1 “Romania is one of the few European countries where the special unit of language, practically with no dialects, and spoken by an overwhelming population which exceeds 90%, covers such a great number of territorial subdivisions, each with a distinct material and spiritual identity. Nevertheless, the common binder, that is the language, did not hinder the separate development of these distinct and well–defined “lands”/
“countries”, situated on both sides of the Carpathian summits. Consequently, each human community of these regions projected a peculiar and distinct image of the surrounding world, developed other laws, and cherished different aspirations”. – P. Cocean, N. Cianga, 2000, p. 199.
The input–output relations, between the region and the neighbouring regional systems, lead to the conclusion that Năsăudului Land is an open system, having thus the possibility of creating and maintaining a status of dynamic equilibrium – a self–reproductive system.
Past and Present in Năsăudului Land
Năsăudului Land appeared as a system, first, by offering a space with a certain potential for ensuring peoples’ living, whose gravitation centre is the Someşului Mare Valley.
The natural factors, defined as the basis that sustains the demographical com-ponent and the settlements (the action and the interaction factor) have co–oper-ated, that means a constructive action, to make this space permanently inhabited by human communities that have individualised themselves through an original mentality, of strong peoples, of survivors and winners. This type of mentality has been induced by the functionality, in time, of this regional system, at the social and economic levels.
The natural geographical potential has been exploited in an adaptive and bal-anced manner by the human component, so that a traditional co–operation has developed between the two components of the environment, which are obviously interrelated. The anthropic premises (historical, social and economic factors) have been characterised by favourability that conditioned the peoples’ settling, the di-versification of the settlements and their affirmation and individualising through specificity. Each of Năsăudului Land geographical environment’s components has been an important factor in attracting the population. A demographical syn-ergism has been present, where “the memory of the earth” (both of the places and of the people) has built an easily recognisable cultural pattern.
Năsăudului Land, as a regional system, is the result of the unitary genetic evo-lution of the people, a common historical evoevo-lution that is to be identified at the level of delimiting the the “land” at the level of the peoples’ conscience, at the level of the feeling of belonging to their places. The region has resulted during a process during which the settlements have associated with one another into so-cial, economic and political structures. Thus the “land” appears as a stock struc-ture where the peoples’ spirituality, manifested into traditions, can be recognised as original by the inhabitants of the neighbouring regions (Maramureşului Land, Lăpuşului Land, and Dornelor Land). At the same time, Năsăudului Land has manifested itself as a dynamic structure, where the internal and external interac-tions have created strong cohesion, at all the levels where the Man–Nature rela-tion manifests itself, as well as between the inhabitants of this regional commu-nity.
Nature has printed its sign deeply in the heart and mind of the people of Năsăudului Land. The harmony of the natural environment, doubled by the unity of social, economic and ethnographical features has created Năsăudului Land – a region where the material and spiritual features are combined and organically
integrated. The peoples’ traditional occupations are agriculture (shepherding) and forestry. The subsoil resources have supported the development of the mining activities, these also contributing from the 13th century to attracting the popula-tion to certain areas. Therefore, we may affirm that the natural resources and the human activity have supported harmoniously the functioning of this system.
While creating the desirable profile of the region as a functional territorial sys-tem, we have taken into account the following principles (P. Cocean, 2005, p. 147–
–149): the principle of the efficient exploitation and use of the local resources (both the natural and the anthropic ones); the territorial equilibrium; the building up of a functional regional system; the principle of the optimal connections to the neighbouring territorial entities; the principle of the comparative advantage; the ecological principle. Following this theoretical context and knowing the reality, we have identified several polarising nuclei in Năsăudului Land (Figure 1). The criteria we have taken into account are the cultural traditions and the social and economic orientation, imposed during the historical evolution of the region.
According to the criterion of polarisation, while having in view the determin-ing factors, such as the location of the schools, the location of the hospitals, of the administrative offices, of the commercial units and the circulation of persons and goods (J. Benedek, 2003, p. 151), one can surely notice that Năsăudului Land is a region polarised by three urban centres: Năsăud (a rank I polarising centre), Beclean (rank II), and Sângeorz–Băi (rank III).
