NATURBANIZATION
Naturbanization New identities and processes for rural-natural areas Editor
M.J. Prados Department of Human Geography, University of Seville, Spain
Taylor & Francis is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, UK Typeset by Charon Tec Ltd (A Macmillan Company), Chennai, India Printed and bound in Great Britain by Cromwell Press Ltd, Trowbridge, Wiltshire. All rights reserved. No part of this publication or the information contained herein may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written prior permission from the publishers. Although all care is taken to ensure integrity and the quality of this publication and the information herein, no responsibility is assumed by the publishers nor the author for any damage to the property or persons as a result of operation or use of this publication and/or the information contained herein. Published by:
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ISBN: 978-0-415-49000-9 (Hbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-88114-9 (eBook)
Naturbanization: New identities and processes for rural-natural areas – Prados (ed) © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-49000-9
Table of Contents
Preface
VII
Introduction Naturbanization: New identities and processes for rural-natural areas M.J. Prados
3
Part I: Naturbanization processes case studies Conceptual and methodological framework of naturbanization M.J. Prados
11
The development of urbanization in the neighbourhood of Kampinoski National Park M. Czerny, I. Lecka & M. Wujek
29
Naturbanization and sustainability at Peneda-Gerês National Park J.M. Lourenço, N. Quental & F. Barros
45
Naturbanization and local development in the mountain areas of the Catalan Pyrenees A.F. Tulla, M. Pallares-Barbera & A. Vera
75
Naturbanization processes in Sardinia M. Campagna
93
Part II: Socio-economic and political issues Rural tourism and urban growth regulations in Doñana National Park: Antecedents and current planning A.M. Doctor
109
The influence of the localization of tourist facilities on the dysfunction of tourism discussed on the example of southern Tunisia A. Dłu˙zewska
125
The benefits of Nature Reserve Areas in local development: An opportunity to develop a sustainable strategy in peripheral areas M. Pallarès-Blanch
143
Landscape change and urbanization: A case study from Catalan Pyrenees M. Barrachina
167
Part III: Natural effects in naturbanization processes Protection of beach and dune systems of the western coast of Huelva – Developments in the planning and future prospect M.A. Barral V
185
Conservation of coastal habitats in Mediterranean areas: A combined analytical framework for case studies E.D. Ivanov, I. Manakos & W. van der Knaap
205
Evaluation of protected natural reserves through GTP model – The case-study of High Pyrenees Natural Park A. Pelachs, E. Mendizábal, J.M. Serra, J.M. Soriano & A. Serra
225
The consequences on landscape of new land uses in the upper forest line R. Cunill, A. Pelachs & J.M. Soriano
239
Nature in urban areas: Ecological processes and environmental quality in cities J. Santiago
253
Author Index
265
VI
Naturbanization: New identities and processes for rural-natural areas – Prados (ed) © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-49000-9
Preface
A new perception of environmental and landscape qualities of certain territories is provoking considerable changes of population residential preferences. The loss of attraction of cities as residential and productive areas determines a new logic of population mobility and migration patterns. It depends to the major degrees on the dynamics experienced within urban areas. But, these enjoy of remote rural areas as new residential spots is also part of a new process called naturbanization. Compare to other rural areas, rural ones located in the influence areas of national parks attract people who want to live, work and enjoy their spare time in attractive natural surroundings. The overall objective of this book is to test the naturbanization processes in the influence areas of European national parks. Naturbanization refers to a situation in which the presence of a protected natural area stimulates the urbanization process in this protected territory and its influence area. The analysis of this phenomenon is mainly focus on its territorial and landscape consequences. For that, naturbanization provides new guidelines of residential mobility and economic activities of populations in rural-natural areas. The original idea of naturbanization identifies, describes and analyses in comparative form the process of urbanization in protected areas of great value. It is understood in a complex way of knowledge. The existence of the first indications of naturbanization was shown in recent demographic dynamics of protected natural areas, and about rural multi-functionality. Naturbanization involves the construction of new residential buildings, and the setting up of new consumption-oriented activities such as recreation, and leisure and non-agricultural business activities. Naturbanization process includes the search for new living spaces in unspoilt areas of high environmental and aesthetic quality; the impulse of traditional agricultural activities; the appearance of other new economic activities based upon the consumption of nature; and the public investment into infrastructure and equipment. However, naturbanization has to be identified in rural-natural areas where the objectives of conservation are priorities, as those areas enjoy recognition based upon their environmental statements. The process of naturbanization had its beginnings and developed from a series of researches completed in the surrounding of the Doñana and Sierra Nevada National Parks. These studies were firstly related to the supporting notes and comments for the Sustainable Development Plans, then somewhat later to the context of the Pyrenees national park analysis. Further to these studies, other European case studies were announced. They were used to study in more depth the existing relationships between urban de-concentration, changes in motivation for migration and the population attraction to live in protected spaces. The initial idea was to formulate a working hypothesis that explained the movement of populations and the restructuring of rural areas, not depending upon behaviour in the urban areas, but in connection with the functional changes in the rural area and the forces driving them. For that, the importance of environmental recognition of certain selected zones was valuable as a justification of residential preference and economic upturn. The recent works upon idealisation, demographic dispersion or gentrification of the rural population are perhaps the most directly related to the question. They permit us to advance in the methodological plan towards integrated and comparative studies of environmental recognition of rural-natural areas in which naturbanization is a current hypothesis that is supported by evidence. Naturbanization processes are understood in a wide sense (residential mobility, new economic dynamics, policies), and are the ones directing the transformations and the impact provoked in the landscape and environment. National parks protected figures are the most extensive and most identified by visitors for their integration of landscape and environmental values. For this reason it is important to compare the naturbanization processes in national parks surroundings, because VII
the existence of new pressures is necessarily related to their boundaries and areas of influence. The book offers answers to the priority lines due to changes in socio-demography as a result of the creation of national parks; new economic activities (tourism) and the upturn of traditional economic activities; identification of land use changes and their landscape consequences; and the incidences of environmental policies and territorial cohesion measures. In this study the testing of the existence of the naturbanization process and a detailed description of its processes, will take place in nine European National Parks, both from coastal and mountainous locations. The project involves the design of naturbanization frame of analysis; the social and political issues; and, the natural effects of naturbanization processes. The main aspects underlying in all of them will help to obtain the set of elements influencing the recent processes in remote rural-natural areas. They will be essential for creating a balanced co-existence between local population groups and the natural environment. And, they will help to develop a better understanding of the value of the territorial cohesion, landscape preservation and maintenance of environmental quality in National Parks as vulnerable territories. To end, I would like to express my acknowledgements to the participants on the workshop and especially to those which finally joint the proposal to write a book. The contributors have shown their devotion and patient to the editor along the making up of this book and the revision process. But firstly, they follow me in naturbanization processes analysis, enquiring humans and territories about how these processes are going on. The trans-disciplinary approaches and a regional wide analysis, I might emphasize, are the most important contribution of the following chapters. Without the implication and efforts of the authors this book couldn’t be exist. They must felt free within their own devices and desires about how to make naturbanization analysis in each case study. For that, the authors are responsible for the choice and the presentation of the facts contained in their chapters and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of the others. Acknowledgements from the editor go also to the Spanish National Research Plan (Project 82007 – 63024) and the Andalusian Studies Centre Foundation, which allowed me to get financial and administrative supports for to go more in deep on the analysis of naturbanization processes. I would also gratefully acknowledge to my colleague Alfonso Doctor, professor of Human Geography at the University oh Huelva. Together with Miriam Fernandez, they provide me their support and help before and during the workshop. We are still doing some research about the naturbanites profile; and, about naturbanization and landscapes changes in the most representative river basins in Andalusia and South America. I would also take these lines to acknowledging to Maria Garcia and Eloy Ibañez, which had been involved in several tasks in the editorial works. Their generosity and devotion to this venture have been central, being a main branch along the process of construction of this book. Finally I would also thanks to Jose and Irene, I am always in debt with both, and to my son Tomas, who was asking me why I choose to write a book in English if it can be done in Spanish, German or Catalan.
VIII
Introduction
Naturbanization: New identities and processes for rural-natural areas – Prados (ed) © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-49000-9
Naturbanization: New identities and processes for rural-natural areas M.J. Prados Department of Human Geography, University of Seville, Spain
The changes of rural areas during the last thirty years have been the focus of numerous disciplines interested in the analysis and evolution of these spaces. The general structure organising these theoretical and empirical reflections is based on the internationalization of social and economic processes and the incorporation of information and communication technologies. From the perspective of this book, the changes and new dynamics that are generated in rural areas also have an internal reading. The objective is not to analyse how the changes motivated by urban mega-trends affect them, but to centre the discussion in the internal factors that point to the new ways and position of rural areas. Agriculture’s wider sense and both the environment and the landscape, are encouraging rural world re-lecture. In the first case, the re-activation of different forms of agriculture drives to an important dynamism in the economy and in rural population, sometimes even in competition with tourism and construction. Commercial agriculture and the agri-food sector are directly marketoriented, sometimes producing products with high added value, or even adapting to new demands as renewable energies. A similar context is observed for traditional farms which are favouring organic production or due to the autochthonous production. All these make a concrete contribution to economic growth and new employment, and play an important role in rural areas where the agriculture sector has a central character. Mainly, because they strengthen the economic bases supported by the primary sector and, secondly, because they keep the population and develop a better standard of living. Something similar happens with the environment, heritage and landscape. The identification of the resources, maintenance and conservation, above and beyond that of the economic exploitation of all these values . . . generate their own dynamics in rural areas where they are present. Tourism and construction are also important supports to this other model of rural development; at the same time aiding and instituting on infrastructure development, the diversification of the service and hand craft sector based upon local development process. The consequence of this is that it is possible to identify in these areas processes of economic development and demographic growth built upon internal processes. The scientific literature confirms that these changes take place in a quicker and more homogeneous way than has occurred in the past. The nucleus of the argument can be illustrated in a horizontal axis. One extreme of the axis shows a high level of urbanization towards the other with more rural areas, over which can be drawn the dominant factors from area to area. In the past, migration, urbanization density, a concentrated pattern of economic activity and urban leisure consumption . . . defined the urban areas. Meanwhile, rural areas lost active population and sank into marginality and abandonment. The current situation shows itself to be more complex. The disposition of factors is not so polarised. Nowadays there is a corridor of inter-relation in the demographic, residential and socioeconomic characteristics, of areas both rural and urban, as a consequence of globalization. The expansion of the processes of urbanization towards remote rural areas is a consequence of the maturity of metropolises. The ageing of the population and the arrival of foreign immigration are present in both areas. The new economy is ubiquitous, while agriculture – which was in crisis 3
Aging Population City Planning New Urban Process
Migratory Flows
Regional Planning
Population Deconcentrated Rural Development New Technologies Accesibility
Environmental Resources and Landscape
Economy and Consumption Trends Employment
Metropolitan Areas
Figure 1.
Local Initiatives Restructuring of Traditional Rural Economy
Remote Rural Areas
Rural–Urban Axis.
before – is now re-activated by a new demand for their products (fuel crops are a good example). In short, there is an increasing assimilation of tendencies in both areas, blurring the old differences in a globalized space. This continuity between rural and urban areas does not normally give rise to combined reflections over how certain factors affect them or about the fashions in which they inter-relate and complement one another. One classic example is the relationship of migrations between urban and rural areas and their consequences upon the processes of urbanization. The analysis of the demographic changes in urban population due to rural migration has been the focus of many studies of the middle of the twentieth century; only in second term has it been used as an explanatory cause of demographic changes in the rural areas. The rural exodus and the returning population have been contemplated in all moments as a solution to the offer of urban industrial employment. Later on, returning population is a negative consequence of the crisis of this sector. Thats it, the forms of urbanization that these demographic changes have given rise to are analysed from the urban perspective. The same happens with the changes in sectors and economic activities. The agricultural restructuring from small farms to a strong agri-food sector is thus contemplated as a consequence of the dynamic of the market, and is analysed from an urban core perspective. The same statement seems to encourage rural diversification processes. The panorama described is logical, up to a certain point. During the last fifty years the urban space has shown extraordinary dynamic behaviour, in both dimension and urban patterns. The same statement can be made for economic activity, with phases of boom and bust which have exercised greater influence upon and from the urban area. Meanwhile, rural areas began a regressive phase which has led them to lose their identity and their centrality to the action of past epochs. Despite of all this, they still remain important in population, urbanization processes, in autochthonous initiatives based upon the the exploitation of their resources. The natural environment and landscape, their heritage in a widest sense, have become valued for their character as a source for the economic development of these areas. Thus it is evident that, as has occurred in big cities, this will have consequences for these areas. But rural areas have their own behaviour. This behaviour is related to their capacity for survival and adaptation, and that they do not have to follow that of the large metropolises. Even though inter-relations between rural areas and metropolises exist, they do not have to be interpreted as a relationship of univocal dependence. Under these assumptions, it is possible to analyse the causes of rural immigration, including foreign immigrants; the development of residential activity both of primary and secondary homes; the consumption preferences of population; and finally, the similarity between behaviours of rural population with respect to urban areas. As the urban 4
Figure 2.
Residential pressure and land use changes on Trevélez river bassin in Las Alpujarras, Granada (Spain).
processes initiated in the last fifty years, this new rural demography is having territorial and landscape impacts. The restructuring of agriculture and livestock, changes in land use patterns, rural development initiatives, environmental and heritage resources are all in the centre of a new rural scene. It is not easy to venture the results of these processes: if they will give rise to the extension of urban population typology or, on the contrary, if they will display their own characteristics supported by the revitalization of rural population and new settlements models. In any case, the result will be completely different to the rural surroundings of five decades ago. And, it will build up a new identity for rural areas. Should rural areas follow the same kind of territorial planning and policy measures stablished from metropolises? Or, could rural continue their own way in these processes and policies? The schemes on city planning do not seem to attend urban developments in rural areas. Many rural villages growht both, in population and built space . . . but not in an adequate relation between new inhabitants and new buildings. The city planning regulations in rural areas are devoted to new residential developments, and do not apply to the rural territory as a whole. Outside of the built-up space, land use changes on farms do not have any specific regulation. In some cases there are regulations, but their pursuit and control lose force compared to city planning in the villages. Nevertheless, their consequences upon the landscape and territory surpass the socio-economic processes they entail. The agriculture intensification process, changes in land cover; the infrastructures development, or the processes of marginality and abandonment, often occur apart from their territorial and landscape consequences. Moreover, in many cases the application of agricultural policy measures lead to these transformations; this means that aids and subsidies are contributing to quick and sometimes contradictory land use changes. It is possible to affirm the same in relation to the natural environment in protected areas. The regulations relating to environmental conservation that apply to natural areas are opposed by other actions that could contribute to degradation of the environmental and heritage resources. The paradox occurs when the proposals of rural development that lean upon the environmental and landscape values usually constitute a first step for the transformation of said values. The departure point of the book is the necessity of a new language in the land-use planning for rural areas. This aspect is focussed in a new concept designated under the term of naturbanization. By naturbanization we understand the identification and analysis of urbanization processes on rural areas close to and/or inside protected areas of specific natural values. These processes of 5
Figure 3. The small village of Mecina Bombarón in Las Alpujarras, Granada (Spain).
urbanization are understood in the widest sense, and include diverse driving forces of rural and landscape change. It is possible to mention, among others, – the arrival of new inhabitants that live in an area where the quality of the environment is a concrete fact; – the re-activation of traditional economic activities; – its influence upon the promotion of new activities related to the consumption of nature and heritage; – the residential activity force by property; – changes is land cover – land use of agricultural land; – public investment in infrastructure to improve access. All these have palpable consequences upon both remote rural areas and protected areas, as much in the conservation of resources, as in the territorial and landscape configuration. Naturbanization understands the need to establish empirical analyses that test the existence of these processes; secondly, to quantify the economic benefits that are brought to these areas; and thirdly, to evaluate territorial and landscape impacts. Dealing with these processes of expansion or translation of urban patterns to rural-natural areas are the objectives of natural preservation. For that, naturbanization occurs in spaces with territorial, landscape and environmental values. The processes are identified in rural areas adjacent to National Parks, as examples of highest environmental protection based upon international criteria. In the beginning, National Parks protected remote and isolated areas which had been previously recognized for their aesthetic or natural values. This contemplative and merely environmental consideration has been superseded by the possibilities offered by rural development initiatives in these areas. New infrastructure within National Parks has made them more accessible, which inevitably has brought conflicts: problems due to leisure population preferences, which means control of pre-existing activities, like, for example, fishing, herding or hunting. Situations are rather different depending on their geographic location, traditional activities, and the new possibilities of both rural and protected areas. The analysis of the processes of naturbanization in the influence areas of National Parks is focussed on its recent evolution, comparing and contrasting different models of economic development and planning policies. The rural land will be conceived then as a common space, a rural area of specific characteristics deriving from the presence of the protected area but 6
in different contexts , so that it will be possible to analyse the differences and similarities of the signalled processes in a globalised space. This was the aim of the International Workshop celebrated in Sierra Nevada National Park (Granada, Spain) in the Spring of 2007. Participants from different research instituions and universities discussed about how urbanization procesess affect to the influence areas of National/Natural Parks. The workshop had a strong focus on the cross-relation between naturbanization processes and new rural identities. It aimed to explore national level policy contexts, and case studies that highlight how naturbanization processes play out in particular rural-natural areas. Case studies were presented in National Parks of Peneda-Geres (Portugal); Doñana, Sierra Nevada and Aigües Tortes i Sant Maurici (Spain); Ecrins (french Alps); the islands of Sardinia and Crete; and National Park of Kampinoski (Poland). Selecting national parks and regions, the workshop strove for geographic and thematic diversity. Geographical locations cover National Parks on both, mountainous and coastal areas. Protected areas close to metropolises were also analyzed, including papes focussed on the role of nature in urban areas. Final contributors of this book have changed and consequently, new case studies are incorporates to naturbanization analysis. We refer to a Southern Tunisia Oasis; and a case study in Western Crete, in the frame of an INTERREG project comparing Greece, Southern Italy, Malta and Cyprus. The decissions adopted by the editor emphasize a centrifugal approach on naturbanization analysis. The case studies include rural-natural areas which exhibit higher natural and landscape values and also residential, economic and recreational demands spread on a unique biodiversity and rural heritage. The East and South regions of Europe are crossing ways for natural amennities development and for that, they must build bridges between natural preservation and rural susteinable development. The analysis and findings on this book emphasized the comparison among rural-natural areas, since they try to avoid from the artificialization of their landscapes devoted to urban sprawl, infrastructure and economic activities. If these rural-natural areas built new rural identities it must wellcome to naturbanization cross-fertilisation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The editor would like to express their acknowledgements to the contributors, who have shown devotion and patient along the making up of these book and the revision process. The authors are responsible for the choice and the presentation of the facts contained in their chapters and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of the others. Editor would also gratefuly acknoledge to Miriram Fernández, María García and Eloy Ibañez, wich had been involved in several tasks in the editorial works. Financial and administrative assistance have been provide from Spanish National Research Plann (Proyect SE 82007 – 63024) and Andalusian Studies Centre Foundation.
