Cristina Lincaru (p), Speranța Pîrciog, Adriana Grigorescu, Cristina Stroe

Laura Iacob

Under the Agenda 2030 is world wide assumed the GOAL 11: SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Among its 10 targes and 15 indicators there is the target and indicator 11.2 that states: „By 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons”. (United Nations, 2015)
Data provided by Eurostat, for 35 Romanian cities with GISCO shapefile for both Cities and Functional Urban Area (FUA): Population structure - cities and greater cities (urb_cpopstr) and Population structure - functional urban areas (urb_lpopstr).
Method Similarity search in Arc Gis – based on averaged Attributes of Interest values.
Period 2013-2018.
Cities and Functional Urban Area (FUA) are mapped using GISCO shapefiles. FUA is a tool created by OECD and Eurostat based on (Dijkstra et al., 2019; Nivard, 2012)
We explore the characteristics of the Urban audit indicator [DE1058I] Age dependency ratio (population aged 0-19 and 65 and more to population aged 20-64) [DE1059I] Young-age dependency ratio (population aged 0-19 to population 20-64 years) [DE1060I] Old age dependency ratio (population 65 and over to population 20 to 64 years).
The results are maps in Arc Gis that illustrate the similarities among the Romanian cities by their population structure. Classification by the “Age” if the Romanian cities allow better design the space based policies according their specific functional demand.

Laura Iacob (p), Iuliana Parvu

Cristina Lincaru

Education is not only the most powerful factor of social change, it is the main factor that drives and fuels sustainable development. The educational system has evolved, in the direction of using new technologies, since the presentations Power-Point on complex e-learning systems. Online programs dedicated to learning or testing pupils and students are working tools, more and more popular especially in and after the pandemic’s times. In this paperwork we debated the issue related to the question if the occupants/citizens of the city- Constanta City, in our case study- that wants to be smart have the necessary education to allow them to develop, manage and live in this city. If the European Commission explains the smart city concept as ‘a place where traditional networks and services are made more efficient with the use of digital solutions for the benefit of its inhabitants and business’, in our opinion it is necessary that the occupants must be trained and informed to be smart citizens in a smart city. From this point of view, before and during the implementation of the measures for a smart city, it is necessary to educate the population from this perspective. The digital transformation is calling, also, for a workforce prepared to develop novel business processes. The development of the so-called STEM curriculum, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics is being given a lot of attention by educational boards in response to preparing young generations for the Smart City work market. Problem-solving, critical and analytical thinking are the main competences completed with IT skills that the labor market demands. Based on a questionnaire we identified some problems revealed by Constanta citizens regarding the implementation of the project SMART CT.

Cristina Lincaru (p), Adriana Grigorescu, Speranța Pîrciog, Gabriela Tudose

Danai Toursoglou Papalexandridou

Under Agenda 2030, worldwide assumed GOAL 11: SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. (United Nations, 2015) Exploring the European policies thesaurus with SDG Mapper in view to find insights European Regions Research and Innovation Network (ERRIN) launched on January 2023 a new EU Mechanism: The Talent Booster Mechanism (TBM). TBM is presented in the Communication on Harnessing Talent in Europe's Regions ((COM 2023), 32 final) and is the first key initiative in 2023 contributing to the European Year of Skills proposed by the Commission. "This Communication focuses on regions facing a related set of challenges: a sharp working age population decline in combination with a low and stagnating share of people with a tertiary education as well as regions experiencing a significant departure of young people".
Data provided by Eurostat for 35 Romanian cities with GISCO shapefile for Cities: Education - cities and more fabulous cities [URB_CEDUC]
Method Similarity search in Arc Gis – based on averaged Attributes of Interest values.
Period 2015-2018.
Cities are mapped using GISCO shapefiles. FUA is a tool created by OECD and Eurostat based on (Dijkstra et al., 2019; Nivard, 2012)
We explore the characteristics of the Urban audit indicator [TE1026V] Students in higher education (ISCED level 5-8 from 2014 onwards), total, and by sex [TE1027V] Students in higher education (ISCED level 5-8 from 2014 onwards), male [TE1028V] Students in higher education (ISCED level 5-8 from 2014 onwards), female. The criteria to retain youth is given by the Urban audit indicator's characteristic [TE1001V] Number of children 0-4 in daycare or school.
The maps in Arc Gis illustrate the similarities among the Romanian cities by their capacity to attract talent and retain talent.

Adina Trandafir (p)

Sustainable finance is a concept that refers not only to environmental problems, but also to social objectives such as those social goals included in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Summarizing, it refers to societal impact. In literature, this term - societal impact – is used with the meaning of social, environmental, medical or cultural impact (Rizzi F. et al., 2018; EVPA Report, 2017).
The current challenges regarding the future development of the social finance market refer to the opacity of its conceptual bases. For this reason, this article aims, among others things, to clarify the basic concepts and instruments of social finance and their continuously developing market, analyzing the literature in the field. Thus, first of all, we analyze the structuration processes that take place in social finance and the institutional actors involved. Also, a conceptual delimitation of social investments and the way in which they are selected is necessary.
Last but not least, reviewing the literature, this article addresses to the analysis of the financial instruments (FI) used on the social finance market and their impact, also addressing the issue of the usefulness of tailored finance of a social purpose organization.
Regarding the experience on the social finance market in Romania, this article aims a static and dynamic analysis of the financial instruments used, as well as of the entities in the Romanian social economy, proposing solutions to improve public policies in terms of sustainable finance and social economy from our country.

Danai Toursoglou (p), Ioannis Chinis, Christina Kakderi

Adina Trandafir

The COVID-19 pandemic had widespread socio-economic impacts, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable communities. The pandemic worked as a catalyst for collective action driven by new or existing community initiatives. As we enter the post-pandemic era, many of these initiatives are expanding their action as local, mutual-aid networks, helping communities pool their resources and become more resilient. We examine an array of such initiatives in two case studies—Boston, USA, and Medellín, Colombia. Our aim is to identify shared qualities of community initiatives that support their flexibility of action in the face of disruption, contribute to community resilience, and enable transformative change.
The information analyzed is based on more than twenty interviews with participants and organizers, realized in the two case studies, revealing multiple aspects of the initiatives and their processes. We analyze different aspects of these initiatives including their size; thematic focus; organizational structure; level of resilience; area of operation; the beneficiary population; the use of digital tools as enablers and means of communication; as well as connections with other initiatives and institutions. The initiatives are then categorized according to their characteristics, and their timeline of action is correlated with threats and transformations observed locally and globally, to identify interconnections among types of community action and resilience capacity.