During the last 30 years, the Romanian economy has faced different challenges due to structural readjustments, overcoming crisis and globalization. The share of primary and secondary sectors in the gross domestic product have strongly decreased, while the services have taken off. The main objective for this study is to observe how these economic readjustments can be assessed and measured using the Corine Land Cover datasets from 1990, 2000, 2006, 2012 and 2018 (with special observation on the range 2006 and 2018, after Romania was included in European Union). Despite some of the methodological limitations (like the minimum surface change), the Corine Land Cover turned out to be a powerful tool and it allowed us to detect an intense correlation between the socioeconomic and the structural trends in land use, in specific spatial contexts. The artificial surfaces are constantly increasing and this trend is rather visible as a distance function to the major Romanian cities. The most interesting changes occurred in the case of the agricultural polygons. The main trend emphasized by our analysis regards the redeployment of large farms in areas of agronomic and environmental territorial optimum. Such is the case for vineyards (after a decline during 2000–2006) and for annual cultures. All these changes in land-use patterns are too complex to be encompassed by a single methodology, which is why we used different tools, ranging from spatial analysis to geo-economic modeling, in order to detect how the Corine Land Cover datasets might be used for a better understanding of the Romanian economic readjustments.
This paper explores the differences between two different types of potential accessibility models applied to the urban system of Romania, using demographic data from 2015. The first model is based on a classical formalization of the potential accessibility function, while the second one focuses on the introduction of variable parameters in the model’s equation. When mapping the results, one will found that the models we investigated respond to different needs and visions in spatial planning. The alternative formalization provides a frame for a more in-depth analysis of the transportation endowment, at regional scale, together with an assessment of the urban systems hierarchy. The study highlights the fragility of the local urban systems gravitating around small cities, placed in precarious accessibility situations. The results can be used for a better assessment of the policy priorities, both from the perspective of spatial planning and sustainable development.
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