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The quality of urban public space presumes, among other aspects, a balance between quantity, distribution and placement of the outdoor advertising. In Romania, despite existice of legislation regarding the placement of outdoor advertising, there is no correlation with any urban planning legislation, so far. The lack of legislative and operational correlation had as effect for the past two decades an excessive and uncontrolled invasion of outdoor advertising, especially in central urban areas. Based on an interdisciplinary approach, the study focuses on a protected built area, with historical monuments, in which the normative elements are explained through their territorial effects, meaning the impact on the quality of public spaces, of the conservation of heritage, the enhancement of urban landscape, the road safety etc.

The demographic ageing and the decrease of demographic stability are processes determining important challenges for the economies of developed countries. The description and the analysis of spatial - temporal patterns of demographic structures specific for areas of low urban polarizing becomes a priority for durable, balanced, coherent and integrated development of various categories of disfavoured territories. This article tries to describe spatial and temporal patterns of demographic structures, using an analysis of ESDA type (Exploratory Space Data Analysis) for Romania between the last two people census. Using visualizing methods in GIS and using LISA technique, we detected spatial patterns of demographic structures and we emphasized the existence of some clusters and some trends of spatial polarization. The demographic ageing and implicitly the decrease of the rate of young people in territorial demographic structures, represents the main phenomenon being the basis of social and economic disparities, their increase in low polarized areas of urban systems, emphasizing the relations between social and demographic dynamics and regional economic changes.

The emergence and evolution of informal settlements in Romania are the result of a complex of historical and socio-economic factors and of some territorial planning policies dating from the socialist and post-socialist period. The lack of appropriate legislative instruments regarding urban planning, estate restitution and the weak control of the civil engineering department in conjunction with the policy of imposed sedentary life for the Roma population dating from the 50's and 60's generated multiple forms of territorialisation of the informal settlements and pronounced dynamics of this phenomenon at national level. The study shows the housing inequalities regarding the informal settlements in proportion to the place of residence, the access to the technical and urban utilities, the defining elements of the social profile of the inhabitants and the legislative and institutional framework that generated the emergence and the current evolution of this territorial phenomenon.

The current urban morphology and the identity building of the city construction can be designed as a palimpsest; the spatial development stages of urban systems represent the result of their evolution over time. The characteristics of urban palimpsest depend mainly on the emergent factors that influenced the territorial dynamics and the configuration of urban bodies. Urban life and its quality are directly influenced by spatial and temporal factors of the city evolution. For this reason the study aims to achieve a research to explain the concept of urban palimpsest and the current morphology of urban tissue because they are products of landscape transformations along the history. The current knowledge on urban palimpsest characteristics is very important and useful to plan the current and future evolution of urban systems. The case study presents a vast view on the history of spatial development and urban system as well as a dynamics of the landscape interconditioned by the elements of such development in the context of reference historical eras.

Over the post-socialist period, residential mobility processes were very intense and took place on large areas. Flow intensity led to the emergence of new spatial and functional realities and created new relationships within the affected areas. During all this period, Bucharest’s metropolitan area was shaped by the spatial mobility of the city dwellers, as well as by the change of their social and residential aspirations. The majority of those who were registered as movers in Bucharest were actually residents of Bucharest (they only changed their domicile) and the share of people coming to the city from elsewhere has increased constantly over the last decade. Except for the early 1990s, a period when residential legal status was pending clarification, migrations from peri-urban area, especially from Ilfov County, to Bucharest had a low intensity. Situation is quite different in terms of moving out of Bucharest, to the communes and towns of Ilfov County, located in close proximity, which have been continuously increasing values. The correlation between housing stock features (real estate supply) and the demand of new dwellings (emphasized by the residential trajectories) prove both that current mobility flows taking place at this time in Bucharest are segmented based on economic-spatial criteria and that Markov chains are functional.

The emergence of informal settlements in Romania is the result of a mix of factors, including some social and urban planning policies from the communist and post-communist period. Squatting was initially a secondary effect of the relocation process and demolition of housing in communist urban renewal projects, and also a voluntary social and housing policy for the poorest of the same period. Extension and multiple forms of informal settlements and squatting were performed in the post-communist era due to the inappropriate or absence of the legislative tools on urban planning, properties’ restitution and management, weak control of the construction sector. The study analyzes the characteristics and spatial typologies of the informal settlements and squatters in relationship with the political and social framework of these types of housing development.

Urban gentrification is the transformation process of an urban area by social class with high incomes. In territorial profile, can be identified several forms of urban gentrification. After 1989, various industrial restructured areas or residential buildings left unfinished following the withdrawal of financial support from the state housing construction sector went through the process of gentrification. Through its characteristics and specific features, the urban gentrification is a viable solution to improve the quality of urban living.

Housing Quality Index (HQI) is an analysis tool of urban housing and its assessment of the quality. Development of this indicator based on positive or negative impact that present the main statistical indicators of housing variables completes a series of international research in this direction and define the urban areas according to specific quality issues. Statistical analysis, correlated with social research methods and territorial identification of the main failures of housing contributes to the urban zoning areas and establishes the new research directions in the building of index that gives the expected results of all involved in the implementation of appropriate measures to improve the quality of housing conditions.

This study contains a post-adhering to European Union diagnosis of housing conditions. Statistics provided by the European Union Statistics Network, Eurostat, highlight the precariousness of housing quality, the main element of the quality of life. Statistical analysis of main housing quality indicators in the post-adhering period when our country gained the status of EU member indicate major differences between highly developed states and new Member States of this European structure, with particular problems in terms of standards development and thus quality of life.

Thermal rehabilitation of collective housing blocks represent a national priority. The cause is the low level of thermal insulation which results in higher energy consumption. The vast majority of collective housing are built before 1990 they do not comply with thermal and sound insulation, due to the structural degradation over time. Implementation of the rehabilitation program must meet quality standards required by current legislation. Failure to achieve this involves a series of structural problems that arise in the medium and long term.