4.1.1. Technical-Economic Study Regarding the Choice of Possible Destinations of the Buildings that Will Be Part of the Theme Park
Contemporary society requires the promotion of economic activities to integrate environmental and social concerns, in order to produce an authentic and sustainable development over time. Romania’s mining industry has experienced a serious decline in the last years, going through a major restructuring process. Mining, in particular, is an “anticlinal fold” with legacy of past development decisions, the operation and abandonment of mines being, by their nature, irreversible operations. Each phase of the mining process involves a certain degree of dislocation and disturbance of the land. In the case of many sites, the damage is already existing, in which case the post-project (post-operative) rehabilitation is necessary. These situations are expensive and often it is not known exactly where the necessary funds will come from. The rehabilitation of the affected areas by the mining exploitation must be done efficiently, in terms of cost and with a small budget. Time can become one of the tools of the specialist, which in turn is because what the technology and the sustained care can do in a few months, nature does in a few years, on several active sites. The legal and financial problem of rehabilitation represents the climax of the rehabilitation projects.
The mining redevelopment of the affected surfaces by the mining industry must be regarded as part of the mining activity and can be defined as the methodical modelling of the surfaces used by the mining companies, taking into account the public interests. Through the redevelopment works, the previous economic potentials of the region must be recreated, according to the existing conditions. The mining industry implies a mutual relationship between nature and society, as well as between economy, ecology and social life. In addition to extracting the useful mineral substance, the mining industry is responsible for solving the complex problem of removing its negative effects on the environment. Solving this problem requires the collaboration of specialists from different fields: geology, geotechnics, mining, territorial planning, agronomy, forestry, sociology. Contemporary society requires the promotion of economic activities to integrate environmental and social pursuits, in order to produce authentic development that will become sustainable over time.
The first information regarding the presence of coal deposits in the Jiu Valley, more accurate in the town of Petrila, dates back to 1855 when the first geological explorations (
Figure 8) were also made that revealed the existence of coal in the zone, as well as the first studies regarding its quality, continuing with the first mining concession over an area of 135,349.2 m
2 on the territory of this locality in 1858; on 1 January 1859, Petrila was officially the first mining perimeter in the Jiu Valley. The sedimentary Jiu Valley bituminous coal basin is part of the group of epi-structural, inter-mountains basins in the Southern Carpathians, being located between the Retezat Mountains and the Sebes Mountains to the North, Parang Mountains to the East and Vulcan Mountains to the South. As form, it is a triangular trough (
Figure 6), with its peak situated to the west from Campu lui Neag village, and the base consists of the alignment Rascoala—Petrila South. The surface of the coal basin is of 155.57 km
2, with a length of 45 km, and a width that varies between 1.5 km to the west and 9 km to the east [
50].
Morphologically speaking, it is a region of high hills (700–800 m), some terraces and alluvial plains. The hills have unregular slopes, either fast, either not, either whole, either disturbed by strong alluvial land. As a position, most of them are orientated NS, but also other orientations exist. The terraces are spread, and can be identified only along the two main valleys of Eastern and Western Jiu rivers. These terraces have small spreads and are sequenced on one or the other side of the valleys that accompany them. Their surface is quite smooth. The alluvial plains are relatively the most spread, especially along the two Jiu Rivers, being characterized by smooth or uneven surfaces. The main hydrographic network of Petrosani geosyncline is made of the two rivers: Western Jiu, which crosses the basin on its length from west to east, and Eastern Jiu, which crosses the geosyncline transversal from north to south.
The Petrila mining perimeter located at the eastern boundary of the Petrosani post tectonic depression, belongs to the northern flank and the axial part of the northern syncline fold from the northeast of the basin. This fold is a syncline with a rounded branch, asymmetrical with the inclined south—southeast axial plane. The northern flank has inclinations of 40–85°, and the southern flank slower, with inclinations of up to 10–30°. The fractures, in their normal majority, of different amplitudes, with openings pronounced by the separation of the homonymous layers along the slope planes, that affect the Petrila perimeter, are predominantly transversal, with inclinations of 70–80° and the amplitude of (20–150) m. They are accompanied by a system of secondary faults and numerous cracks that have locally affected the deposit. These dislocations divided the Petrila mining perimeter into six tectonic blocks, which in turn fragmented into lenses of different sizes [
50].