7
Part I: Naturbanization processes case studies
Naturbanization: New identities and processes for rural-natural areas – Prados (ed) © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-49000-9
Conceptual and methodological framework of naturbanization M.J. Prados Department of Human Geography, University of Seville, Spain
ABSTRACT: This chapter develops the conceptual and methodological framework of Naturbanization. In synthesis, the author designates as naturbanization the attraction of populations towards places whose natural values are known, and to the analysis of the territorial and land-scape changes to which this gives rise. Naturbanization begins from the attraction that protected natural areas exercise towards a section of the population which wishes to live, work and enjoy its free time in surroundings with a high environmental value. This behaviour is a part of the de-concentrated model designated thirty years ago as counter-urbanization. While counter-urbanization analyses the changes in the mobility of the population and the behaviour of the urban population, naturbanization puts the emphasis upon the territorial consequences of these changes on the influence area of protected areas. Naturbanization intends to develop a proper integration of the population into the landscape and environment within adequate land use planning decisions for the management and control of protected areas.
1 INTRODUCTION The demographic, residential and socio-economic behaviour of rural and urban population are closely inter-related. The territorial changes also affect rural-natural areas, that is to say, those rural areas located inside or in the neighbouring protected areas. Naturbanization is a new concept that identifies, describes and analyses the existence of the processes of urbanization in relation to protected areas (Prados & Cunningham 2002). Said processes are understood in a wide sense, and include a wish for a new residential environment; the renewal of traditional economic activities; new economic activities based upon heritage elements; population growth; land use changes; degradation of landscapes; etcetera. These changes must be associated to the revision of general theories about the dynamic of change in specific rural areas. That is to say, territorial changes need to develop theoretical and methodological hypotheses which could contribute to the right interpretation of the highlighted processes. This chapter goes deeply into the formulation of the concept of naturbanization as a key to the analysis and monitoring of these highlighted processes; to an structure for interrelated elements of territorial changes in and within protected areas; and to contribute to rural-environmental land use planning. Naturbanization builds a valid structure for the analysis and monitoring of territorial changes as a consequence of population attraction towards rural areas, and their economic, territorial and landscape elements. Population mobility and landscape values are strongly related. In that sense, naturbanization expects to demonstrate the existence of a selective behaviour of new inhabitants of rural-protected areas. In second place, naturbanization investigates both the motivations and the profile of new residents and economic activities. It analyses residential development, small factories for manufacturing and other economic constructions and urban sprawl. Naturbanization is also connected to the changes in land cover and land use within the evolution of the landscape. Finally, it monitors and evaluates the direction and intensity of these changes, starting from rural 11
INMIGRATION POLICY OPTIONS AND PLANNING
RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT AND URBAN SPRAWL
CULTURAL LANDSCAPES AS HERITAGE RESOURCES
ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES RENEWAL LAND USE-LANDSCAPE
Figure 1. The basis of naturbanization.
exodus to population attraction. Naturbanization incorporates the territorial frame as a reference of new processes on six levels: – – – –
immigration and its effects on demographic structure; active population and traditional economic activity of rural areas; residential development and urban sprawl; degradation of agricultural land for the combined effects of abandonment and intensification, including the spread of new buildings; – territory and landscape as dynamic elements of an old legacy; policy measures and planning measures for a sustainable land use development; – All this has consequences upon the rural development and environmental preservation in rural natural areas (Chacon & Rosua 1996, Prados 2000, Pintos 2005). The sum of these processes and the link with the attraction for population brings new decisions about where to localise and what features identify rural areas where naturbanization develops. Naturbanization develops in territories with natural values, that is, protected areas where natural and landscape values are highly appreciated by the population. National Parks fulfil these requisites. They are protected areas spread all over the world whose wild values involve strict regulations for the protection of the natural environment. National reserves recognise the importance of cultural landscapes when it contributes to the preservation of the natural heritage. And finally, National Parks allow us to test the presence of naturbanization at international scale and to explore the process in protected areas with different geographical locations. Comparative analysis at international level is central for the theoretical and methodological framework of naturbanization. In a second term, naturbanization allows the analysis of the occurrence of the processes in the Natural Parks, which in the Spanish case are very spread. On international grounds, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature has classed them as category II after the National Parks. Spanish law defines them based upon very similar criteria to National Parks, except that the planning and management are the exclusive preserve of the autonomous communities. In terms of surface extension, wide ranging presence, or compatibility with conservation objectives and traditional exploitation, the Natural Parks are well identified by the population (de Azcárate y Bang 1986, Corraliza et al. 2002). The natural values, together with human actions, have contributed to the singular attributes that have awarded high permeability of the territory. Investigating the process of naturbanization in the influence areas of National Parks and/or Natural Parks is important for three principal reasons. Firstly, it provides a better understanding of population and social processes in the rural-natural areas. Secondly, it identifies the economic 12
value of the protected spaces in relation to both new economic activities and public investments in environmental development. And, in third place, naturbanization evaluates land use changes as central in landscape dynamics. A better understanding of the existing interrelations between population and environment is necessary in order to achieve nature and landscape preservation. The survival of ancestral human activities in these territories has made possible traditional land use and of cultural landscapes, both factors of extraordinary relevance in the shaping of the parks and their influence area. The confirmation of how human action affects these elements and the way in which they mutually interact sets out an extremely stimulating scene.
2 FORMULATING THE CONCEPT OF NATURBANIZATION The hypothesis of naturbanization is based on the process of urban population de-concentration and its effects on the population distribution in rural areas. The term naturbanization is a paraphrase of counter-urbanization, established by B. Berry and widened by A. Champion forty years ago. The empirical studies about the processes of counter-urbanization began to be published during the 1970s. In these, the evidence of a faster population growth in non metropolitan counties in comparison to metropolitan areas along 1970’s was clearly shown. B. J. Berry (1976, 1978) and A. Champion (1989) designated this process as counter-urbanization, establishing its conceptual and methodological basis. In synthesis, they highlighted a change in the behaviour of the processes of urbanization in countries like the United States of America and Great Britain. In the words of Berry, it constituted ‘a process of de-concentration of the population; which implies a movement from a state of higher concentration to a state of lower concentration’ (Champion 1995: 20). The original idea of counter-urbanization was not new, and it had certain parallels with the Spanish urban theories at the beginnings of the last century. The concepts of ‘rur-urbanization’ of I. Cerdá, and the ‘linear city’ of A. Soria tried to design new de-concentrated urban models as new forms of urbanization (de Terán 1982). Both offered an answer to the ‘urbanization – ruralization’ relationship from urban planners, in relation to the recent theories about urban development at the beginning of the twentieth century. But counter-urbanization also had original ideas. This new concept refers to the fact that population de-concentration was against the classic models in contemporary geography about spatial analysis and temporal changes. As a process of de-concentration, counter-urbanization questioned the central role of primate cities in the Theory of Central Location and also the Range-Size Rule. In addition, the conception of the discipline of geography more as a science of flows between territories rather than a science of places is also important. The analysis of counter-urbanization is based on the evolution of annual growth of the population in metropolitan areas and its comparison with non-metropolitan areas. It confirms the existence of changes in the sizes of the considered metropolises, which do not gain population, and at the same time, the less urbanized or even remote rural areas come to see their previously noted losses in population checked. A second phase of the analysis consists in the evolution of the net migration figure in these two areas: the metropolitan areas see the slowing of immigrant population and the non-metropolitan areas register the arrival of immigration. This is why counter-urbanization must be understood as a process of de-concentration of the population . . . a movement from a state of higher concentration to a state of lower concentration’ (Champion 1989: 20). The evidence of the population growth in non metropolitan countries faster than in metropolitan ones focuses the attention on the naturbanization hypothesis as population flows towards rural-natural areas. The first analysis of the processes of counter-urbanization take as a point of reference the moment after the end of World War II. It shows the slowing of the growth in more populated areas at the same time as a certain recuperation of those of smaller size. Following counter-urbanization during the decades from 1959 until 1980 confirmed the tendencies noted and signalled the loss of the attractiveness of the city as a place of residence. The main indicator of the existence of counter-urbanization was then based on the identification of changes in the direction and intensity of migratory flows between metropolitan areas and rural areas. During the first half of the 13
N E T M I G R A T I O N
Figure 2.
size
Urbanization dominant
Counter-urbanization dominant
Model of population de-concentration. Source: Fielding 1982.
twentieth century the migrations had a uni-directional character, from rural areas to urban ones. This unidirectional movement gave rise to very high demographic losses in rural areas. From then on counter-urbanization designated the inverse process, and identified the slowing down of urban immigration at the same time as a slight increase of the non-metropolitan population. The counterurbanization hypothesis came to identify a new cycle in interior migrations in the last quarter of the twentieth century. Counter-urbanization characterises the slowing and normative inversion of the direction of population movements, and their consequences upon the size of settlements and spatial distribution of the population. This first research did not reliably demonstrate a radical turnabout in the demographic behaviour of the population. Neither did it demonstrate the underlying motivations for their residential preferences. Nevertheless, they have been a stimulant, opening an interesting theoretical debate about counter-urbanization and its effects on models of settlement for the population. The research carried out over the last thirty years has allowed the identification and analysis of these processes, and at the same time, it has progressively introduced new elements to the study of counter-urbanization. The most prolific line of work has applied methodological norms from counter-urbanization to the processes of urban de-concentration. The compilatory work of B. J. L. Berry and A. Champion had been followed by others in Europe (Fielding 1982, Banon et al. 1988) and in North America and Australia (Brown & Wardell 1980, Lonsdale & Holmes 1981). There also exists abundant literature of studies of counter-urbanization in urban areas of different European countries (see articles by C. Ferras 1998 and C. Mitchell 2004). A second line of work introduces critical analysis to the methodological basis of counterurbanization. The largest part of these concerns the changes in the city system, and refocuses the processes of de-concentration in rural areas (Davies 1994, Fuguit 1994, Allan & Money 1998). And, in third place, another large section is dedicated to the analyses of the underlying motivations to the change in the mobility of the population and to the models of settlement to which they give rise. The motivations gravitate to the idealisation of rural areas and metropolitan pressure (Williams 1979, Halfacree 1994) over sections of the population more likely to opt for de-concentrated models of urbanization (Boyle & Halfacree 1994, Walsmley et al. 1998); or also revolving around more concrete aspects such as the housing cost or the provision of household equipment in rural areas (Stabler 1985, Gordon 1987). From naturbanization’s perspective, counter-urbanization supplies the general framework about the changes in the mobility and settlement models for the population. It establishes the basic indicators for the analysis of the demographic changes and marks out the areas in which it is produced. The small dimension and multi-directional character of the flows of de-concentration of the population makes necessary, nevertheless, a greater solidity to its terms. On the one hand, 14
counter-urbanization does not determine the size of the flows of population, only the direction they take. The analysis of these processes of naturbanization values the movements of de-concentration from the moment they provoke significant changes on population living on rural-natural areas. On the other, and in relation to the marking out of the area of study, counter-urbanization establishes two categories of metropolitan or non-metropolitan character of the counties in which the hypothesis must be proved. Naturbanization fixes a territorial frame of analysis more precisely of local base, that is, those municipalities that constitute the areas of influence and the protected natural areas. A third aspect to consider is the reasons for population migration, that is, immigrants motivations. Counter-urbanization doesn’t deepen into explanatory reasons for the changes in the direction of population flows. Neither does it analyse the territorial impact of the flows to the receptive counties. Counter-urbanization considers important the changes in the style of urban life towards more peaceful and traditional forms. According to A. Champion, the true counter-urbanite must change their residence and, additionally, ‘has to assume a lifestyle which, if not identical with the traditional rural way of life, should essentially be the modern equivalent of it’ (Champion 1989: 27). The naturbanization hypothesis defends the existence of specific motivations to the changes in the direction of the population flows, corresponding to the processes of demographic de-concentration detected in the 1970s. Naturbanization has a special interest in the deepening of the complexity of reasons that explain the changes of direction in the choice of new destinations. It understands that the underlying motivations to the de-concentration must go supported on certain socio-demographic profiles, as a function of which new relationships and pressures upon the areas of influence of the National/Natural Parks are established. Finally, counter-urbanization does not explore the urban model related to urban population losses. The urban sprawl into rural-natural areas is also important in the naturbanization context because of the territorial and environmental impact on National/Natural Parks. The concepts of counter-urbanization and naturbanization show clear relations, in as much as the second is supported by the same methodological base as the first. In both cases the indicators of change are the demographic growth and a net positive migration. While counter-urbanization questions the centrality held by the great urban centres as a focus of demographic attraction, naturbanization explains the attraction of the rural-natural areas as places of leisure, work and residence as a function of the environmental value. And, above all, naturbanization analyses the territorial impact upon the associated nature and cultural landscapes within the objective of integrated land use planning. We will see the differences between them.
