The current global crisis and the Russian-Ukrainian war have created new challenges for maintaining the quality of life of the population of all regions of Ukraine, including the Danube region. Given the «semi-enclave» geographical location, the specific ethno-national composition of highly skilled labor, innovative potential for tourism and recreation, the current social and humanitarian situation in the North-Western Black Sea coast, the priorities of bilateral relations and  the priorities of the EU Strategy for the Danube Basin, the article substantiates the feasibility of the creation of two international clusters on the initiative of the Rector's Office of Izmail State University of Humanities: scientific-educational and agro-humanitarian. The general features of strategic planning of community development, models of sustainable development of territorial communities (settlements) in the Ukrainian Danube region are highlighted. In the process of determining priority areas to ensure sustainable community development, the authors focus on achieving optimal interaction of key factors in the development of the three main components «population - economy - space (nature)». The development of strategic approaches to the sustainable development of territorial communities requires a comprehensive analysis of many factors: the historical and geographical trajectory of settlement and economic development; natural and geographical characteristics of the settlement area; demographic processes; features of management and socio-economic-ecological processes; ethnocultural and spiritual life of the population, etc. The main problematic issues of the development of Romanian-speaking communities in the south-western part of the modern Odesa region are analyzed.