MULTITEMPORAL ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LANDFORMS AND URBAN EXPANSION. CASE STUDY: CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24193/subbgeogr.2025.2.01Keywords:
urban geomorphology, multitemporal analysis, multidisciplinary approach, Cluj-NapocaAbstract
Given the current trend of urban development in Cluj-Napoca, the growing demand for land, and the expansion of the built-up area, this study aims to analyze the effects of urban development on landforms, while also establishing their functionality in an urban context. A multitemporal and multidisciplinary approach is essential for understanding the dynamics between relief and urban expansion, combining data from geomorphology, history, and urban planning. Field research is fundamental to this study for observations and direct verification of data. The analysis method exploits the principles of data overlay and spatial analysis using GIS (Geographic Information System). The starting point was the premise that within the urban area, the dynamics of the relief and/or the evolution of the geomorphological landscape are strongly influenced by anthropogenic action. The multidisciplinary integration of data facilitated the recognition and reconstruction of geological and geomorphological characteristics and changes in the function of the relief during urban expansion and the reconfiguration of land use: areas that were previously classified as unsuitable for construction and delimited as extra-urban, used mainly for agriculture, are now revalued as buildable land as a result of pressure from urban expansion. In other words, land is undergoing a process of functional reevaluation, in which the values and roles of landforms are reinterpreted according to the needs of urban development.
References
1. Anhert, F. (1998), Introduction to Geomorphology, Wiley, London, 352 p.
2. Barbu L., Szenkovits M. (2009) Reabilitatea ecologică a canalului Morii din Cluj-Napoca. Proiect de mediu, EcoTerra (Journal of Environmental Research and Protection), Vol 22, Issue 22.
3. Brandolini, P., Faccini, F., Paliaga, G., and Piana, P. (2018), Man-Made landforms survey and mapping of an urban historical centre in a coastal Mediterranean environment, Geografia Fisica e Dinamica Quaternaria, DOI: https://doi.org/10.4461/GFDQ.2018.41.2
4. Cooke, R.U. (1976) Urban geomorphology, Geographical Journal, 142, p. 59–65.
5. Cotes D. (1976), Geomorphology and Engineering, 1st Edition, Routledge.
6. Del Monte, M.; D’Orefice, M.; Luberti, G.M.; Marini, R.; Pica, A.; Vergari, F. (2016), Geomorphological classification of urban landscapes: The case study of Rome (Italy). Journal of Maps, 12, p. 178–189, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2016.1187977
7. Douglas I. (2016), Cities: Environmental History, IB Tauris, London, 320 p.
8. Geological Institute of Romania (1968), Harta Geologică a României scara 1: 200 000, https://geo-spatial.org/vechi/download/harta-geologica-a-romaniei-scara-1:200.000
9. Lukács, J. (2005), Povestea orașului-comoară. Scurtă istorie a Clujului și monumentelor sale, Apostrof, Cluj-Napoca.
10. Łajczak, A., Zarychta, R. (2024), Kraków—Anthropogenic Changes in the Relief of a Large City, in Migoń, P., Jancewicz, K. (eds.) Landscapes and Landforms of Poland. World Geomorphological Landscapes, Springer, Cham, p. 403-420, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45762-3_23
11. Łajczak, A., Zarychta, R., Wałek, G. (2021), Changes in the topography of Krakow city centre, Poland, during the last millennium, Journal of Maps, 17 (6), https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2020.1823253.
12. Luberti, G.M., Vergari, F., Pica, A., Del Monte, M. (2019), Estimation of the thickness of anthropogenic deposits in historical urban centres: An interdisciplinary methodology applied to Rome (Italy), Holocene, 29, p. 158–172, https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683618804630.
13. Marat, A.R., Tămaş, T., Samşudean, C., Gheorghiu, R. (2022), Physico-mechanical and mineralogical investigations of red bed slopes (Cluj-Napoca, Romania), Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment, 81, art. 78, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-021-02542-6
14. Morariu T. (1957), Evoluția urbanizării în orașul Cluj, Studia Napocensis, Tom II.
15. Morariu, T., Mac, I. (1967), Regionarea geomorfologică a teritoriului orasului Cluj-Napoca și împrejurimilor, Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai, seria Geologia-Geografia.
16. Mozzi P., Fontana A., Ferrarese F., Ninfo A., Campana S., Francese R., (2015), The Roman City of Altinum, Venice Lagoon, from Remote Sensing and Geophysical Prospection, Archaeological Prospection, 23, p. 27–44, https://doi.org/10.1002/arp.1520
17. Pratesi F., Tapete D., Chiara Del Ventisette, Moretti S. (2016), Mapping interactions between geology, subsurface resource exploitation and urban development in transforming cities using InSAR Persistent Scatterers: Two decades of change in Florence, Italy, Applied Geography, Vol. 77, p. 20-37, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2016.09.017.
18. Petrus, J.M., Ruiz, M., Estrany, J. (2018), Interactions between Geomorphology and Urban Evolution Since Neolithic Times in a Mediterranean City, in Thornbush, M.J. and Allen, C.D. (eds.) Urban Geomorphology, Elsevier, Amsterdam, p. 9–35, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-811951-8.00002-3
19. Primaria Municipiului Cluj-Napoca (2011), Memoriu General al Planului Urbanistic General. https://files.primariaclujnapoca.ro/2024/07/01/141218_MEMORIU-GENERAL_PUGCJ.
20. Pop, V. (2010), Studiul general privind evoluţia istorică a ţesutului urban al oraşului Cluj-Napoca, UTCN, Cluj-Napoca
21. Szabó, J. (2010), Anthropogenic Geomorphology: Subject and System, in Szabó, J., Dávid, L., and Lóczy, D. (eds) Anthropogenic Geomorphology, Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3058-0_
22. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2018), Revision of the World Urbanization Prospects. https://population.un.org/wup/publications/Files/WUP2018-Report.pdf. (last accessed on 10 February 2024).
23. Urban Atlas Land Cover/Land Use (2018), https://land.copernicus.eu/en/products/urban-atlas (last accessed on 20 February 2025).
24. Vergari, F., Pica, A., Brandolini, P., Melelli, L., & Del Monte, M. (2022), Geomorphological classification of the landscape in urban areas: hints from some study cases in Italy, Rendiconti online della Società Geologica Italiana, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3301/ROL.2022.092.
25. Viles H. A., Thomas D. S. G., Allison R. I. (1993), The environmental sensitivity of blistering of limestone walls in Oxford, England: a preliminary study, Landscape Sensitivity, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester.
26. Vîjdea A., Cociuba I. (2013), Descrierea geohazardelor pentru Cluj-Napoca, PanGeo D7.1.33. http://www.pangeoproject.eu/pdfs/locale/cluj_napoca/Geohazard-Description-cluj_napoca (last accessed 2 June 2024).
27. Zwoliński, Z., Hildebrandt-Radke, I., Mazurek, M., Makohonienko M. (2018), Anthropogeomorphological Metamorphosis of an Urban Area in the Post Glacial Landscape: A Case Study of Poznań City, in Thornbush, M.J. and Allen, C.D. (eds.) Urban Geomorphology, Elsevier, Amsterdam, p. 55-77, DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-811951-8.00004-7
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Geographia
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
©Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai Geographia. Published by Babeș-Bolyai University.
