A new park in town made as result of participatory budgeting

The youth has been a constant source of new project ideas and with the youth’s help, the Municipality created a place that “fits for all” : a new park with dedicated space for teenagers (two pump tracks). On 19th of May, the local administration’s representatives inaugurated a new green and leisure area in town, a new park made as the result of participatory budgeting. In 2022, the first participatory budgetary process took place at the municipality level, organized based on the Decision of the Local Council no.192/2022. The park represents the first green project implemented as a result of a deliberative process and of the involvment of citizens in co-creation and co-design of a local project. The park was built on an area of 1822 sqm of land, degraded and restricted to the public, owned by the National Railway Company CFR SA and rented to the Municipality of Ramnicu Valcea in August last year, based on the City Council’s Resolution no. 216/2022. The park transformed the "communist" neighborhood into a sustainable place, because among the two pump tracks for teenagers with a total length of about 90 meters (ideal for speed travel with rollers, bicycles, scooters or skateboards), it has trees and green areas, an automatic irrigation system, sustainable street lighting system that reduce the environmental impact of human activities. The "small, ugly and deserted rectangle" has been transformed from an abandoned, polluted, full of waste area, into a green, "breathable" space with the support of teenagers and youth organizations involved in co-creation and co-design of the project.