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Deep-seated landslides are considered geomorphologic risk phenomena, but highly stable over time. The people perceived them differently, associating their shape with various legends. Their low vulnerability degree led to their complex valorisation. This ranged from their location in built-up spaces (households, religious infrastructures, etc.) to a varied economic usage (agriculture, logging, tourism). The scope of this study consists in assessing the deep-seated landslides as geomorphosites. This assessment is conducted by calculating their functional and additional values and the impact of their use in the field. The methodology involved 3 stages: inventory of some representative deep-seated landslides areas in Romania and the Republic of Moldova; assessment of 13 deep-seated landslides sites, perceived as case study; and their ranking, depending on the integration of the values achieved individually for each subcriterion. The research outcomes have confirmed the presence of a significant number of deep-seated landslides in the Carpato-Danubiano-Pontic space (especially in the Transylvanian Depression and in the Moldavian Plateau). The research also revealed the possibility to catalogue these landslides as geomorphosites and the high anthropic usage degree owed first of all to the good stability of the landforms.

Although there are several available methods for the assessment and inventory of geomorphosites, when it comes to the comparative study of genetically similar landforms, one can note the need for further studies and analyses. The main reason for this fact is that most methods use criteria generally suitable for the evaluation of any landforms, thus not addressing the specificity of distinct geosites. Therefore, for the assessment of karst gorges in the Apuseni Mountains, a new specific method was used, a method adapted to the main features of the gorges in the study area. The method is based on the assessment of both the intrinsic values of geomorphosites (geomorphological, ecological, and aesthetic) and the functional ones (scientific, cultural, and tourism development). The criteria used to assess these values have been clearly explained, in order to ensure a more transparent assessment. Thus, a comparative study was possible and a hierarchy in terms of geotourism value of the 53 gorges in the Apuseni Mountains was developed, a hierarchy that can be a useful tool for geotourism promoters in the area.

Agrotouristic developmental potential of Tasnad microregion. Touristical valences of Tasnad microregion, caracteristical for agroturism are sustained by a geocultural base rich in traditions, customs, trades and specific Hollidays, as a result of the long-term cohabitation on the same territory of a human group made of three ethnies (Romanians, Hungarians, Swabians), each of them keeping alive the elements of territorial adherence to mental space with which it identifies. Tasnad microregion is suitable for different forms of practicing agrotourism which completes each other in different categories of specific destinations: hunting and fishing tourism, oenological tourism, religiousecumenical tourism, cultural tourism, curative-balneary tourism, entertainement tourism (horse riding and cycling), ecological tourism and mixt agrotourism.

The main challenge for mankind has always been to eliminate the borders of its living space, as well as to explore and discover its new faces. Contemporary literature strengthens this postulate. It is the preference of the experts of various fields in spatial analysis is to consider space to be repairable, changeable and organisable. In accordance with this axiom, the five affected countries in the catchment area of the Tisza river (Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, Slovakia and Serbia) worked out an integrated, mutual standpoint to support the problems of the catchment area and to exploit its opportunities with the aim to support transnational cooperation. They laid great emphasis on the existing resources which could become the driving force behind regional development directions. This study contains the summarised outcomes of the TICAD project (SEE/A 638/4.2./X) which was drawn up as a result of cooperation between renowned institutions of the five affected countries within the South East Europe Transnational Cooperation Programme (lead partner: VÁTI, Hungary).

Târlişua as habitational mental space. The commune of Târlişua, with its administrative seat in the homonymous village, represents a typical example of habitational mental space, shaped under strong autarky and isolation conditions for many centuries. Major geographical conditionings have influenced its genesis and evolution as spatial entity, but also its material and spiritual heritage. The inhabitation of the territory since Neolithic and the early documentary attestation of the two major localities of the commune, Târlişua in 1334 and Agrieş in 1364, are indisputable proofs of the population’s autochthony and its viability as a dwelling nucleus and a sociosystem creator of a specific cultural landscape.

Morphometric limitations to spatial planning in the Arieş Basin Landscape, through its morphometric parameters, is the defining factor in the relation between the human component and its activities. The present paper consists of an analysis of the main morphometric parameters ((hypsometry, slope, depth of the fragmentation, fragmentation density, slope orientation) in quantitative terms, for the entire surface of the morphohydrographic basin of the Arieş, as well as for the major landforms in its perimeter, considering the vast complexity generated by the diverse geological structure. The entire research is supported by GIS raster and vector databases integrated in spatial analysis modules, statistics and geoinformational programs aimed mainly at extracting quantitative information for each such feature.

