URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ROMANIAN SMALL TOWNS IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES AND AUTHORITIES' PERCEPTION.

Perception - an attribute of psychological sciences study - was very much used during the last decades in order to measure the effects of the environmental components changes. The aim of this study is to examine the differences and resemblance between the perceptions of local small towns' communities and those of the local authorities about positive and negative achievements on their settlements sustainable development. Starting from indicators suggested by The United Nation Commission for Sustainable Development we obtained the status of the Romanian small towns' sustainability for each town. Then, we studied people's perception about the four main domains included in UNCSD. Thus, the results show it is widely accepted that the small towns recorded favorable economic issues by developing commercial services, which are the most common, given that economic changes after 1990 which have spurred most entrepreneurship. For the social sector the health care is very well represented in local communities' view followed by education and social assistance. Negative aspects related to social services in small towns show a deep need for the development of cultural institutions and a greater focus on environmental issues and institutions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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