The eighth edition of the “CGR Meetings” continued the discussions associated with the issue of territorial development through a debate focused on the geographical dimension of the spatial planning studies. The topic proposed by Professor Dănuţ Petrea, Dean of the Faculty of Geography, focused on four ways to amplify this dimension, namely the usefulness of these studies, their mode of implementation, their achievability and the opportunities that derive from their elaboration. Among the conclusions reported were issues such as the need for the involvement of geographers (“geographicization”) in the elaboration of spatial planning and territorial development studies, the promotion and application of the principle of territorial integration, the impact of regional geography in capturing the specificities of the territories, regardless of the scale approached.

Whether we are talking about methodological, perspective, focus, or elaboration errors encountered in various strategic planning documents, the debate initiated by Radu Cocean, Lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, has stirred up moments of introspection for the participants in this event. The purpose of any territorial consultant is to use his expertise to provide optimal solutions for a territory, but their implementation may be achieved only by the will of the beneficiary, most often different local administrations.

The most important motivation for the debate on 8^th April 2019, which was initiated by the presentation given by Marcel Ionescu-Heroiu, Senior Urban Development Specialist at the World Bank, focused on the idea that „Urban planning is a standalone language that we all start learning from a very young age”.”.

The presentation of the World Bank’s expert focused on the seven dimensions of a city (density, structure, distribution of density, permeability, infrastructure, height regime, quality of life), with examples from personal experience and literature in the field. Beyond the results of the studies carried out, there is again a growing interest in the existence of local, punctual interventions, which can be replicated and generalized in other territories as well, through the power of example.

The findings of the report Magnet Cities. Migration and Commuting in Romania were presented on the 21st of March 2019 also at the Centre for Regional Geography as the fourth event in the series of “CGR Meetings”. The event took place in the presence of two of the report’s signatories, Dr. Marius Cristea, Senior Urban Development Specialist at the World Bank Group, and Ciprian Moldovan, Lecturer at the Faculty of Geography, Babeş-Bolyai University.

The role of the World Bank at global and national level, with research differentiated depending on the country’s level of development, was highlighted from the very beginning through the above-mentioned research. At the same time, the World Bank has become a support and dialogue partner for local authorities in recent years, relying on their impact, given that they become a driving force for the development of the managed territories through the powers they exercise, the image vote, and the public policies they develop. While most of the post-socialist studies have focused on the existing territorial dysfunctions, with particular emphasis on the areas lagging behind, the solutions emerged as a direct consequence of this fact have materialized in investments in the infrastructure connecting to medium-sized cities. The lack of some public policies focused on the current problems of the society is a challenge for some local and county administrations, hence, the emergence of an urban mobility strategy for the city of Cluj-Napoca.

According to researcher Marius Cristea, the chance to promote growth poles in Romania is, among others, investments to increase the educational function, where the attraction of foreign students can bring added value to the cities involved. .

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Complete Report: Orașe-magnet. Migraţie şi navetism în România/ Magnet Cities. Migration and Commuting in Romania

On Thursday, 28 February 2019, the Centre for Regional Geography hosted the third event in the series of “CGR Meetings”. The event was marked by the presentation on “Intelligent Territories” given by Claudiu-Daniel Salanţă, Architect-in-Chief of Cluj County. The debate was attended by many youth interested in urban and territorial planning and in how they are applied in public administration. In accordance with these expectations, architect Salanţă’s speech put forward a challenge for all participants by presenting a local administrative initiative under the form of a Territorial Atlas. The project consists in creating an interactive public database for Cluj County, with up-to-date data accessible to any citizen, with an implementation period estimated for the near-time horizon (2019-2020).

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During the second event, a debate on the “Urban Planning Landmarks of Cluj-Napoca”, architect Ionel Vitoc and the debate participants brought new reflections on the urban development of Cluj-Napoca and Cluj Metropolitan Area. The professional development of the former architect-in-chief of Sibiu and elaborator of former urban development plans of Cluj-Napoca went hand in hand with the urban development of this city. After years of involvement in urban planning activities, architect Ionel Vitoc draws a bitter conclusion: Cluj-Napoca lacks consistency in urban planning. It is “a city without vision”.

