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People - Environment Studies in
Romania[1]
Corina Ilin
1 The People – Environment group which contributed to this study consists of Andrei Alexandrov,
Laura Anghel, Delia Ceuca, Delia Ciotău, Ioana Unda Crişan, Anca Dăneasă, Adela Deaconu, Dragoş
Dubină, Adina Dumitru, Ildiko Erdei, Claudia Fehrer, Delia Ilie, Florin Lobonţ, Anda Maier, Laurenţiu
Maricuţoiu, Mihai Silvestru, Luminiţa Socaci, Sorina Voiculescu, Cătălina Zaborilă (along with the
authors of this synthesis)
English translation by Aleksandra Maletici and Ana-Maria Sperneac
1
Corina Ilin
West University of Timişoara,
Faculty of Sociology and Psychology,
Psychology Department
and
the Centre for Psychological Studies and Research from Timişoara, Romania,
e-mail: [email protected]
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Summary
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Keywords:
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Sociological Research in Romania – People – Environment Studies
Sociological research in Romania, has a longer history and continuity than
psychological research. That is why sociological research represents an
important information source and it proves very useful for the environmental
research as well.
The information they provide is represented by data collected from both
rural and urban environment.
Ever since the beginning of the century sociological testing has responded
to the need of scientific knowledge of the Romanian society values, spirit
and forms of manifestation.
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Sociological Research in Romania: People – Environment Studies
Scientific sources of information that precede Environmental Psychology
can be found at the crossing line between Psychology and Sociology.
Sociological research is one of a great importance. Studies do not refer
only to general, macro-social aspects, but, even in the past (for example V.
Manuilă – study on the quality of live in the urban environment – 1939), and
especially during the post communist era, they focused on particular spatial
and psychological aspects, as well as on the relation between them, using
qualitative methods as well.
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Sociological Research in Romania – People – Environment Studies
The post communist period is still characterized by a great methodological
diversity and mostly the usage of qualitative methods, but also by the
improvement of some quantitative indicators. Another particularity of this
period is the approach of research themes which have undergone
censorship and self-censorship in the past.
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Sociological Research in Romania – People – Environment Studies
Abraham (1991; 2000) presents the rich history of the Romanian
sociological research in the twentieth century.
The first studies were rural monographs (on the agriculture situation) in
administrative areas (counties), as the ones developed by Ion Ionescu and
by Brad at the beginning of the century. After the phase of regional
research, sociologists focused on community study. Regional social maps
were being developed. This maps presented particular development
patterns and they were meant to reflect the main social changes that the
country underwent at a given time (Abraham, 2000).
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Sociological Research in Romania – People – Environment Studies
The monographic method was perfected during the first four decades of the
last century. The Bucharest Sociological School has conducted intense
research of the rural community, especially between 1925 and 1935. By the
end of the first decade and in the first years after the war, sociologists
promoted the idea of overcoming the excessively descriptive approach.
Thus, a shift appeared from studying a community to studying a key
problem, an acute phenomena (for example: the depopulation of Banat;
Grofşoreanu, Botiş, Nemoianu, 1938) or to comparative studies between
villages (A. Golopenţia, 1939).
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Sociological Research in Romania – People – Environment Studies
The publications of The Bucharest Sociological School, included in The
Romanian Sociology Review and in the Archive, present studies which
focused on:
 migration towards the city,
 modernization of Romania’s rural areas
Venturia Manuilă realized the first study on families in the urban area in 1939.
Poverty and family crisis in a peripheral neighborhood of Bucharest is also
analyzed, emphasizing living in conditions of high population density.
In 1940 „The Sociologic Atlas of Romania” was initiated.
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Sociological Research in Romania – People – Environment Studies
Sociologists’ research work continued in the communist period as well, but
they encountered many difficulties because of the regime. Many
sociologists were arrested and some of them, such as the case of Dimitrie
Gusti, died in jail.
The 60s meant the development of the studies concerning the city, which
mainly focused on determining the characteristics of the urban way of life
as well as on the complex analysis of the local urbanization process, etc
(Abraham, 1991).
The research of Cincinat Sfinţescu on territorial systematization has drawn
the attention on Romania’s cities ever since 1929. From a geographical
point of view, the study of the urban phenomena in between the two World
Wars, emphasized the territorial mobility of the population (Mihăilescu,V.,
Tufescu,V.).
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Sociological Research in Romania: People – Environment Studies
The books that were published in the communist period avoided subjects as:
- demolition of historical buildings,
- the discomfort of living in blocks,
- isolation,
- the reduced possibility of moving or traveling,
- the lack of intimacy,
- poverty.
