2025 Mureș Parks, Târgu Mureș

The Romanian Order of Architects (OAR), with the support of Mureș Territorial Branch of OAR, and the Contracting Authority – The Municipality of Târgu Mureș, are glad to announce the official launch of the ”Mureș Parks, Târgu Mureș – The Hippodrome Park, Municipal Park, Turbinei Canal Green blue-green ensemble” International Design Competition.

The purpose of this design competition is to select the best project for the development of the Hippodrome Park – Municipal Park – Turbine Canal green-blue ensemble in Târgu Mureș, for the award of the design services contract.

The historical development and urban structure of the municipality of Târgu Mureș have been strongly shaped by the presence of watercourses: the Mureș River with its various branches and meanders, as well as its tributaries. The city’s relationship with the various watercourses has been translated over time either in the creation of infrastructures meant to remove the river from the city, or through interventions that have integrated the watercourses into the urban fabric by regulating, channelling, or underground draining them.

The stake of the competition is to reintegrate the natural blue-green area related to the Mureș River’s watercourses into the urban space by creating a new major park system that would restore the identity of a city by the Mureș River to the municipality of Târgu Mureș. The aim is to enhance the landscape, ecological, and urban climate resilience values, while also providing an improved infrastructure for sustainable urban mobility for pedestrians and cyclists, and a wide range of recreational, social, relaxation, and leisure spaces, outdoor exercise, and play.

The area that is the object of the competition currently appears in the form of isolated fragments of green spaces resulting from various construction and densification operations in the Mureș River floodplain. These are often uncorrelated and broken from the urban, natural, and historical context. The reintegration of nature fragments aims both to restore ecological continuity along the historical bed of the Mureș River and to create and reactivate spaces for promenade and connection with the nature of the river, in close relation with the historical core of the city.

With the reunification of the various green fragments of the Mureș (the Hippodrome area, the Relict Meander, the Mureș riverbank, the Municipal Park, the Turbinei Canal) into a coherent natural and urban network, the Hippodrome area and the entire suite of parks at the Mureș river have the potential to become a green urban landmark in the city’s network of public spaces and an ecological and symbolic link with the Mureș river.

The Contracting Authority of the competition is The Municipality of Târgu Mureș, the beneficiary of the project which will be contracted following the competition.

The competition is organized by the Romanian Order of Architects (OAR), in accordance with the OAR Good Practices Guide for Design Competitions (edited in Romanian – Ghidul de bune practici în organizarea concursurilor de soluții OAR, 2018, rev. 2025), in compliance with the provisions of the legislation in force regarding the award of public procurement contracts. The Design Competition is a public, single-stage competition, open to Romania, all countries of the European Union, of the European Economic Area, and to the Swiss Confederation. The design competition is organized as an independent procedure, in accordance with art. 105 letter a) of Law no. 98/2016 regarding public procurement, and subsequently, pursuant to provisions under art. 104 para. (7) of the same law, the design services contract is to be awarded to the winner of the competition, following a negotiation procedure without prior publication of a participation announcement.