Decoding the Urban Landscape

The paper presents the results of several studies concerning urban landscape (types and evolutive tendencies) for various Romanian tourist cities. The study outlines that the natural and architectural urban tourist resource is generated by different urban landscape elements, not only the main tourist resource itself. One of the conclusions of the survey is that the landscape is one of the most important existent resources, but despite that is the most transformed element due to urban development pressures, especially within the existent urban landscape frame. In accordance with present development trends, the study outlines the main features that can characterise a landscape at urban level and the transformations that affected Romanian tourist destinations in the latest years. A very important aspect of urban landscape is its complexity – being in the same time society’s living environment, a cultural, historical and economical context and further development matrix – spatially expressed at territorial level. The paper wants to formulate the main development principles that should be included in urban development policies in order to preserve the main landscape and architectural features of these tourist towns. Due to the urban explosion of the latest centuries, new landscapes appeared, reflecting the new technologies and new social needs – like large communication infrastructures, intermodal nodes, industrial landscapes or media landscapes – belonging of the consumer society. We are dealing with a succession of landscapes – overlapped morphological and spatial structures – which reflects different relations between society and its living environment, creating contemporary contexts.