The books contained general theoretical aspects in a neutral or optimistic
approach, avoiding the subjects that would have led to the awareness of
the disasters generated by the communist politics.
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Sociological Research in Romania: People – Environment Studies
But to present only a partial image of the reality or to hide some truths is for
sure not in the best interest of science. Studies do not focus on the
psychological effects of the forced or abusive changes which led to the
violation of human rights.
Professor’s Cucu V. book, entitled Geography and Urbanization (1976) is a
study on the characteristics of the Romanian urban areas network in
connection with the general urbanization evolution. It focuses on:
- the living setting,
- the recreation setting,
- pollution,
- the future of the city.
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Sociological Research in Romania: People – Environment Studies
Between 1991-1994, within the Center of Urban and Regional Sociology
(CURS), an annual research was initiated and it led to the publication of
The Romanian Social Atlas.
Among other information, the Atlas also contains information related to the
way of living, mentality, and values, etc. after 1989; rapid changes took
place in the post-communist period. We could talk about a new social
space or a new social structure. Although research made use of new and
ingenious techniques, they were not able to offer a synthetic image.
Among the indicators that we are interested in (Abraham, 2000) we
mention here:
- professional mobility;
- social marginalization or exclusion;
- integration or participation in the development of the market economy.
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Sociological Research in Romania: People – Environment Studies
These are the studies at a macro level. The information they bring
represents a referential background for our research.
After 1989 we have hoped for extended publications on the themes that
had been censored. Un-censored books written by Romanian authors have
been published, but they did not have an immediate and powerful influence
on social sciences right after 1989.
This fact could find an explanation in the coexistence of self – censorship
during the communist period. After many years of submission, Romanians
must have left out of their conversations certain subjects. Maybe the
identity of people has been affected after so many years of behavior
duplicity according to the space: public or private. These are subjects of
great importance and we must learn about them in order to produce a
positive social change.
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Sociological Research in Romania: People – Environment Studies
Studies from the post communist period reveal a society more preoccupied
with daily survival issues than with ahead planning or including in their
plans the quality of life or the concern for environmental protection.
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Sociological Research in Romania: People – Environment Studies
We will refer now to some of the studies developed after 1989.
I.Nicolau, I. Popescu - A random street from Bucharest, describe the social
changes that took place along the years on a street from Bucharest.
The hypothesis were presented at the French-Romanian City Ethnology
Workshop. The book contains extended field investigations, interviews,
architectural changes, changes in the quality of life as well as changes in
people’s reference to property. This type of research, in which the
investigator steps in the field in order to get closer to the reality he’s
studying is more likely to present more accurately the way that people
perceive reality. We may refer to poverty from the point of view of the
statistics, but the particularities of the disadvantaged area have their own
unique history.
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Sociological Research in Romania – People – Environment Studies
Ogrezeanu has published an article on the slums of Bucharest – The
Slums of Bucharest – a pace of Urban Change) Romanian Journal of
Society and Politics, Vol. 2, Nr.1, May 2002.
The Romanian term “Mahler” has a different meaning than the English word
Slums. If we analyze the evolution of this term (term that is related to the
space) across the years we will see that it grew on a deprecating meaning.
Its initial meaning was referring to a peripheral area of the city. It is a study
about urban change in the last century, a reconstruction of the history of the
social transformation. The examination focuses on the locals’ attitudes
towards the cultural and the symbolic slum.
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Sociological Research in Romania – People – Environment Studies
Another important study of urban ethnology has been published by V.
Mihăilescu in The Social Research Review. This article presents a small
scale analysis on the standardization and systematization of the urban
living space. It is the space of the block of flats, where individuals, forced by
the context to leave in community, develop social networks or differentiation
behaviors. The study presents the importance of territoriality in the
Communist period.
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Sociological Research in Romania: People – Environment Studies
RESEARCH INSTITUTE REGARDING LIFE QUALITY was set up in 1990
by the Romanian Academy and the National Institute of Economic
Research.
Due to the research activities and to the achieved results, the institute
reached public awareness.
Starting 1990, the institute publishes The Diagnosis of Life Quality in
Romania annualy and makes the evaluation of social policies adopted in
our country during the transition.
It investigates and offers alternative solutions for the main socioeconomical problems of nowadays Romania, by doing some empirical
research, on national, local or district samples.
It edits books, studies, journals, booklets, research reports and offers
counselling activity in the field.
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Sociological Research in Romania: People – Environment Studies
The institute’s research activities are structured on five main dimensions, as
follows:
1. the quality of life,
2. social policies,
3. disadvantaged groups,
4. human and communality development,
5. inter-ethnical relations, social values.
