Environmental quality has always represented an important area of interest for CCMESI, where a great number of research projects were undertaken to improve the environmental quality of cities, their green spaces, agricultural areas or other land uses.
Most of the research projects were coordinated by professor Maria Patroescu, professor Cristian Ioan Ioja and associate professor Mihai Nita.
The first research projects have been developed in partnership with different institutions, such as ICIM, CPUMB, MCT and approached various topics, such as: groundwater quality, human settlements and land use dynamics, environmental quality assessment in different urban ecosystems, with a focus on Romanian Plain as a case study.
Currently CCMESI is implementing three UEFISCDI projects: (i) Methodology for the management and resolution of environmental conflict in Natura 2000 network, (ii) Developing a model for evaluating the potential of urban green infrastructures for sustainable planning, and (iii) Experimental Methods for Ecosystems Services Assessment of Urban Lakes under Climate Changes.
Between 2007-2011 the research programs (Idei, Parteneriate, CEEX) were focused on assessing the environmental quality in Romania’s metropolitan areas (especially Bucharest) with topics varying from integrated waste management or environmental quality in residential areas to interdisciplinary solutions for spatial and infrastructure planning in the framework of sustainable development and improving the quality of life.
Between 2005 and 2009 we were part of the interdisciplinary teams who had to develop the environmental reports needed to obtain the environmental permits for developing zonal urban plans for inter modal hubs (Obor, Gara de Nord, Piata Sudului), connections of Bucharest – Constanta and Bucharest-Brasov highways and for the spatial plan of the Bucharest’s urban agglomeration and metropolitan area.
Furthermore, between 2004 and 2008 CCMESI elaborated various reports on the environmental impact of different land uses, such as industrial areas or urban parks and environmental balances level I and II for treatment plants, landfills and water supplies.