THE
ROLE OF THE RELIEF IN THE EVOLUTION, STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONALITY OF THE ZALĂU
URBAN AREA
ANDREEA MARIA VÂTCĂ1, SANDA ROŞCA1, SIMONA DEAC1
1Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Geography, Cluj-Napoca, România,
E-mail: schatzi2pop@yahoo.com, rosca_sanda@yahoo.com, simomircea@yahoo.com
Abstract: The role of the relief in the evolution, structure and
functionality of the Zalău urban area. The relief represents an important
condition for a settlement’s emergence and for its social, economical and
territorial evolution. Moreover, it influences the urban structure and the
functional organisation of a city. As a result, the configuration of the main
built-up area of Zalău has been determined by geomorphological factors which
provided, through the hydrographical convergences, a suitable area for
territorial expansion. The city’s longitudinal development has unfavourable
consequences on the urban functionality. At the same time with the expansion on
this direction, the city’s transversal development takes place through the
emergence of the Dumbrava Nord neighbourhood. Some dwellings were also built on
the slopes, generating stepped apartment blocks and access ways perpendicular to
level curves, increasing in this way the value of investments. The extension of
the inhabited area, through holiday or permanent houses being built at the foot
of the Meseş Mountain and near the Zalău - Aghireş and Zalău-Moigrad roads,
confirms the new trend in the urban development of Zalău: The following study
analyses the relationships among the relief, the urban built-up area and the
territorial development. Thus, the cartographic documentation has included:
shooting directory plans from 1939, topographic maps from 1970 and
orthophotoplans from 2005, which were used to determine the chronological limits
of the built-up area and to analyse their spatial evolution in relationship with
the demographic evolution and the favourable characteristics of the relief (<5°
declivity and < 250 m altitude). All these are based on geomorphologic mapping
and GIS analysis. As a main result, an expansion
tendency of the built-up area was identified in relationship with an increase in
comfort, which at the same time is being restricted to some extent by
geographical conditions.
Key-words: territorial evolution, urban area, geomorphological factor,
functional zones, development opportunities.
© Academia Romana - Filiala Cluj Colectivul de Geografie
Design by Bilasco Stefan