COSTELA IORDACHE, CRISTINA ŞOŞEA, Spaţiile verzi urbane din Regiunea de Dezvoltare Sud-Vest Oltenia: tipologie şi dinamică (Urban green spaces in the South-West Oltenia Development Region: typology and dynamics)

COSTELA IORDACHE
Conferenţiar universitar doctor, Universitatea din Craiova, Facultatea de Ştiinţe, Departamenul de Geografie,
E-mail: costelaiordache@yahoo.com

CRISTINA ŞOŞEA
Lector universitar doctor, Universitatea din Craiova, Facultatea de Ştiinţe, Departamentul de Geografie,
E-mail: cristinavmara@yahoo.com

Abstract
The purpose of this article is to analyze the quantitative aspects of the green spaces in the urban environment of the South-West Oltenia Development Region. In order to accomplish this study, we used statistical data at the level of urban-administrative territorial units taken from the National Institute of Statistics, data from the online TEMPO database. The data refer to the surface of green spaces, the urban area and the population by residence in municipalities and cities. The following quantitative indices have been analyzed and calculated: the size of the area of the green and the urban area, the share of the green spaces in the urban area, the area of green space per inhabitant. The analysis covered a period of 22 years, having as reference the years 1993 and 2015. The study is part of a quantitative approach of exploratory type, the research requiring the use of a complex methodology: documentary analysis, secondary analysis of quantitative data, comparison, synthesis, statistical-mathematical and geographical methods. In the studied urban area, the green spaces occupy an area of 2,437 ha (representing 9.5% of the national total) with significant differences at county level: while Dolj county has 1,241 ha (3rd place in the national hierarchy), Gorj county with only 152 ha occupiesthe antepenest position. In the context of a regressive regional dynamics (2.3 percentage points), we observed that green spaces have increased where intravilan has expanded and incorporated significant areas of green areas, while constraints/disappearances are a cause of parks and squares deforestation. It is worth mentioning that green space per inhabitant is 22.1 m²/inh. at the level of the urban settlements in Oltenia and 34 m²/inh. in Craiova, thus placing the capital of the region in the third place among the county residences.

Keywords
green spaces, dynamics, county, Oltenia