Regional Development – Strategic Objective or Multicausal Challenge? The phenomenon of regional development, defining for the present evolution of civilization, is in the process of settling its multiple and complex meanings, of determining the logistics it claims, of specifying in a rigorous manner the actors that support and promote it. The hypostasis of strategic objective that it induces is given by the need to manage a finite space in the context of infinite demands, to counterpoise globalisation and its adverse, perverse effects; by the paramount importance of universities in achieving its desiderata; by the undisputed role that regional development will play in foreshadowing the solutions to exit from the present crisis. Among the challenges of regional development, we mention its searches to control complexity, the metamorphosis of the unique matrix of the centralized national sate into a political-administrative system composed of development regions with a wide economic and social autonomy; its increasingly visible role as political weapon; its decisive contribution to the resilience of territorial systems.

Glimee-type landslides in the upper basin of the Ilişua Valley. Characteristic of the central and southern area of the Transylvanian Depression, where it was mainly described, the ,,glimee” relief appears in its northern border as well, in the Suplai Hills, in the upper basin of the Ilişua Valley, respectively. This type of massive landslides developed on Eocene-Oligocene sedimentary lithological structures, consisting of alternating sandstones, marls, and clays, in earlier periods with excessive rainfall. A distinct feature, with notes of originality, is represented by their location on the obverse side of the cuesta, on the slopes with southern and south-eastern exposition. Another peculiarity derives from the appearance of the ,,glimee”-type landslides on terrace scarp such as those in the area of Muncel Hill.

“Ţinut” – an traditional regional taxon, peculiar to Romania. Having an intense circulation during the past centuries, the term “ţinut” has received in time various connotations, from the geographical spatial taxon one, to the literary, metaphorical one. Hence the ambiguities resulted from its use and the impossibility to decisively impose itself in the regionalization methodology. Its geographical significances are multiple, generally defining a territory varying in size, with a diverse human load, having a visible historical, political-administrative, cultural, or ethnical hallmark. The present analysis sets the concept of “ţinut” as a taxon of lower rank than the “ţară”(land)-type territorial systems, both as extension and as its structural and functional features are concerned. Its equivalence with microregions or with intercommunity associations can offer, in the present stage of the society’s development, a definite statute through a well-determined spatial and functional individualisation.

Sustainable Development Management. Our paper focuses on defining the concept of sustainable from a geographical point of view as it compulsory has a territorial connotation, a spatial one that is characteristic of any geographical study. As a result we started from the premises that its defining elements were territorial cohesion, environmental preservation, natural resources preservation, demographical optimum, economic development, and social harmony. As the development phenomenon is not a linear one, neither lacking convulsions nor contradictions, it supposes, in order to be sustainable, an appropriate management. This management includes the following main aspects: use of renewable resources, resources complementarity, optimum relationship between population and resources, tolerable anthropic pressure, harmonisation of request and offer relationship, resilience to climatic change and permanent dissipation of negative impact in nature and in society. The conclusion of our study points out the complexity of the phenomenon of sustainable development, and also the possibility of optimising it through permanent and inspired management.

A model for applying the territorial survey to the study of micro regions. The micro region concept represents aoption that is used more and more by specialists interested in analyzing and devising strategies for developing and arranging the territory. Relating to other territorial delimitations teritorial units of planification used for operations, the micro region is built taking into consideration both the natural support basis and the anthropical component, which models and transforms the environment, materializing this transformation in the derived components. An analysis of the functional zones gets the valences of an authentic understanding, with a view to a lasting development, if we take into consideration the study of the territorial survey. The territorial survey represents an element that is indispensable to the realization of a SWOT diagnosis applied to a given territory. The inter-relations that are established between natural and anthropical elements ensure the functioning of the spatial organism, in which the ins and outs dictate, through their qualitative and quantitative features, the type, dynamic and state of the system. According to values, attributed on a scale, between 1 to 10, the elements of the survey become strong points or, on the contrary, weak points of the territorial system. The concept of micro regions is thus legitimized by operationalization the paradigm of the territorial survey, capable of offering real solutions that can be quantified, which would support a lasting .

