Green Transition and Livability in Communist-Inherited Large Housing Estates in Romania: Compatibility of Collective Habitat to the Requirements of the European Green Deal

Increasing the level of livability in cities is a topical area both in EU policies and in local urban development, as well as in scientific studies. The aim of this article is to assess the degree if livability of the large housing estates (LHEs) built during the socialist period in the main regional cities of Romania and how adequately they meet the requirements of current urban life. The research focused on assessing the accessibility of these neighborhoods to green spaces and other types of public facilities and services of interest, also taking into account the typology of LHEs. For this, we used mixed research methods, namely GIS remote sensing, fieldwork, and questionnaire surveys, with the results being digitally processed and mapped. This comparative research allowed us to see to what extent each type of neighborhood lends itself to the application of the European Green Deal principles (EGD). In this sense, we mapped the transformations undergone by urban green spaces, as a major dimension of sustainability, and we created an LHE accessibility index, using eight groups of indicators. Based on this index, we assessed the degree of livability and the compatibility of LHEs with some of the EGD principles. We believe that this study can be applied in other regions with similar characteristics, for the analysis of territorial accessibility of public services, in the creation of quality of life registers, or for the planning of spatial components of green cities.