– The current development of the European Union is based on the cohesion policy which focuses on ... more – The current development of the European Union is based on the cohesion policy which focuses on the attenuation of regional disparities. For this purpose, the idea of growth poles emerged in Romania, and its role became more than familiar: the determination of an internal socioeconomic cohesion. Polycentrism becomes a concept of territorial planning increasingly promoted. Development of growth poles aims to reduce the attraction force of large centres and to balance the location of activities generating functions across a territory. This was the idea that led to the formation of Iaşi Metropolitan Area, territorial unit that is intended to be the main regional centre of the NorthEast Region, thus polarizing the surrounding areas. Iaşi Growth Pole objectives are represented by economic competitiveness, the development of regional connectivity and the promotion of regional cooperation. One of the major assets of the growth pole in achieving these goals is the cross-border position near the eastern border of the European Union. This paper examines to what extent Iași Growth Pole can rise to the required standards, while the peripheral position seems to be rather a disadvantage and the uncertain functionality of the metropolitan area shows that the main problem remains the reduced economic competitiveness. INTRODUCTION All research confirms the high degree of concentration of human and material resources in some parts of Europe, while other areas are considered as being peripheral, becoming less attractive for the population and economic activities. This was the starting point of the European goal of reducing regional disparities materialized by adopting the cohesion policy. In general, in the early stages of economic development at the national level, the existence of inequalities in regional development is normal, because of a lack of coordination of development policies promoted at regional and national level. Over time, regional disparities are reduced due to increased free movement of production factors inside the regions and at interregional level. According to other authors, in countries with a lower level of development, the state intervention in the economy, by making public investments in more developed regions, leads initially to increased interregional disparities and, in the long term, as a result of foreign investments attracted in these regions and the effect of spreading the wealth, the regional disparities are reduced sharply. Long tradition in the centralized organization led to favouring certain areas in terms of concentration of resources and foreign investment. In Romania, such area is the area of the capital, which has always enjoyed the most favourable opportunities particularly economically. To restore a territorial balance several solutions were used. The decentralization adopted to reduce regional disparities has proven to be among the most easily applied. Anticipating the role that it should have, economic and social cohesion in the European area caused the promotion of polycentrism as a basic principle in spatial planning. This led to the conclusion that growth poles can help to improve competitiveness and territorial cohesion both in the EU and in each individual Member State.
– The current development of the European Union is based on the cohesion policy which focuses on ... more – The current development of the European Union is based on the cohesion policy which focuses on the attenuation of regional disparities. For this purpose, the idea of growth poles emerged in Romania, and its role became more than familiar: the determination of an internal socioeconomic cohesion. Polycentrism becomes a concept of territorial planning increasingly promoted. Development of growth poles aims to reduce the attraction force of large centres and to balance the location of activities generating functions across a territory. This was the idea that led to the formation of Iaşi Metropolitan Area, territorial unit that is intended to be the main regional centre of the NorthEast Region, thus polarizing the surrounding areas. Iaşi Growth Pole objectives are represented by economic competitiveness, the development of regional connectivity and the promotion of regional cooperation. One of the major assets of the growth pole in achieving these goals is the cross-border position near the eastern border of the European Union. This paper examines to what extent Iași Growth Pole can rise to the required standards, while the peripheral position seems to be rather a disadvantage and the uncertain functionality of the metropolitan area shows that the main problem remains the reduced economic competitiveness. INTRODUCTION All research confirms the high degree of concentration of human and material resources in some parts of Europe, while other areas are considered as being peripheral, becoming less attractive for the population and economic activities. This was the starting point of the European goal of reducing regional disparities materialized by adopting the cohesion policy. In general, in the early stages of economic development at the national level, the existence of inequalities in regional development is normal, because of a lack of coordination of development policies promoted at regional and national level. Over time, regional disparities are reduced due to increased free movement of production factors inside the regions and at interregional level. According to other authors, in countries with a lower level of development, the state intervention in the economy, by making public investments in more developed regions, leads initially to increased interregional disparities and, in the long term, as a result of foreign investments attracted in these regions and the effect of spreading the wealth, the regional disparities are reduced sharply. Long tradition in the centralized organization led to favouring certain areas in terms of concentration of resources and foreign investment. In Romania, such area is the area of the capital, which has always enjoyed the most favourable opportunities particularly economically. To restore a territorial balance several solutions were used. The decentralization adopted to reduce regional disparities has proven to be among the most easily applied. Anticipating the role that it should have, economic and social cohesion in the European area caused the promotion of polycentrism as a basic principle in spatial planning. This led to the conclusion that growth poles can help to improve competitiveness and territorial cohesion both in the EU and in each individual Member State.
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Papers by Claudiu Sulea