Public Participation in Environmental Decision Making in Romania

This article researches the manner in which the participation pillar from the Aarhus Convention was transposed into Romanian legislation and how its provisions were applied to a highly controversial case. Thus, the paper will firstly address the general legal framework concerning participation in environmental matters as well as the challenges for the implementation of Aarhus Convention, followed by requirements for effective participation and NGOs involvement in the process. The main conclusion drawn is that public participation is generally seen only as a bureaucratic requirement that both authorities and the developer must meet before the project is adopted. In this context, the NGOs play a crucial role by acting as a real watchdog in identifying deficiencies in the application of the Convention. In order for enhancing implementation the authors emphasize the more proactive role that public authorities should have both with regard to the quality of environmental reports and with applying sanctions coupled with a stronger cooperation with the NGOs in the field.    

Business Coalitions in the Us and Their Role in Advancing a Regional Agenda

<p>The analysis herein explores the topic of business coalitions and focuses on the role they may play in advancing a regional agenda. The structure of the paper is threefold: (1) in the introductory section I briefly explain the meaning of the concept and how it relates to other similar concepts such as public-private partnerships or growth coalitions; (2) the second part focuses on analyzing the characteristics that best define contemporary business coalitions and stresses the implications of these characteristics for the structuring or restructuring of traditional local and regional political entities; (3) the last section focuses on how planners and other public officials could use or partner with business coalitions in order to advance their own regional agenda. In the conclusion section I argue that though business coalitions are important for the development of a regional economy and regional identity, it would be a mistake to think that they alone can determine the success of a region. Regional government should continue to be pursued as it represents the only solution to problems such as social and environmental justice, tax sharing, education, and inner city redevelopment.</p

Adaptind the US Main Street Philosophy and Program to the Romanian Urban Context. Could it Possibly Work?

<p>The analysis herein explores the topic of downtown revitalization and focuses on a specific strategy, namely the Main Street approach, as a venue for addressing physical decay, business retention, and historic preservation within small cities/communities throughout the entire US. The paper also addresses how the main street philosophy could be used to deal with urban problems in a completely different setting – Romanian cities – and which would be the steps Romanian public authorities at both the central and local level need to undertake in order to implement a Main Street Program in Romania. The paper has a threefold structure. In the first section the focus is on the US urban context. A brief analysis of the causes that have generated the decline of downtowns and their commercial/business districts is provided. It is underscored that cities are not merely the passive recipients of change; rather decision-makers have the ability to make choices that maximize the assets the community has while minimizing the obstacles they face. The Main Street program implemented by the National Trust for Historic Preservation is described as one possible strategy aiming at the revitalization of downtowns and commercial/business districts. The focus is on assessing how such a strategy responds to the challenges downtowns face. The Main Street approach is then compared and contrasted against other possible downtown redevelopment strategies. In the second part of the paper the focus shifts from the US context to Romanian cities. A brief analysis of the problems Romanian municipalities face with regard to downtowns is provided. The authors argue that the main street approach is relevant and worth taking into consideration as a counterpoint to urban sprawl - (increase in the number of retailers and malls at the outskirts of the urban cores, decline of open space and opportunities for leisure in the downtown, increase in the number of suburban single family residences, etc) - that could possibly affect the vitality of Romanian downtowns on the long term. A framework for the implementation of a main street program in the context of Romanian cities is proposed and described.</p

Alternative Dispute Resolution in European Administrative Law

XXXIII, 605 p. 7 illus. in color.online resource

Are Investments in Basic Infrastructure the Magic Wand to Boost the Local Economy of Rural Communities from Romania?

This article investigates if public investments in rural basic infrastructure represent the best strategy for boosting the local economy of rural communities from Romania. The article focuses on one specific program implemented under the Cohesion policy in the framework of the National Plan for Rural Development, called Measure 322. Geographically, the research included a sample of rural communities from the North-Western Region of Romania. Moreover, the study also looks at other determinants of local economic development (LED), rather than infrastructure investments, with a focus on certain features characterizing Romanian rural communities such as population size, isolation from urban centers, connection with European and national roads networks, educational stock, etc. The research included three steps, namely the construction of the LED Index, a cvasi-experimental research, and a regression model. Our main findings seem to suggest that, while investments in infrastructure do help, the development gap between beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries remains relatively the same. In terms of determinants of LED level, percentage of population with a university degree and connection to a European road are the most significant in the Romanian rural context

Economic Performance and Resilience in Romania:Balancing Traditional and Creative Class Policy Approaches

In a globalized world cities are increasingly confronted with global shocks. In this context cities need to adopt strategies to increase their economic performance and resilience. One strategy that has become increasingly popular is represented by policies designed to attract the creative class, which are arguably an improvement compared to more traditional policy approaches. However, authors have warned that an excessive focus on attracting the creative class can be detrimental if authorities ignore the importance of historical paths and of traditional variables responsible for economic growth, especially in the case of coordinated economies. As such, in the present paper we investigate the complementarity between the creative input variables and their traditional equivalents in terms of the extent to which they predict economic development and economic resilience. In doing so we focus on the case of Romania, a former communist country, whit a historically more centralized and coordinated economy. The findings highlight the complementarity of the two policy approaches, as traditional variables are correlated with the number of jobs and the income level at the level of municipalities, while the concentration of creative workers is strongly correlated with labour productivity. However, neither traditional nor creative input variables have an impact on the resistance or recovery of Romanian municipalities in the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis.</p