The environment in rural areas contains a great variety of resources. Anthropic transformations of the environment mainly seek to capitalize on these resources in order to ensure economic growth. In spite of the tendency in public policy at EU and national level to regard rural areas from an agricultural viewpoint, there are many rural areas which face specific anthropic transformations – this is the case of rural areas in mining regions or in metropolitan areas of important cities. The objective of this article is to comparatively assess the environmental impact caused by high anthropic pressure in a mining area in Romania (Motru-Rovinari) and an emergent structure (Bolintin-Vale – Mihăileşti area within the Bucharest metropolitan area), while also proposing alternative planning models to cope with these issues. The methodology used relies mainly on indicator analysis of the LAU 2 units in the two study areas, as well as GIS analysis involving CORINE Land Cover datasets and comparative mapping between the 1978 Topographical map of Romania and the 2005 satellite imagery. The planning models proposed cover approaches such as environmental rehabilitation, land use management and social entrepreneurship. The main challenge is represented by the need for a more integrated approach in the planning of rural areas.