1. Life quality – regards observing the main dimensions of life quality in
nowadays Romania.
2. Social policies – regard the way that social policy projects elaborated in
Romania reach the European Integration criteria and the requires
concerning the economic reform in Romania.
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Sociological Research in Romania – People – Environment Studies
3. Disadvantaged groups – it is an investigation of the socio-economic
issues concerning disfavoured groups, elder people and gipsies.
4. Human and communality development – studies the evolution
regarding the communality development field from our country. It
supervises the evolution of the population perceptions regarding the quality
of social and public local services.
5. Inter-ethnical relations – analyses some qualitative dimensions of the
inter-ethnical relations; it observes the way people obey the human rights
and the public liberties in Romania; analyses the changes happened during
transition, and regarding mentalities, and perceptions of different social
categories living in Romania, as well as citizens’ rights and liberties.
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Sociological Research in Romania: People – Environment Studies
6. Social values – analyses the population values which are fundamental
for the functioning of the society as a whole. On one hand, RILQ is the
Romanian partner of the European Values Survey, as it is implied in
general social values research of the Romanians, from a comparative point
of view to the rest of the Europeans. On the other hand, RILQ is being
interested in values concerning the democratic system. In present, the
institute is working on another important comparative study on democracy
values regarding the European countries, set up by RILQ in Romania, in
2001.
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Sociological Research in Romania: People – Environment Studies
The Institute regarding Life Quality is also working on a Ph D program
concerned with social policies - in partnership with The University of
Bucharest.
Ever since the foundation year, the Institute regarding Life Quality Research
edits The Journal of Life Quality – Journal of Social Policies every three
months, along with the series of research reports entitled „Social Policies”
and „Life Quality”. Many well known books have come out under the aegis
of some research groups belonging to ILQ.
There can be found a Research Centre regarding the social policies and the
life quality field, as well as a specialized library.
There can be also found a socio-economical and sociological data base very
well technically equipped for data and information analysis, processing,
presentation and communication.
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CSCPT - Centre for Psychological Studies and Research - is a scientific
research unit of high performance in the field of psychology for the
research of social behavior.
The main aims of the CSCPT are: fundamental and applicative research in
the field of psychology, and training specialists in the field of applied
psychology.
The department also aims to contribute to the Western Romanian area
development, playing an active role in the reciprocal transfer of knowledge
between the Faculty of Sociology and Psychology and diverse
organizations, local, regional, national and international institutions through
fundamental and applicative research.
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We could mention here some of the research themes that our Environmental
group is working on.
Psychology research unit is interested in:
- pollution caused by industrialization,
- overexploitation of resources,
- authorities’ disregard towards the citizen
- citizen mutual lack of trust (with repercussions on the environment and on
the reference to the public wealth),
- effects of migration,
- territorial immobility,
- commutation.
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Psychology research unit is interested in:
- the poor quality of life in the city,
- the canyon phenomena,
- pollution due to traffic,
- the destruction of green spaces,
- the abuse of public domain,
- the narrow living space,
- lack of intimacy,
- buildings demolition
- psychological effects of nationalization
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I.
This is what our group can do
I. Changes regarding space, the way it is perceived and transformed,
during the recent history of the ex-communist Eastern Europe countries.
The main direction: Environmental Psychology and totalitarianism.
Changes regarding physical, social (institutional and organizational, in
particular), ambient, architectural, geographical environment and the way
one relates to these aspects, the relations between them, the human
behaviour and the experience of relating to these environments during
totalitarianism.
Psychologically speaking, we should take into account a certain division
into periods, according to the social changes. We can speak about major
social changes: the one before 1947, the period before 1990 and the period
after 1990. We will also take into account the issue of the
environment’s present and future in Romania, of the human made changes
and of the environment’s effects upon human psychic.
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II. Our group would like to have an activity focused on a social (regarding
social applicability and utility) objective, that is why we considered the
following directions (the themes of these major directions) as being of great
interest for us, on short and medium term:
Mentality research regarding relating to the others ( who are similar or
represent the authority), a considerable part coming out of this is
considered to be the relating to the environment. We consider that the way
we relate to the environment can be explained by:
1.
the way we relate to other people (public area – private area)
2.
the way we relate to the nature and to the resources. All these are
based on implicit and explicit social norms which belong to the tradition or
to historical evolutions
Mentality research regarding oneself and existence
consequences upon the relations with the environment.
and the
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III. Pro-environmental education
We would like to point out some aspects of great social interest:
- natural disasters and the way the Romanians relate to these;
- industrialisation effects;
- volunteers and children;
- information regarding social aspects for the society, the scientific
community, media, NGOs.
