ORIENTATION OF COMMUNICATION ROUTES AND BALANCED REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Territorial development depends on territorial discontinuities, provided that the region is born of discontinuities, lives through them and is killed by them. Moreover, the equilibrium, as a goal of territorial cohesion, aims to reduce the gaps between regions, paying a special attention to deeply disadvantaged areas. The answer of the European Union consists of the concept of polycentricity, relying on many factors, including accessibility, which in its turn relates to the territorial development. In this context, the current study aims to analyze the connectivity of Romania to other European countries using a GIS-based methodology relying on determining the orientation of roads and railroads. The results indicate that the isolation of Romania is not due to a dominant overall orientation, but due to regional differences, resulted from the configuration of relief, and constituting possible explanations of disparities in regional development. The findings sustain the importance of Romanian strategic objectives of development.