fg
Volume XXIII |

Current dilemmas in the urban development of Timișoara (Romania)

Abstract: The post-communist period meant for the city of Timișoara a complex and difficult stage of restructuring urban evolution, of moving from centralized development to development based on the principles of the market economy. The solutions were not simple, especially in the conditions of limited city resources, and often contradictory developments did not take long to appear. The present article tries to capture these contradictory developments and highlight the current urban development dilemmas that the city authorities together with the decision-makers must solve. It is primarily about the rehabilitation of the huge historical spaces that the city has inherited and at the same time the acute need for urban renewal. Secondly, the city of Timișoara is facing a huge increase in road traffic, for which expensive investments in road infrastructure are needed, but on the other hand, the city also needs numerous investments for public transport. And thirdly, Timișoara currently has a strong trend of urban expansion and cumulative density decrease at the same time as an underutilization of available spaces within the city.

Volume XVIII |

Post-Communist Urban Ecologies of Romanian Medium-Sized Towns

Abstract: The post-communist policies on urban restructuring were the driving force in redundant and marginalized spaces’ reproduction in all Romanian cities and towns. The paper investigates post-communist urban ecologies and derelict urban environments in Romanian small-sized municipalities, since these issues remain peripheral in the contemporary research on post-communist urban identity formation of the cities. The research was conducted in the town of Lugoj of Romania, from 2012 to 2016. It bases on empirical data provided by ethnographic analysis, quantitative approach and qualitative investigation. The results unveil a massive decline of some urban areas managed by post-communist policies on urban regeneration, with negative consequences, risk potential and derelict landscapes threatening the local urban welfare. Therefore, these marginal places request further enhancement urban policies to reduce their negative results claiming for more attention by the side of local governments.

Volume XVII |

An evaluation of the human resources potential of the Western Region (Romania)

Abstract: The data analysed in the present study show that the human resources potential of the Western Region is limited in nature and characterised by disparities that are multidimensional from both the quantitative and the qualitative point of view. When we consider the region in terms of its administrative sub-units, we find areas that have human resources that are surplus to requirements but insufficiently developed and structurally unbalanced (Hunedoara county), others with high-quality but numerically limited human resources and with great potential for attracting them from other areas (Arad and Timiş counties) and a case of an area whose human resources are both insufficiently developed and deficient from a quantitative point of view (Caraş-Severin county).