The centrality of Năsăud town is determined by two conditions: (1) better in-frastructure in comparison with all the other settlements of the regional system
Figure 1. Năsăudului Land – the functional features of a polarised regional entity, in contemporary Romania
Source: author’s own analysis.
and (2) a more favourable spatial position (on the hydrographical and circulation convergence axes in the Someşului Mare Corridor, on the river’s larger meadow and on its terraces). J. Benedek (2003, p. 157) affirms that these two elements are sufficient and determining for the periodical population afflux towards a settle-ment situated on a superior developsettle-ment level.
While classifying the urban entities, we have excluded Bistriţa (the main ad-ministrative centre of the county), situated outside the analysed territory, but which has a strong social and economic influence upon the territory polarised by Năsăud and Sângeorz–Băi, while the town of Beclean is oriented towards Bistriţa and Dej – at the functional level – and towards Năsăud – at the cultural, mental level.
Nevertheless, cultural Năsăud is the one that has governed the entire germinator process of beliefs specific to the peoples of the region, beliefs and way of life that have been manifested in the feeling of belonging to the other inhabitants of the region and to the known places. The cultural, ethnographical function is the one that has guided the building up of the structure of Năsăudului Land thus render-ing it coherent. The coordinate of historical, social and cultural evolution has been the most important for the mental cohesion of the people.
From an economic perspective, the attractivity of Năsăudului Land appears now, as in the past, in the tradition of forestry, and less in those of mining and shepherding. Agriculture is complementary to the other economic activities. This activity is of an individual type and it is not mechanised. Due to the favourable natural premises, the economy has been of an agro–pastoral type. But after 1990, several fundamental changes have taken place, which have reoriented the develop-ment of Năsăudului Land regional system. The Romanian industry has had a significant decline, a similar involution being characteristic to Năsăudului Land, situated in the North–West Development Region of Romania.
There were two significant moments in the evolution of the Romanian economy:
the year 1990 (the beginning of the transition to the market economy, a concur-rence one) and the year 1997 (the great collective redundancies from industry).
Both these moments affected the regional system of Năsăudului Land.
In a study realised by the geographers from the Faculty of Geography, in Cluj–
Napoca (Planul de Amenajare a Teritoriului Regiunii de Nord–Vest (PATR) – Coordonate majore – 2004), two problem–zones are mentioned for Năsăudului Land that surely impede its development: Năsăud – Beclean critical zone and Rodna disfavoured zone. The critical one is situated in the Someşului Mare Valley, be-tween the two urban centres that give its name (Năsăud and Beclean). In the study mentioned above, the cause of the economic involution of the zone is iden-tified with the “bad management that has led to the drastically diminishing of the activity in the main factories” (Planul de…, p. 253). Due to this, the study points out that it is possible that this area becomes a disfavoured zone, while the “ten-dency of ruralising the urban activities is in expansion” (Planul de…, p. 253).
The economy of Rodna disfavoured zone has had the following features: the domi-nance of the industrial activities, with a functionality highly marked by this
sec-tor, and the underdevelopment of the service sector. This is why the loss of jobs (half or even more) led to the chronic economic and social disequilibrium (e.g.
degraded economic development, long–term unemployment, the deterioration of the living standard).
At the same time, analysing the aspects of the migration in the region of Năsăud (O.–R. Ilovan, 2005b), during 1987–2003 (so, mostly in the social and economic context after 1989), we noticed that this phenomenon has been characterised by some migration tendencies. The peoples’ behaviour reveals some migration models according to (a) the distance of the rural area to the urban polarizing centres and of all these to the mountainous space in the north, while considering the valleys converging to the Someşului Mare River as subsystems of the regional polarised entity, and according to (c) the economic and social changes specific to the transi-tion period to a functransi-tional market economy (many have left to work in other European countries, as the unemployment rate was high: e.g. for Rebra village, from the disfavoured zone, 50% of the labour force was unemployed in 1992 and 85% of those who left the village worked in Spain (O.–R. Ilovan, 2005a)).
We propose the case of Rodna mining zone, as it is useful to be expanded to the other regions having the same situation. Rodna mining zone was declared a disfavoured zone in 1999 by means of governmental decision (no. 640/1999).
