Vocatie si regionalizare cultural-spirituala a locurilor geografice. Relevanta pentru planificare spatiala/speciala

The study is based on the assertion that any inhabitable space carries in itself a cultural vocation, i.e. the favorability for a specific cultural product, and spirituality is one of its major dimensions, sometimes associated up to synonymy to culture. Among the range of cultural, artistic, political, economic and social categories, religion has represented a noticeable manifestation, and the monastic phenomenon in particular represents a constant whose regional materializations are various and active. The European orthodox cultural area to which the subject of this article is subscribed reveals a well defined contemporary contour of the phenomenon and a density of its material manifestations, accentuated by the favoring political changes of the last two decades. Banishing the restrictions imposed by the communist ideology has generated on the level of religious material culture a true “explosion” of worshiping places, both parishional and monastic. The number of orthodox monasteries alone in the entire European area goes beyond 1700, which cannot remain without an impact upon the various components of social and economic life and therefore, as far as we are concerned, upon the aspects connected with their regionalizing and the influence upon the physical and spatial territorial planning. Starting from a general, continental and macro-regional distribution and going down to the local level of internal clippings to which monasteries and skytes are subscribed, the major analysis of this paper is focused on the situation in Romania which reunites over 500 monastic establishments (second to Russia numerically but on the top of the list according to social density indicators). The aspects connected with the geographical distribution correlated with architectonic, historic and structural identifiers constitute a topic that has interested along the years either only a specialized audience, or a more recent category of users that have taken into consideration their touristic potential and, through this, the secularizing component of the market and economic value. The scientific literature is nevertheless poor from the viewpoint of studies regarding the role of the monasteries in shaping the spatial culture and in organizing space, and even poorer if we think of land planning in the contemporary world, few bibliographical references being hardly available. The western reasons are related to the relict character of the active monastic phenomenon, and in the east-European societies the reestablishment of spiritual life within the framework of democracy is still fresh. Due to the amplitude (at least material) of its reestablishment, the religious life becomes an important local cultural element that has to be taken into account in the contemporary European politics. The present paper, written mainly on the basis of field research and analysis, is structured into two parts: - the analysis of monasteries spatial distribution and the internal regionalization of monastic spaces using geographical criteria and the degree of accessibility; - the relevance of this material and spiritual identity level of the Romanian space for the directions and actions of land planning, as a special form of spatial planning. Since the paper is part of larger scientific endeavor, the present study is organized mainly as an argument for at least two questions: (i) which are the relations between the Romanian Christian spirituality and culture and the European spatial planning, and (ii) what role does local culture play in the process of regional spatial planning.regionalization, cultural, Romania, spatial planning

SILVER TOURISM AS A POSSIBLE FACTOR FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT. A CASE STUDY IN THE SOUTH-EAST REGION OF ROMANIA

As a result of the growing ageing, senior tourists will become a powerful group in the near tourism future. According to this statement, our research asses that the silver tourism could represent, in the next years, a real instrument for the regional development. The aim of our study is to highlight the opportunity of capitalizing the aging phenomenon by the administrative institutions and local tour operators that might regenerate economically the southeast Romanian region. Methodologically, we used a survey based on two questionnaires. The first one was applied to a group of seniors enrolled at the University of Third Age Galati city. For now, this type of structure is unique in Romania.  The second questionnaire containing a single question was applied to four categories of actors possible to be responsible and/or involved in the developing regional tourism process. The results  reveals the connections existing between the main options of elderly and the forms of tourism developed at regional level, one the one hand, and the very minor attention paid by the local factors to it, on the other hand.</em

Vocatie si regionalizare cultural-spirituala a locurilor geografice. Relevanta pentru planificare spatiala/speciala

The study is based on the assertion that any inhabitable space carries in itself a cultural vocation, i.e. the favorability for a specific cultural product, and spirituality is one of its major dimensions, sometimes associated up to synonymy to culture. Among the range of cultural, artistic, political, economic and social categories, religion has represented a noticeable manifestation, and the monastic phenomenon in particular represents a constant whose regional materializations are various and active. The European orthodox cultural area to which the subject of this article is subscribed reveals a well defined contemporary contour of the phenomenon and a density of its material manifestations, accentuated by the favoring political changes of the last two decades. Banishing the restrictions imposed by the communist ideology has generated on the level of religious material culture a true “explosion” of worshiping places, both parishional and monastic. The number of orthodox monasteries alone in the entire European area goes beyond 1700, which cannot remain without an impact upon the various components of social and economic life and therefore, as far as we are concerned, upon the aspects connected with their regionalizing and the influence upon the physical and spatial territorial planning. Starting from a general, continental and macro-regional distribution and going down to the local level of internal clippings to which monasteries and skytes are subscribed, the major analysis of this paper is focused on the situation in Romania which reunites over 500 monastic establishments (second to Russia numerically but on the top of the list according to social density indicators). The aspects connected with the geographical distribution correlated with architectonic, historic and structural identifiers constitute a topic that has interested along the years either only a specialized audience, or a more recent category of users that have taken into consideration their touristic potential and, through this, the secularizing component of the market and economic value. The scientific literature is nevertheless poor from the viewpoint of studies regarding the role of the monasteries in shaping the spatial culture and in organizing space, and even poorer if we think of land planning in the contemporary world, few bibliographical references being hardly available. The western reasons are related to the relict character of the active monastic phenomenon, and in the east-European societies the reestablishment of spiritual life within the framework of democracy is still fresh. Due to the amplitude (at least material) of its reestablishment, the religious life becomes an important local cultural element that has to be taken into account in the contemporary European politics. The present paper, written mainly on the basis of field research and analysis, is structured into two parts: - the analysis of monasteries spatial distribution and the internal regionalization of monastic spaces using geographical criteria and the degree of accessibility; - the relevance of this material and spiritual identity level of the Romanian space for the directions and actions of land planning, as a special form of spatial planning. Since the paper is part of larger scientific endeavor, the present study is organized mainly as an argument for at least two questions: (i) which are the relations between the Romanian Christian spirituality and culture and the European spatial planning, and (ii) what role does local culture play in the process of regional spatial planning