3 NATURBANIZATION AS BEHAVIOUR CHANGES IN POPULATION MOVEMENT Some of the works about counter-urbanization published during the 1990s seem to be interested in the causes and consequences of counter-urbanization. In these, the hypothesis of the work put the emphasis on the causal factors of the new process of rural immigration. The explanatory factors of the motivations of new residents play a central role because they condition the intensity and duration of the flows; the direction they follow; and finally, their influence on the natural dynamic of the rural population. There are some works which go deeply into traditional analysis and still link the loss of the population in the cities to the lack of employment opportunities, the price of housing or accessibility (Hoggart 1997). Other works introduce new elements into the analysis, such as economic development of rural areas united to the process of tertiarisation; the previous relationships of the new residents with these areas; and the valuation of nature and cultural landscapes as an appreciated good (Dahms & McComb 1999, Prados 2000, Elbersen 2001, van Dam et al. 2002, Krannich et al. 2006). Following the same line, more recent studies note the natural values of the residential context. A mild climate, the proximity of coastal or water areas, variation on topography and landscape constitute four explanatory factors in the growth of the population in certain remote rural areas (Prados 2005, Krannich et al. 2006). The nearness of spaces where the natural and territorial heritage is central in the rural-natural area seems to be a valuable aspect, and as a consequence, it gives rise to an attraction of new residents. 15
The processes of counter-urbanization marks the origin of naturbanization as a model of de-concentrated settling in rural areas of specific characteristics. Naturbanization links these processes to the movement of metropolitan areas to rural natural ones and analyses the impact of the territorial transformation that they give rise to. The study of naturbanization as a resultant process of counter-urbanization implies methodological problems in relation to three principal questions. 1. the geographical areas affected by naturbanization processes; how to measure population increase rates and migratory flows related to a de-concentrated model 2. the underlying motivations. The area of the counter-urbanizing processes is not well defined in the scientific literature. The departure point for it would establish a slowing down in the growth of the metropolitan population and the deceleration of immigration. In compensation, the non-metropolitan areas benefit from the reverse process. There are no guidelines about the scale at which the flows happen, and a good part of the works on counter-urbanization is at the country level or large regions (Fielding 1982, 1989, Kontuluy & Vogelsang 1988, Champion 1989, Dahms 1995). At this scale it is understandable that counter-urbanization does not establish specific criteria about which are considered metropolitan and non metropolitan areas, as they are established in the urban hierarchy of each case study. And also because counter-urbanization centres its focus upon a change in the behaviour in metropolitan areas and to its defect, does not consider non-metropolitan areas as a unitary and differentiated set. According to B. Berry, counter-urbanization gives rise to a geographical redistribution of the population of the entire territory, including intra-urban movements as much as inter-regional ones (1976). The work of A. Champion explores more deeply the spatial dimension of de-concentration, focusing upon remote rural areas kept away from metropolitan influence (Champion 1988). In any case, the empirical analysis is limited to movements from metropolitan areas to non-metropolitan ones and refers to areas at regional or county level. Rarely does the theoretical debate study local scales, grouping municipalities according to pre-established criteria. Neither is the process of de-concentration analyse in non-metropolitan areas; they do not establish differences, for instance, according to size, urban model developed and the specific characteristics of rural areas that attract population. The non-metropolitan areas are an essential part of the settlements, and taking account of their diversity and complexity they should not be analyse at national or regional scale. Counter-urbanization only establishes differences on non-metropolitan areas related to distance and/or administrative range of the metropolitan areas (Champion 1988, Walmsley et al. 1998, Mitchel 2004). This is a first methodological objection that can be levelled at counter-urbanization. The counterurbanization process lacks analysis of the definition and identification of the non-metropolitan areas; neither does it analyse their location and extension, or what is its demographic size and capacity to shelter new residents. Therefore it is difficult to analyse the consequences of the processes of de-concentration there, where they are happening, and it does not allow comparative analysis. Both aspects are of great importance in the evaluation of the spatial consequences of the model of de-concentration. Naturbanization nevertheless focuses on the analysis of the de-concentration model in the rural-natural areas. It means that naturbanization establishes ad hoc analyses adequate to the territorial context within their characteristics. All these arguments derive on naturbanization analysis, which explores the de-concentrated model based on the movement of the metropolitan population to non-metropolitan areas. Naturbanization identifies and describes a singular behaviour in rural-natural areas based on: 1. destination of migratory movements of the metropolitan population flows and 2. that of non-metropolitan ones as well. In definition, the naturbanization process focuses the analysis of new patterns in residential mobility of the entire population in the influence areas of National/Natural Parks, beyond metropolitan de-concentration processes. 16
As a consequence, the analysis of counter-urbanization in rural-natural areas is linked to changes in the methodology which adapt to these territories. Therefore, the delimitation of geographical areas analyse and the measuring of the demographic changes are both the axis of naturbanization. The option to link the study of naturbanization to the influence areas of National/Natural Parks establishes the sub-regional scale as suitable for the following of these processes. The Natural Parks present an adequate dimension for various reasons: their territorial size, the diversity on population and economic dynamics of rural-natural areas, and the relations of interdependence between agricultural activity and landscapes. All these are equally present in the influence areas of the National Parks. In conclusion, National Parks are internationally recognized protection figures and therefore they make possible the comparison between the processes of naturbanization from the local to the global scale. A second methodological objection to counter-urbanization is related to the quantitative dimension of the de-concentration process. It is important to establish the intervals of both population growth and migratory flows. In account of the recent situation of rural-natural areas, it is important to determine when underline aspects can be considered gains to the model of de-concentration. The capacity of the rural areas to assimilate the de-concentration of the metropolitan population is determined by their recent population dynamics. From the middle of the last century, the rural areas have suffered important population losses. Intensity and dimension of the emigration process has been worsened by the fall of birth rates. Firstly, natural movement does not help demographic recovery in a population damaged by an ageing demographic process. Secondly, the arrival of immigrants to rural-natural areas is not so relevant in comparison to the large migratory rural population losses of past decades. Additionally, counter-urbanization flows are not unidirectional: they do not only apply to rural-natural areas but to non-metropolitan areas in general. The main question is still how to evaluate the de-concentration of the metropolitan population; and in second place, how to evaluate the significance of these changes to rural-natural areas. The counter-urbanization statement is based on the de-concentration of metropolitan areas as a consequence of changes in the intensity and direction of migratory flows. The analysis of counterurbanization does not go into the demographic consequences of the model of de-concentration over the metropolitan population. Counter-urbanization neither quantifies the migratory losses on metropolitan population nor the migratory contribution to non-metropolitan areas. The works of B. Berry and A. Champion lack the analysis of the population structure of the metropolitan areas that make these flows possible. But, this analysis is essential to determine the consequences as much for the metropolitan areas as for the non-metropolitan ones. In their works, they also question the processes of counter-urbanization when these do not show firm metropolitan de-concentration, but never quantify the dimension of migratory losses. From the perspective of the rural-natural areas, the metropolitan de-concentration process is closely related to population gains. It does not imply the same intensity in both processes, migratory METROPOLITAN AREAS
NON-METROPOLITAN AREAS
AGEING POPULATION LOW FECUNDITY
GROWTH POPULATION DECREASE
MIGRATORY FLOWS
LESSER MIGRATORY GAINS
RELATIVE DE-CONCENTRATION
Figure 3.
Counter-urbanization statement.
17
flows from metropolitan areas and the replace of rural population. Migration and population growth rates have their own dimension in the model of naturbanization. Naturbanization starts with the existence of a protected area. The naturbanization analysis starts up with the creation of the National/Natural Parks and the their recognition by potential new residents. A second aspect is how to detect population growth and net migration on the influence areas of National/Natural Parks and how to evaluate them in the context of the recent rural population trends. Due to the large losses in the past, a stable population growth is valid as confirmation of the process. This is because of the ageing of the rural population which could hide any migratory input. The empirical analyses done on Natural and National Parks in the south of Spain have identified these processes. At the same time, they have established differences in the behaviour of the municipalities located on the influence areas of the parks, as much as in the parks themselves (Prados 2006, 2007). These differences were established according to the distance from the coast and/or proximity to metropolitan areas. The process was also identified in mountainous National/Natural Parks, with a positive behaviour in comparison with other remote rural areas that do not belong to a protected environment (Prados 2005). In synthesis, the naturbanization process does not correspond linearly to the processes of metropolitan de-concentration. The size of the demographic changes linked to naturbanization are not the same as those of counter-urbanization. It would be better to describe naturbanization as a process whose specific characteristics are opposed to the metropolitan dynamic. In this sense, we can establish as the hypothesis that naturbanization is a singular process that does not respond directly to the extension of the phenomenon of demographic de-concentration. A singularity that is marked by a smaller demographic size and density of population; a changing migratory flow that tends to persist; and finally, the recognition of the territorial/natural and landscape values as a comparative advantage over the de-concentration model. Naturbanization comes to confirm the existence of a new process, that of residential mobility based on the environmental quality and landscape of the surrounding areas. It identifies the attraction the influence areas of National/Natural Parks exercise as an explanatory factor in population migratory flows. Naturbanization adds a main motivation for the mobility of the population towards rural-natural areas, at the same time as it directs and explains movements of a specific group of counter-urbanites. A group we can now denominate naturbanites: population in search of the potential of a slower style of life closer to protected areas. They are attracted to rural-natural areas that are valued for the territorial and landscape quality of the surroundings. At the same time, naturbanites question great urban centres and metropolises as places of residence and productive space. Upon occasions, another factor in favour of naturbanization is the functional redefinition of rural areas and the expectations of economic activities based on the consumption of nature. Economic diversity, a larger public investment and competitive prices of land are factors that help understand the existence of the processes of naturbanization. Some authors have identified several factors associated to population de-concentration towards rural-natural areas. These factors are population movements, residential development and new or renovated economic activities in rural areas. And, above all, the main factor is the quality of life and the beauty of the landscape or natural values of these areas (Goldstein 1976, Brown & Wardell 1980, Williams & Jobes 1990, Johnson & Rasker 1995, Gude et al. 2006). Without leaving aside those related to economic reasons or accessibility to remote rural areas, these papers insist on the
NATURBANIZATION
SCARCE POPULATION
LOW POPULATION GROWTH RATES
MIGRATORY INCOME GAINS
Figure 4. The naturbanization statement.
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RESIDENTIAL PREFERENCES
quality of the surrounding landscape as the motor for the attraction of population. The genesis of these processes is being analyzed in the National Parks of Doñana and Sierra Nevada, in the context of the research on naturbanization that gave rise to this book (Prados 2007). The preliminary results confirm the importance of the quality of the residential environment, accessibility and the developing economic activates as attractive actors for the population towards these spaces. In the case of the influence area of the Doñana National Park, the valuation of the surrounding territories and the beauty of the landscape have acted as a motor for the population movements registered (Elbersen & Prados 1999). This situation is more important for non-permanent residents, for whom the presence of virgin beaches and the enjoyment of the environmental resources have been determining factors for temporary residents. For those who live and work in the protected area, the main motivation is obviously the proximity to their work. But normally they have a strong relationship with the protected areas, both for work and leisure. In both cases, accessibility and proximity of large urban areas play a central role in the comprehension of the residential processes associated to the Doñana area. Temporary residents can enjoy more brief stays or even change their residence for a part of the year; while permanent residents value a nice environment within the nearness of first class services. The National Parks of the coast show a higher capacity to attract new residents. Main factors are economic re-activation and better accessibility. Is it possible to extend this behaviour to the influence areas of the National Parks located further away from urban areas? To what point do accessibility and distance determine naturbanization? In their origin, the National Parks protected wild and remote areas whose natural values and beautiful landscapes had priority over the exploitation of their resources. These aesthetic and contemplative considerations have been left behind due to the accessibility of remote natural areas (Elbersen & Prados 1999, Gude et al. 2006). There are several consequences to these changes. On the first place, the development of a rural tourism sector and the affluence of visitors to the protected areas, and after a short time, the growth of residential development on these areas. Thirdly and in relation to the previous consequences, naturbanization identifies the territorial impact of the changing patterns in residential mobility. It is in this context that it becomes important to look deeper into the migratory flows and the profile of the immigrants. The structure of the new inhabitants is as important as the motivations that led them to live close to protected areas. Beyond demographic analysis linked to the processes of de-concentration, naturbanization investigates residents expectations on the rural-natural areas and relates them to the environment and landscape. The underlying motivations of the processes of de-concentration have territorial and environmental impacts, as much in residential development as in economic activities. Naturbanization directs these processes towards specific areas due to their natural and landscape values. The identification of naturbanites in favour of the objectives of environmental preservation has as much importance as those that are looking for accessibility and economic activities based upon the characteristics of these spaces. If the authorities consider the integration of the permanent residents central to its objectives and rules, the attraction of residents with a nature-loving mentality constitutes a great help for an adequate reading of naturbanizing processes. Ord 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
Requisites Residential property owners Environment & landscape are well considered Born/coming from a rural area Secondary school or university graduates Active population &/or retired Employment in the area &/or telecommuting Middle incomes to upper class Leisure on protected area Protected area has positive effects on local economy
Figure 5. The naturbanite profile. Source: Prados 2008.
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4 THE SCALES OF NATURBANIZATION PROCESSES The population growth, residential development and the behaviour of naturbanites provoke territorial changes in rural-natural areas located in or in the surroundings of protected areas. There is abundant literature regarding the consequences of the processes of residential development, and more recently concerning urban sprawl in protected areas (Ghose 2004, Kaplan & Austin 2004). Preliminary works on urban sprawl close to National/Natural Parks refer to the consequences of migratory flows towards rural areas and to the urbanizing pressure around protected areas (Elbersen 2005, Gude et al. 2006). The analyses restrict themselves to the development of the residential development, whether this be to small nuclei or in the creation of new urban areas. Analysis of the consequences of population growth and new models of urban development are missing, however, for example upon the processes of agricultural abandonment; upon renovated business based on natural resources; and/or new infrastructure and public services related to protected areas. These processes have highly different mechanisms to urban developments, in fact these processes must be considered as extensive land processes. By their own natural beauty, National/Natural Parks present a narrow dependency upon the value placed upon certain business or economic activities in protected natural areas. Therefore they affect land uses both in the rural-natural areas and in the interior of the parks. This then allows us to confirm that residential development and economic activities are the two preliminary elements over naturbanization processes which can be identified in the areas of influence of the National/Natural Parks. In the past, they were causes of abandonment and marginality, and nowadays, they are pressure points upon the territory and the cultural landscapes associated. If naturbanization occurs in National/Natural Parks, it implies that their natural values and cultural landscape are highly appreciated by the population. This is why naturbanization incorporates the territorial framework and the landscape as focal points in the analysis of the changes in rural-natural areas and in the National/Natural Parks. This inclusion is understood at various levels: – the growth of residential development and the alteration of the physical structure of the village – new urban models and buildings for economic activity – infrastructure, especially that linked to the objectives for conservation and the enjoyment of protected areas – degradation and changes of agrarian use due to processes of abandonment or intensification – renewal and/or new rural economy based on protected areas. Processes such as traditional economic activity renewal and new economic activities affect land use changes and the degradation of landscapes. Obviously, naturbanization also connects to land cover – land use changes within landscape evolution. The naturbanization processes have territorial and landscape repercussions because they occur in National/Natural Parks. The demographic and residential behaviour of naturbanites provoke territorial changes in rural-natural areas located inside or in the surroundings of protected areas. The shape as much as the alteration of the landscape are results of human action. This is especially the case in protected areas because the territory supports natural life of animals, plants and the water cycle, together with extensive land economic activities. But, human actions cannot destroy the territory and associated landscapes because they are part of an old legacy. A correct understanding of the inherent territorial impacts of naturbanization has to put on the same level the territory and the heritage as valuable resources. The paradox of naturbanization is precisely that the value of the landscape and natural environment is the cause of the risk associated with its occurrence. Naturbanization carries out a careful analysis of the elements preserving the territory from of the pressure associated to naturbanization. It does this on three complementary levels: 1. the definition of the scales of naturbanization processes; 2. the theoretical and methodological developments of disciplines such as Locational Analysis and Landscape Ecology; 20
3. and other instruments of analysis like remote sensing techniques and geographical information systems.
Scale
These scales are very important for naturbanization because they measure the impact of human action in the National/Natural Parks belts. The population settlements, the economic activities and urban infrastructure, spaces with extensive land uses . . . they all need a specific approach, an structure of different scales adapted to the surface of the processes which occur or which derive from them. The territory of naturbanization processes is strongly interconnected by flows or people and animals, the exchange of energy or the trade of their products. Humans and wildlife all co-inhabit the same territory, which they generate and transform over time. But this capacity of transformation is different from one example to the next. The capacity of transformation of urban use is inversely proportional to its spatial dimension; by this it is meant that higher urban densities imply higher population demands upon neighbouring areas. This is the opposite case of extensive land uses which are classified as “extensive” . . . due to the way they influence transformation on their area. This is why every mode of occupation needs a proper territorial scale as much for its superficial extent and the intensity of the transformations, and for the period of time in which they occur. The urban space, that of productive economic activity and infrastructure require a larger scale which measures the elements and processes of change associated. Extensive land uses require a lower scale due to the continuity of a single use over large territorial areas, and to lower environmental impact. Finally, the time scales are clearly parallel to the spatial ones. When we understand naturbanization as a process of de-concentration of population, it must include a reactivation of urban uses. A primary scale of analysis refers to urban areas in general, and to the built space in particular. The identification of new constructions is a preliminary phase of the analysis of the changes in land uses as a consequence of the growth of the urban space. This identification must begin with an analysis of ortho-photographs, aerial photographs or satellite images of high spatial resolution. In other cases the local councils provide information about buildings and building licences. Therefore, fieldwork can help the detection of new buildings. Initially, we can identify four categories of new urban uses associated with processes of naturbanization: residential use inside or outside the villages; isolated buildings for economic activity; industrial and commercial areas; and facilities.
Flows and networks
Extensive land use Economic activation
Cultural landscapes
Urban development
Time
Figure 6. The scales of naturbanization analysis.
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Figure 7.
Residential development and urban sprawl on Guadalfeo river basin. Sierra Nevada National Park (Spain).
