Analysis at the Territorial Level: Support Tool for Strategic Planning of Territorial Complex Systems. A Case Study: Dornelor Basin

Territorial planning aims to study and regulate the management processes of a territory and also to evaluate the evolutionary dynamics. It is considered a functional tool for analyzing and evaluating the effects that the specific actions of the different factors involved can have on the territory. SWOT analysis at the territorial level is a strategic planning technique that, on the one hand, evaluates internal and external factors, current and future potential, and, on the other hand, identifies strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (the acronym SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats). This is very important in the formulation and selection of the territorial development strategy, being considered a powerful tool, a guide, with the help of which the decision-making factors and actors involved in local development (authorities, population, universities, research and development companies, innovative clusters, NGOs, etc.). The present chapter aims to present a theoretical and methodological framework for the SWOT analysis and a practical application aimed at the local economic aspects of the Dornelor Basin. The subject of the analysis is the Dornelor Basin, located in the west and south-west of Suceava County, overlapping the intramountain depression of Dornelor (located in the northern area of the Eastern Carpathians) and the upper valley of Bistrița upstream from the town of Broșteni. The administrative territory also includes the mountain tops of Mestecănişul Municipality, Suhard, Giumalău, Rarău, Călimani, Bistriței, and Bârgău Mountains.