Associate Professor Norbert Petrovici, from the Faculty of Sociology and Social Work at Babeş-Bolyai University, gave a presentation on “Urban Mobility in Cluj-Napoca” at the headquarters of the Centre for Regional Geography (5-7 Clinicilor St., the building of the “Emil Racoviţă” Institute of Speleology, top floor), on Friday, 7 December 2018, 12 a.m. The event is the first in the “CGR Meetings” series aimed at discussing territorial development issues.

During an exchange visit at the Romanian Academy, Cluj Subsidiary, Geography Section, two young researchers of the University of Pécs (SándorZsoltKovács) had discussions with two Romanian researchers, Ana-Maria Pop, researcher at the Centre for Regional Geography, and Gabriela Cocean, researcher at the Romanian Academy. The debates were focused on the presentation of the institutional objectives, activities and results, with a case study on MărginimeaSibiului. Starting from this spatial planning model, the discussion included different views on how spatial plans are perceived in Romania and Hungary, a brief presentation of the existing regional projects and the impact spatial planning institutions havein the spatial planning process.

Mr. József Benedek, Professor at the Faculty of Geography of Babeş-Bolyai University, gave a presentation on the topic “Current Research Trends in Regional Geography” to the young researchers present at the workshop. During the presentation, he highlighted the presence of the main global development trends in terms of regional development.

On the 7th and the 8th of May 2016, a delegation from the University of Debrecen, consisting of Professor Gyula Horváth and Professor Sinorós-Szabó Botond, visited the Centre for Regional Geography in the presence of Professor Pompei Cocean, director of the research centre. The guests expressed their intention to collaborate with Babeş-Bolyai University and prepare an international project proposal on the socio-economic development of the Tisa catchment area.

During a two week-stay in Romania, together with other colleagues from the same university, Mr William Cherry, PhD candidate and an IGERT fellow at Southern Illinois University Carbondale in the Department of Geosciences, had a meeting with ProfessorPompeiCocean, Lelia Papp, Assistant Lecturer,and Ana-Maria Pop, Research Fellow, members of the TICAD project management team, at the Centre for Regional Geography.Mr Cherry presented the idea of the project he was involved in, namely the achievement of a Management Plan for the Tisa River Basin. He focused on the existing hydrographic elements and requested access to the database and the results of the TICAD project. Professor Cocean had a presentation on the objectives, outputs and results of the TICAD project, the most relevant aspects of the above-mentioned project (publications, papers, database) and provided the contact information of the project partners. The results of the field research and the partial results of the TICAD project can be found in the research project entitled Tisza River Connectivity: Past Losses, Present Dynamics, and Future Opportunities.

At the invitation of Lecturer Titus Man, the Centre for Regional Geography hosted the visit of Professor David Weindorf from Texas Tech University, expert in soil survey and land use management/planning.During the meeting, participants discussed the possibility of further collaboration between the two institutions represented.

At the beginning of 2013, the Centre for Regional Geography hosted the visit of Mr Marcel Ionescu-Heroiu, representative of the World Bank. Mr Ionescu-Heroiu presented the World Bank’s interest in regional development and spatial planning and the opening of the institution to development plans and strategies at meso- and micro-scale level. Professor Pompei Cocean and Associate Professor, Arch. RaduSpânu, who were present at the meeting, welcomed the World Bank’s initiative and highlighted the applicability of the projects achieved by the Centre (Local Development Strategy for the Municipality of Craiova; Sinaia – Azuga – Buşteni – Predeal – Râşnov – Braşov - PoianaBraşov Inter-municipal Spatial Plan; North-West Region Spatial Plan. Major Coordinates). Given the orientation of the World Bank towards the achievement of regional studies on some cities, one of which was Cluj-Napoca, Mr Cocean and Mr Spânu presented the urban solutions proposed over the years for this metropolis, with a focus on accessibility, development of urban and regional tourism, and relocation of services to industrial parks. The opportunity of institutional collaboration remained permanently open.

At the invitation of Professor Pompei Cocean, Professor Jean-Marie Miossec from Paul Valéry University of Montpellier gave a comprehensive lecture on the topic Changement et permanences dans les territoires de France: nouvelles disparités, nouvellesmailles, nouveaux modes de gouvernance territoriale [Change and continuity in the territories of France: new disparities, networks and ways of territorial governance]in front of the students of the Faculty of Geography.

