PROF. ALEXANDER SLAEV WITH AN INTERVIEW WITH RADIO VARNA: THE INTRODUCTION OF EXPENSIVE BUILDING PERMITS CAN REGULATE REBUILDING
20 May 2021
There is a group of monetary instruments that, unfortunately, urban planners in our country and in most countries around the world do not use. If some really high, adequate fees are set for the areas where nature is already scarce, the entrepreneur will not even think of building in this area. And in our country the fee for a building permit is extremely low. This is what the architect Prof. Alexander Slaev commented in an interview with the presenter Mariela Dimitrova with Radio Varna, on the occasion of his nomination for the Varna Award.He received a nomination for an individual award in the Technical Sciences section in the field of science and higher education this year. Prof. Alexander Slaev is a regional specialist (UNWE, Sofia) and specialises in Housing Policy and Finance at the International Institute for Urban Management and Housing at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. The proposal for his nomination was made by VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar", where Arch. Slaev teaches "achievements in research in the field of architecture, spatial planning and urban planning", as well as for his monograph "Planning of the Anthropogenic Environment and Natural Resources: Theory of Complex Property Rights." Arch. Slaev also said:
The truth is that planning has also led to serious failures in urban development and even under socialism, when all the instruments for regulating this development were in the hands of the state. And for Varna, during the period of socialism, the development of the city was directed in a western direction, in prefabricated blocks of flats. I definitely consider this to be a significant problem. While the residents of Varna have always wanted to live in the central parts of the city and closer to the sea.
Prof. Slaev, how could this process of increasingly dense construction in our big cities be under control?
Generally, there should be no serious discrepancy between planning and the market. Both planning and the market should meet the preferences of residents.
But if there is a great market demand and the urban environment no longer allows such volumes as construction? Is there an overdose of building density and height?
We must bear in mind that, in fact, the entrepreneurs are not to blame for this overbuilding. I do not want to take part but the truth is that they are obliged to build where there is market demand. Otherwise, they will lose out to the competition and fall out of it.
If the Spatial Planning Act allows certain possibilities in construction, are there any other laws or regulations by which a chief architect can balance this investment and public interest?
There is a group of instruments that, unfortunately, urban planners in most countries around the world simply do not use. These are monetary instruments. A much more powerful option is, for example, to put some really high, adequate fees. Because in most cases, where nature is already scarce, if the right fee is applied, it means that the entrepreneur will not even think of building in this area.
Fee for what?
For construction in this area, for example, the fee for a building permit, which in Bulgaria are extremely low. In our country, urban development is financed much more than property taxes collected by municipalities. It would be better if they were smaller, and the main burden goes to building permit fees, which are a much stronger instrument in the hands of local authorities to regulate local development.
The nominations for the Varna Award in the field of science and higher education and in the system of preschool and school education have already been approved by the Science and Education Commission and are expected to be considered by the entire Municipal Council at its meeting this Thursday, 20 May. The nine councilors in the commission unanimously approved the proposals for individual and personal awards of the Expert Councils, which sifted the names of the nominees among all submitted this year proposals.