The process of urbanization in Romania was a very tumultuous and slightly different one compared to other Central and Eastern European countries, being marked by the constant willingness to increase the degree of urbanization. The communist period was the most signicant from this point of view, by considering both the number of newly declared towns and urban population growth. The urbanization of communist era corroborated with the excessive and forced industrialization has generated imbalances in the urban system and created distortions in the urban hierarchy. However, the legislative inconsistency and the lack of urban regulations during the post -communist period have lead to the increasing number of new (quasi) urban units (many of which without urban amenities) to the chaotic sub-urbanization of cities and urban decline. In many cases, the ability of local authorities to manage the urban development in the early years of transition has been hampered by inadequate legislation that regulates the urban growth in a completely different socioeconomic system. Thus, the lacks of specic urban policies and urban regeneration plans have determined indirectly a hypertrophic evolution and an uncontrolled suburban expansion. Bucharest, the capital of the country has been most affected by these processes determining multilayered space transformation within the city and open space conversion to commercial and residential use, both affecting the urban environment and quality of life of urban-rural communities. The paper focuses on the patterns, the driving forces and the consequences of two opposing processes: socialist forced urbanization vs. post-socialist chaotic urbanization unfolding across the national urban landscape. .

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Monitoring uncontained built-up area expansion remains a complex challenge for the development and implementation of a sustainable planning system. In this regard, proper planning requires accurate monitoring tools and up-to-date information on rapid territorial transformations. The purpose of the study was to assess built-up area expansion, comparing two freely available and widely used datasets, respectively, Corine Land Cover and Landsat, to each other, as well as the ground truth, with the goal of identifying the most cost-effective and reliable tool. The analysis was based on the largest post-socialist city in the European Union, the capital of Romania, Bucharest, and its neighboring Ilfov County, from 1990 to 2018. This study generally represents a new approach to measuring the process of urban expansion, offering insights about the strengths and limitations of the two datasets through a multi-level territorial perspective. The results point out discrepancies between the datasets, both at the macro-scale level and at the administrative unit’s level. On the macro-scale level, despite the noticeable differences, the two datasets revealed the spatiotemporal magnitude of the expansion of the built-up area and can be a useful tool for supporting the decision-making process. On the smaller territorial scale, detailed comparative analyses through five case-studies were conducted, indicating that, if used alone, limitations on the information that can be derived from the datasets would lead to inaccuracies, thus significantly limiting their potential to be used in the development of enforceable regulation in urban planning.

Abstract:The study compares the on-going naturbanization processes in and around two Natural Parks under the impact of newcomers, but also tourists from Barcelona and Bucharest and their metropolitan areas. The landscape value of these areas attracts the urban population, which contributes to local sustainable development process but also promotes construction. New businesses associated with rural multifunctionality and value-added activities related to environmental quality were identified. New residents have contributed introducing responsible patterns of consumer, ecoentrepreneurship by women, recovery of abandoned buildings and intensification of rural-urban relationships. Negative impacts such as intensive construction of second homes, with a lower use, in some areas around Cadí-Moixeró threaten biodiversity and habitat connectivity. Insufficient integration of environmental policies, particularly in the Comana wetlands, reduces the potential for rural renewal. Research methods included a review of the counterurbanization literature and the statistical data related to processes of naturbanization in both areas, along with the conduct of 30 structured interviews with key local actors in each area. Naturbanization still offers the potential to enhance local development; however, it is urgent to assess social perspectives in natural parks management in order to achieve environmentally friendly built-up areas.Key words: Built-up areas, Cadí-Moixeró NP, Comana NP, Naturbanization, Quality landscape, Barcelona, Bucharest.Abstract: Naturbanizarea poate promova zone rezidențiale compatibile cu mediul înconjurător? O comparație între parcurile naturale Cadí-Moixeró (Catalonia, Spain) și Comana (Romania). Acest studiu compară procesul de naturbanizare în două parcuri naturale sub impactul noilor veniți dar și a turiștilor din Barcelona și București și zonele metropolitane ale acestora. Peisajul acestor zone atrage populația urbană, care contribuie la dezvoltarea locală sustenabilă dar și la apariția de noi construcții. Noile activități economice sunt asociate cu multifuncționalitatea rurală și cu valoarea adăugată relaționată cu calitatea mediului. Noii rezidenți au contribuit prin introducerea unor modele de consum responsabil, integrarea femeilor antreprenor, reconversia clădirilor abandonate și intensificarea relațiilor urban-rural. Efectele negative precum construcția reședințelor secundare (multe dintre acestea vacante) în anumite zone din jurul parcului natural Cadí-Moixeró, amenință biodiversitatea și conectivitatea habitatelor. Insuficienta integrare a politicilor de mediu, mai ales în parcul natural Comana, reduc potențialul reînnoirii rurale printr-o abordare integrată. Metodele de cercetare includ o prezentare a literaturii referitoare la procesul de contraurbanizare și a datelor statistice relaționate procesului de naturbanizare în ambele arii, împreună cu rezultatele a 30 de interviuri structurate aplicate în fiecare zonă unor actori cheie. Naturbanizarea prezintă potențial pentru a stimula dezvoltarea l...

