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Sustainability has become a priority in the last decades. If we consider rural regions, agritourism, an activity strongly related to local communities, represents an opportunity to ensure the sustainability of rural settlements and of the environment, and at the same time an innovative and diversifying possibility for the economic support of rural settlements. Many studies have shown that the sustainability trend of the current period can be achieved by combining rural and local resources and traditional products specific to the rural regions with tourist activities, the challenge being the revitalization of rural economy. A large number of Romanian mountain rural regions can provide opportunities for sustaining agritourism activity; some of them may succeed to capitalize on the niche characteristic of agritourism, and through appropriate and effective strategies to move from the pioneering stage to an economically and socially valuable chance for improving the living conditions from rural area and finally to ensure sustainable development of rural communities. This paper begins from the importance of agritourism for rural regions. It aims at identifying the current situation of the agritourism activity in three regions and at developing proposals that are based strictly on the specific needs of the regions. In our opinion, the implementation of these specific actions would represent future challenges and at the same time ways of supporting the sustainable development of agritourism activities and of local settlements.

This empirical investigation explores the complex interdependencies between the concept of the Smart University Campus and the broader ecosystem of Smart City policies, with a particular focus on the New European Bauhaus initiative as a catalyst for educational transformation. The study examines how university campuses can evolve into paradigmatic models of innovation, sustainability, and inclusion through the strategic integration of emerging technologies, circular bioeconomy principles, and holistic ecological strategies. A comprehensive case study, grounded in rigorous quantitative analysis, including Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA), and Cluster Analysis (CA), based on questionnaires administered to a sample of 245 high school and university students—primarily from the academic community of the “King Mihai I” University of Life Sciences in Timișoara (USVT)—provides empirical insights into perceptions and expectations regarding the Smart Campus ecosystem and its core components: Smart Learning, Smart Living, Smart Safety and Security, Smart Socialization and Smart Health. The distinctive contribution of this research lies in its empirical demonstration that the strategic alignment between university campuses and Smart City initiatives, guided by the principles of the New European Bauhaus, can enhance educational efficiency by creating integrated learning ecosystems that simultaneously address academic needs, sustainability imperatives, and goals of sustainable urban development.

The agritourism activity can be a characteristic reality of the present, considering rural area’s sustainability, being at the same time a business reality for rural entrepreneurs and a “must have” for rural communities that have tourism potential. It is a form of tourism, through which the tourist can receive a qualitative product at a reasonable price, but also a field that can ensure sustainable development over time, being at the same time environmentally friendly. The purpose of this scientific paper is to identify the aspects that make agritourism “a possible business reality of the moment”, for Romanian rural area’s sustainability. We take into account the following areas: Bran-Moieciu area—considered “the oldest” in terms of agritourism experience, and Apuseni Mountains area, with a great inclination and potential for this activity. The study conducted for these two areas is focused on several aspects: the degree of involvement in agritourism activities, considering the number of years and managerial experience, the analysis of the types of activities/experiences offered by agritourism structures, the identification of the main reasons/motivations for the orientation towards agritourism and the manner in which this field is perceived. Aspects related to the marketing-finance part of the agritourism business are also taken into account: customers, distribution channels, financial sources, shortcomings observed by agritourism business owners and possible action directions so as to improve the activity/agritourism product. Agritourism may be “a possible business reality of the moment” for the studied areas and not only, but in the future, the entrepreneur/farmer must be constantly updated because of the changing situations that appear on the market, be able to make sustainable decisions for his/her own business, which in the future will ensure its viability and obviously its long-term profitability and development, and in the same time rural area’s sustainability.

Agritourism is increasingly recognized as a driver of sustainable rural development, yet research has often focused on ecological and economic outcomes while neglecting the human capital that sustains service quality. This study introduces the concept of human sustainability capital and links it with the ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) framework and emotional labor theory, using case studies from Maramureș and Bucovina, Romania. Data were collected in summer 2025 through two surveys: one of 120 tourists assessing satisfaction, challenges, and improvement needs, and one of 45 agritourism hosts and employees examining emotional labor, job satisfaction, and ESG-related practices. Tourists reported high satisfaction with hospitality, food, landscapes, and cultural authenticity but noted shortcomings in infrastructure, activity variety, and crowding during peak seasons. Hosts and employees showed strong motivation and cultural pride, with genuine engagement more frequent than surface acting, yet many reported fatigue, low pay, and limited access to training. Social and cultural benefits were evident, environmental practices were modest, and governance emerged as the weakest pillar. Strengthening governance through professional development, fair labor conditions, and infrastructural support is crucial to maintain authenticity, protect cultural heritage, and ensure the long-term resilience of agritourism.

While accelerating globalization and technological transformation, traditional food products occupy a vulnerable yet strategically important position, straddling the line between cultural preservation and the need to remain economically viable. This study assesses both the sustainability and economic potential of traditional food items specific to Bihor County, Romania, with particular attention to their integration into contemporary value chains. A mixed-methods design was employed, combining structured surveys with 137 local consumers and semi-structured interviews with 20 regional producers. This research focused on consumer awareness, purchasing behavior, and producers’ readiness to engage with digital tools, within the broader framework of human-centered development and the Industry 5.0 paradigm. Findings reveal a modest but consistent link between familiarity and the willingness to pay a premium, although the frequency of consumption appeared to be unaffected. Sustainability emerged as a widely held value, commonly associated with seasonality, natural ingredients, and artisanal methods. On the supply side, producers showed a cautious openness to digital adoption, often tempered by a strong desire to preserve traditional practices. Based on these insights, this study outlines a territorially grounded framework for enhancing the resilience of traditional foods. Policy recommendations include support for user-friendly digital platforms, improved rural infrastructure, and initiatives that reinforce the regional gastronomic identity.

