Sustainable and Resilient Development of Regions in Times of Economic Crisis

Translating the vision promoted by the Green Deal into practice will encourage the transition to sustainable small-scale business models and bioindustries development strategies. The challenges faced by the economy during the pandemic and the recovery period reveal to specialists a new dimension of regional resilience. Some authors focused on highly complex situations, in which some areas show their resilience, by the fact that the local authorities apply measures to prevent external shocks and mitigate them, managing to recover later (Dabson et al., Regional Resilience. Research and Policy Brief. U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), Agreement No. 08-79-04379, University of Missouri, Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) – Rural Futures Lab, Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs. Retrieved August 20, 2022, from https://www.nado.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/RUPRI-Regional-Resilience-Research-Policy-Brief.pdf , 2012, p. 6). In this context, our paper presents the reaction of regional economies to the occurrence of shocks – of the nature of economic, ecological, technological, or pandemic crises, from the perspective of several methods of analysis. The conclusions will result from the comparison of the information gained during the use of methods as follows: the analysis of emerging literature on resilience in the field of sustainable transition, which can contribute to the emergence of interconnections between ecosystems, society, and economic activities; testing by means of econometric models the hypothesis that certain territorial structures of the gross added value by activities and groups of activities have benefited or disadvantaged the process of regional resilience in Romania, from the perspective of the response to the shock induced by the economic crisis; and the use of the principal components analysis method applied to a series of indicators selected in correlation with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the end, however, it is important to consider the specificities of each region and develop personalized strategies to increase economic resilience. An integrated approach, covering both economic, social, and environmental aspects, can help build a solid foundation for the sustainable development of regions and create a proper environment for business and innovation.