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ABOUT US
Mission
Objective
Direction of action
The research member
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MISSION
Setting up an Environmental Psychology excellency centre
in Timişoara
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OBJECTIVES
- the facilitation of communication among the experts
concerned of the relation between people and their
physical environment
- stimulating the research and inovation considering the
development of life conditions
- promoting the integration of research, education,
politics and practice in the environmental domain
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ACTIVITY
RESEARCH
The consequences of the communist system
Living places – flats
Public area vs. private area
Living area
The attachment to the place
The effects of the industrialization – case studies
The city
Human needs in architecture
Homeless children
The cognitive map
Pro-environmental attitudes
Attitude towards disaster
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WHO WE ARE
24 persons
teaching staff from West University of Timişoara
students from Psychology and Architecture
external assistants
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The members of the research team concerning the
relation between people and the environment
Andrei Alexandrov
Psiholog, cercetător asociat, Centrul de Studii şi Cercetări Psihologice din Timişoara
Laura Anghel
Psiholog, cercetător asociat, Centrul de Studii şi Cercetări Psihologice din Timişoara
Zoltan Bogathy
profesor universitar doctor, Universitatea de Vest din Timişoara, Centrul de Studii şi Cercetări Psihologice din Timişoara –
director
Delia Ceuca
Absolvent 2003, Psihologie, Universitatea de Vest din Timişoara
Delia Ciotău
asistent universitar doctorand, Universitatea de Vest din Timişoara, Catedra de Psihologie
Ioana Unda Crişan
Psiholog, cercetător asociat, Centrul de Studii şi Cercetări Psihologice din Timişoara
Anca Dăneasă
Absolvent 2003, Psihologie, Universitatea de Vest din Timişoara
Adela Deaconu
Absolvent 2003, Psihologie, Universitatea de Vest din Timişoara
Dragoş Dubină
Psiholog, cercetător asociat Centrul de Studii şi Cercetări Psihologice din Timişoara
Adina Dumitru
Preparator universitar suplinitor, Psihologie, Universitatea de Vest din Timişoara
Ildiko Erdei
Psiholog, cercetător asociat Centrul de Studii şi Cercetări Psihologice din Timişoara
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Claudia Feher
Absolventă 2003, Psihologie, Universitatea de Vest din Timişoara
Delia Ilie
Lector universitar doctor, Universitatea de Vest din Timişoara, Catedra de Sociologie
Andreea Ionescu
preparator universitar, Universitatea de Vest din Timişoara, Catedra de Psihologie
Corina Ilin
Lector universitar, Universitatea de Vest din Timişoara, Centrul de Studii şi Cercetări Psihologice din Timişoara coordonator grup cercetare p-e
Florin Lobonţ
Research Fellow, Royal Holloway, History Department, University of London, Cercetător asociat Centrul de Studii şi
Cercetări Psihologice din Timişoara
Anda Maier
Studentă anul VI, Arhitectură, Universitatea "Politehnica" din Timişoara
Laurenţiu Maricuţoiu
Psiholog, cercetător asociat, Centrul de Studii şi Cercetări Psihologice din Timişoara
Raluca Pauta
Student anul II, Arhitectură, Universitatea "Politehnica" din Timişoara
Mihai Silvestru
Student anul VI, Arhitectură, Universitatea "Politehnica" din Timişoara
Luminiţa Socaci
Studentă anul IV, Psihologie, Universitatea de Vest din Timişoara
Mircea Voiculescu
Lector universitar doctor, Universitatea de Vest din Timişoara, Catedra de Geografie
Sorina Voiculescu
Lector universitar doctor, Universitatea de Vest din Timişoara, Catedra de Geografie
Cătălina Zaborilă
Preparator universitar doctorand, Universitatea de Vest din Timişoara, Centrul de Studii şi Cercetări Psihologice din
Timişoara
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THINGS WE MADE
EXTERNAL
International co-operations – IAPS
Synthesis: People – Environment Studies in Romania
INTERNAL
Intra and inter university partnerships
The psychological map of Timişoara
The first Environmental Psychology Course in Romania
Published articles
Events
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International co-operations
IAPS (International Association for People-Environment
Studies)
IAPS stands for the International Association of the Scientists,
researchers and practitioners from the social and
environmental domain concerned with different views of the
relation between the individuals and their physical, social,
cultural, ambient, architectural environment.