In first place are buildings for residential use. They are properties which have been recovered and new houses, whether they be in the town, in the belt of the urban core or urban sprawl. A second type of construction corresponds to buildings linked to the economic activities development: buildings of shared use – agricultural-residential, agricultural-accommodation for tourists – are very common in this naturbanized space. A third type of building corresponds to industrial and commercial use. The size and location of these constructions responds to local demand and therefore their level of occupation of the space is lower. Nevertheless, they are buildings with a certain impact when compared to other categories present in the urban space. The fourth and final typology are the facilities, including those assigned to urban areas as well as facilities linked to the management, conservation and dissemination of the Natural/National Park. Urban use and infrastructure show narrow inter-relations. The image of a territory with multiple nodes of settlements or constructions can only be understood through a communication network between these nodes. Nodes and networks are approached specifically in Locational Analysis, in 22
Landscape Ecology and more recently, by geographical information systems (Chorley & Hagget 1967, Hagget 1975). In fact, the theoretical and methodological basis of both concepts can be found in classical theories dealing with Locational Analysis in Human Geography. Networks make the flows possible and they are considered a first-rate factor in the spatial dynamics. They are agents of the transformation of the territory. For that, the locational structure model assigns priority to the networks over an analysis of the nodes, hierarchies and areas. Transport system makes possible population mobility, transport of goods and the provision of services. Morphological analysis of the flows and interactions between movement and distance/area/time occupy a central position. The location and routes density is also very important as an explanation of the models of spatial diffusion (Hagget 1975). Nevertheless, the explanation of geographic models that allow the flow of people, goods – and nowadays also information – interfere with the connectivity of the natural elements and systems. The concept of flows and networks in Locational Analysis is set against that of Landscape Ecology (Naveh & Lieberman 1984, Forman & Godron 1986, Zonnenveld & Forman 1990). In the ecology approach, the networks are central elements for the maintenance of biodiversity, which necessarily implies that these natural systems flow in a territory prone to human action. The loss and isolation of habitats is, to a large extent, a result of the human locational structure that natural systems are subject to. The processes of fragmentation, dissection, perforation and suppression of habitats or patches of natural life are a product of the dynamic imposed by this locational structure. From the perspective of Landscape Ecology, geographical models based on flows of people, goods – and nowadays information – interfere with the connectivity of the natural elements and the systems. The complementary nature of both disciplines – Landscape Ecology and Locational Analysis – is nevertheless enriched by the study of naturbanization. The transformation of landscapes is commonly related with areas affected by urban pressure, activities related to tourism or with agriculture and livestock . . . to mention only three examples. The speed and intensity of these transformations require a proper scale. Tha is, the scale which permits the right interpretation of the processes associated to extensive land uses and to wildlife. Landscape Ecology has developed a very suggestive and useful model for the analysis of the landscape changes (Naveh & Lieberman 1984, Forman & Godron 1986, Zonnenveld & Forman 1990). The starting point is the conceptualization of the landscape as a mosaic of land cover & land use units. The principles of the patch-corridormatrix model suggests a hierarchical structure from which it can be carried out an analysis of the landscape according to its morphological characteristics; the interpretation of the changes; and the existing relations between them (Forman 1995, Dramstad et al. 1996). The result is an integrated approach to the units which make up the landscape, and consequently of the territory devoted to extensive activities that constitutes its territorial framework. However, in Landscape Ecology the scale concept is different to the geographical scale. For Landscape Ecology the scale is understood as the spatial dimension of the changes in the patches over a certain time period (Turner & Gardner 1991, Forman 1995). This concept of scale incorporates the composition, structure and function of landscape units. As we know, composition refers to the number of patches of different types; structure is determined by the spatial configuration of patches; and function refers to how each patch or landscape unit interacts with others (Turner & Gardner 1991). From that it follows that the type of coverage or the use of a patch does not give rise to differentiated analyses according to their own dynamic (Turner & Gardner 1991, Forman 1995). It means a neutral consideration of the coverage and use of landscape patches. For example, different patches are analysed in relation to their number, size and location, independently of whether these patches are cultivated, forested or they are industrial areas. Edges and boundaries are also subject to a differentiated morphological analysis according to which it is established a level of relation with the patches that they delimit. Corridors are interpreted based upon the relations of connectivity of the patches that shape the landscape mosaic. Nevertheless, from a geographical point of view, land cover & land use mean a specific territorial impact in relation to landscape conservation objectives or their natural values. Therefore, through a naturbanization lens, the analysis of the patch-corridor-matrix principles must adapt to the geographical scale of the processes 23
developing within them, in such a way that it will be possible to go deeply into the coverage of patches that compose the landscape mosaics. Both the surfaces in Locational Analysis and patch-corridor-matrix model from Landscape Ecology provide a conceptual and methodological frame for naturbanization analysis. The naturbanization scale requires a differentiated analysis related to the complexity and the dimension of the changes occurring within these processes. On the one hand, in relation to the analysis of the surfaces or land mosaics in terms of extension and coverage of patches over time, and on the other, regarding the changes on their morphology. The right interpretation of said changes requires specific scales for naturbanization process: urban processes, extensive land uses, processes related to conservation objectives, etc. Fieldwork, maps, aerial photographs and/or high resolution satellite images together with geographical information systems constitute a set of instruments adequate for the work of land evaluation at different scales (Martin 1996, Verburg & Veldkamp 2005). For that, they are one of the most widely used tools for territorial recognition. Naturbanization incorporates geographic information systems as a central instrument in the analysis and diagnosis of the territorial patchwork of the National/Natural Park. Geographical information systems also allow an integrated understanding of the land use mosaic starting from the study area delimitation and the definition of the scale of associated processes to naturbanization (Hainimann et al. 2003, Prados et al. 2005). The capacity of geographic information systems to establish inter-relations between variables with different formats, contents and scales is very important for the naturbanization analysis. In this way, such systems permit the valuation – in the short and medium term – of the territorial impacts of human management and land use changes of any protected space. And finally, they are considered an adequate tool for designing measures which reconcile the abitlity of the territory and human and natural interests (Camarillo et al. 2000). Streams and river systems as corridors of biodiversity and wildlife are good examples as adequate study areas for integrated planning at National/Natural parks. Settlement patterns, population flows, economic activities, land degradation, water conditions, soils and biodiversity related to protected areas conditions are all elements than can be analysed at river basin scale (Dramstad et al. 1996). This is not a new proposition, and is related with some of the most classic examples of regional planning such as that of Tennessee Valley Authority – TVA (Friedmand & Weaver 1981). Originally, river basins were considered the central axis of an innovative planning model. The central objective of TVA was to referee a variety of measures to guarantee the control of the potential capacity of the basin by the public administration. It includes the regulation of the river, energy power, flood
Residential development and new buildings
Changes in land cover/land use
Aerial Photographs
Digital maps and remote sensing techniques
Typologies
Analysis and monitoring of land use changes
Areas
Temporal
Morphology
Maps of land use changes and stable land uses
Location Maps of landscape units
Land use modelling
Figure 8. The scheme of territorial recognition of naturbanization processes.
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control, water shortage, re-foresting, communication networks improvement and urbanization processes (Friedmand & Weaver 1981). River basins are territorial units that are well represented in National/Natural Parks as drainage systems of high mountains, as river valleys in the flood plain, and marshlands or deltas in coastal areas. As units present in any ecosystem, they permit the flow of wildlife and the maintenance of biodiversity. However, at the same time they have traditionally accomplished an important role as means of penetration for the occupation of river catchments, thus contributing to the construction of more and more artificial spaces. Therefore, in the same space and under the same framework they allow the integration of population settlements, productive activity, conservation of resources and landscape. The scales of naturbanization achieve the correct shape at the same time as a proper integration of the biotic components that also form a part of cultural landscapes. The largest difficulty lies in the capacity to integrate everything in correct proportion in such a way as the fragile equilibrium in the territory of the National/Natural Parks is maintained.
5 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION The concept of naturbanization develops a framework for the correct interpretation of the processes of change which are taking place in the areas of influence of the National/Natural Parks. These processes of change start from counter-urbanization processes and also incorporate the changes of residency of non-metropolitan population towards these spaces. The areas affected by these naturbanization processes are those experiencing a growth of population, a positive migratory balance and changes in the composition and structure of the population involved. The main reason for the attraction of new residents towards these areas are the landscape and environmental qualities of surrounding areas of the National/Natural Parks. Additionally, the improvements in the provision of services and public facilities that favour accessibility of remote areas are also important, as well as the perspectives of economic development. All this constitutes a set of elements that favour the appearance of a new type of rural resident who is looking for a new residential/work environment in which value is placed in the natural environment and landscape. Naturbanization processes have obvious repercussions upon the areas of influence of the National/Natural Parks. Naturbanization gives rise to new means of pressure on these areas due to human actions: territories where the priority is the preservation of the landscape and environmental values. The results of investigations completed in some National Parks in South and East Europe – which are gathered in this book – reveal similarities in the described processes. In mountainous National/Natural Parks, in coastal zones and in peri-urban enclaves naturbanization is identified as a growing pressure due to new buildings and infrastructure, and in second place, due to extensive activities that combine the abandonment of traditional practices and the degradation of the cultural landscape. Naturbanization analizes these changes and proposes corrective mechanisms starting from the creation of an integrated territorial frame. Scale, composition, structure, functionality . . . are all elements associated to the changes in each territory and cultural landscape. The final result draws the structure of the processes of naturbanization where they occur and it allows comparative analyses between National Parks, which is central for a theoretical and methodological framework of naturbanization. In such a way, international comparative analysis makes possible the creation of a generic model which allows us to improve and develop both the concepts and the methods of naturbanization analysis. The results of naturbanization can favour a proper integration of the population into the landscape and environment within adequate land use planning decisions for the management and control of protected areas. A better understanding of the existing interrelations between population and environment is necessary in order to achieve wildlife and landscape preservation. Plant and animal habitats are essential pieces in the configuration of the natural environment, and their presence is due in many cases to the processes of de-population and the loss of economic value of these areas in past eras. But at the same time, the survival of ancestral human activities in these territories has made possible traditional land use and cultural landscapes, both factors of extraordinary relevance 25
in the shaping of the National/Natural Parks and their areas of influence. The confirmation of how human action affects these natural ecosystems and the way in which they mutually interact sets out an extremely stimulating scene for policy decisions to manage naturbanization processes.
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Naturbanization: New identities and processes for rural-natural areas – Prados (ed) © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-49000-9
The development of urbanization in the neighbourhood of Kampinoski National Park Miroslawa Czerny, Izabela Lecka & Malgorzata Wujek Institute of Regional and Global Studies, Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Warsaw, Poland
ABSTRACT: Throughout the results of field studies conducted in 2002 and 2006 in the gmina (local authority area) of Leoncin (Poland), authors of this article discuss theoretical and practical matters of urbanization process in the border zone of Kampinoski National Park – almost 40,000 has of woodland situated in the vicinity of Warsaw – the Polish capital. Beside the information about valuable natural features of the National Park, human resources and economic structure of the studied area, the aim was to present the actual attitudes of gmina’s inhabitants towards the local development policy. What are the economic decisions being taken by them? Do they want to become more town-like or do they prefer to host agro-tourists?
1 INTRODUCTION Warsaw – Poland’s capital – is at the same time its largest city – an agglomeration of more than 2 million people. Since 1990, when the process of economic restructuring began in earnest in Poland, Warsaw’s population has risen more rapidly than in the pre-transformation years. A location in the Vistula Valley and on the extensive Mazowsze Lowland ensures that the spatial development of Warsaw could have proceeded without limits. That this was not in fact the case was mainly a result of the presence in the vicinity of large forest complexes bordering on the city. The largest of these – more recently brought under protection within Kampinoski National Park – extends immediately beyond the capital’s north-western limits, taking in major parts of the contiguous forest complex located in the former pro-glacial channel of the Vistula and known in Polish as Puszcza Kampinoska. This Forest plays host to one of the very few National Parks anywhere in the world to be located adjacent to a capital city. The hypothesis of this article consists in the assumption that a very broad national park area in the neighbourhood of Warsaw will be the object of intensive urbanization in the border zone of the Park. Polish law forbids the development of new settlements in the Park, but not in the surrounding areas of the Park. They will constitute very serious environmental problems for natural ecosystems. The border areas of the National Park have been urbanized only in the eastern part of the Park because of the short distance to Warsaw, up until now, but there are some signs that the process is becoming more and more present in another parts of the border area of the Park. 1.1 Some theoretical questions Questions concerning the application of the model of sustainable development into the urban areas or suburban zones recurred in geographical literature throughout the 20th century. In 1922 German town planner Gurlitt wrote: ‘Whether we want it or not, we still have, when planning the expansion of our towns, to acquire knowledge from the work done there before. . . The extension of a town encompasses also the question of its social and cultural life, not just in the current period, since it is, as well, deeply rooted in what will be happening here in the future’ (Gurlitt, quoted after Petzold 1997: 19). 29
It was Gurlitt, who at the beginning of the 20th century, maintained that the expansion or reconstruction of a town was not only associated with the emergence of new buildings, but also with the formation of a new social situation and urban culture. The effects of these processes are long-lasting, and hence, when building the town of today, we must remember that future generations will inhabit it (Czerny 2005, Petzold 1997). Studies in socio-economic geography concerning the application of the sustainable development concept emphasise the necessity of interdisciplinary research, integrating the elements of the natural environment, economics and, more generally, the social science, with the needs of the individual. On the basis of this assumption, Coy (1977b) lists five essential research questions which ought to become the subject of study of socio-economic geography. Among these, some are very important for urban studies. One of these we can formulate: How does human activity influence the changes of the landscape, and to what extent is the ecosystem in which humans live susceptible or resistant to their destructive activity? The questions of increasing the efficiency of the use of resources and decreasing the burden on the environment dominate in discussions on the sustainable development of urban areas. On the other hand, though, there are more and more questions about whether this concept should be limited to ecological considerations. It is hardly possible to speak of the town in purely ecological terms – of the proper use and protection of the environment. ‘The settlement ecosystems, in view of their manner of functioning and regulation of flows within them, are created in their entirety by man, and hence cannot be compared to the ecosystems of nature’ (Coy 1997a: 22). Likewise, in the history of settlement systems, the town was treated most often as an entity alien in nature. In this way, the increasing domination of the town in a given region signifies, along with the advance of civilisation, the growing reign of the urban center over nature. (Czerny 2005, Czerny 2006). The urban life style, though, exhausts the existing, increasingly limited resources of nature. Petzold (1997) makes the assumption that the town in the ecological understanding is not a sustainable system, and supports a definition of sustainable development according to which the town should satisfy the needs of its inhabitants, proposing the cultural. It is in the urban area that the conflicts between the socio-economic sphere and the natural environment are particularly pronounced. Urban dwellers, along with the environment in which they live, associate the natural environment less and less with the town’s functioning processes (Coy 1997a). Simultaneously, side by side with the phenomena typical of the natural environment, occurring in large towns, conflicts and divergences of interest appear in the social sphere, whose condition can provide us with a lot of information concerning quality of life in a town. The question concerning urban sustainable development is converted into a more complicated one if it takes into account not only the town as administrative unit but the urbanized zone around the town. The process of the expansion of urban structures into the forest and agricultural areas adjacent to the zone of contiguous urban space is observed not only in American cities but in European as well. It is taking place at different speeds in the majority of Polish towns and cities. The agglomeration of Warsaw represents an area in which urban sprawl is characterised by high differentiation. Generally speaking, last year has been characterised by an increase in the significance of the suburban zone as the location for jobs. The sign of the most advanced suburbanization is the so-called extended suburbanization or peri-urbanization., i.e. ‘a process of urbanization of areas adjoining a hitherto less or more urbanized suburban area that in the course of time gradually assumes many negative features peculiar to the central town. This process is stimulated by the relatively low price of land, by ecological attractiveness, and by the absence of control peculiar to areas within the limits of the metropolitan area.’(Lisowski, 2005: 83). 1.2 Study area The land now occupied by the Park was shaped by the last ice sheet. The area’s relief – and most especially its dunes – are a consequence of the activity here of waters flowing off from the melting 30
ice-sheet, and later of the wind. Marshlands and swamps developed in the areas between the dunes the wind raised. A forest complex can be of major significance for living conditions in a large city that borders on to it. In this case also, the prevalent winds in central Poland are westerly, conveniently ensuring that unpolluted fresh air from over the Forest is conveyed into the urban area of the capital. Furthermore, the Forest is a fine place for rest and recreation, notably the weekends spent on walks, mushroom and berry picking that have such a long tradition in Poland. It is also ever more usual for the edge of the forest to be thought of as an ideal place to live. The process of urban sprawl that has come to characterise Warsaw over the last ten and more years is indeed ensuring the settling of land close to the National Park, the areas far from the madding crowd and the built-up centre being perceived as extremely interesting by both developers and residents of Warsaw. The first settlements on the margins of the forest began to arise as early as in the 15th century. ‘In line with the increasing demand for timber, work to exploit the forest interior was commenced with. To this end, new settlements emerged here in the 1730s. Their Polish name reflected the rather ad hoc shack-like nature of the construction, the settlement being of a relatively short-lived nature, coinciding with the time over which that part of the forest was being cut over. The areas inhabited by these people were nevertheless the kernel for the later development of villages and agricultures where the forest had been cut down.’ (http://www.kampinoski-pn.gov.pl). It was then that settlers from Holland appeared in the forest area. The work they did here helped drain the land and make it suitable for cultivation. Their constructions ‘became a permanent element of the Kampinos landscape along the Vistula. These are elevations of natural origin or as anthropogenic heaps and mounds on which homes were built to gain protection from flooding, and boundary banks planted with willows and poplars that designated the limits of a farm in time of flood as well as serving as springtime icebreakers. Wickerwork fences once put between the trees slowed the current of the floodwaters, encouraging the deposition of silt.’ (http://www.kampinoski-pn.gov.pl). The land within the forest has many times in the history of Poland served as a battlefield. For this reason, the nature present within the forest complex in its primeval state was almost completely destroyed. In turn, the area around the Park has many heritage items of architecture, the most famous of these being associated with the life of Fryderyk Chopin. The first of these is the manor ˙ in Zelazowa Wola, where he was born; the second the Gothic/Renaissance-style church in Brochów in which he was christened. There are also architecturally-important and/or historic churches in Kampinos, Leszno and Secymin, as well as manor houses in Lipków, Kampinos and Tułowice. 1.3 The protection of Kampinos National Park The exceptional nature of the forest complex and its valuable natural features combined to ensure the establishment of Kampinos (Kampinoski) National Park (KNP) here as early as in 1959, ‘with a view to the protection of Europe’s best-preserved complexes of inland dunes, marshy and forest natural habitats, a rich fauna and many monuments and heritage items relevant to Polish history and culture. The Park originally covered some 40,700 has, though several subsequent corrections of the boundaries have left it with a present-day area of 38,544.33 has.’ (http://www.kampinoskipn.gov.pl). The establishment of KNP had the further aim of securing the forest complex against improper management, urbanization and the expansion of industry. ‘Local physical development plans and the siting of any new buildings within the Park’s protective zone have to be agreed with the Director’s Office. There are 8 Nature Reserves within the buffer zone, as well as small patches of forest which represent an important component of the landscape, as well as serving to buffer the excessive and harmful penetration of forest areas within KNP. [. . .] An exceptionally valuable natural feature of the Park is the traditional landscape of Poland’s heartland Mazowsze region – which still survives in many places, consisting of a mosaic of fields and pastures, pollarded willows and haystacks arranged in such a way as to pass the winter. The protective goals are supported by the delimitation of 4 zones of landscape protection with a total target area of 2916 has (or 7.6% of the Park area). Land is not purchased there, since the precondition if the agricultural/cultural landscape is to be preserved with a high degree of naturalness (as is proving absolutely impossible in 31
most other areas around the Warsaw agglomeration) is to ensure that traditional means of managing and cultivating the land are pursued.’ (http://www.kampinoski-pn.gov.pl). These provisions hinder ongoing urbanization on the margins of the National Park and should hold back the development of other forms of land-use posing a threat to nature within KNP.
