ROMANIAN SMALL TOWNS SEARCHING FOR THEIR IDENTITY

Romanian small towns – urban settlements of less than 20 000 inhabitants, having a polarization function of the socio-economic activities in the narrow rural areas - are considered an interface between rural and urban communities. Determining the identity of small towns is rather difficult, because complex and varied political, social and economic changes occurred in the previous century. Thus, three distinct phases have been established: before 1950 the towns had a rather strong rural character; in 1950-1989 their identity was completely changed under the communist regime; after that they somehow regained their initial identity (that before 1950), or promoted it at higher levels. There is a main discrepancy between the present stage and that before 1989: the then identity wasconventional and constrained whereas today it develops in a natural process conditioned only by the town itself and by the choice of its inhabitants.