ORIENTATION OF COMMUNICATION ROUTES AND BALANCED REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Territorial development depends on territorial discontinuities, provided that the region is born of discontinuities, lives through them and is killed by them. Moreover, the equilibrium, as a goal of territorial cohesion, aims to reduce the gaps between regions, paying a special attention to deeply disadvantaged areas. The answer of the European Union consists of the concept of polycentricity, relying on many factors, including accessibility, which in its turn relates to the territorial development. In this context, the current study aims to analyze the connectivity of Romania to other European countries using a GIS-based methodology relying on determining the orientation of roads and railroads. The results indicate that the isolation of Romania is not due to a dominant overall orientation, but due to regional differences, resulted from the configuration of relief, and constituting possible explanations of disparities in regional development. The findings sustain the importance of Romanian strategic objectives of development.Territorial development, polycentricity, accessibility, GIS, disparities.

Brief Critical Analysis of Concepts Used for Assessing the Market Value to Ecosystem Goods and Services in Urban and Spatial Plans

Estimating the market value of natural capital is largely influenced by the perception of the environment. Anthropocentric approaches, particularly the sectoral ones still used today by non-specialists tributary to conceptions lasting since the 1950’s, made economists see the environment as an endless resource for human development. This reasoning – “only money matters” – led to the ecological crisis. Its first solution, the ‘zero growth’ concept of the Club of Rome, based on the same model, proved unviable. Later the sustainability concept embedded the progress of systemic ecology, including the shift of its object to coupled socio-ecological complexes. Paradigm changes modified the interpretation of ecological balance, and implicitly the perception of the relation between socio-economic development and biodiversity conservation, analyzed finally through the carrying capacity. The dynamic of this theoretical framework changed the methods used to find the market value of environmental goods and services, moving from the money approach (economic) to the carbon footprint (environmental) and then to ecosystem services provided by the ecological infrastructure (holistic). Sustainability must rely on seeing the environment as hierarchy of coupled socioecological systems, and, in practice, impact assessment must look at the effects of human actions on structural integrity and level of ecosystem services provided by the ecological infrastructure

Multifunctionality of the oasis ecosystem. Case study: Biskra Oasis, Algeria

The oasis, this green and ecological entity of the desert, a promise of life and hope in a rather unfriendly environment, has been for a long time a beneficial basis for the ecosystem services provided to human beings, for its socio-economic and urban values, and also for its ecological value. Today many ideas and concepts are developed in the scientific literature to demonstrate the benefits derived from ecosystems, such as ecosystem services, multifunctionality, and ecosystem values. However, the analyses of multifunctionality or ecosystem services of the oasis lack from the scientific literature. This study uses a literature review and a prior assessment of the oasis ecosystem services in order to create a particular conceptual framework for the oasis in an attempt to create a toolbox of variables or indicators for the evaluation of ecosystem services in the particular case of a desert ecosystem, i.e., the oasis

The Role of Spatial Plans Adopted at the Local Level in the Spatial Planning Systems of Central and Eastern European Countries

CC BY 4.0The article deals with the issue of spatial plans at the local level. The aims of this paper are (1) extracting the characteristics of local spatial plans that can be compared more broadly (2) identifying, on this basis, the role of spatial plans at the local level in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). In achieving these aims, the authors have critically examined spatial plans and their performance, as well as the planning systems they belong to. Hence, they have investigated the types of local plans in each country, their legal features, and the layout of their content. This examination has revealed a host of problems in the workings of the CEE planning systems. The article highlights those spatial planning issues that could be the subject of more in-depth international comparisons. The study provides additional evidence that in countries where spatial plans are legislated, there are more (mutually differentiated) legal problems in their application. Such problems have been analyzed. Besides procedural problems, discrepancies between the contents of different types of plans (e.g., general plans and detailed plans) are very often a problem. The paper also proposes a novel method for detailed comparisons of selected aspects of spatial plans. It can be applied to a large number of countries and also to other aspects of spatial planning. Last but not least, the paper emphasizes the need for a detailed multi-stage consultation of each aspect to be compared

Dynamics of Open Green Areas in Polish and Romanian Cities during 2006–2018: Insights for Spatial Planners

Studying green urban infrastructure is important because of its ecosystem services, contributing to the welfare and comfort of citizens, mitigation of climate changes, and sustainability goals. Urban planning can increase or diminish the performance of ecosystem services. Despite numerous studies on the green infrastructure–services–planning nexus, there are very few concrete planning recommendations. This study aims to provide such recommendations for a broader audience by analyzing the dynamic of open green areas in Polish and Romanian cities, connected with its drivers. A novel approach including mathematical modeling and geostatistical analyses was applied to Urban Atlas and statistical yearbooks data. The results indicated that open green areas were lost and fragmented in all Romanian and Polish cities during 2006–2018. The drivers included urban built-up areas, population and density, the number of building permits, number of new dwellings completed, number of employees, and total length of roads. The study also revealed a tremendous lack of consistent datasets across the countries using the same statistical indicators. Based on the findings, planners should aim to preserve and develop urban greenery and maintain its continuity. City managers should use more research and decision-making policy developers to develop targeted policies and scientists should develop planning manuals

Land Governance and Fragmentation Patterns of Agricultural Land Use in Southern Romania during 1990–2020