The concept of collaborative management is considered to be one of the most efficient instruments for sustainable development of some areas, which are under anthropic pressure due to the production of solid waste. The paper stands for the necessity of promoting a collaborative management among the main actors involved in an efficient and sustainable urban solid waste management, in the metropolitan area of Bucharest. The present management is mainly based on the strictly economic vision of managing solid waste. The study is based on data from the County Council Ilfov, the city Hall of Bucharest, the interviews and questionnaires answered by population and to some institutional and economical actors involved in solid waste management, as well as from field researches. The gradual closure of 29 non-complying landfills increases the pressure upon the three large compliant landfills organized in the metropolitan area: Chiajna-Rudeni, Glina and Vidra. The limited vision of local and national decision factors regarding the externalization of the management of the solid waste disposals to a company, without their ample involvement, including the population's education and the participation of NGOs, endanger the perspective of a sustainable development of a very disturbed area after the year 1990.

Assessing the relentless expansion of built-up areas is one of the most important tasks for achieving sustainable planning and supporting decision-making on the regional and local level. In this context, techniques based on remote sensing can play a crucial role in monitoring the fast rhythm of urban growth, allowing the regular appraisal of territorial dynamics. The main aim of the study is to evaluate, in a multi-scalar perspective, the built-up area expansion and the spatio–temporal changes in Ilfov County, which overlaps the surroundings of Bucharest, capital of Romania. Our research focuses on processing multi-date Landsat satellite imagery from three selected time references (2000, 2008, 2018) through the supervised classification process. Further on, the types of built-up area dynamics are explored using LDTtool, a landscape metrics instrument. The results reveal massive territorial restructuring in the 18 years, as the new built-up developments occupy a larger area than the settlements’ surface in 2000. The rhythm of the transformations also changed over time, denoting a significant acceleration after 2008, when 75% of the new development occurred. At the regional level, the spatial pattern has become more and more complex, in a patchwork of spatial arrangements characterized by the proliferation of low density areas interspersed with clusters of high density developments and undeveloped land. At the local level, a comparative assessment of the administrative territorial units’ pathway was conducted based on the annual growth of built-up areas, highlighting the most attractive places and the main territorial directions of development. In terms of the specific dynamics of built-up areas, the main change patterns are “F—NP increment by gain”, followed by “G—Aggregation by gain”, both comprising around 80% of the total number of cells. The first type was prevalent in the first period (2000–2008), while the second is identified only after 2008, when it became the most represented, followed in the hierarchy by the previously dominant category. The spatial pattern differentiations were further explored in three complementary case studies investigated in correlation with socioeconomic data, revealing a heterogeneous landscape.

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The main objective of this study does not focus on analyzing exhaustively the urban-rural relations, but it is trying to emphasize both a theoretical interpretation and the applicability of the concept of rural-urban interface by pointing out the ways of determining the dysfunctionalities in the evolution and population structure of an administratively defined area. In order to point out these dysfunctionalities, analyses were performed at Botoşani county level, considering all the geodemographic indicators regarding the population dynamics, natural and migratory balance, and population structure. The study is based on data provided by population censuses and the statistical records of the basic territorial administrative units (communes and towns), for the period 1990-2008. Out of these indicators only those significant for the characterization of the human potential of the urban-rural interface and for an assessment of the polarization capacity of the seven cities in the county were selected: the size of the territorial administrative unit in 2008, the population dynamics during 1990 and2008, and the human potential standardized index. The results showed differences between the complexes(interfaces) urban-rural from the western part of the county (Botoşani, Dorohoi and Bucecea) and the Eastern one (Darabani, Săveni, Ştefăneşti and Flămânzi), which should promote the concept of treating the two areas (urban and rural) as a whole through the implementation of programs / projects of cooperation between local governments and various internal and external partners, the main objective being diminishing the differences (not only the demographic ones) between the two parts of the county.