More than ever before, today's cities are significantly multi-cultural and heterogeneous. Intrinsically, the modern city centre is the most easily recognisable urban area by both locals and visitors or tourists, due to a concentration of significant functions. In this paper, we discuss the physical and historic centre of Cluj-Napoca, the place that exhibits distinctive structural and functional features and which, throughout history, was shaped and adapted to different ages and needs. As a result, it is the most refined and monumental cultural landscape, granting the city a strong identity and a space rich in cultural significances. Analysing the cultural landscape of these spaces from a past, present and future perspective, it is necessary to emphasise the link between the users' perception of the city centre and the "cold demarcation", through official urban planning, based mainly on quantitative data and on urban indicators (e.g. consistency of the built space, buildings height, proportion between inhabited space and the organised one, accessibility, urban connectivity, etc.). Quite a lot of times, urban planning ignores users' perceptions, being focused on businesses and ensuring people's daily needs and not necessarily on preserving or creating symbolic places, which inhabitants are attached to and where they feel "at home". Therefore, our aim is to highlight the cultural significance of the public spaces within the city centre of Cluj-Napoca and to assess users' perceptions of these places more and more altered and affected by globalisation spaces. We used the results of two questionnaire surveys and of an extensive research on the history and present features of these spaces. The first survey consisted of 150 filled-in questionnaires designed to set the perceived limits of Cluj-Napoca central area and, the second one, with 300 filled-in questionnaires, aimed to establish the inhabitants' perceptions of the public squares' aesthetics and functionality. Many cities are part of or head towards the so-called cultural vacuum, mainly a result of a profound globalisation and of interpreting culture itself in a wrong way. One more reason for such research approaches to be welcomed and up to date.

Deltiology, the study and collection of postcards, is a relatively new term, introduced in the dictionaries only in the middle of the 20th century. However, studying and collecting postcards is a much older concern and it is directly linked to the history of photography from the first half of the 19th century. The introduction of postcards in Romania and, especially in Transylvania, was achieved mainly through Western influences, proved by the greater number of available relevant postcards with reference to Transylvania than to the other historical extra-Carpathian provinces. Based on a modest but very relevant collection of postcards, this research aims to enrich the knowledge about the little-known town Rupea and especially to encourage the urban history research using unconventional sources of information, methodologies and methods. In this case the collection of postcards will be analysed, sorted and ordered chronologically after the most accurate dating possible, so as to display the distinct stages in the evolution of Rupea town's central square from an animated market in the past to a quiet and picturesque park at present. Thus, this evolution also implies a functional reconversion of the town's central square whose phases are immortalized by illustrations starting with 1851 until 2018. During this time, the town of Rupea was part of three different national administrations, until 1867 it was part of the Habsburg Empire, between 1867-1918 it was under the administration of the Hungarian Kingdom which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and since 1918, or after the Treaty of Trianon, it became part of Romania (which was a monarchy, a socialist republic, and since 1991 a democratic republic). Therefore, the analysed period has not only a strong historical significance for the Transylvanian settlements but also includes the entire evolution and formation of the current cultural landscapes. In order to achieve the purpose of this article, the illustrated postcards will be redrawn, identified, described and interpreted in accordance with the territorial planning procedures, contributing to the consolidation of the history and local identity, as part of a long-term and sustainable development.

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In the last three decades the Transylvanian villages faced a slow, but constant decline in many aspects. One of the many villages in this situation is Mercheașa (known as Mirkvásár in Hungarian, or Streitfort in German), part of Homorod (Hamruden) Commune, Brașov County, Transylvania. The aging and numerically reduced population of the village, occupied exclusively in agriculture, in parallel with an inefficient local administration, induced the impoverishment of a once flourishing and prosperous village. This long decay is now clearly reflected by the degradation of the buildings, abandoned historical built heritage, desolate landscape, lack of consensus or a minimum order that would reflect any kind of management. Based on an extensive field research and cooperation with a local non-governmental organisation dedicated to sustainability, culture and education, this paper shows how the actions initiated from outside the community have managed to change the mentality of the inhabitants, who are now more open to culture, improvements and even variety. Following a mixed, interdisciplinary methodology, involving both local history and social investigation, methods, approached from a geographical perspective, this article answers several questions, including the most, important: How did the locals react to these projects? and Does sustainable development depend primarily on, community involvement and consensus? The results show an assessment of the current situation, an analysis of the elements that can become a local brand, and the initiated projects by the organisation, the results, and their impact onthe villagers’ attitudes towards development. This paper also includes an extensive evaluation of the local landmark, the fortified church, including a bird’s eye (perspective) drawing of the site.