2 THE VICINITY OF WARSAW AND CHANGES IN THE ECONOMIC STRUCTURE OF GMINAS LOCATED ADJACENT TO KAMPINOS NATIONAL PARK – EMPIRICAL STUDIES IN THE GMINA OF LEONCIN AT THE BOUNDARY OF KAMPINOS NATIONAL PARK Societal processes observed in Poland in the last two decades (including changes in lifestyle resulting from ever higher incomes) are ensuring that the green space close to large cities, hitherto little-utilised, is becoming more attractive to investors – for housing construction, recreation, transport, etc. This means that Kampinos National Park also finds itself within the area of interest of Varsovians, who are keener and keener to find a home or summer residence there. The way in which these processes run their course in the vicinity of the Park has been studied by reference to the gmina of Leoncin, part of whose area lies within the Park, while part has traditionally been agricultural. As fieldwork done by a team of employees and students in the last four years shows, these areas are witnessing dramatic changes in forms of management that may pose a threat to the National Park itself. Research on selected socioeconomic problems in the near-Warsaw gminas (local authority areas) began in 2002 within the framework of student professional training at the Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies UW. Student professional training in physical geography had begun in selected areas of these gminas around 20 years earlier, however, meaning that some of these areas have actually been under observation for a long time, if in a non-uniform way as regards methodology. In choosing the areas to be used this time round, the gminas that came to be regarded as most interesting were the rural ones located close to the Warsaw agglomeration but not formally within it. The reason for this is that these gminas are in the vicinity of Poland’s largest labour market, and have since the 1970s been places of recruitment for workers in the numerous industrial enterprises of Warsaw. Generated in the local villages thanks to this was a whole group of worker-farmers combining work in agriculture with that in industry. This group of dual-occupation individuals was assured of transport, including via a road system of good quality that was quite efficient in linking the villages in question with Warsaw. At the same time, however, the location in such close proximity to the city ensured that land in these villages increasingly came under the influence of urban sprawl. The political and economic changes in Poland from 1990 on merely accelerated these transformations in the near-Warsaw villages, such that areas with poor-quality, uneconomic, soils were more or less forced to let go of agriculture. Some of the younger and better-educated inhabitants found a place for themselves on the Warsaw labour market, while the former worker-farmers lost their jobs in both industry and agriculture, such that many households became poverty-stricken. In such a situation the gmina authorities have been working for years on a new and appropriate strategy by which to protect both land and inhabitants from impoverishment and deprivation. Most see the attraction into the area of the greatest possible number of investors as the universal panacea. Bearing in mind investments in tourism and/or agro-tourism, some decision makers stress the importance of nature conservation, while others wanting to bring in industry are looking for ways round those very same principles regarding conservation that are in force. In many cases, the latter group has managed to get their way. Independently of these efforts, ever-greater numbers of wealthy people in the free professions are moving into the villages, having eschewed life in the city. The people in question are freed of the requirement to commute daily and can take full advantage of the area’s natural beauty. In time, however, they come to want a ‘civilised’ version of nature, as well as a ‘urban feel’ version of village life, their influence being felt as a slow but sure process of change in the new place of residence. In 2002, the Institute of Regional and Global Studies (as part of the Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies of Warsaw University) began a study on the socioeconomic transformations 32
ongoing in villages, and leading to their coming to resemble urban areas, as well as on the availability of services in the near-Warsaw rural gminas, beginning with Leoncin – which is located to the capital’s north-west. In 2003, the study was then taken to the gmina of Pra˙zmów, which is to the south-west of the city. Leoncin was returned to in 2004 and 2006, with a partially-changed research profile. In the light of Poland’s May 1st 2004 accession to the European Union, it had become important to answer questions regarding the economic decisions being taken by inhabitants of a rural gmina in the context of EU membership, and most especially with direct payments to farmers from the Union budget in prospect. Would it still be possible to discern the trend towards the village becoming more town-like in these circumstances? Inhabitants were also asked to assess the attractiveness of their gminas of habitation for tourism, as well as to state any possible plans regarding the development of agro-tourism on their farms (in terms of opportunities or obstacles). An advantage in this respect was the location of a large part of the gmina within – or in the buffer zone of – Kampinos National Park. As an element of their practical work, students were divided up into three-person teams, each being assigned the task of researching a given part of the gmina. The further task was to gain familiarity with the gmina’s physical development plans (in all study years), to map all servicerelated items of infrastructure and facilities (at the scale 1:25,000), to assess land use, and to conduct 8–10 surveys (prepared in advance) with the help of inhabitants of the village studied, as well as several interviews that obligatorily included one with the local head, known as the sołtys. Questions included in the survey for 2002 concerned the availability/accessibility of services, while the 2004 and 2006 questionnaires centred on changes in agricultural management and main sources of upkeep, as well as prospects for the development of tourist and recreational functions in the gmina. Students obtained interesting material in this way, allowing for the tracing of changes in the socioeconomic life of the gmina. The beauty of the gmina’s landscape, as well as the location-induced conflicts between nature conservation and spatial management suggest a need for research in Leoncin in particular to continue in future years.
3 THE GMINA OF LEONCIN 3.1 A geographical characterisation The rural gmina (local authority area) of Leoncin is within Mazowieckie (a.k.a Mazowsze) voivodship, where a voivodship is a province-region in terms of status. At a more detailed level, Leoncin is within the poviat (‘county’) of Nowy Dwór, accounting for 22.97% of the area of that poviat. In the years 1975–1998, the gmina in question fell within the then-existing voivodship of Warsaw (at a time when Poland was divided into 49 smaller voivodships, as opposed to the 16 larger ones existing currently). Leoncin is in fact one of the largest gminas anywhere in Mazowieckie, covering 15,844 has, of which 51% is forest. It is at distances of some 40–50 kms from Warsaw. The northern limit of the gmina is set by the River Vistula, while the gminas of Brochów and Czosnów lie to the west and east respectively. The southern boundary is in turn with the gminas of Kampinos and Leszno in the immediate vicinity of the forest complexes within Kampinos (Kampinoski) National Park (for a precise map, including by satellite see http://mapy.eholiday.pl/mapa-leoncin.html). In January 2000, Kampinos National Park was included by UNESCO on its world list of Biosphere Reserves. The gmina has 32 villages and 18 hamlets occupied by more than 5000 people in total (Table 2). That gives a population density of 32 people per km2 . By lowland standards, the area has a diverse relief that provides for a landscape full of contrasts. Away from the large areas protected within the Kampinos Forest and thus National Park, the gmina also has more than 260 has of private forests, as well as bodies of water of larger or smaller size. The buffer zone of the National Park also includes Areas of Protected Landscape along the Vistula, in which rare and endangered bird species are to be found (e.g. white-tailed eagles, grey herons and cormorants). There are areas embraced by the EU’s 33
NATURA 2000 Programme, the Wikliny Wi´slane and Zakole Zakroczymskie Nature Reserves, and architectural plus natural monuments. A location within the Warsaw Basin ensures a specific local microclimate characterised by longer duration of snow cover, the presence of warm masses of air and a greater number of days during the year that are windless. The prevalence of pine stands within the Kampinos Forest ensures that the air is full of ethereal oils. However, the location of the gmina within KNP and its buffer zone engenders specific requirements where development is concerned. The seat of the local authority is in Leoncin, which is often referred to as a town in online fora. However, in formal terms it has never obtained town rights. The village of Leoncin, whose name is certainly better known in New York than in Warsaw, was immortalised in the recollections of one of the 20th-century’s most important writers, Izaak Beshevis Singer. His writing in Yiddish earned him the 1978 Nobel Prize, while his brother Joszua also mentioned it in his own books. Both came into the world in the wooden building that is the Leoncin house of prayer (Izaak in 1904), of which there is now no more trace than of any other element of that old wooden world existing in literature. Today, the street honouring the name of Izaak Singer has no residential buildings at all, though there is a school named after John Paul II. Here then is a good example of a little bit of Polish ecumenical history. More remains of the period of Dutch and German settlement when it comes to the wetland areas along the Vistula belonging to the local authority. In the 2nd half of the 18th century, the last King of Poland Stanisław August Poniatowski confirmed the establishment of an epithetic contract between the Dutch and the staroste of Kampinos, a Mr Gutakowski, for the establishment of a village in the ‘scrub’ in Wilków. It was in this way that there appeared a line village situated between the Vistula and Puszcza Kampinoska, with a cultural landscape that survives in a well-preserved state to the present day. This extends along a flood bank, on the southern side of the road running along that bank, from which access roads branch off to the different farms at distances of 50–150 ms from it. Houses have been sited on artificially piled-up mounds that run in an east-west line. On the eastern side, these mounds have been planted with poplars and willows. The field boundaries and roads have also been planted with willows. The area between the bank and the farms now features ponds which collect any excess rainwater, as well as water seeping through the flood bank. Today, alas, the examples of the traditional architecture associated with Dutch settlement are ever more likely to be falling into ruin. The village existed in film as well as literature. The gmina’s natural and cultural charms were made use of by the outstanding Polish Director Andrzej Wajda (winner of a lifetime achievement Oscar) as he made the films Brzezina and Pan Tadeusz (the volume entitled Grzybobranie) – both of which have a well-earned place in the history of Polish cinematography. Today’s Leoncin is an agricultural gmina, but one in which the current economic development is not being driven by farming, but by home and recreational building (Table 1). For agriculture within the gmina is fragmented and of limited productivity, especially since the majority of the land under cultivation is in the low soil quality class. Almost 47% of the area used agriculturally takes the form of pastureland and meadows, while 50% is arable. Nevertheless, this state of affairs reflects major changes taking place over the last Table 1.
Land use in the gmina of Leoncin in 2005 (according to the Central Statistical Office – GUS).
Indicator
Value
Units
Total area used in agriculture Total Arable Area Orchards in total Meadows in total Pastures in total Forests and forest land in total Other land and wasteland
6 268 3 145 190 1 645 1 288 8 514 1 102
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha
Source: http://www.gminy.pl
34
15 years. The 1990s saw many fields sown with cereals (which went un-harvested) or legumes, these being ploughed in to improve the soil ‘for later’, or else left fallow. This reflects the fact that, away from the Vistula Valley, where soils are fertile, the ground is mostly of poor quality and sandy. At a time of low crop prices, the cultivation of this land under the conditions of the market economy was simply unprofitable. As they carried out their practical assignments in 2002, many students asked to map out selected areas within the gmina had difficulties detecting any form of land use other than meadow, pastureland or fallows. However, in 2004, many farmers sowed cereals in their fields once more, the aim being to attract European Union direct payments. However, it can be presumed that not everyone seeking these subsidies actually sowed their fields, these individuals clearly doubting whether the EU agencies were actually in a position to check the true situation. It was only the information appearing in autumn 2004 – as to the ease with which aerial photographs of local authority areas could be obtained at the height of the growing season – that prompted renewed cultivation of most arable land in the years 2005 and 2006, with the result that fields of grain once more murmured in the summer breeze – just as they had done in years gone by. Since 2005, the gmina has been incorporated within the ‘Partnership in the Forks of the Three Rivers’ programme, supported by the EQUAL Community Initiative and taking in the area around the confluence points between the Rivers Narew and Wkra and the Vistula. The main reason for the gmina to join the project is the opportunity provided for potential investors and those interested to be presented with information on the gmina’s excellent valuable attributes of a nature- and tourism-related character, and hence its promotion. A further important element is integration and cooperation of gminas within the poviat of Nowy Dwór with their local associations. The project encourages inhabitants to seek out new solutions associated with the creation of new jobs (mainly in the tourist sector), as well as encouraging them to gain a fuller acquaintanceship with their own possibilities and to exchange experiences. The area of the gmina of Leoncin also comes within the planned Greater Warsaw Agglomeration Sub-Region, which has been promised the financial support of the European Union. In turn, a huge Irish investment in the neighbouring gmina of Czosnów – along the main north-south national route – is foreseen, the results of which may include the emergence of a small town of 30,000 people with residential and service-related districts and modern infrastructure.
3.2 The gmina’s human resources The gmina’s population is subject to only minor changes, though monitoring in the years 2002–2005 suggests that there is no trend that could be explained in terms of fluctuations in the rates of natural increase or death. The population within the gmina area would seem to being shaped by migration. Some (younger) inhabitants are escaping from the village – presumably to the towns. In turn, some previous ‘townies’ are deciding to go off and live in the countryside (Table 3). Thus far it is not possible to note any influence of foreign migration into Leoncin (1 such person came in 2004). Equally, there is no migration of gmina inhabitants to work abroad to speak of. Table 2.
Population in terms of actual place of residence.
Year
Number of people
2002 2003 2004 2005
5 085 5 103 5 082 5 069
Source: http://www.gminy.pl
35
Table 3.
Population increase due to internal migrations.
Year
Number of people
2002 2003 2004 2005
4 8 19 0
Source: http://www.gminy.pl
The gmina population is ageing, with children aged 17 or under comprising just over 1/5 of inhabitants (22%). Adults of working age account for 66% of the total. The shares of the population accounted for by the different age groups are as follows (m-men, w-women): – – – – –
0–5 years: 2.8% (m) and 2.8% (w) 6–12 years: 4.6% (m) and 4.2% (w) 13–17 years: 4.2% (m) and 3.6% (w) 18–60 years: 32.5 (m) and 28.7% (w) Over 60: 5.6% (m) and 10.8% (w) (source: http://www.regioset.pl).
