TERRITORIAL IDENTITY AND DEVELOPMENT Volume 4 / No. 2, Autumn 2019 ISSN 2537 - 4850 ISSN–L 2537 - 4850 PERCEPTIONS OF GREEN AND SMART URBAN TRANSPORT ISSUES IN ROMANIAN CITIES: A PRELIMINARY EXPLORATORY ANALYSIS Alexandru BĂNICĂ Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iași, Faculty of Geography and Geology, ROMANIA Romanian Academy - Iași Branch, Geography Group, ROMANIA alexandru.banica@uaic.ro Mihail EVA Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iași, Faculty of Geography and Geology, ROMANIA mihail.i.eva@gmail.com Corneliu IAȚU Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iași, Faculty of Geography and Geology, ROMANIA corneliu_iatu@yahoo.fr DOI: http://doi.org/10.23740/TID220194 ABSTRACT Urban transport is one of the most unsustainable activities in Romanian cities. Green and smart mobility solutions could help them in becoming more sustainable. However, it is generally acknowledged that successfully implementing green, smart and sustainable solutions depends highly on local stakeholders’ engagement and public acceptance. Against this background, the current study explores stakeholders’ perception and media coverage of some urban transport issues in Romanian cities. Our approach is only exploratory as it is not aimed at testing hypothesis, but rather at 1) exploring stakeholders’ opinions concerning the state of urban mobility in Bucharest, Iași and Cluj-Napoca, and at 2) identifying the main urban transport issues reflected in local newspapers from Iași and Cluj-Napoca. Results concerning stakeholders’ opinions suggest, inter alia, an overwhelming influence of local authorities and transport engineers in the decision-making process, a fact that is contrary to sustainable and good governance practices. Urban transport issues reflected in local newspapers pinpoint the high importance of public transport in Romanian post- socialist cities, a rather incipient emergence of green and smart practices, and some significant differences in the propensity of inquired cities to modernise their urban transport services. Keywords: sustainable urban mobility, stakeholders’ perceptions, tag cloud, local newspapers, survey INTRODUCTION During the last decades, the sustainability of cities has been in the centre of urban policies, as a need to balance urban development and environmental protection (Hiremath et al., 2013). In this endeavour, the transformation of transport into a sustainable practice is a key challenge that is recognized as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) adopted by United Nations Member States in 2015. The contribution of transport is acknowledged to be essential and explicitly implied by SDG target 11.2: “By 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public Cite this article as: Bănică, Al, Eva, M. & Iaţu, C. (2019). Perceptions of Green and Smart Urban Transport Issues in Romanian Cities: A Preliminary Exploratory Analysis. Territorial Identity and Development, 4(2), 58-75. DOI: http://doi.org/10.23740/TID220194