According to governmental decisions, the disfavoured zones may function from three to ten years and, for each zone, several investment fields of interest have been established (e.g. agriculture, production, commerce, environmental protec-tion etc.), where fiscal facilities have been introduced for the potential investors.
The economic restructuring was necessary due to the involution of the dominant activity.
Unfortunately, the Romanian government has sustained several passive mea-sures (compensatory payments after the 1997 collective dismissals, without any or few programs targeting the reconversion of the labour force) and has not un-derstood the effects that this policy has on a long term on the mining zone.
Rodna disfavoured zone has more than 1000 km2 and a population of about 50000 inhabitants. It is certain that the disfavoured zones will disappear, with this status, as an impact of Romania’s inclusion in the European Union struc-tures. Then, the regional policy targeting the disfavoured zones is also affected by the closing of the “Concurrence” chapter, in the context of the negotiations with the EU, which has ended with Romania’s commitment to give up gradually the facilities granted these years to the disfavoured settlements. Rodna is among the 22 disfavoured zones, which will have to disappear, with this statute, by the end of 2009.
The economic rehabilitation of these disfavoured mining zones has been pos-sible only by granting the statute of “disfavoured zone” to them. Nevertheless, the fiscal facilities have been unattractive in zones with low accessibility, no pub-lic utility equipment and no capacity to manage the autochthon natural and hu-man resource. At present, the “assisted zones” appeared as an alternative to the
disfavoured ones, where the fiscal facilities have disappeared and thus leading to a statute of normal functionality, obeying the lows of concurrence. But the as-sisted zones welcome the implementation of projects, where the local communi-ties are involved, targeting (a) to eliminate the above–mentioned flaws and (b) to solve the extant economic and social problems of these areas.
At the present moment, one may argue about the resilience of Năsăudului Land regional system, knowing that resilience is a measure of the systemic stability:
the greater the resilience, the more stable is the system and more capable to adapt quickly (P. Cocean, 2005, p. 118–123) or to return to the status prior to the appear-ance of the change factor.
In this context we try to find the answer to the question: “Is Năsăudului Land a functional system having in view the two problem zones that appeared after 1989?” In order to find the correct answer we also have in view the following issues: In which of the two zones (critical and disfavoured) the labour force is dominant in industry? (We have compared Rodna disfavoured zone to Năsăud–
Beclean critical zone, from the point of view of the different percentages of the labour force, working in varied branches of the economy as in the year 2002. We have wanted to determine which are the chances of Năsăud–Beclean critical zone to become an effervescent one, or to “gain” the attributes of a disfavoured one);
(b) In which of the two zones, the territorial infrastructure is better represented from a quantitative point of view: the length of the streets (the total length and the length of the modernised ones); in which of the two zones are dominant the settlements that have a network for distributing drinking water, natural gas, and a sewerage network?; (c) Can we discuss in support of the strong urban features of Năsăud–Beclean critical zone (the diversification of the communities’ economy – the appearance of more economic branches, determining local employing espe-cially in the commerce and service sectors?) versus the rural features of Rodna disfavoured zone?; (d) How are the tourist arrangements from the point of view of their capacity and type (sufficient versus insufficient)?; (e) Can we identify discrepancies between the two zones at the level of the tourist arrangements?
One alternative is that Năsăud–Beclean critical zone will become an efervescent one, being situated at a higher development level, from all perspectives (economy, infrastructure, tourism etc.) than Rodna disfavoured zone and with no threats of industrial redundancies with a major negative impact, having in view that the service sector and the commerce are dominant (in contrast with the disfavoured zone).
The other alternative is that Năsăud–Beclean critical zone will receive the features of a disfavoured zone because: the present economic potential is low (both in the industrial and in the service sector); the low number of the highly qualified labour force; the tourist potential is little–known due to little advertising; the low techni-cal infrastructure of the territory; low connection to the county capital (Bistriţa) – no railway between Năsăud and Bistriţa – therefore the economy of the town of Năsăud has to lose from this point of view.
No matter the involution or evolution of the critical zone, we have noticed that the two zones are closely related as parts of Năsăudului Land regional system:
the development of the critical zone will support the development of the disfavoured one and the other way around, too.