The villages with the largest populations are those directly adjacent to the bus route with Warsaw (with 400-770 inhabitants), while the sparsest populations characterise villages within the National Park, i.e. Nowa D˛abrowa with its 64 people and Rybitew with 70. The policy pursued by the KNP authorities, whereby people were resettled out of areas in very close proximity to the Rybitew Strict Nature Reserve (which were reforested), ensured that only the oldest inhabitants remained in these villages, which are thus de facto heading for extinction. The situation is somewhat different in the villages located in the very heart of KNP, i.e. Górki, Zamo´sc´ and Nowe Budy, which actually seem depopulated at first glance, though are in fact lived in by more than 350 people, including families with children. Most of the people there have very limited educational attainments, and thus almost no chance on the labour market of a capital city. Their primary source of income (and against the law at that) is the seasonal sale of berries and mushrooms. Several inhabitants have higher education, but have ‘escaped from civilisation’. The remainders are pensioners residing in a private old people’s home. The population in the gmina is by no means wealthy. There is around 1491.74 zł per inhabitant here, or just 71.58% of the average noted for gminas within Mazowieckie voivodship (though 89.81% of the average for gminas in Poland as a whole). (http://www.regioset.pl/leoncin).
3.3 The gmina’s economic development The physical development plan for the gmina envisages four primary functions where land use is concerned, i.e. the agricultural, the residential, the service-related and the recreational/touristrelated. However, it is the view of the local authority that the future does not lay with the development of farming, but with that of tourism, recreation and commerce. This aim is favoured by locational factors, and it explains why the overall physical development plan envisages land being used for the construction of service and production enterprises not imposing excessive burdens on the environment. The construction of a system of water pipelines and sewers, repair of roads, and efforts to put in place transport linkages with the north-south route across Poland have all been planned, as has a system of car parks with small eateries in the vicinity of KNP. Also anticipated for the not-too-distant future is the bringing under management of the top of the Vistula Embankment, so that it might be used as a walking and cycle route, and hence offer tourists better access to the uniquely valuable natural (including ornithological) features of the Vistula Valley. There is also 36
supposed to be a ferry crossing of the river, at the place where the ‘only road beyond the river’ existed up to the time of World War II. The natural attributes combine with the convenient communications with surrounding gminas, towns and cities (notably Warsaw and Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki) to create a wide range of possibilities for the development of weekend tourism and recreation, as well as a suitable agro-tourism base that will meet diverse standards of expectations as regards conditions of stay and services on offer to guests. In practice, however, tourist traffic has not yet increased more significantly, such that the gastronomic outlets that have appeared may not endure for long – usually for only a few months. Work on the ferry crossing has also come to nothing. In the meantime, the last few years have brought an intensification of the construction of singlefamily housing in the gmina, while villages located in the immediate vicinity of KNP are witnessing markedly increased interest in building on large-area plots. Some (as in Polesie Nowe and Krubiczew) are being used as areas for horses with stable and hotel facilities associated with them. There is a noted breeding centre for Arabians in the village of Nowa Mała Wie´s. Recreational construction has been making a permanent mark on the landscape in the gmina. It is mainly located along the River Vistula and in KNP. It was in the area of the Vistula-side belt that plots with summer homes first appeared. New developments are now present ever further to the south, including in the complex of plots owned by the Polish Academy of Sciences in Wilków Nowy, or else by employees of the National Philharmonic Orchestra in Wilków Polski. Somewhat later – at the end of the 1990s – the so-called “second homes” appeared in Leoncin, close to media like water pipelines and sewerage, as well as services, but at the same time in the immediate vicinity of KNP. After 2000, some of these came to be occupied year-round by members of the free professions, or else wealthier pensioners. These people are now exerting an ever greater influence on decisions concerning the gmina as a whole. In the last local elections of autumn 2006, some people made use of their right to vote in the place of residence (as opposed to place of permanent registration). Inhabitants of the gmina are inclined to want to develop organic farms, this being all the more readily achievable since the greater part of the farmers do not use artificial fertilisers in any case, the price being prohibitive for them. However, most of the produce obtained in this way is earmarked for home consumption, or for members of the wider family living in towns. Nevertheless, there is one farm on the fertile riparian land on which the organic rearing of cattle takes place, as well as the cultivation of vegetables. Some of the activity centres on the production and sale of germinating seeds. Farms also offer room and board for tourists. Many foreign guests (especially from The Netherlands) are hosted in summer. However, this activity has not found many imitators. In the vicinity there are two other agro-tourist farms in the gmina (effectively they are tourist farms only, since agricultural activity is not going on, only rooms rented). Equally, the tourist traffic is limited. What dominate here are rather day or weekend trips. In these cases the obstacle would seem to involve price (all of the entities in question advertise on the Internet). At 50 zł a night on average, the prices are above those in many tourist spots in the mountains or by the sea, at which similar standards can be found, and more attractions. Nevertheless, the anticipated development of the tourist function sees the gmina involved in the implementation of pro-environmental developments. Public buildings are steadily going over to oil heating, with its more limited polluting impact. Wastewater treatment plants are in operation (with a throughput in the case of the municipal and industrial facilities combined of 214 dm3 per day), and there is sanitation and storm water drainage, water pipelines, and – in connection with the iron and manganese contamination of groundwater – a water treatment station. To ensure the delivery of these media to all households, further development is still required – though this remains impossible at present on account of the lack of funds within the gmina. The development is particularly held up by the limited own incomes of the gmina (Table 4). The income obtains larger amounts of income from subsidies (Table 5). Investment outlays from the budget fluctuate considerably from year to year. They were some 60% greater in 2002 than in subsequent years (Table 6). There is effectively no foreign investment at all. It was only in 2004 that the first private-sector company with a share of foreign capital came into existence. 37
Table 4.
Gmina own incomes.
Indicator
Value
Units
Total for own income into budget Own budgetary income from agricultural tax Own budgetary income from property tax Own budgetary income from tax on means of transport Own budgetary income from local fees and charges
3 741 648 135 503 688 428 62 896 0
PLN PLN PLN PLN PLN
Source: http://www.gminy.pl
Table 5.
Income from subsides and grants.
Indicator
Value
Units
Budgetary income – all grants and subsides Budgetary income – grant from the central budget Budgetary income – means for the co-financing of gmina tasks
4 034 670 1 618 535 0
PLN PLN PLN
Source: http://www.gminy.pl
Table 6.
Investment outlays from the local authority budget.
Year
Value, PLN
2002 2003 2004 2005
2 057 146 1 226 322 1 152 916 2 098 735
Source: http://www.gminy.pl
The conditions for investment in the gmina are thus very favourable: – – – –
international routes – 10 kms to the Warsaw-Gda´nsk (E 81) route rail lines – 12 kms to Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki nearest international airport – Warsaw, but in the future also Modlin directions to development for which a preference is shown: – Roads, bridges, car parks – Street lighting – A wastewater treatment plant – Gasification – Telecommunications – Water pipelines and sewerage – Residential construction – Hotels and gastronomy – Sporting and recreational facilities – Tourism – Management of green space – Processing of agricultural/food products
(source: own compilation on the basis of information at http://www.gminy.pl, unpublished documents of the Leoncin Gmina Office, information in the press). 38
Table 7.
Gmina’s expenditure in 2005.
Indicator
Value
Units
Total expenditure on agriculture Total expenditure on transport Transport expenditure on the maintenance of gmina-level roads Total expenditure on municipal management Expenditure on municipal management: street lighting Expenditure on municipal management and non-material municipal services Total expenditure on education and upbringing Total expenditure on culture and art Total expenditure on health care Total expenditure on social welfare Total expenditure on physical culture and sport Total expenditure on local government administration
629 975 326 127 326 127 620 960 202 570 104 048 5 265 139 46 420 116 155 1 040 377 0 1 262 536
PLN PLN PLN PLN PLN PLN PLN PLN PLN PLN PLN PLN
Source: http://www.gminy.pl
At the present time, no great interest is being shown by investors from outside the gmina. Thus, the effort and money put into promotion is not so far bringing any tangible effects. In contrast, gmina expenditure on the different necessary and year-round tasks is rising, assuming the form described in Table 7 in 2005. What seem noteworthy are the high level of expenditure on social welfare and the local government administration, as set against the total lack of funding for physical culture and sport (especially in the face of the promotion of tourism and recreation!) The gmina ensures access to the basic services. There is one non-public health centre, a library, 4 school complexes (of primary schools and junior highs), a bar, 2 petrol stations, a post office, a bank, a meat-processing plant, 2 bakeries, a printer’s, an ironworker’s and other service enterprises. The faithful attend 3 different Catholic churches. The areas with the greatest concentration of enterprises in the services are the villages of Leoncin and Michałów. This is connected with the presence there of much better infrastructure than is found in the remainder of the gmina, as well as an appropriate distance from the zone of absolute protection around KNP. 3.4 Developments and nature conservation The gmina has 60 has designated for residential building at its disposal, most of this belonging to private owners (local farmers). Only recently was consent given for the land in question to undergo a change in designation from agricultural to non-agricultural and non-forest (and hence available for building on). The gmina is willingly accepting changes in the local physical development plan that have as their aim the end of agriculture on some land. However, the development of housing construction is linked with siting and architectural concepts. With a view to features of value from the points of view of tourism and aesthetics being maintained, basic requirements as regards housing construction have been set, including that: – the area of the plot around a single-family home may not cover less than 1000 ms2 , if the requirement that 70% of the area remain biologically active is to be honoured, – existing areas planted with trees shall be preserved and protected, – the possibility exists to build houses with steep roofs so that attics might be used for summerholiday purposes. It is anticipated that further land will be made available for the development of second summer homes and bed and breakfasts/guesthouses in the near future. The village of Polesie Stare is also 39
aiming at the development of tourist facilities on a 2.35 has site, with advantage being taken of elements of nature and landscape that are present there. In turn, the Vistula-side village of Wilków Polski may set aside in excess of 90 has for sport and recreation (a golf course?). Permitted in these cases is the construction of several-storey buildings using garret space, and the possibility of introducing service-related functions. However, in line with the environmental conditioning, those services may not be burdensome for the environment. In fact, the gmina does include potentially-burdensome firms in the food sector, i.e. the ‘Lukullus’ Meat Factory, as well as ‘VilPol’ poly graphic services. However, both of these enterprises are in possession of the necessary EU certification. Some inhabitants have reservations about the presence of a riding school and hotel for horses on the borders of Kampinos National Park (especially in Krubiczew) as well as about the Park being used for riding (including for trips on horseback starting in other riding centres outside the gmina). 3.5 The results of survey research In 2002, the students got in touch with more than 100 respondents from 32 villages. 108 interviews were conducted. Questions concerned the availability of services in the gmina, as well as the personal preferences of respondents when it comes to the choice of location for a given kind of service. The answers to these questions went some way to ascertaining whether the gmina is becoming more town-like, as regards the development of infrastructure on the one hand, and the attitudes of the local people (on the basis of interviews with them) on the other. For obvious reasons, all respondents pointed to the need to make use of hospital and emergency services outside the gmina (since the nearest examples of these are to be found in Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki). Likewise, 58% of respondents go outside the gmina if they need specialist medical treatment or consultation, 33% consult dentists, 6% travel to health centres at a greater distance and 11% go to the chemist. Around 15% of those asked claimed to have sought banking services away from their home gmina, 2% postal services. 55% of respondents go to town for the cinema, while 31% use it when they need a restaurant or cafe. 19% have extra classes in the Community Centre and 8% go away to the library (even though there is actually a library in the gmina itself). It is interesting that around 2% of respondents report frequenting a church not belonging to any of the three parishes the gmina is made up of. 29% of respondents make no use whatever of a library, while 44% do not go to the cinema, 52% have no use for restaurants and cafes and 37% for the Community Centre. 2% do not use banks, while 3% do not to go church. Most tangibly absent in the perceptions of inhabitants of the gmina (in order of the hierarchy of needs) are: 1. medical services, 2. a better choice of shops, 3. cafes or a pub, 4. a cultural centre, 5. entertainment (a disco or club), 6. better transport services, 7. a cinema, 8. a tailor’s, 9. a post office offering the full range of services, 10. a place to have household appliances repaired, 11. places to have a car repaired or serviced, 12. wholesalers’, 13. launderettes, 14. a cobbler’s, and a hairdressing salon, veterinary surgery, photographic studios, plumber, joiner, glazier and ironworker. In addition, mention was also made of a children’s playground, church, video/DVD library and permission to build on the part of the National Park authorities (!). The community in Leoncin gmina would seem to be polarising. Some inhabitants (presumably the older ones) have no more-pressing higher-order needs, though advancing age and consequently deteriorating health does make them fully conscious of the lack of healthcare and transport services. In their case the process by which a village becomes a town is not perceptible. The second group comprises those who are keenly aware that higher-order needs are not being met, to the extent that they must travel outside the gmina – most often to the nearby towns – to have those needs satisfied. It is not only in search of discos and cinemas that inhabitants go off on trips. They are also interested in frequenting cafes or restaurants, as well as cultural facilities. Banks are further destinations of importance. It is presumably members of this grouping who in 2005 set up the gmina’s online 40
newspaper entitled W Otulinie (‘In the buffer zone’), as well as who make full, regular and rapid use of Internet fora (http://www.gazeta.pl). Also of interest is the overall assessment of access to services given by respondents. The referredto lack of advanced healthcare services comes as no surprise, since these are usually confined to larger centres, mainly towns. What would be more surprising is the lack of professions in the basic technical services. The interviews conducted show that – in these and related matters – many people are making use of help from neighbours or friends whose activities are not registered in any formal way. This state of affairs is visibly a source of discomfort for many respondents, who refer openly to the lack of the services in question. Maybe this should be taken to give pointers for those who unnecessarily go off from their place of residence in search of employment? 118 surveys in 27 villages up and down the gmina were carried out in 2006. Respondents were owners of farms of differing size, from 0.1 to 23 ha, the total area being divided into 2–3 plots. In a majority (73%) of the farms studied, there was a large share of meadow or pastureland, while 68% of farms were dominated by cultivated land and 12% had orchards (of 1 ha on average). The average household comprised 4 people, including 2 who did not work on the farm. Owners were equally likely to be men or women, while most (47%) were aged 30 to 50, or else were even older than that (40%). Vocational or secondary education was the prevalent kind (each attained by 32% of those studied), while 24% had gone on as far as primary education only and just 12% had gone into post-high-school or tertiary studies. A majority (55%) of owners originated in the same locality or else another place in the same voivodship (39%), while just 6% came from a different region of Poland. Around 30% of respondents declared themselves entirely dependent on farming activity for their upkeep, while the same percentage claimed that it was mainly non-agricultural activity that ‘kept the wolf from the door’. More than 17% were mainly dependent for income on agricultural activity, while 20% were totally dependent on activity away from farming. To sum up, the group studied had a near-majority (50%) of those relying entirely or in part on activity outside agriculture. Twelve farm proprietors expressed an intention to buy extra land, 13 to sell it. Four had the intention to expand their agricultural activity. That said, in the year 2006, there were 72 cases in which farm owners indicated that cereal farming was profitable (recalling the subsidies), as well as 18 in which that profitability was questioned. In 32 cases it was the profitability of growing potatoes that was referred to, and in 10 cases the cultivation of vegetables and fruit. However, according to respondents, it is the raising of cattle that is seen as most profitable (being indicated 25 times). At the same time, 10 farmers reported that this kind of farming was not economically viable. In almost half (49%) of all cases, agricultural production is engaged in entirely with a view to own needs being met. This is also the main (though not exclusive) aim of another 27%. Around 16% of farms were mainly targeting production for sale, while 8% were not engaging in any kind of agricultural activity at all. Non-agricultural business activity is being pursued on 32% of farms, with 8 of those questioned intending to expand this kind of activity in the nearest future. 3.6 Respondents’ assessments of the gmina’s attractiveness to tourists 39% of respondents in the gmina are of the view that it is very attractive to tourists, while 35% see it as moderately attractive. Only 6% consider it unattractive. There is a similar breakdown of answers when the question asked concerns the attractiveness to tourists of the actual village in which they live. What dictates the attractiveness to tourists in question is considered to be peace and quiet (mentioned by 81% of respondents), valuable natural features (67%), clean air (67%) and the small numbers of people (42%). Almost all respondents (92%) assessed tourist management as regards the overnight accommodation base in the gmina as poor, while only 1% considered it very good. There is a somewhat more favourable assessment of facilities where restaurants and gastronomy in general are concerned (77% considering this weak with 22% seeing it as adequate) and related (88% weak, 11% adequate). 41
Communications access to the gmina is thought adequate by 53% of respondents, while 42% see it as weak – especially when it comes to the distribution of bus stops and ticket prices. In the opinion of the inhabitants of the gmina studied, the tourist traffic is insufficient (56% believe this), so that some expansion of it would exert a positive influence on the lives of inhabitants (in the view of 75%). The inhabitants declare themselves well-disposed towards tourists, with as many as 61% of respondents expressing satisfaction that they visit. 37% are what might be described as indifferent. In the light of that, it seems unfortunate that as many as 90% of those surveyed are not involved in any activity connected with tourism, while the group of people visiting the gmina is dominated by relatives and acquaintances of its inhabitants. 4 CONCLUSIONS To sum up, it should first be noted that the valuable natural features that are present in the studied area, the development strategy the gmina has adopted and the attitudes of its inhabitants all favour development of the tourist function in the gmina (local authority area). However, a lack of funding and external investors de facto prevents plans as regards infrastructure and the gmina’s promotion and marketing from being brought to fruition. The residential function of the gmina is developing much more effectively, thanks largely to the individual decisions being taken by new inhabitants. Fortunately, these have not in any case assumed the dimensions of some kind of abrupt avalanche of new building. For this reason, there remains hope that the worst fears of the gmina regarding its becoming little more than a dormitory town for Warsaw is unfounded. Another matter is the threat that, in the face of a lack of investors, everyone who does decide to take the plunge and put money into the gmina will be accepted with such open arms that caution is thrown to the wind. This may pose risks, unless due care is shown regarding the profile of activity, and the need to safeguard the natural environment continually borne in mind. So, are forest areas really threatened by urban expansion? At present, it would seem that urbanization process are confined to the eastern boundary of the National Park, in the gminas closest to Warsaw and most easily accessed by road. Other areas, which were rather neglected in development terms during the communist period, remain only weakly-developed today and are seen (in terms of the inhabitants’ needs) as not appropriately utilised for recreational and tourist purposes. Despite the common housing preference for a single-family house with a garden, no mass movement of the population from Warsaw to the northern buffer zone of Kampinoski National Park is observed till now. Lisowski means that the development of suburban zone in Warsaw is prevented through such technical-economic and socio-cultural factors as: – ‘the burdensome committing (an alternative is to have only a summer residence in the suburban area); – the ongoing attractiveness of the centre for investors and the extensive character of spatial development in the past; – the population’s traditionally limited propensity for changes in the place of residence, especially with the very high cost of new dwellings in relation to income, as well as the perception of the living conditions in town as being satisfactory (in comparison with the suburban zone)’ (Lisowski 2005, p. 98) But the new investigation has demonstrated that more and more persons look for a new house in green areas not far from Warsaw (30–40 kms) and the area around National Park is becoming more interest from new investors. REFERENCES Coy, M. 1997a. Stadtentwicklung an der Peripherie Brasiliens. Wandel lokaler Labenswerten und Möglichkeiten nachhaltiger Entwicklung in Cuiabá (Mato Grosso). Unveröffentlichte Habilitationsschrift, Geowissenschaftliche Fakultät. Tübingen: Eberhard-Karls-Universität.