Există, în evoluţia fiecărei ştiinţe, momente de graţie şi de incertitudine, de afirmare explozivă şi de meandrare dezinvoltă sinonimă stagnării sau, nu rareori, chiar unor intervale de criză. Perioadele efervescente urmează, fără excepţie, inovaţiei în domeniu, lansării unor noi teorii şi paradigme, a conturării unor noi direcţii de investigaţie, a introducerii unor metode şi tehnologii mai eficiente, prin intermediul cărora vechile obstacole sunt, de regulă, depăşite. Sinusoida evolutivă ţinteşte însă mereu frontiera necunoscutului, aşa cum sugestiv o exprima fondatorul Biospeologiei, marele savant Emil Racoviţă, la Întâiul Congres al Naturaliştilor din România, Cluj, 1928: «Oricât de cotit ar fi în aparenţă drumul omenirii, până acum direcţia a fost tot înainte şi nu înapoi, înainte spre o organizare socială tot mai raţională şi spre o colaborare generală tot mai paşnică.» Privind cu detaşare şi imparţialitate starea actuală a ştiinţei celor patru învelişuri terestre, Geografia, constatăm, fără nici o tăgadă, că ea se află într-un moment prielnic, fast, al devenirii sale, când orizonturile afirmării îi sunt dezmărginite, iar importanţa sa socială se amplifică. Însăşi slujitorii săi au încetat să se mai întrebe, retoric, „ce este Geografia” preferând să combată cu succes în arena dezideratelor atât de incitante ale ramurilor şi subramurilor acesteia. Astfel, constatăm cu nedisimulată satisfacţie deschiderea ştiinţei noastre spre un domeniu nou, cu numeroase valenţe aplicative, cel al dezvoltării regionale. Un domeniu de interferenţă, de imbricare a mai multor ştiinţe, pe câmpul căruia geografii, arhitecţii, economiştii, inginerii sau sociologii se întâlnesc frecvent, colaborând sau dimpotrivă, antrenându-se într-o concurenţă acerbă. Domeniu în vogă, sintagma ce-l defineşte fiind omniprezentă în vocabularul factorilor decizionali, al actorilor politici dar şi al mass-mediei zilelor noastre. Avem în acest caz, noi, geografii, un avantaj pe care trebuie să-l impunem tuturor aidoma unui postulat şi anume cunoaşterea terenului, adică a suportului material al oricărei iniţiative de planificare sau amenajare teritorială, al oricărei strategii de dezvoltare. Nu pe nedrept ci confirmând realitatea celor susmenţionate, Comitetul miniştrilor responsabili cu amenajarea teritoriului din ţările membre ale Uniunii Europene, stipulează în Agenda Teritorială întitulată „Către o Europă mai competitivă formată din regiuni diverse”, o veritabilă cartă a dezvoltării durabile a spaţiului european, ce va fi semnată la 25 mai 2007 la Leipzig, că „ Geografia capătă o importanţă deosebită din perspectiva politicii de coeziune”. Din acest punct de vedere, Geografia clujeană este pregătită să-şi asume responsabilităţi dintre cele mai dificile şi complexe. Experienţa câştigată de cercetătorii noştri în ultimul deceniu în elaborarea proiectelor PATIJ (Plan de Amenajare a Teritoriului interjudeţean – 1997-1999), PATR (Plan de Amenajare a Teritoriului Regiunii de Nord-Vest – 2000-2004), PATZ – periurbanul municipiului Bistriţa (2005-2006), Strategia de dezvoltare locală a municipiului Craiova (2006-2007), Analiză privind stadiul actual al tendinţelor dezvoltării teritoriale în bazinul românesc al râului Tisa (2006-2007) etc. este recunoscută nu numai de specialiştii propriei ştiinţe ci şi de către cei din ştiinţele ce-şi arogă, cu mai mult sau mai îndoielnic temei, stăpânirea „cheilor” de descifrare a necunoscutelor domeniului în cauză.Dezvoltarea regională nu trebuie înţeleasă ca un apanaj exclusiv al regionaliştilor. Realizarea proiectelor susmenţionate a demonstrat cu prisosinţă că ea devine un câmp ideal al metamorfozei specialistului geograf, din geomorfologul, climatologul, pedologul sau hidrologul clasic în cercetătorul care pune în evidenţă, fără a-şi trăda opţiunea iniţială, resurse, riscuri sau oportunităţi ale spaţiului geografic. In dezvoltarea regională cele trei ramuri fundamentale ale Geografiei, Geografia fizică, Geografia umană şi Geografia regională se regăsesc în totalitate, cu condiţia abordării noilor paradigme ale spaţiului, derivate din multiplicarea şi diversificarea raporturilor de intercondiţionare natură – om - societate, şi cu utilizarea permanentă, riguroasă a metodei regionale ca fir incandescent, director, al demersului ştiinţific.Revista Geographia Napocensis, editată de Colectivul din Cluj Napoca al Filialei Academiei Române, porneşte la drum într-un astfel de context, deci sub fertile auspicii în ceea ce priveşte rolul şi menirea Geografiei. Suntem convinşi că în studiile pe care le va găzdui între coperţile sale se vor regăsi pulsul momentului actual, căutările febrile ale devenirii fenomenelor şi proceselor din geosferă dar şi soluţiile reclamate de nevoile omului, ale comunităţilor umane. Să-i urăm drum lung şi ascendent.