Rural tourism and agritourism are essential drivers of sustainable economic development in mountain regions, generating income opportunities while preserving cultural and natural heritage. The North-West region of Romania has significant potential in this sector. Yet, tourism development is unevenly distributed, and the integration of local economic activities remains limited, an imbalance that reduces the overall impact of tourism on regional sustainability and economic resilience. To assess viable strategies for agritourism development, the study applies the TOPSIS method, evaluating four key criteria: infrastructure accessibility, diversity of tourism experiences, service quality, and long-term economic sustainability. A survey was conducted with 102 respondents, and the collected data were analyzed using the TOPSIS framework to determine the most effective development approaches. The findings indicated that the ecotourism trails represent the most favorable strategy (Ci = 0.678), followed by promoting local products within tourism (Ci = 0.602) and expanding rural guesthouses (Ci = 0.467). In contrast, integrated tourism packages and tourist information centers ranked lower, suggesting that infrastructure investment and the strategic use of local resources should be prioritized. These insights provide practical recommendations for policymakers, investors, and local stakeholders, emphasizing the need for targeted support in ecotourism and rural economic initiatives. Furthermore, the study contributes to academic research by offering a structured, replicable approach to evaluating rural tourism development. By highlighting sustainable investment directions, the findings support efforts to enhance Romania’s rural tourism competitiveness while fostering economic growth in mountain regions.

The transition to sustainable agriculture is a key strategic objective at the European level; however, its effective implementation largely depends on farmers’ perceptions and the extent to which sustainable practices are integrated at the farm level. This study analyzes Romanian farmers’ attitudes towards sustainable agricultural practices, their self-reported level of integration, and the associations between these two dimensions. Data were collected through an online self-administered questionnaire (CAWI), yielding 264 valid responses. Nonparametric methods were applied, including the Kruskal–Wallis test with post hoc comparisons, principal component analysis (PCA) with promax rotation, and Kendall’s tau correlation. Significant differences in perceived importance of sustainable practices were observed by farming experience, with higher scores reported by farmers with 6–10 years of experience compared to those with 16–20 years (p = 0.0046). PCA confirmed a two-component structure reflecting attitudes and self-reported integration, explaining 72.4% of the total variance. The association between these constructs was modest but statistically significant (τ = 0.289, p < 0.001). Overall, the farmers report positive attitudes towards sustainability alongside a moderate and heterogeneous level of practice integration, with soil and water protection and long-term cost considerations emerging as more salient than market- or image-related factors. The findings provide a descriptive and correlational perspective relevant for advisory services and support measures aligned with farmers’ reported perceptions and experience.

Agritourism is a complex activity, a chance maybe today to ensure both human health and the “health” of the environment and rural settlements in order to achieve a most wanted desideratum, the sustainability of the rural environment. The idea of this paper starts from the trend of the current period, meaning the strong emphasis on natural, organic, bio, in all human activities, health and environment, in a word, sustainability. The necessity of implementing the sustainability of activities, health and environment in rural areas, taking into account the agritourism field, was a subject pursued in the study, taking as area of study the mountainous rural environment, the reason of this choice deriving from the fact that the mountain area offers great opportunities for agritourism development, the practice of which is even necessary in the current period. The sustainability of agritourism on rural health and environment cannot be dissociated from the economic, social and cultural life of the community in which it manifests itself, and has a multiplier effect on all the domains with which it interacts. So the purpose of the paper is to follow the development of the agritourism field and, based on some present information, to make a future forecast for some specific indicators, to highlight the representative aspects related to the development and capitalization of guesthouses from a rural mountain environment through agritourism and to come up with a forecast for future transformations that need to take place in the studied area in order to support the sustainable development of the human environment through agritourism.

The debates regarding sustaining the rural world by improving the quality of life are numerous; one of the proposals being agritourism activity. This activity can be a “smart chance” for the sustainability of the mountain rural environment, because it has a multiplier effect on some important parts of economic and social life of the community. For instance, it can be an ally of agriculture, ensuring a diversification alternative for farms, an alternative for local guesthouses to capitalize their own local products, while ensuring the opportunity to obtain additional/complementary income, a possibility of adjusting the depopulation phenomenon and the abandonment of old houses and lands, at the same time offering a pleasant activity/alternative, especially for young people. In this context, the purpose followed in the paper is oriented through the transposition of agritourism activity into a “smart chance” for ensuring rural mountain sustainability. Being simultaneously an innovative and diversifying alternative, it is an actual one that starts from the study of two areas which are similar in terms of tourist potential. However, the approach is a different one, especially regarding the combination of agricultural resources with those specific to the rural way of life, and it also follows a different degree of development. Our scientific approach aims to present some aspects from the two areas, to achieve a general image of tourism potential, to identify how the agritourism activity is seen by those directly involved in its implementation, to point out some aspects due to which agritourism activity can be considered as a “smart chance” while bringing multiple benefits, and to ensure the sustainability of rural mountain areas by playing a vital role in the transition towards a more sustainable future.

Rural mountain areas and their local communities have been subject to research interest over time due to their large amount of available resources, but also their problems. The strategy for some of the rural mountain communities to simultaneously preserve and capitalize on the local resources sustainably is to combine traditional activities with those related to hospitality and recreation in the form of rural tourism activity. In this context, we have used a case study to examine development in a rural mountain community through tourism activities; the study site is the rural mountain area of Bihor County in the Apuseni Mountains, which has outstanding, but untapped, potential for development. In this paper, we address the centralization of representative resources on each component community of the chosen area, concrete information related to the current stage of the development and performance of the activity directly from those involved in the coordination of the activity (rural tourism entrepreneurs) using a specific questionnaire, and proposals for possible directions/strategies to ensure future development of this communities through rural tourism activities.