Foster + Partners has developed a masterplan for a 38-hectare former industrial site in the heart of Constanța, a port city in Romania's Dobrogea region. The design transforms the site into a "city within a city," incorporating cultural and educational buildings, retail, entertainment, sports and leisure facilities, public parks, and botanical gardens. The project aims to reconnect the urban landscape and enhance the city's experience. The proposal is rooted in Constanța's history, from its Greek and Roman origins to its more recent industrial heritage.
Constanța is the largest Black Sea port and the fourth-largest port in Europe. It has been continuously inhabited for over 2,500 years, making it one of the oldest settlements in Romania. As a coastal city and a regional economic hub, it plays an important role in tourism and urban development, forming the second-largest urban agglomeration in the country. After Bucharest, Constanța experienced the most significant real estate growth between 1990 and 2015. Foster + Partners' masterplan joins the city's transformation process by reclaiming urban wasteland to create a new hub for residents, investors, and tourists.
Strategically located in central Constanța, the masterplan's impact extends beyond the site, aiming to benefit the wider city. It features a mixed-use scheme designed to address seasonal fluctuations in visitor numbers, offering activities and attractions for both residents and tourists year-round. Based on community surveys, the plan also introduces new building typologies and public spaces that have been identified as missing from the city's urban fabric.
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From Nature-Inspired Resorts to City Reconversions, Discover the Recent Work of Gensler, Foster + Partners, and MoreThe project is a multi-sector effort involving local stakeholders and IULIUS, a Romanian real estate developer specializing in mixed-use urban regeneration. The common goal is to create a new destination that rebuilds the urban landscape by reclaiming a brownfield - that is, an area of a city or town previously used for industrial activities with the potential to be urbanized and contribute to urban renewal. Before construction begins, IULIUS is overseeing an extensive bioremediation process to prepare the land for redevelopment.
The design incorporates extensive landscaping, drawing inspiration from the local ecological context. New green pathways and cycle lanes along the site's edges enhance mobility and reconnect previously fragmented areas of the city. Greenery is integrated throughout the master plan, with a network of interconnected parks, gardens, and community spaces that repurpose existing industrial structures. The city's historic significance is reflected in adaptive reuse, transforming structures such as silos into theaters and pavilions for community gatherings and events.
As Foster + Partners engages in ongoing urban regeneration projects in various cities worldwide, such as London's King's Road Park Master Plan and The Ellinikon Development in Athens, other initiatives use architecture to reshape the image of a city, country, or region. Recent examples include the transformation of Tirana, Albania, through the Tirana 2030 (TR030) Master Plan, whose latest announcement features a skyscraper designed by Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura. Another case is Dubai and its Dubai Quality of Life Strategy 2033, which recently added a tower designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro to host Therme Dubai – Islands in the Sky, a new urban well-being destination.