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Coy, M. 1997b. Sozialgeographische Analyse raumbezogener nachhaltiger Zukunftsplanung. Typescript of paper presented at 51th Congress of German Geographers, Bonn, October 1997. Czerny, M. 2006. Warsaw – the expanded and ‘overflowed’city in transition. In Current Politics and Economics of Russia, Eastern and Central Europe 21(1): 1–17. Czerny, M. 2005. From City Periphery to Urban Sprawl – World Experiences. In M. Gutry-Korycka (ed), Urban sprawl. Warsaw Agglomeration. Case Study. Warsaw: Warsaw University Press. Lisowski, A. 2005. Urban Sprawl Process. In M. Gutry-Korycka (ed), Urban sprawl. Warsaw Agglomeration. Case study. Warsaw: Warsaw University Press. Petzold, H. 1997. Nachhaltigkeit und “neuzeitlicher Städtebau” – zur kulturellen Dimension der nachhaltiger Stadtentwicklung, IÖR-Schriften. http://www.kampinoski-pn.gov.pl http://mapy.eholiday.pl/mapa-leoncin.html http://www.emieszkania.com.pl/id10651_ul_sloneczna_os_domkow_jednorodzinnych.html http://www.gminy.pl http://www.regioset.pl http://www.gazeta.pl
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Naturbanization: New identities and processes for rural-natural areas – Prados (ed) © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-49000-9
Naturbanization and sustainability at Peneda-Gerês National Park J.M. Lourenço, N. Quental & F. Barros Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal
ABSTRACT: Territorial sustainability is introduced in the discussion of naturbanization, namely to regulate urban expansion processes and to frame the analysis of population dynamics, urbanization and urban sprawl in rural areas of Northern Portugal integrated in or near the Peneda-Gerês National Park (PNPG). These dynamics relate to changes that have been re-occurring over the last fifteen years spurring shifts in land use patterns, urban settlements and economic development trends. Two municipalities partially comprised within the National Park were selected as case studies for deeper insight on the urbanization trends as measured by development control indicators and motivations to live in PNPG, obtained through surveys on life histories. The study shows some evidence of naturbanization and counterurbanization processes. Concluding remarks on policies and strategies show that the impacts of naturbanization seem to depend largely on the degree of interregional disparities and the specific territory at stake.
1 INTRODUCTION A preliminary study about naturbanization processes in Peneda-Gerês National Park (PNPG) is one of the main goals of the present text. The concepts of counterurbanization, periurbanization and suburbanization, first developed by Berry (1976) and Champion (1989), have been used by different schools of thought according to their countries of origin. The common idea behind them is the process through which population abandons urban areas; the difference is the destiny of those persons. While periurbanization and suburbanization refer to the process commonly known as sprawl, counterurbanization deals with the movement of people to smaller towns and villages. Naturbanization, in turn, was introduced by Prados (2005) and focuses on the movement of people to natural areas. This new concept refers to a process of attraction of residential population towards areas that are situated within or near protected natural areas. These movements create new challenges for sustainability strategies, since the impacts arising from urban sprawl and building in natural parks may be severe. International and European guidance as well as Portuguese legislation dealing with spatial planning, namely its main guiding law (Act 380/99), are already sustainability-oriented in terms of discourse, as can be found in section 2.2. The latter requires, for instance, that spatial plans identify both the natural, agricultural and forest resources, as well as carry out the delimitation of the socalled municipal ecological structures, which may be understood as “green plans” inside the spatial plans. The legal framework at the national level is mainly procedural, pointing out the fulfilment of some general obligations but avoiding details about how they should be accomplished. One possible explanation for this is the assumption that it should be the task of planning professionals to get down to practice, while some flexibility is essential for the implementation. Legislation embodies control mechanisms during the process of plan-making and approval, such as public participation and agreement policies between stakeholders, but usually they are scarcely developed, although their importance tends to increase. Spatial planning has a great influence on sustainable development and on its national strategy, which was recently approved in Portugal. As a result, the authors are in favour of stronger 45
sustainability criteria during the elaboration of spatial plans and a better understanding of territory dynamics especially in critical areas for nature preservation. Such a system would represent a more systematic way of contributing to the broader goals of sustainable development through planning. The approach that links sustainability to theories about naturbanization needs further in-depth study so that all the fields of the conceptual framework as presented in section 0 can be fully applied. This section examines the available methods for assessing such policies. The remainder of the text is related to research on PNPG and organized as follows. Section 3 introduces an exploratory outline of the analysis performed at the park. Data characterizing the region and the National Park about their main features, land uses and socioeconomic disparities is presented in subsections 4.1 to 4.5. In order to assess with greater reliability the occurrence of naturbanization flows, further investigation on the micro-aspects of urban development, as portrayed in public hearings and some qualitative research with small scale surveys, is introduced in the subsequent subsections. The final section presents concluding remarks on policies and strategies pursued at the institutional and the community levels.
2 SPATIAL PLANNING AND SUSTAINABILITY 2.1 International and European levels Numerous international charters and other publications contain general recommendations to translate into practice the principles of urban sustainability – for instance, the Aalborg Charter and succeeding declarations. These, in turn, are the root of field campaigns such as the Local Agenda 21, the Sustainable Cities Programme, ran by UN Habitat, the Smart Growth Initiatives in the United States or the Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development, coordinated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Such projects are beginning to supply researchers with data and strategies that can be monitored and traced (Table 1). At the European Union level there are two fundamental strategies with a territorial scope: the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP), approved in 1999, and the Thematic Strategy on the Urban Environment, adopted in 2006. The main policy options of the ESDP that are of particular interest for naturbanization areas are (European Commission 1999): (a) polycentric spatial development and a new urban-rural relationship; (b) parity of access to infrastructure and knowledge; and (c) the wise management of natural and cultural heritage. Polycentrism and rural areas are the subject of an extensive set of guidance goals, focused on urban containment, urban-rural relationships and rural environment, including specifically small to medium-sized cities. Effective methods for reducing uncontrolled urban expansion are supported.
Table 1.
Relevant documents and projects dealing with territorial sustainability.
Title
Date
Local Agenda 21 (United Nations) European Urban Charter (Council of Europe) Sustainable Cities Programmeme (UN Habitat) Ålborg Charter (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives) Smart growth initiative European Sustainable Cities (European Commission, 1998) Guiding Principles for Sustainable Spatial Development of the European Continent (Council of Europe) Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (Food and Agriculture Organization) Sustainable development at the local level (European Council of Spatial Planners, 2002) European common indicators: towards a local sustainability profile (Ambiente Italia, 2003)
1992 1992 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000
Note: a more comprehensive list is available at EEA (2002:18–21).
46
2001 2002 2003
Promotion of towns and countryside is put forth, aiming at strengthening their capability for joint networking, renewable energy development and small and medium enterprise entrepreneurship within the global aim of establishing functional regions. Small to medium-sized cities are targeted from the standpoint of integrated spatial development strategies and maintenance of basic services and public transport. Diversified development strategies are also promoted for rural areas, as is the support of sustainable and multifunctional agriculture, with emphasis on the diversification of agrarian land use. Education, training and creation of non-agricultural jobs are supported and promoted for the enhanced co-operation and exchange of information between these areas. Environmentally-friendly tourism is also an issue addressed by the guidance goals. Relating to the important aspect of equity and parity of access to infrastructure and knowledge, two goals have been put forward: – better co-ordination of spatial development policy and land use planning with transport and telecommunications planning; – improvement of public transport services and provision of a minimum level of service in small and medium-sized towns and cities. Pertaining to the third policy option of ESDP, the management of the natural and cultural heritage fosters the continued development of Natura 2000 ecological networks between nature sites and protected areas, supported by integrated spatial development strategies for protected areas, amongst others, based on territorial and environmental impact assessments and involving the concerned stakeholders. Additionally, there is a focus on promoting a greater use of economic instruments to recognise the ecological significance of protected and environmentally sensitive areas and a particular emphasis on creative restoration of landscapes which have suffered through human intervention, including recultivation measures. The Thematic Strategy on the Urban Environment aims at contributing to a better implementation of existing European Union environment policies and legislation at the local level by supporting and encouraging local authorities to adopt a more integrated approach to urban management. It is structured around three main topics: environmental management, urban transportation and exchange of best practices, reinforcing the previous policy options and focusing on successful implementation.
2.2 National level In Portugal, the guiding policy concerning sustainability is presented in the National Strategy for Sustainable Development (ENDS), spanning the period of 2005–2015. Creating urban dynamics that are more inclusive and thus less destructive to the environment is one of its major goals. Spatial planning and policy is dictated by Act 48/98, which defines main national guidelines. It establishes, inter alia, objectives such as: the rational use and management of natural resources, the maintenance of the environmental equilibrium, the humanization of cities and the functionality of the built-up spaces. It redefines the legal concept of the regional spatial plan, endowing it with an increased strategic worth that translates national economic and social strategies to the regional level and broadly frames the planning guidelines for municipal territories. A bottom-up approach is under construction for a complex national planning system. It started in the beginning of the nineties when all Portuguese municipalities were required to prepare land use plans for the entirety of their territories. Nonetheless, the National Programme for the Territory and Land use Policies (PNPOT) – the upper layer of the system – was only approved in September 2007. It consists of a strategic national guidance document which shall be incorporated into spatial plans at the regional level and articulated with other national-level strategies like the ENDS. The programme is structured around five main objectives, two of which are highlighted: (a) the conservation of biodiversity, of natural and cultural heritage, and the sustainable use of energy and geological resources; and (b) the promotion of a polycentric development of the territories and the strengthening of the infrastructure that supports territorial integration and cohesion. Regional 47
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19.
Sítio Peneda/Gerês – ZPE Serra do Gerês Sítio Rio Minho – ZPE Estuários dos Rios Minho e Coura Sítio Rio Lima Sítio Serra de Arga Sítio Corno do Bico Sítio Litoral Norte Sítio Valongo Sítio Barrinha de Esmoriz Sítio Alvão/Marão Sítio Montemuro Sítio Rio Paiva Sítio Serras da Freita e Arada Sítio Montesinho/Nogueira Sítio Rios Sabor e Maças – ZPE Rios Sabor e Maças Sítio Romeu Sítio Morais Sítio Samil Sítio Minas de Sto. Adrião Sítio Douro Internacional – ZPE Douro Internacional e Vale do Águeda ZPE Vale Do Côa ZPE Rio de Aveiro Sítio Rio Vouga Sítio Dunas de Mira Sítio Paúl de Arzila – ZPE Paul da Arzila ZPE Paul da Madriz ZPE Paul do Taipal Sítio Serra da Lousã Sítio Complexo do Açor Sítio Cambarinho Sítio Carregal do Sal Sítio Serra da Estrela Sítio Gardunha Sítio Malcata – ZPE Serra da Malcata ZPE Tejo Internacional, Erges e Pônsul Sítio Sicó/Alvaiázere Sítio Azabuxo/Leiria Sítio Serra de Aire e Candeeiros ZPE Paul do Boquilobo Sítio Arquipélago da Berlenga – ZPE Ilhas Berlengas Sítio Peniche/Santa Cruz Sítio Serra de Montejunto Sítio Sintra/Cascais ZPE Lagoa Pequena Sítio Fernão Ferro/Lagoa de Albufeira Sítio Arrábida/Espichel – ZPE Cabo Espichel 61. Sítio S. Mamede 62. Sítio Estuário do Tejo – ZPE Estuário do Tejo 63. ZPE Campo Maior 64. Sítio Nisa/Lage da Prata 65. Sítio Cabeção 66. Sítio Caia 67. Sítio Rio Guadiana/Juromenha 68. Sítio Monfurado 69. Sítio Cabrela 70. Sítio Estuário do Sado – ZPE Estuário do Sado 71. ZPE Açude da Murta 72. Sítio Comporta/Galé 73. ZPE Lagoa de Santo André
20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. ZPE Lagoa da Sancha 60. Sítio Costa Sudoeste – ZPE Costa Sudoeste
Special area of conservation Special protection area Both Natura 2000 categories
Sítio Alvito/Cuba Sítio Guadiana – ZPE Vale do Guadiana ZPE Castro Verde Sítio Moura/Barrancos – ZPE Mourão/Barrancos Sítio Monchique Sítio Caldeirão Sítio Barrocal Sítio Ria de Alvor Sítio Arade/Odelouca ZPE Leixão da Gaivota Sítio Ribeira de Quarteira Sítio Cerro da Cabeça Sítio Ria Formosa/Castro Marim – ZPE Ria Formosa – ZPE Sapais de Castro Marim
Figure 1. Location of PNPG and of other protected areas in Portugal.
spatial plans covering the entire country (one for each of the five NUT II regions) are still being prepared. Their conclusion is expected by the end of 2008. There are a number of sectorial or thematic plans that complement the broad spectrum plans mentioned above. They include such specific areas as nature conservation, forestry and water basin planning. In Portugal, there are a total of seventy-three classified sites, as shown in Figure 1 , but land use plans have not been developed yet for all of them. An inventory of other types of plans is provided in section for the PNPG area. 2.3 Common elements across policy documents After analysing the documents mentioned in the previous sections, a non-exhaustive list showing the main elements addressed by urban sustainability policies was assembled (Table 2). 48
Table 2.
Fundamental elements of urban sustainability.