In April 2011, the Centre for Regional Geography hosted the visit of Mr Gilles Ardinat, PhD candidate at Paul Valéry University of Montpellier and author of a PhD thesis on competitiveness Géographie de la compétitivité. Mesures, représentation et gouvernance de la performance économique des nations dans la mondialisation [Geography of Competitiveness. Measures, Representation and Governance of the Nations’ Economic Performance in the Context of Globalization], under the supervision of Professor Jean-Marie Miossec. Mr Ardinat delivered two lectures to the students of the Faculty of Geography - La France est-elle compétitive? [Is France a competitive country?] and L’organisation territoriale de la France [Territorial Organization of France], with a positive feedback received from the students.

A four-member delegation comprising academics from several universities in the USA and Canada visited Romania between the 14th and the 24th of May 2010, both as representatives of their institutions and as members of the Association of American Geographers. The ten-day visit focused on finding common interests in geographical research, on promoting the exchange of ideas and enhancing the collaboration with the Romanian geographers. For a better mutual knowledge, workshops were organized in three Romanian universities, including the University of Bucharest, “Ştefancel Mare” University of Suceava, and Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca.

The workshop in Cluj-Napoca, hosted by the Centre for Regional Geography on the 21st of May, was entitled Integrated Territorial Analysis and had in view the exchange of ideas and professional experience between the members of the Association of American Geographers, the members of the Centre for Regional Geography, academics from the Faculty of Geography and representatives of the Romanian Academy, Cluj Subsidiary, Geography Section.

The workshop was opened by Audrey Kobayashi, Professor at Queen’s University, Department of Geography, member of the Queen’s Research Chair, and Editor of The Annals of the Association of the American Geographers: People, Place, and Region section. All the participants had the opportunity to find out more about the worldwide educational and research activity conducted by the Association of American Geographers on a wide range of geographical topics.

The ensuing discussion was focused on participants’contributions to research in Human Geography and Regional Geography, covering a range of topics such as migration, with emphasis on the Romanian immigration to Canada and the USA, a subject of interest for Professor Audrey Kobayashi. Mark W. Rosenberg, Professor at Queen’s University, Department of Geography and Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, presented his research in Medical and Health Geography and its direct contribution to public policies, as well as his experience in various national and international projects in the field. Lisa M.B. Harrington, Professor at Kansas State University, Department of Geography, and Secretary of the Association of American Geographers, approached issues related to Rural Geography and human-environment relations, while George W. White, Professor at South Dakota State University, Head of the Department of Geography, emphasized the importance of place and territory, in addition to language, religion and shared history, to the process of nation building, the strong interrelation of a nation with its territory, and the issue of multi-ethnicity, with case studies from Southeastern Europe.

The research activities carried out by the Centre for Regional Geography were presented by Professor Pompei Cocean, Director of the Centre for Regional Geography and Head of the Department of Regional Geography and Spatial Planning, who explained the researchers’ concern for geographical mental spaces and their involvement in the elaboration of spatial development strategies and spatial plans at different scales and levels of complexity, which deal with topics such assustainable local/regional development and territorial cohesion. He gave as example the Spatial Plan of Mărginimea Sibiului, emphasizing the structural and functional particularities of the territory, the present dysfunctions and the major coordinates of the development strategy. Because the contributions to the issue of geographical mental spaces have already become significant, he also highlighted the perspectives on the evolution of “land”-type units in Romania, as geographical program regions with systemic features and typical mental spaces, generating a fruitful exchange of opinions.

The issue of multi-ethnicity and multiculturalism proved to be a shared concern.Thus, Ana-Maria Pop, research fellow at the Centre for Regional Geography, exemplifiedhow ethnic identity and multiculturalism can be a determining factor in the individualization of a “land”-type unit, namely the Land of Bârsa.

As regards the concerns about functional regions, Lelia Papp, Assistant Lecturer at the Faculty of Geography, Department of Regional Geography and Spatial Planning, presented how interrelations between the city of Cluj-Napoca and its periphery are reflected in the spatial and temporal features of land use.

The presentations during the workshop and the discussions that followed aroused the participants’ interest and opened new prospects for collaboration in the field of geographical research.