Volume V, Number 2, 2009

ABSTRACT – This study is a continuation of research on deeply disadvantaged areas, adding new elements to finalise a methodology in their treatment field. It also brings practical elements related to the individualisation of the main territorial discontinuities at the level of some problem areas for all the development regions of Romania. The basic hypothesis is that in the treatment process of deeply disadvantaged areas, knowing the gaps within them is of utmost importance. These gaps are highlighted by physiognomic, functional and especially by mental discontinuities. The indicators used and the amendment with qualitative indicators may lead to the individualisation of such discontinuities, which separates the very poor areas among the poor ones. Possessing such territorial partitions, the transition to their characterization and of insertion environment is easy, in order to assess the real possibilities of future development.

ABSTRACT – The so called Visegrad countries have different regional planning approach and tradition, but thanks to this colourful pattern, Romanian regional planning may learn from results gained by analyzing the current 2007-2013 programming period context. The paper argues that there is a major need for a detailed comparative analysis in this respect in favour of preparing planning capacities for the period after 2014.

ABSTRACT – The abolishment of the communist regime, the establishment of a democratic legal and institutional system brought important changes in the development of the regional economy of Romania. The old – from an economic point of view – differentiating factors have lost some of their importance, mainly the level of industrialization, which, in the past, was used to measure economic development. In addition, other factors came forward, that correlate more with the economic capacity, but, nowadays, their positive effect can only be increased by the combination of several other factors: foreign investments, as an indicator of regional attractiveness, regional GDP, the level of personal income, and the appreciation of human resources. Today, in the interest of enhancing the competitiveness of the regions a special role is reserved for entrepreneurial activity, the strength of the SME sector, the role of foreign working capital in the local economy, but also the territorial concentration of R&D centers. The study focuses on some aspects of disparities regarding the regional economic structure.

ABSTRACT – In the sustainable development context, waste management is seen as a major problem, which cannot be solved only by using technical means; a fundamental change is necessary in the current production, consumption and waste elimination pattern. Our study refers to the environmental impact of the closure of the urban Titu- Dâmboviţa solid waste dump, and comprises: quality of the environmental factors, analysis of the size of the impact, evaluation of the potential impact on the environmental factors, evaluation of the global impact and post-closure monitoring of the waste dump. The results obtained concerning the value of the global pollution index and the bonitation grades for each environmental factor have led us to state that through the closure of this solid domestic waste dump, environment is affected within allowable limits, the impact is low and local, and the effects of this project on the environmental factors are positive.

ABSTRACT – The efficient territorial management represents a necessity of topical interest, both at regional and at local level. In the conditions of an increasing pressure upon the localities’ built-up areas, unsustainable forms of their extension are frequently adopted to the prejudice of the land outside the built-up areas. The physical-geographical characteristics and the economic peculiarities of the Maramureş –Chioar region have generated the existence of some land categories that can represent an outlet in rapport with the space crisis. It refers to the brownfield lands, whose functional reintegration within the territory must represent a constant preoccupation for the local and regional authorities. The possible alternatives for reintegration have in view the re-valorization of the respective lands, both through their ecologization and through associating some necessary and desirable territorial functions. At local level, the adoption of a development direction based on compact spatial patterns and on the preferable and priority use of brownfield lands is necessary.

ABSTRACT – The infrastructural conditions of villages have important role, but they are not enough in themselves for the success of a certain village. Those local communities that can be described as cooperative, have a stronger ability to enforce interests. Additionally, their local and social dividedness is lower. If a village has a strong community, which can communicate and assert their interests, it can solve the infrastructural problems of the village. The positive social relations make the village more attractive for the locals and for those individuals who would like to settle down there. On the other hand, social conflicts are poisoning the local relationships and are hindering the formation and the operation of the community life.

ABSTRACT – The morphological component plays an important role in the evolution of a specific land region. The relief has greatly contributed to setting up the limits of the region, it has favourized and imposed certain paths of development and land use while playing the support role for all the other components and phenomena. The morphological component has also acted as a physical support, favourizing intense humanization (the hollow’s guard). However, we should not miss out on the housing function it had during several critical periods, the role it played in preserving and increasing the human element, all of which have greatly contributed to the apparition and permanence of the Land of Loviştea within the national territory.

ABSTRACT – The increasing in the number of secondary residences is a phenomenon which has affected the rural space of Romania after 1990, especially in the mountain area. In order to emphasize its impact, the present paper studies the case of villages in the Gilău-Muntele Mare Mountains. By studying the bibliography and the statistical data we got the general picture of this case and by interviewing regional and local authorities the real extent of the matter revealed. It resulted that in this area, secondary residences phenomena led to spatial and functional impact upon rural space and to social and economic consequences on local communities: secondary residences transform rural space into one with tourist characteristics: implantation of a suite of secondary residences, the local councils collect more taxes but also deal with overwhelmed facilities and pollution, while the native people copy a different lifestyle. In some cases, ownership transfer towards city residents or the small villages taken over by non-resident people speak of the extreme transformation of the rural space.

ABSTRACT – The development of rural tourism in the Iza Valley Microregion, Maramureş Depression, is based on a wide natural and anthropogenic potential. The main types of rural tourism in the region are cultural tourism and recreational tourism. Due to the fact that the tourism in the Iza Valley Microregion is seasonal, with an intense traffic in winter and summer, it is vital to have diversity in approaches of promoting tourist products and services so that rural tourism be present all around the year. Although it has a rich tourist potential, the rural tourist consumption presents an uneven distribution in time and space; only some of the villages have a significant number of pensions and tourist services. This is due to the lack of information of the rural population regarding the ways of promotion, as noticed by some surveys conducted by AJOFM. Following these surveys there were courses for informing people and for re-qualification. The promotion of the tourist products in the region, by different strategies, can influence the development of the rural tourism both in the localities where this type of tourism is already present and in the localities where the rural tourism is at an initial stage. The choice of promotion strategies is conditioned by the target market, the objective and the strategies of promotion.

ABSTRACT – The transition period represents for the Sub-Carpathians between the Olt and the Jiu Rivers, relatively to areas with similar socio-economic problematic during the transition period (the south-western piedmont area and the Petroşani Depression), from a social point of view and by means of the impact of the changes in the support area, a period of “discreet or tacit convulsions” as regards the ’60s and the ’80s. The dynamic of the given region during the transition period reveals the facts that certain convulsions or restructurings do not necessarily have to possess explicit static or striking forms in the modification of the landscapes in order to allow the transparency of the problematic period these regions have crossed. The current paper presents certain aspects (the economic dependency, the demographic aging, the unemployment rate, the need of social protection, the illiteracy, etc.) characterizing the present situation of the demographic component with impact on the development as result of the crossing of this transition period. The aspects presented in the current paper are the result of the analysis of the statistical data regarding the discussed indicators and of a more ample field research carried out in order to assert the transformations suffered in the studied area during the transition period, from the perspective of social geography.

ABSTRACT – The South-Muntenia Development Region can be characterized by major differences between the districts that compose it. This situation reverberates on the level of the tourist activity, from tourist potential point of view, as well as technical and town endowment or tourist traffic. The biggest differences are between the north district, more developed from tourist point of view, being helped by the variety of the relief’s aspect, and the ones from the south of the region, that are not so developed, with a small landscape architecture and investment attractiveness.