Geomorphological facilities and constraints in urban expansion of Craiova city

Since the appearance of the first cities, the landforms have represented a prime determinant in urban establishment and expansion, materializing either in a favourable element (river valleys, depressions), or in a restrictive one (mountain slopes, lands affected by landslides, floods or earthquakes). The urban planning and expansion involve the use of urban geomorphology, thus requiring geological and geomorphological analyses of the land and the dynamics monitoring of natural and anthropic processes that occur. This study presents the territorial expansion of the Craiova city area in the geomorphological context induced by the river Jiu land form, in the period 1977 – 2017. The visual perspective of the territorial expansion dynamic is performed with ArcGIS10, using multi-temporal satellite images from databases such as Landsat, CLC Europe, Google and topographical maps. There are also presented the morphometric and morphographic analyses of territory synthesized in indicators and specific maps (hypsometry, declivity, aspect). The review of the territorial expansion of the last 40 years, correlated with the study of propitious geomorphological elements, the constraints generated by nature and the interpretation of the geomorphological indicators, transposes in tools necessary for a more efficient development and planning of Craiova’s urban space. Keywords— urban geomorphology; urban expansion; Craiova