The study of stratigraphic columns based on results of research drilling, mapping of horizontal mining works (transversal, directional) and geo-mechanical studies related of mining fields from Jiu Valley basin, have shown the existence of a wide variety of sedimentary rocks that have been classified into five main and distinct categories: sandstones category, clays category, marls category, marl-limestones category and microconglomerates category and the varieties of these types. Therefore, in the geo-mechanical context, the rock massif—Jiu Valley sedimentary basin—is a stratified rock massif, consisting of a succession of highly diversified layers of variable thickness (from centimetres to several meters order), which sedimentological gives them a dense structure. Based on such findings, it can be said with certainty that, in geo-mechanical terms, the rock massif is a rock massif of discontinuous inhomogeneity [
50].
As opening mining works, we specify: 7 vertical shaft from surface located in the deposit bottom, three underground shaft blind wells through which the descent was made in depth. Vertical partitioning was performed through by horizon works (transversal and directional galleries). The height of the stage was 50 m, starting with the horizon +250, (block 0) and ending with the horizon -250 (block II) located in the axis of the syncline, where the depth from the surface is 895 m. The connection between the horizons was ensured by underground shafts, vertical shafts, inclined shafts and inclined planes. In 2015, when the Petrila mine was officially closed, the underground works were performed at a depth of 940 m; at that time it was the deepest mine in Romania.
Chronologically, the history of coal mining at Petrila is presented in
Figure 9 and
Figure 10.
The extractive field has a major impact on the environment by the discharge of contaminated water from the dumps, tailing dumps and plants for the preparation of useful mineral substances, the instability of the lands that can lead to landslides, fails and subsidence, as well as the dynamics of the affected land surfaces by mining activities. Therefore, an important stage in the elaboration and implementation of a project of rehabilitation and reuse of these perimeters consists in the stability analysis of the underground works and the constructions from the surface, respectively an analysis of the overall stability of the site. As the production activity ceased at the end of 2015, the mine entered the closure stage, in which the underground works were stabilized and the required works to protect both the underground and the surface objectives were executed. The closure of the underground space consisted mainly of embankment works, filling works and watertight insulation works of concrete or masonry, resistant in time, respecting the shape and dimensions of the mining works profiles; the technology for the execution of the concrete isolation dams has been adapted to the concrete working conditions and location of the mining works. The closure of the mining works by filling was performed if the distance between the surface and the underground mining works was less than 50 m or if abandoning them could have affected the stability of the surface. In most cases, the filling of the galleries, apart from the fact that it reduces the subsidence of the land, also presents the advantage of the storage of non-toxic mining waste. For the filling, the hydraulic or pneumatic filling was applied, depending on the conditions or with dry filling, the latter reducing the closure costs.
Where, following the studies and observations made, the existence of cracks in the outline of the works and/or in the surrounding rock was found, in order to prevent an uncontrolled migration of water (or even gases) to the isolated space, consolidation and sealing works of the supports and surrounding rocks have been carried out, by injecting under a certain pressure of substances that have the capacity to penetrate in the cracks and reinforce them, forming a consolidated rocks shield with superior mechanical strength. Since the mine has been classified as a fiery mine, after the mine closure, it is compulsory to monitor any potential leakage or spontaneous occurrences of gases, especially methane. The monitoring is done through a firedamp detector station by staff trained and certified by INSEMEX Petroşani. The mine water was planned to be collected in the micro station basin of pumps from the transversal gallery at the level of the horizon where the process of depositing solid suspensions takes place and from there the water is discharged to the surface in the basin of the compressor station. As the technological process in the underground has ceased, there is no possibility of pollution of groundwater. In the mine water evacuation route, no closed mining works were identified that could be flooded. The closure of the vertical mining works (shafts, inclined shafts, ventilation channels), was accomplished by filling them with backfill material from the waste dumps class 4B. In the case of shafts with access to the surface, the last 50 m (the upper part of the shaft—towards the shaft collar) were filled with 4A class material, which does not present a tendency to form vaults, consisting of non-corrosive, running ground, brittle, insoluble materials in water, with particle size below 100 mm. The shafts and all vertical mining works were backfilled to the surface or to the proposed site for fixing the cement plug. After the completion of the filling works of the shafts, they were monitored to follow the settlement of the filling column, in order to ensure the stability of the vertical mining works in particular, and the general stability of the site in general. After the closing works were carried out, the used equipment was recovered and transported to the surface, following a precise order, to avoid their deterioration and to prevent accidents. From the information made available by the personnel currently serving the monitoring works of the underground mining works stability, the conclusion is that these works are stable and there is no danger of affecting the stability of the surface area, respectively of the constructions located in the perimeter that is the study object of this paper.