In Romania, excessive fragmentation of croplands remains persistent in areas of significant agricultural potential as a consequence of combined factors involving both land governance and farms’ characteristics. This paper examines the fragmentation of agricultural land use in the Romanian Plain, focusing on the impact of land policies implemented in Romania during the past three decades. The analysis relies on a survey of local policies that helps to distinguish three phases that marked the evolution of the fragmentation of agricultural land during 1990–2020. Additionally, metrics derived from remote sensing time series further assist in capturing the fragmentation levels during the identified phases and the spatial differences for the analyzed period. The fragmentation levels appear strikingly contrasting between the western part of the Romanian Plain and the Danube alluvial areas; this has been attributed as being the joint result of various land governance components which both enabled and constrained proper utilization of agricultural land, and concurrent factors related to economic and sociodemographic changes. We find excessive fragmentation emerged in plain field areas, triggered by the high overall rates of institutional change. The findings underscore the importance of jointly considering the fragmentation phenomenon in its evolution, intensity and spatial differences for effective land use policy formulation, emphasizing the need for proactive governance to support the efficient use of agricultural resources

Evaluating the effects of climate and land use change on the future flood susceptibility in the central region of Vietnam by integrating land change modeler, machine learning methods

The crucial importance of land cover and use changes and climate changes for worldwide sustainability results from their negative effects on flood risk. In a watershed, a particularly important research question concerning the relationship between land use and climate change and the flood risk is the subject of controversy in the literature. This study aims to assess the effects of land use and climate change on the flood susceptibility in the watershed Nhat Le–Kien Giang, Vietnam using machine learning and Land Change Modeler. The results show that Social Ski Driver Optimization (SSD), Fruit Fly Optimization (FFO), Sailfish Optimization (SFO), and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) successfully improve the Support Vector Machine (SVM) model's performance, with a value of the Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve (AUC) > 0.96. Among them, the SVM-FFO model was better with the value of AUC of 0.984, followed by SVM-SFO (AUC = 0.983), SVM-SSD (AUC = 0.98), SVM-PSO (AUC = 0.97), respectively. In addition, the areas with high and very high flood susceptibility in the study area increased by about 30 km2 from 2020 to 2050 with the SVM-FFO model. Our results underline the consequences of unplanned development. Thus, by applying the theoretical framework of this study, decision makers can take sound more planning measures, such as avoiding construction in areas often affected by floods, etc. Although in this study flood susceptibility is studied in a Central Coast province, the results can be applied to other rapidly developing and flood-prone provinces of Vietnam

Protection of Environmental and Natural Values of Urban Areas against Investment Pressure: A Case Study of Romania and Poland

Although conservation and development are two facets of sustainability, they are often placed in contradictory positions. In this context, planning systems are able to respond to investment pressure, especially in countries with underdeveloped institutional solutions for this purpose, and are consequently characterized by a shifting relationship between spatial planning and environmental protection. Although these issues have been relatively well conceptualized, the literature still lacks more in-depth analyses of selected case studies. In order to fill the gap, this study aimed to identify potential ways to protect the environment and natural values in urban areas from investment pressures in countries with less developed planning systems, based on a comparative Polish-Romanian perspective. The method consisted of comparing the national legal frameworks for environmental protection and spatial development and analyzing in detail two case studies from each country. The findings indicate that national protection is required in both countries to ensure the effective protection of natural areas situated within city administrative limits that provide important ecosystem services. Moreover, the results reveal the need for more research on similar areas using multi-scale interdisciplinary approaches and reviewing planning theory with respect to its efficiency in protecting nature

The Importance of Behavioral and Native Factors on COVID-19 Infection and Severity: Insights from a Preliminary Cross-Sectional Study

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on a global scale. Understanding the innate and lifestyle-related factors influencing the rate and severity of COVID-19 is important for making evidence-based recommendations. This cross-sectional study aims at establishing a potential relationship between human characteristics and vulnerability/resistance to SARS-CoV-2. We hypothesize that the impact of the virus is not the same due to cultural and ethnic differences. A cross-sectional study was performed using an online questionnaire. The methodology included the development of a multi-language survey, expert evaluation, and data analysis. Data were collected using a 13-item pre-tested questionnaire based on a literature review between 9 December 2020 and 21 July 2021. Data were statistically analyzed using logistic regression. For a total of 1125 respondents, 332 (29.5%) were COVID-19 positive; among them, 130 (11.5%) required home-based treatment, and 14 (1.2%) intensive care. The significant and most influential factors on infection included age, physical activity, and health status (p p < 0.05), i.e., smoking regularly significantly increases the severity of COVID-19 infection. This suggests the importance of behavioral factors compared to innate ones. Apparently, individual behavior is mainly responsible for the spread of the virus. Therefore, adopting a healthy lifestyle and scrupulously observing preventive measures, including vaccination, would greatly limit the probability of infection and prevent the development of severe COVID-19

Characterization and Planning of Household Waste Management: A Case Study from the MENA Region

Solid waste management is one of the most important environmental issues worldwide, particularly in MENA countries. The present study was carried out in the city of Algiers, the capital city of Algeria. This urban area is marked by an increase in waste flow combined with a demographic surge. In order to investigate waste production and its drivers, we used both multiple regression and correlation analyses to test this dependence. Geospatial analysis was performed using principal component analysis integrated with GIS in order to look at the spatial distribution of waste management and potential drivers of waste production. The results indicate that household waste management is influenced by drivers related to the size of the settlement and the characteristics of waste management companies (p &le; 0.05). The findings also show that none of the sociodemographic variables were found to significantly influence waste production. However, the spatial distribution is influenced by the geographic and sociodemographic characteristics of Algeria at all territorial levels. Algiers is still a landfill-based city in the MENA region, where mixed waste collection prevails in all districts. This study reinforces the importance of expanding source-separated waste collection schemes in order to increase the household waste diversion from landfills and, more importantly, shows how modern tools such as GIS, principal component analysis, and spatial analysis urban planning are useful for monitoring household waste, in line with circular economy principles