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Synthesis: People - Environment Studies in
Romania
This synthesis has offered us the chance to work together as
well as has given us the opportunity to discover quite
interesting aspects concerning our specialization; it also has
allowed us to get closer to this research direction and to reflect
upon our future connected to it, and most important, has given
us the belief that we can have an European future together.
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Environmental Psychology Course
Connected to the syllabus regarding
Environmental Psychology course,
2003 – 2004, lecturer Corina Ilin
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RESULTS – students’ papers
Andrei Alexandrov - Public place vs. private place during the communism
in Romania
Laura Anghel - Interpersonal influence techniques – an alternative to
introducing the recycling behavior
Adela Deaconu – Stereotype and attitude towards the environment
Anca Dăneasă – The history and the relations between Environmental
Psychology and other disciplines
Claudia Feher – The consequences of industrialization in Romania – case
study: “Aurul Baia Mare”
Laurenţiu Maricuţoiu – Methodological distance in Environmental
Psychology
Luminiţa Socaci - Favourite places, stimulative environments and the
attitude towards the environment
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Finished graduation papers – 2003
Andrei Alexandrov
THE MANAGEMENT OF SELF FRONTIERS
Behaviors and psychological functions in adjusting intimacy
Luminiţa Socaci
FAVOURITE PLACES – STIMULATIVE ENVIRONMENTS
AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE ENVIRONMENT
Delia Ceuca
CHANGES REGARDING LIVING IN THE
URBAN AREA OF TIMIŞOARA
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Finished graduation papers - 2004
Ioana Ionescu
Attachment regarding the urbane environment of Timişoara
Iulia Trif
The psychological map and behavioral topos regarding the
Students’ Campus of Timişoara
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EVENTS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Tuesday, February, 4th 2003, guest: lecturer dr. Sorina Voiculescu, The
Geography Department, WUT
Thursday, February 27th 2003, at CSCPT – E-P group meeting,
discussion on planning the synthesis
Friday, March 28th, at CSCPT, guest: lecturer dr. Delia Ilie, The
Sociology Department, WUT, presenting her PhD thesis entitled Sacred
symbols of the living area
Thursday, May 8th 2003, at CSCPT, guest: Architecture student,
Cosmin Rusu – Project presentation regarding the railway-station
arrangement - Arad
Thursday, May, 22nd 2003, at CSCPT, guest: proff. Sebastian Jucu –
Presentation on the cultural landscape of Lugoj
Wednesday, June 11th 2003, Luminiţa Socaci and Andrei Alexandrov,
both of them students, presented the preview of their graduation papers
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7. Friday, June 27th, at CSCPT, Quartieri spagnoli vs. centro direzionale –
impressions from Napoli – Raluca Paută, second year student at
Architecture
8. Friday, October 31st 2003, at CSCPT, guest: Dr. Radu Radoslav,
chiefarchitect of Timişoara
9. November 7th, at CSCPT – workshop preparation
10. Environmental Psychology workshop as part of the event entitled
“Timişoara’s Psychology Days”, 14th – 15th of November 2003
11. Environmental Psychology workshop as part of students’ workshop and
communication session entitled “Myth and Psychology”, 24th – 25th of
April 2004
12. Environmental Psychology workshop entitled “Metropolitan sexuality and
contemporary urban myth
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GRANT 2003 UNDER ARTICLE A – 3022
OF THE GENERAL BUGET OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
Support for European integration activities organised by the academic
word
RO – 3 - 2003 – 3477 / 001 - 001 CEN - CENRE
A Young Researchers’ view of Romanian Steps towards EU Integration:
Analyzing Pro-Environmental and Anti-Corruption Policies
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WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?
EXCELLENCY CENTRE
RESEARCH
PUBLICATIONS
COURSES
UNIVERSITY POST GRADUATE PROGRAM STUDY
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Research themes, 2003 - 2008
THE TOWN
1. Timişoara: history, present and future
Timişoara’s survivable capacity
Lost and found celebrations (The celebration in Mehala, the “Kirvai”; Street Festivals; The Beer Festival)
2.Timişoara: the chartiers and their issue
The history
The street
The market place
The school of the chartier
The sportsgrounds
The playgrounds
The fountains
The culture of the chartier
Public area vs. private area
The house; the block of flats; the living area
The “Lenau phenomenon” in Timişoara
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3.
Urban behavior vs. urban customs
The identity of being a citizen
Ruralization
Consumers behavior of the citizens of Timişoara
The urban behavior of the foreigners
4.
Other aspects
The cognitive map
Homeless children
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We are working on:
The university post graduate program
The Environmental Psychology volume
The Environmental Psychology university course
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