The constructions located on the surface were designed in such a way so that they dispose of a high load-bearing capacity throughout the mine’s exploitation period, but also after its depletion. From this point of view, we considered that these industrial structures may have potential for exploitation in the future. In addition to the economic potential of reuse of these constructions, some of them also have a patrimonial value, being included in the industrial patrimony. Starting from the problem approached in this study, we present briefly the existing situation in this moment at Petrila mine, the future destination of each construction and the required works to be performed for the proposed aim; the site is expending on a surface of approximately 13 ha (see
Figure 11 and
Table 3).
The shafts and extraction equipment are characterized by a long period of continuous operation, being the first works that are performed at the opening, and consequently, the last works that are abandoned at the closing of mine. With component parts located over long distances on independent foundations, extraction equipment may suffer deformation due to mechanical stress or movements of the ground. The foundations of the tower are of monolithic concrete, and the fixing of the tower and the counter-excavation was made by metal screws for the foundation. The counter-excavation of the tower is a sloping metal construction, which at the top is linked to the tower, and at the bottom it is supported by the legs on two independent concrete foundations.
The shafts were included in the closure program, therefore, the stabilization and refilling works were carried out, so that the costs related to the closure are not included in the consolidation one. Here, the consolidation and rehabilitation include the works that will be carried out on the surface, on the height of 50 m (works of concrete and redevelopment of the interior space).
The part of buildings involves the consolidation works of the foundations and the external surfaces, respectively, the redevelopment works of the interior space for the purpose in which they are foreseen by the project of social and economic development of the site. For all constructions, maintenance work will be carried out over the entire period of future exploitation of the site.
4.1.2. Residents’ Attitude towards IHT Development
The purpose of the study is to determine the attitude of the locals regarding the development of industrial tourism in the Petrila area, having as outputs the answers to the following research questions: (1) do the inhabitants want the IHT development? (2) what would be the economic, social and environmental effects from the perspective of the inhabitants related to the IHT development? (3) what is the opinion of the locals regarding the choice of destinations for the identified buildings?
The study [
51], caried out on the case of Las Medulas gold mines from Spain, analyzes the support of the inhabitants and the impact they perceive, in order to have an active implication of the locals, who otherwise could hinder the comprehensive planning of tourism. The active involvement of the community would generate the so-called “resident responsive tourism” that, when implemented successfully, may in turn have a favorable influence on the attitude of that community [
52]. This reasoning explains the particular relevance of the attitudes of the locals towards the tourist activity, considered [
53] to be the main factor when predicting the choice of the destination of the visitor [
54], the main objective in the development of tourism is to maximize the positive effects on the host community, while reducing the negative ones [
55]. Ref. [
56], as the perception and attitude of the local population towards the development of tourism plays a key role in shaping urban revitalization [
57].
The main reason this topic is analyzed with interest is that the perception and attitude of an area inhabitants towards the IHT development can be constituted as part of the strategy of development of tourism projects taking into account the CBT development. For tourism activity in an area to become prosperous, its negative effects need to be minimized, so that the development of tourism-specific activities will be perceived favorably by the local population in the host community. Ref. [
58] noticed that in many less developed regions of the world, the locals’ opposition to tourism development is likely to increase due to poor management of unforeseen effects of tourism development, which would lead to loss of potential economic benefits.
In developing and engaging with CBT, the goal is to achieve results that will lead to a balance between benefits and costs for both residents and tourism stakeholders. Thus, the inhabitants evaluate tourism in terms of social exchange [
59,
60,
61,
62], that is, they evaluate it in terms of benefits or expected costs obtained in exchange for the services provided.
In order to reach the research purpose, namely, to determine the attitude of the locals regarding the development of industrial tourism in the Petrila area in Jiu Valley the model proposed in [
63] and taken up in [
64] was used. The model tests the relationships between the perception of the inhabitants on the impact of tourism, their availability to support the development of tourism, the necessary restrictions in the tourism development efforts as well as the support granted in order to achieve this goal.
The research started with a quantitative method—a questionnaires-based survey applied to the inhabitants of Petrila [
65]. The results show that from a number of 1.773 questionnaires submitted, a total of 1.404 questionnaires were completed and validated, having among respondents 51.2% females and 48.8% males all over 18 years old. From the respondents, 46.6% are employed in the public sector, 16.5% in the private sector, 5.3% have their own business, 2.3% are unemployed, 0.8% households, 0.8% retirees and 27.8% students, 77.4% of them have lived in the Petrila area for over 20 years. This sampling resulted as statistically representative of the population of the town, with a marginal error of ± 5%.
