Brief History of the emergence of IUDR specialization 

Over time, in the Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest there were preoccupations for extending the training of future engineers and fields that require interdisciplinary approaches, especially for the spatial planning, urbanism and territorial planning.

In the interwar period, within the Faculty of Civil Engineering, a group of teachers, engineers and architects, among which we mention engineer Cincinat Sfintescu, architect Nicholas Davidescu, architect Henri Stern and architect Dinu Vernescu taught and coordinated courses, tutorials and projects on urban and spatial planning, localities development including the coordination of infrastructure and technical and public utilitiesequipment works.

For predominantly organizational reasons, in 1965 was established within the Faculty of Railways, Roads and Bridges, the Department of Planning and Geodesy, studies lasting five years, for the schooling of 50 students per year. Due to the complexity and volume of construction activities, the department was divided in 1973, interdisciplinary courses and research in the field of urbanism being passed to the Civil, Industrial and Agricultural Constructions Faculty, while the geodesy courses remaining within the Faculty of Railways, Roads and Bridges.

Since the academic year 1994-1995, with the opening of the Euro-Atlantic area, anticipating the moment of integration at the initiative of prof. dr. ing. Virgil Ioanid, a globally recognized personality in the field of spatial planning, Urban Engineering, Construction and Management of Localities specialization was founded within the of Civil, Industrial and Agricultural Constructions Faculty, currently known as Urban Engineering  and Regional Development specialization (IUDR).

The introduction of this specialization was fully justified both through the experience gained up to that point by the teachers of the Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest, but especially due to requests from the local and central public administration as well as private civil engineering companies considering  the development prospects of the country in the new euro-Atlantic context.

Thus was laid the foundation for training engineers to work in interdisciplinary teams to solve complex problems in civil engineering, integrated urban development, land and urban planning. Also we took into account the need to integrate into the romanian civil engineering education the increasingly complex issue  of urban and regional development in the European Union.

Being the first established academic specialization of its kind  in Romania, its organization has not been following any pattern existing at national level. Therefore, for the development and adaptation of the structure and organization were used elements from critical analysis of the tradition of engineering school in Romania, with added experience existing in the countries with tradition and outstanding achievements in the fields of civil engineering, urbanism and territorial planning, regional development.

The curriculum and course description were drawn based on an extensive documentation in different countries as a result of contacts and consultations with renowned specialists. Specialists from higher education institutions in countries with a tradition of urban and regional development from the UK, France, Germany, USA, Canada, Japan were consulted .

Today, after 20 years of existence and 15 years after graduation of the first promotion, Urban Engineering and Regional Development specialization is one of two accredited specializations in Civil, Industrial and Agricultural Constructions Faculty.