The impact of the economic activities upon the natural environment is another issue that should be taken into account. The diversity of economic fields, the private property and the market oriented economy have determined, in Năsăudului Land, the appearance of some problems related to the environment and its pollution. At present, the areas with polluting industries still functioning or partly closed are situated along the Someşului Mare River, at Rodna, Parva, Năsăud and Beclean.
Then, the intense activities of exploiting and processing the wood after 1989 have led to the appearance of great amounts of waste.
In this context, of the strong development of forestry, of wood industry, sev-eral problems related to water, air and soil pollution have come up. The numbers of the economic units that have activities with a possible negative impact upon the environment have explosively grown.
Future in Năsăudului Land – Development Perspectives
In identifying the development directions, a SWOT analysis is necessary. Thus, a strong point of this region is the diversity of the local resources. Moreover, the existence of the development alternatives is an opportunity that should be taken into account. Therefore, among the successful solutions for the region’s rehabili-tation, the following two are the most viable ones: the development of commerce and tourism (the region having the capacity of promoting multiple tourist functions) and the development of the furniture industry that can ensure the superior process-ing of the extant local resource.
We consider that both zones (Năsăud–Beclean critical zone and Rodna disfavoured one) from Năsăudului Land can be developed and rendered func-tional if the tourist phenomenon has greater development in the near future. At present, the hotels of Sângeorz–Băi resort are unoccupied at their full capacity (1638 places is the capacity of the two hotels), therefore the low number of em-ployees in the tourism of this area (not even mentioned in the statistics).
The natural tourist potential of Năsăudului Land focuses on the following com-ponents: the landscape, the climate and the mineral waters (known from the Ro-man period). The anthropic tourist potential of Năsăudului Land focuses on ethnog-raphy, religious sites (churches, monasteries, abbeys) and cultural ones (memo-rial houses of Romanian writers, poets, men of culture; monuments and architec-tural ensembles built of wood or stone; folklore; “home industry”).
Năsăudului Land is well–known due to the exquisite traditional costumes and Romanian dance called “from the Someş River”. P. Cocean (1997, p. 93) considers Năsăudului Land to be a region characterised by originality, by specificity.
L.–I. Grapini (2001, p. 41) notices a move from the spontaneous to festive in what the traditional local customs are concerned. Therefore, the rural and cultural
tour-ism have the best conditions, from this perspective, to develop. Moreover, the region is “placed” between the Rodnei, Ţibleşului and Bârgăului Mountains, where mountaineering, trips and winter sports are practiced and the zone of Bistriţa, where cultural tourism is developed.
Because, the tourist potential is not sufficiently exploited and capitalised, the following three development directions should intermingle in promoting tourism in Năsăudului Land: mountain tourism (winter sports, spaeotourism, trips etc.) in Rodnei, Ţibleşului and Bârgăului Mountains; cultural tourism polarised by the three urban centres and the areas of original rural civilization (e.g. Salva village near Năsăud; Rodna village near Sângeorz–Băi etc); rural tourism (agro–tourism): “…the rural tourism has its essential motivation in cultivating the intimate harmony of man’s return to his existential source, to the mild ancestral traditions” (P. Cocean, Şt. Dezsi, 2001, p 38). Still, the extant rural tourism is a chaotic one.
We recommend the following actions in order to promote tourism in Năsăudului Land: (1) superior valorising of the extant potential by arranging and rearranging those tourist routes that are intensely visited by tourists, as well as the building of an adequate tourist infrastructure (e. g. chalets in the mountainous area) and in-tegrating it in several tourist circuits; (2) stimulating the new tendencies in rural tourism whose development should be harmoniously integrated into the local, zone and regional development plans, while observing the quality of the tourist services, the rules of the environmental protection, and the conservation of the natural and anthropic potential specific to Năsăudului Land.
The solutions we identified for supporting tourism development are, first: winning some projects financed from non–reimbursable European funds (especially for bettering the territorial technical infrastructure); investment from those who have left the region in order to work abroad and send money to their families or come
The solutions we identified for supporting tourism development are, first: winning some projects financed from non–reimbursable European funds (especially for bettering the territorial technical infrastructure); investment from those who have left the region in order to work abroad and send money to their families or come