Old and New in Vama Veche and 2 Mai

Abstract

The article uses as a pretext the doctoral research work belonging to one of the authors (Tascu-Stavre, 2011), a study preoccupied with the institutional transformation of two settlements at the Black Sea. The first section presents the study background and methodology built around the Bloomington School analysis model developed by Elinor Ostrom. Under this model, the research aims to decipher the development trends and specific differences between the two geographically neighboring coastal villages. The second section summarizes the findings of the doctoral thesis and documents the applied nature of the research, as the author was directly involved in the process of re-institutionalization of the development policy in Vama Veche, and therefore had the opportunity to test the applicability of discussed theory in-situ. Starting from the presented material but also from the dilemma of managing the commons, the last section adds some comments attached to the relation between development and urban development, emphasizing the importance of the latter both as common (space) as well as a resource which requires technical and ethical management.

Keywords

• neo-institutionalism
• transition
• local development
• tourism
• commons
• urban space