Rural planning in Romania

The presentation structured in two parts aims to reveal a short diagnosis of the Romanian rural planning system. The first part is centred upon general aspects regarding features of the rural settlements system, according with national and regional peculiarities. A short view is given to a present rural typology as meaning of comprehend the mechanism of local planning. The second part presents a short review of planning history (stages, factors, effects) relieve the European and Romanian national framing and contextualization (normative, institutional and actionably) of the Romanian rural settlement planning system. From the technical point of view, the core instrument of planning is the master plan /general urban plan – in structure presented on briefly

Aşezări monastice închinate Sfinţilor Împăraţi Constantin şi Elena

Written under the sign of homage of Saints Constantine and Helen, this article proposes a sui generis analysis of monastic settlements placed under the protection of these saints. Worship places classification after their patron is more than a simple quantitative analysis, the results allowing a set of correlations and interpretations, both in religious and socio-cultural perspective. Research conducted reveals a distinct group of dedicated monastic establishments. These take general characteristics of contemporary monastic landscape, but display also their nuances, based on their identity and uniqueness

THE ASSESSMENT OF TOURISM POTENTIAL - THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS AN EFFICIENT LOCAL TOURIST POLICY

This paper underlines the necessary interaction between the administrative decision and the valorization of academic expertise in terms of tourism. The structure of the paper deals with the assessment of the touristic potential for Galati city as a primary critical action to be substantiated in the local touristic policy. The assessment of the local potential is realized according to the classical geographical canons, while applying a new methodology for quantifying the most important parameters. The conclusion says that Galati city has an obvious unbalanced potential, having nevertheless a good-medium potential that local administration should to manage correctly.</em

Un modèle de Croissance de la population rurale dans le couloir du Sereth inferieur

Puscasu Violeta. Un modèle de Croissance de la population rurale dans le couloir du Sereth inferieur. In: Annales d'Université "Valahia" Târgovişte. Section d'Archéologie et d'Histoire, Tome 1, 1999. pp. 155-158

CULTURAL HERITAGE IN THE SOUTH-EASTERN REGION OF ROMANIA

L’article ci-dessous concerne trois directions d’analyse, en fonction desquelles on structure l’approche géographique du patrimoine culturel: la typologie du patrimoine et les aspects comparatifs infrarégionaux, le potentiel touristique et l’attractivité différentiée du patrimoine, ainsi que l’argumentation pour les politiques d’aménagement du territoire en accord avec la nature et la dimension du phénomène patrimonial. Le travail utilise les informations officielles concernant les monuments historiques, l’analyse critique des projets déroulés dans la région SE, possible direction pour le management d’image et de marketing en relation avec la politique de développement et d’aménagement

A TRANSNATIONAL APPROACH IN RESOLVING DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS IN CENTRAL AFRICA: THE CASE OF INICA

In Central Africa we often see delays and / or failures of initiatives with supranational character (CEMAC CEFDHAC, ECCAS, etc) referring to the implementation of development projects and in the resolution of various conflicts. Thus a new tool for the resolution of transnational dispute has been devised and implemented in 2004 to mark the regional dimension in the resolution of many common conflicts between Central African populations: it is the Initiative for Central Africa (INICA).Central Africa, conflicts, transnational dispute, CEMAC CEFDHAC, ECCAS, INICA

TOURISM POLICIES AND THE HOTEL PARK DEVELOPEMENT OF CAMEROON (1950 – 2003)

The hotelier component represents an important side of the touristic activity success. In countries that have an emergent economy, as Cameroon, the tourism and the hotel business have shaped activation as a lever to the whole economy, since the second half of the 20th century. The present paperwork proposes an analytic overview of the evolution of the hotelier park in two of the main cities of the country, Douala and Yaoundé. The evolutional aspects are historically staged, correlated within the political framework and emphasize the tourist phenomenon overall. The goals of our research emphasize qualitative and quantitative upheaval recorded by the urban hotelier park for the identification of the causal terms between the phenomenon type relations/context and the possible substantiation policy in the future.Hotel Park, Yaoundé, Douala, tourism policy, history.