Mission
The centre, affiliated to the Faculty of Geography in Babeş-Bolyai University, has the mission to develop and implement specific research programmes focused on capitalizing the development of territorial identities within an inter- and multidisciplinary system. This will be achieved by analysing the dynamics of identity structures, with a highly strategic impact for development at various levels (local, regional, national, international), and through wide applications in the process of spatial-functional reintegration and regeneration of inhabited areas.
Objectives
The main objectives of the Territorial Identities and Development Research Centre (TIDRC) are:
a) Investigating the structures and relations of territorial synthesis that define the brand identity elements;
b) Achieving of interdisciplinary operational research programmes based on methods and techniques of integrated analysis of territorial elements;
c) Developing the capacity to identify and attract national / international sources of financing and capitalization of cooperation with other specific institutions and local public authorities;
d) The complex inventory of the territorial systems in order to achieve the prospective diagnoses and to substantiate the sustainable development processes;
e) Efficient development of activities performed by multidisciplinary teams from which students, professors, and researchers, as well as the local, regional and national public authorities will benefit;
f) The ongoing development of the academic research potential of the group and the harmonization of the approached topics with the current research based on up-to-date principles of analysis;
g) Organising specific courses, interactive training, internship programmes and providing consultancy / expertise in various fields (Geography, Sociology, Anthropology, Architecture, History, Economics, Administrative Sciences, Landscaping, Urban Planning, Tourism, Tourism Development, etc.);
h) Organising scientific events along the process of catalysing interdisciplinary cooperation and promotion of the centre research activity;
i) Dissemination of the research activity results by: conferences / symposia / workshops, conference proceedings, books published by prestigious publishing houses, national and international specific journals (WoS Clarivate Analythics, IDB or B+ indexed), etc.
Research directions
The research programme carried out within the Territorial Identities and Development Research Centre (TIDRC) aims at the following main directions:
a) Territorial identity and community development (rural and urban);
b) Territorial identity and local development;
c) Territorial identity and spatial planning;
d) Territorial identity and public policies;
e) Territorial identity and collective mentalities;
f) Territorial versus identity imaginations;
g) Landscape regeneration and urban functional rehabilitation;
h) Identity heritage assessment and responsible resource management;
i) Preservation / promotion of local identity values and regional development;
j) Development of interdisciplinary analysis models for the study of territorial identities;
k) Creative architecture and the identity of urban public spaces;
l) Tourism development by brand identity research;
m) Territorial reconversion and spatial-functional reintegration;
n) Territorial identity and anomic phenomena;
o) Representations of territorial identity and development: discourses, images, practices;
p) Capitalisation of gender identity in restructuring the cultural borders and landscapes;
r) Intercultural communication and personal space (Environmental Psychology) at the interface between territoriality and identity;
s) Representing the e-identity mechanism within virtual territoriality;
t) Research methodology for the study of territorial identity.