish, through public debates, their own functioning forms and standards of professional ethics, in order to encourage the formation of their own philosophy which will be accepted by the administrative and political environment.

2. Practice in the urbanism field:

The right to practice (license) comes with the diploma obtained after attending certain courses. Not every academic degree is automatically qualified to become a practitioner. Only certain diplomas obtained at technical universities, architecture and planning departments or similar diplomas grant access to practice. This is the domain where the Government must use its role and influence.

In order to work in urban planning it’s not a must to be an authorized planning, but the certification is necessary in order to be able to handle juridical cases.