The administrative – political function of human settlements and the role it plays in organizing geographical space. Case study – Romania

• Main Author: Radu Săgeată
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Bucharest 2011-05-01
• Series: Human Geographies: Journal of Studies and Research in Human Geography
• Subjects: Human settlements; Political-administrative function; Romania; Territorial-administrative organization
• Online Access: http://humangeographies.org.ro/articles/51/5_1_11_6_sageata.pdf

The functional typology of human settlements is shaped, among others, by their political-administrative function. Its distinctive place is determined by subjective factors, such as the political-administrative decisions, which have changed the course of some settlements to the benefit of others, or reverted them from their normal, natural evolution. That means outside involvement in space organization to the detriment of self-organization, the latter being the outcome of the permanent tendency of territorial systems to rebalance from exogenous factors-induced dysfunctions. Lately, the country’s territorial-administrative organization has been steadily challenged years over the past few based either on the 1925 administrative map, or on the disparities in the structure of the present counties and the economic and social fluxes going on at the local level of the settlements system. In view of the above, we have attempted to work out an optimal model for the administrative organization of Romania’s territory by proceeding from the distance between communal seats and the town towards which they gravitate. The latter’s capacity for discharging an administrative function, and the relations of subordination or competition amongst these towns in also discussed.