From the five sections of the questionnaire [
64], using Likert scale (from 1 = “Total disagree” to 5 = “Total agree”), the impact of tourism development on the economy, the social and cultural influence and the impact on the environment were determined, and the impact on the general satisfaction of the community as well as the attitude of the inhabitants towards additional tourism development in the Petrila area were estimated. So, the model was developed on nine hypotheses [
63], represented by the relationships between the five latent constructs: the individual benefits obtained from tourism development (IBTD), the positive effects generated by tourism development (PETD), the negative effects generated by tourism development (NETD), the general satisfaction of the community as a result of tourism development (GSC) and the attitude of the inhabitants toward tourism development (IATD). In each hypothesized relationship an effect can be identified, either positive (+) or negative (−).
Data analysis was performed in two phases, using SPSS 20 and AMOS 18. The reliability analysis considered: the scales for determining the perception of the locals in relation to the effects generated by the development of tourism and the scales for determining the general satisfaction of the community obtained through the development of tourism. The scales demonstrate consistency, the Cronbach alpha index value exceeding the tolerated minimum level for each analysed item. The standardized model estimated by AMOS shows that the model is supported with optimal values as follows: x2 = 54.116, df = 34, p = 0.016 (p < 0.05). The goodness-of-fit index (GFI) is acceptable with values over 0.95 and the root-mean square error (RMSE) shows a perfect match with values below 0.05 and an acceptable match with values less than or equal to 0.08. In this case, the obtained indicators have the following values: CMIN/df = 1592; GFI = 0.988; RMSE = 0.062. In conclusion, all the results of the analysis support the representativeness of the sample at the population level.
After making the correlations and determining the Spearman coefficients (
Table 4) it was observed that hypotheses 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 are confirmed with
p < 0.01, with a strong association between their variables, and for hypotheses 3 and 8 the null hypothesis is accepted. Furthermore, for hypothesis 9, the null hypothesis is accepted because, although it shows a relatively significant degree of association, with
p < 0.01, it has the opposite sign (
Table 5).
It turns out that the possible negative effects that could derive from the development of IHT are not influential factors in determining the attitude of the inhabitants of the area. In this sense, all the hypotheses that support the opposite are rejected both after the Spearman correlations and within the structural model. The potential positive effects to be registered following the development of IHT have a major influence in determining a positive attitude among the locals, there being a strong association between the perspective of obtaining benefits at individual level and the perception regarding the positive effects generated by the development of the tourism as well as between the perception regarding the positive effects generated by the development of the tourism and the attitude of the locals in relation to the development of the tourism.
The results provide the right framework for extending the analysis in terms of IHT in the area, by transforming the former Petrila Mine perimeter into a theme park. Visitors will have the opportunity to find out the work that the miners carried out in the past. At the same time, it can be presented, from a historical point of view, what mining meant for the inhabitants of the area, the technological, economic, cultural, demographic and social impact that the activity had on the population and what the activity ceasing meant, but also results of present activities carried out by the inhabitants for maintaining their traditions.
In conclusion, in summary, the results are:
there is availability to support measures for the development of tourism activities in the area, the attitude of the inhabitants towards the development of tourism being a positive one, most of the answers, 78%, being placed in the “agree” area;
the idea of integrating the theme park in a tourist circuit generated positive feedback, the greatest openness to the idea being registered at the level of age ranges 28–37 years with 91% and 48–57 years with 89%, their answers being placed in the “total agree” area;
regarding the positive effects to be generated by the development of tourism activities in the area, most of the respondents are of the opinion that they will not be late to appear, and place the answers in the area “total agree”—“agree” (82% regarding positive economic effects, 75% regarding positive social effects and 71% regarding positive environmental protection effects);
the negative effects are not expected to appear according to the opinion of the majority of the surveyed population who place the most responses in the “disagree” area (82% regarding negative economic effects and 78% regarding negative social effects and 77% regarding negative environmental protection effects);
regarding the positive feedback on the development of a theme park in the former Petrila Mine perimeter, most of the answers are placed in the “total agree” area; the respondents who are the most open-minded about this idea are in the 28–37 years age range with 83% and 48–57 years with 89%;
the destinations of the buildings from the heritage list (in accordance with the technical solutions of consolidation and restoration) based on the preferences of the locals are presented in
Table 6.
As an example, for the Dispensary building, the choice of destination and the potential effects are presented, after processing the collected data in
Figure 12. As can be noticed, of the three options offered, the first option of the respondents is the Cafeteria cumulating 40% of the answers. This choice is also characterized by good averages regarding the positive effects it will attract, as follows: economic effects—4.21, social effects—4.10 and environmental protection effects—4.