7/1/2022

Feminist and Gender Geography witness a tremendous development since 1975 until 2021, both through the diversification of research topics and international spatial expansion. This paper aims to review and analyse this development worldwide, aiming to provide a new perspective on the matter. A set of 8,376 Web of Science published research is investigated and 32 main topics of study are derived, as well as a spatial extension breakdown. Further analysis highlights three main stages of development of the field based on the emergence of new topics of study: the substantiation stage (1975-1989), the diversification stage (1990-2009) and the ‘boom’ stage (2009-2021). A distinct section is reserved for reviewing Romania’s status, a former communist country, currently lacking substantial feminist geographical research; this section provides a brief assessment of the existing Romanian literature, as well as of the scientific and historical background for the current status. Part of the authors’ PhD thesis, this paper hopes to hearten fellow geographers to approach their research through the lens of feminist philosophy and gender paradigm.

We live in a fast-paced world where it is necessary to rethink lifestyles and develop new strategies to create a green future. Given this scenario, this study presents an introductory discussion that aims to link design thinking, behavioural science and green economy and identify potential synergies to promote sustainable growth and territorial resilience through the development of a ‘new framework for design for territories’. While design for territories consists of outlining strategic approaches to the design of products, services, and systems to strengthen local communities and enhance territories, the ‘new framework for design for territories’ faces the challenge of taking on a new transdisciplinary strategic role. Because of its ability to mediate between actors, techniques, and technologies, the ‘new framework for design for territories’ was developed based on a literature review from the fields of design thinking, behavioural science, green economy, and design for territories. The findings suggest a remarkable way of thinking that can be successfully applied to policy design, especially for innovative, soft, noncommand or classical economic policies. Finally, we emphasise the possibilities of applying design for territories as an innovation catalyst for sustainable territorial value chains, products, and services with well-defined territorial identities.

This research focuses on a key epoch in which an essential articulation between history, geography, politics and music allowed for a short time a radical opening of invention and emancipation. The 1960s not only deconstructed the conservative ideologies of the previous decades, but through such a subtraction made possible a different discourse about universalism and about the commons. My investigation connects political events (like the independence of some African states or the fight for racial and social justice) to musical events (like free jazz) in order to advance the hypothesis not only of a potential history (a concept already defined by Ariella Azoulay in 2019), but also of a potential geography. Such a geography represented an opening that allowed the imagination of an authentic existence of the commons, a dimension that seems now to have been lost, but that would be and is worth re-enacting.

Changes in land use patterns induced by different agricultural practices are reflected territorially through transformations at the level of elementary landscape units, with an impact on territorial identity and cohesion. The aim of this study is to highlight the dynamics of the territorial structures in the post-communist period (1990-2018), diachronically reflected in the transformations of the landscape of the Guruslău Depression, using the landscape metrics. The main direction of the scientific research was based on the analysis of land use changes and the identification of the spatial elements of structural-landscape distinction with impact on land degradation process. The evaluation of the landscape dynamics in the current context uses several effective metrics and tools, which increasingly require the identification of interdisciplinary methods of analysis, with a decisive impact on territorial development. Besides, the present approach is also motivated by the increasing environmental impact of climate change. The methodology used in the present paper is based both on the geoprocessing of vector data using GIS tools and correlated spatial analysis, and on the identification of landscape types using a new process of reclassifying land use categories, according to a set of landscape definition variables. The results of the research highlighted both the particularities of landscape transformations that occurred in the reference interval, as well as the favourable conditions for addressing biocultural diversity, by identifying traditional agricultural practices and the resilience of geographical landscapes given the adaptation to changing development strategies. Meanwhile, by detecting the landscape structures affected by change, in correlation with the impact induced on the biodiversity of the territory, the present study has a wide applicability in the most appropriate implementation of local development policies, as well as in identifying the forms of sustainable valorisation of the landscape in the study area.

The concept of “holiday village” has recently turned fifty. Holiday villages are found in non-urban areas, rich in nature-based and human-made resources. By implementing the planning principles of this type of accommodation, Romania has also developed its tourism supply over the past years, currently providing twelve holiday villages which are spread throughout the country. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of these holiday villages both from a tourism analysis perspective and in relationship with territorial identity. In order to achieve this goal, a series of quantitative and qualitative methods were employed, starting with the analysis of statistical databases in parallel with the review of bibliographic materials, and the observation and analysis of the official websites of these accommodation structures, respectively. It turned out that three counties (Brașov, Suceava and Tulcea) hosted 50% of the existing holiday villages in Romania, confirming once again the importance of local tourism potential derived from geographic location and cultural heritage. Based on various tourist needs and preferences, a wide range of activities and services both basic (accommodation and catering) and additional ones (entertainment and leisure, business, etc.), which became available for different groups of guests were also identified. Eventually, a multicriterial analysis, including aspects related to architectural elements, landscape integration and links to local or regional traditional values highlighted five levels of authenticity according to which almost half of the examined units established a stronger connection with the territorial identity of the geographical-historical regions, which hosted these establishments.

Since the turn of the millennium, mobile applications have played an increasingly mportant role in destination marketing and branding. Official destination apps are specific media channels designed to communicate the unique characteristics of a destination and influence visitors’ perceptions of the place. To date, no prior research has been carried out to analyse the use of destination mobile apps in Romania. The current paper tries to fill in this gap in the literature and provide an analysis of destination mobile apps of Romanian counties using a revised framework based on literature review and earlier studies.