The Evolution of Regional Disparities in the Rural Areas of Muscelele Argeşului

• Main Author: CĂTĂLINA CÂRSTEA
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cluj University Press 2012-01-01
• Series: Romanian Review of Regional Studies
• Subjects: Rural area; Local disparities; Underdeveloped areas; Disadvantaged areas; Entrepreneurial activities
• Online Access: http://rrrs.reviste.ubbcluj.ro/arhive/Artpdf/v8n12012/RRRS801201206.pdf

Regional disparities are clearly a significant challenge to the new European construction. Disparities are often sources of instability but are also sources of antagonism and unrest. In the case of Muscelele Argeşului, in the past, it was a unitary area in terms of economic and social development, the two Middle Ages royal capitals keeping the balance of this area. After the 50s, the situation changed radically and the uneven development of the towns and villages began to widen. Some villages were collectivized; others were industrialized, while a third category was simply omitted from the development plans. As a consequence, development disparities evolved and became common during the 80s. After 1992, around the towns of Curtea de Argeş and Câmpulung, two relatively more developed regions emerged, while regions in the north and central part of the area were disadvantaged. Beginning with 2002, we are witnessing a reduction of disparities because the underdeveloped areas are increasing and incorporate previously developed areas. The area is starting to become a huge underdeveloped area and some of the main factors that led to this situation are the decay of the two poles of regional development and the closing of the coal mines. Today, the entire area is experiencing a rebirth and the entrepreneurial activities are playing an important role. The huge number of small hotels and accommodation establishments constructed in the west part of the area in the last five years, coupled with several investment projects in Curtea de Argeş, has led to the increased regional importance of the town to the expense of Câmpulung. In the meantime, former mining centres that where the engines of growth for the region became rather underdeveloped. The main cause of this is the fact that the region does not have perspectives and lacks the much needed entrepreneurial activities.