| Popis: |
The Roma represent the second-largest ethnic minority in Bulgaria and the most dynamic population group in terms of population growth. Typically, they live in segregated neighbourhoods in cities or smaller settlements. The expansion of these Roma neighbourhoods both horizontally and vertically (in height) is difficult to trace, considering that the vast majority of the buildings are illegal and in most cases not depicted on cadastral maps and urban plans, or—due to the rapid illegal construction—the existing plans do not represent the real situation. These neighbourhoods remain invisible to the general public, as they are excluded from their minds as possible places of visiting, let alone habitation, and in their essence represent a type of unused spaces. This paper presents the result of a study aiming to make an assessment of the residential quality in the Roma neighbourhood of Harman Mahala, located in the second-largest Bulgarian city—Plovdiv. The residential quality has been assessed in both objective and subjective aspects, based on urban planning documents and legislation, field survey among the residents, and data collected with the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Spatial data has been combined with field studies, quantitative and qualitative methods of gathering information, which complement both the objective and subjective assessments of the residential environment (how the residents of the neighbourhood perceive the city, their neighbourhood, and their homes). The study proposes a methodology for analyzing the internal structure of Roma neighbourhoods by using data obtained from aerial photography, which compensates for the lack of information on the current state of the housing stock. The terrain has been captured from a height of 90–120 m using precise sensing instruments, recording images in the visible spectrum. Through the subsequent processing of the obtained image data and through the application of appropriate methods and algorithms, detailed maps of the actual status of the surveyed buildings—outline, height, density, surface area, etc.—have been created, which also depict the changes that took place over time. Basic spatial indicators, such as building density coefficient and green space percentage, as well as their dynamics over the period 2016–2019 have been calculated. The results of the study indicate that while the objective assessment of the studied neighbourhood is relatively low, the subjective assessment of the residents is actually high, due to a strong sense of place and sense of security which the segregated community provides. |