Theme Sustainable urban development Urban structure and land use
Green areas
Sustainable urban transportation Mobility
Air
Sustainable construction Ecological construction
Sustainable urban management Water
Description Polycentrism of urban centres Higher densities around transportation nodes and networks Physical constraint of sprawl and of urban expansion areas Control of the amount of impervious and urbanized areas Mixture of uses Urban rehabilitation and regeneration Heritage protection Protection of sight and landscape views Primary and secondary green structure Natural, agriculture and forest areas Urban trees Protection of flooding areas Intermodality Speed and frequency of public transports Bus lanes, rail network, transit lines Cycle lanes and pedestrian routes Parking and localization of park and ride Speed limits Air quality and emissions reduction Automobile use restrictions Environmental friendly transportation Wastewater collection, treatment and reutilization Composting toilets Insulation and passive solar design Heating and thermal and acoustic comfort Air ventilation and renovation Renewable and environmentally friendly energies Environmentally friendly materials Waste sorting Building versatility Pavement permeability Water networks Wastewater treatment Freshwater quality Riverbank quality
Waste
Waste collection techniques In situ composting
Noise
Noise minimization Noise barriers
Public participation and transparency
Public participation procedures Access to information Reporting obligations Transparency of the decision-making process
Source: Quental et al. 2004.
49
As can be seen, there coexist several different but complementary approaches to urban sustainability. They can be divided into six categories: – a classification of the kind or degree of sustainability; – a theoretical framework defining the main domains that sustainability encompasses, namely social, economic, environmental and territorial; the relevant issues to be considered in each of these domains; horizontal factors that affect the success of the model as a whole; – policy formulation: principles, objectives and targets; – standards: quantitative or qualitative parameters; – monitoring: indicators; – the geographic level being analysed. There are also more specific approaches to urban sustainability, including the definition of sustainable land use, which “must secure that the inhabitants of the area can have their vital needs met in a way that can be sustained in the future, and is not in conflict with sustainable development at a global level” (Næss 2001: 505). The goal of sustainable land use was operationalized into five main objectives: (a) reduction of energy use and emissions; (b) minimization of conversion and encroachments on natural areas, ecosystems and soil resources for food production; (c) minimization of consumption of environmentally harmful construction materials; (d) replacement of open-ended flows, where natural resources are transformed into waste, with closed loops relying to a higher extent on local resources; and (e) a sound environment for the city’s inhabitants. There is strong evidence that spatial planning has an important role to play in achieving these goals: either directly, through the minimization of pressures such as land consumption, or indirectly, by acting upon the societal driving forces in a way that the environmental pressures are alleviated, namely the reduction of transport needs and of energy consumption (Næss 2001, Camagni et al. 2002).
3 METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES In the first part of the study of PNPG, a conceptual multi-scalar framework of sustainability was used. This framework is seen as more global and more adjusted for the understanding of the development trends of a single study area. In fact, contrarily to the outcomes by Prados (2005) that studies the natural parks of the Andalusia region (Spain) and the naturbanization process that has been taking place there, the population trend is still declining in areas around natural parks in Portugal. Also, the wide variety of landscapes in such a small country can easily divert naturbanization flows towards several areas of the country. Although exhibiting great contrasts, north-south (mountain, pedi-plain), interior-coast (interior plateau, coastal plain), Portugal comprises a territory that is still not too dispersed, displaying great landscape variety which, intrinsically, causes regions of interest for establishing a second home or for rural tourism activities to become plenty and diverse. Once again, this can weaken the visibility of the naturbanization phenomenon. Reflecting the social evolution of the 1950s that fostered social transformations stemming from emigration and migration processes and that led to the subsequent weakening of population dynamics, the rural space in Portugal has been loosing its vitality in recent years. This situation has been leading to the decrease of agricultural activities that, consequently, became the basis for a certain degree of precariousness of the rural space in favour of increasingly larger urban spaces. Analysing this phenomenon allows one to perceive the evolution of other aspects such as transportation networks, infrastructure and essentially, the “fiasco” stemming from the incapability of territory planning in integrating the rural areas in desirable development models within social-economic development. Consequently, the changes in rural space dynamics during the past recent years show that rural space has undergone three major changes: depreciation of agricultural activity, loss of population and lastly and most recently, the attractiveness of these spaces for 50
construction, as these are areas that display a more relaxing quality of life. Therefore, public and private investment specific for these areas have increased, boosting rural space dynamics. Additionally, rural dynamics have been modified by tourism development and second-homes that, in terms of accessibility to improvements, have introduced a significant proximity facet between these areas and urban areas, central hubs of urbanization such as Portugal’s major cities. Demand for construction in municipalities that are peripheral to large urban areas is increasingly greater, particularly when there is infrastructure already in place and where there are areas classified as natural heritage. This process is designated as counterurbanization and this concept is described by Berry (1976) as a process of population decentralization, that involves a switch in population displacement, previously countryside-city and afterwards, city-countryside. Conversely, naturbanization is a similar phenomenon that nonetheless shows differences with regards to the intensity of population displacement (Prados 2005). Given the living history and the existing national spatial arrangement from territory planning, getting to an analytical methodology for the confirmation of naturbanization phenomena that does not simply rely on an albeit pioneering and original methodology of studying population dynamics is rather difficult to accomplish. Understanding that the hypothesis of naturbanization process occurring in PNPG could be difficult to validate solely with the population analysis and might involve several other approaches and methods, the analysis became typically exploratory, considering naturbanization flows encompassed by sustainable development. However, this decentralization phenomenon takes on a less defined and weaker character whereas countryside-city migration is carried out quickly and from a more centralised standpoint. Decentralization takes on a more disperse and less intense character. Some authors regard this new phenomenon as the “dispersed city”, characterized by the spatial dispersion of the urban population that it is not functionally connected to activities specific of rural areas, i.e., population that resides in rural areas but does not carry out rural activities (Ferrás 1998, in Prados 2005). As anti-urbanization trends developed, the formal separation between city and countryside (if there ever was such a separation) evolved, alongside economic and technological transformations that fostered the functional and physical integration of space. This integration was carried out to such an extent that economic activities and urban lifestyle spread practically throughout the entire territory of many countries (Machado 2003). Such areas are characterized by forms of dispersed urbanization, generally rendering the clear distinction between city and countryside utterly difficult. This happens where city peripheries or peri-urban areas exhibit a tendency for sprawling and, above all, for presenting boundaries that are increasingly difficult to define with regards to the rural area (Machado 2003). At the current stage of research development, it is not yet possible to fully apply the conceptual framework shown in Table 2 to the research on PNPG hereby presented. The theoretical framework that defines the main domains of sustainability, namely social, economic, environmental and territorial, was addressed albeit the relevant issues to be considered in each of these domains were not fully covered and neither the horizontal factors that affect the success of the model as a whole. The aspects analysed relate to policy formulation in terms of principles, objectives and targets for urban development as well as standards pertaining to quantitative or qualitative parameters and monitoring indicators. Using a step by step approach, the geographical level under analysis was consecutively narrowed down from municipality to parishes and case studies. The initial study units correspond to the five municipalities included within the borders of the National Park. Although data for other neighbouring municipalities were not presented here, they were taken into consideration as well, namely for the Municipality of Vieira do Minho. Considering that there was not much gain in incorporating municipalities completely outside PNPG, the analysis was restricted to the ones totally or partially included inside it. For this first global approach, a limited number of variables were studied for the whole National Park area such as population and dwellings dynamics, public participation, territorial and land use planning, land cover and land use changes. Other relevant demographic data such as age structure or causes underlying migratory movements already mentioned by Prados (2005) as possible useful indicators to be further examined were not used. Instead, the analysis was taken to a further degree of detail by aiming at the next administrative 51
level, the parish. All parishes fully or partially comprised within the borders of PNPG were studied in terms of population growth, socio-economics and land-cover. In this last topic, land-cover was analysed through orto-photomaps at the scale of 1:10 000, a more detailed study than the one performed at global PNPG level and surrounding areas at 1:100 000, using the CORINE Land Cover data as a basis. Thus, naturbanization processes were further researched in two municipalities that showed high potential for these occurrences. Focused on detecting such flows and parting them from other possible causes for growth of the number of dwellings, a set of specific studies was undertaken with comprehensive methodologies suggested by Prados (2005). As such, several perspectives and indicators can be taken into account and aimed at further proving either the existence or lack thereof naturbanization flows. Various sub-sections in section 4 detail the studies carried out in all the parishes of Terras de Bouro and one parish of Melgaço (Castro Laboreiro), since they stood out in terms of dwellings growth, showing more than a 25% increase of the housing stock in one decade (1991–2001). Therefore, individual proposals for zoning shifts in Terras de Bouro and life histories in Castro Laboreiro were studied in depth and cumulatively. 3.1 Spatial analysis Spatial analysis tools were used with the purpose of further researching naturbanization processes in the Municipality of Terras de Bouro. Spatial data were added to the alphanumerical information originated in the preliminary hearing of the local land use plan (PDM) forms, where the type of request is evaluated with regards to the type of land use, name of land owner, zoning (urban, tourism, agricultural, etc.) and the reasons cited by the land owner for justifying the requested land use change versus what is established in the PDM. Additional information includes data from the Portuguese National Institute of Statistics (INE) regarding resident population, so that the density of applications can be correlated to increases or decreases in population. This analysis allows the distinction between existing pressures with a greater degree of certainty, separating rural land owners and returning immigrants’ intentions of residence from potential land owners identified as promoters of the naturbanization phenomenon. Software graphic tools designed to create polygons or points that combine to depict the “image” of the request in terms of form, morphology and area, were used in order to allow a detailed in-depth analysis of the requests, their locations and typologies according to physical factors of the municipal territory, namely altimetry, slopes and sun exposure, along with planning factors and restrictions concerning land uses, in terms of rural land, urban land and corresponding classes. For instance, a “buffer” instruction can be used to determine the distance between requests for service and infrastructures such as water distribution, wastewater collection and power distribution, distance from urban clusters, distance from the transportation network, amongst other applications. More globally, these tools can also be used for the evaluation of territoriality by assessing the distance from different parishes and seats of the municipalities to the main urban cluster. These analyses allow the subsequent design of an evaluation methodology for each request so that it can be catalogued in terms of the trends under discussion with a greater certainty. The following is the description of correlations between data and recent land use changes that demonstrate processes of naturbanization and counterurbanization, subsequent to the brief description and characterization of the target territorial unit presented above. With the onset of the PDM for the Municipality of Terras de Bouro, a period for service and information requests was conducted, resulting in 429 preliminary hearing enquiries. These enquiries were carried out by the residents and concern, for the most part, applications for land use changes (from rural to urban), along with a few suggestions vis-à-vis the heritage conservation policy of the municipality. The latter reveals already a certain level of appreciation towards the sensitive nature of this territory but it was not considered for the purposes of the study. The evaluation of the relevant requests was grouped in terms of their territorial prevalence and type (single family residence, multi-family residence, space for tourism facilities, amongst others), providing insight on how these new potential urban 52
pressures are cast upon the municipal territory. However, attending to the fact that the increase in number of homes is associated to an increasing second-home phenomenon in Portugal, data from preliminary hearings become pivotal, allowing, for instance, the identification of plots, land owners and applicant’s job, as well as inferring on the type of use that will be given to the home. All applications for land use changes were thoroughly studied and consistent with several defined technical aspects, so that they could be readily classified according to the following categories: (a) preferred direction for expansion and maintenance; (b) methodological errors and cartography of existing PDM and (c) single requests. Preferred direction of expansion corresponds to places adjacent to already existing urban clusters so that there is some cohesion of the urban mesh, standing for strongly built areas with adequate physical and infrastructural conditions. Methodological errors and cartography of existing PDM concern applications that were not included by the requested land use class due to technical mishaps in terms of cartography or methodology, namely the disregard of small population nuclei that, at the time when the existing PDM was being prepared, had not been classified as urban land or rural cluster (classes from the previous PDM). Single requests are characterized by individual requests that are generally located away from other urban or rural clusters and lacking great infrastructure and equipment (though accessible). Differentiating typology is important for sorting requests and fitting them to typological classes: new pressures for urbanizing or applications from land owners that, because of a prior technical and scale error, requested the due correction which, ultimately, would not correspond to the intended goal of the analysis. These requests for land use change are very important, as they reflect the municipality’s development model (urban expansion areas supply and demand pattern) that is explained not only by the morphology of the proposed zoning and conditioning factors changes but also by its assessment. This assessment demands meticulous, extensive in situ work and cartography analysis, allowing the preparation of an application evaluation matrix that is used to verify, geographically, a series of important aspects. For the reasons stated above, the work methodology is GIS-based, which, subsequently, provides data that can be manipulated through a multi-criteria analysis. The final assessment of land use change requests takes into account the following evaluation criteria for land use change requests: (a) proximity to existing constructions and nearness to existing urban area; (b) proximity to main transportation network; (c) impact caused by growth; (d) cohesion of the urban mesh; (e) characteristics of surrounding area; (f ) avoidance of natural barriers (waterways, steep slopes); and (g) persistence of the dominant trend. 3.2 Life histories enquiries Pertaining to the other parish of Castro Laboreiro, the method of interviews was used to understand why people were living in this remote location and the rate of construction being at such high levels. This survey on life histories allows for an assured accountability of new comers within naturbanization flows but it is heavily time consuming. However, it brings the added benefit of allowing the understanding of different perceptions according to different lifestyles. A face to face interview type of enquiry was conducted at the parish of Castro Laboreiro. This survey method proved adequate to describe the characteristics of the target population. Standardized questions were posed to different types of people and the results obtained were precise and comparable, because everyone was required to answer the same questions. This is a method that usually produces high levels of reliability since every person is presented with standardized questions. Therefore, observer subjectivity is kept to a minimum. Additionally, questions were general enough in order to suit all respondents. In the questionnaires, a set of topics was proposed in which the results were categorized in two groups: naturbanization induced causes and other motivations. The criteria used for the categorization were: (a) main location address; (b) reasons for being in Castro Laboreiro; (c) main disadvantages of living in Castro Laboreiro and (d) main advantages of living in Castro Laboreiro. Crossing the results from first and second categories, it was possible to detect if people were in Castro Laboreiro for environmental quality and/or escaping city life and cumulatively 53
were originally from out-of-town. In this case, people were further questioned about their life histories. As with any survey method, it is desirable that a large number of the selected population sample is willing to abide by the surveyor’s requests. As such, there was special care about selecting the most suitable places for conducting the survey. In order to detect naturbanization motivations to live in the PNPG area, newly-built houses were selected and a door-to-door survey was conducted in three villages. Furthermore, due to population dispersal in this parish, places of public and leisure gathering were selected such as churches’ squares right after Sunday mass and after meal periods in local coffee shops. 4 INVESTIGATING NATURBANIZATION AT PENEDA-GERÊS NATIONAL PARK 4.1 A brief presentation of the National Park PNPG is located in the northwest of Portugal, extending to parts of the Municipalities of Melgaço, Arcos de Valdevez, Ponte da Barca, Terras de Bouro and Montalegre (Figure 2). The park runs along the Spanish border (the Baixa Limia – Serra do Xurés Natural Park) from the Castro Laboreiro plateau by way of the Peneda, Soajo, Amarela and Gerês mountains to the Mourela plateau in the south. Created in 1971, PNPG was the first protected area in Portugal and received the status of National Park because of its ecological, scientific and educational values. PNPG extends through an area of 703 km2 (or 885 km2 if the surrounding areas belonging to the Natura 2000 network are included) and is the only protected area in Portugal that falls under the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) category II: National Park. IUCN (nowadays and since 1990, World Conservation Union) guidelines state that National Parks are natural areas of land and/or sea designated to (a) protect the ecological integrity of one or more ecosystems for present and future generations, (b) exclude exploitation or occupation contrary to the purposes of designation of the area and (c) provide a foundation for spiritual, scientific, educational, recreational and visitor opportunities, all of which must be environmentally and culturally compatible. Less than 30% of the Park lands (194 km2 ) are private property. From the total of 703 km2 , 7% are public property (53 km2 ) and the remaining 456 km2 are common property. An important feature of the landscape is the constant presence of water. The few villages in the high lands are located near arable land with built terraces. Accommodation for visitors is limited but consists of several low-budget hotels in Caldas do Gerês (spa town) or in renovated village houses for rent in Soajo and Lindoso. There is also a “pousada” (equivalent to a luxury rural hotel), that caters to the more expensive market, and six small camping sites. The park can be explored by car or by several pedestrian routes and hiking trails. Several interesting spots can be found there, such as the old Roman and pre-Roman villages (“castros”) at Castro Laboreiro and Calcedónia, the trail at Mezio, the monastery at Pitões das Júnias, the remarkable sanctuary at Peneda, the shrine at São Bento da Porta Aberta, the traditional small granaries built of granite (“espigueiros”), the many waterfalls and Portela do Homem, known for its Roman milestones, the largest number of its kind in the Iberian peninsula. 4.2 Socioeconomic dynamics According to the socioeconomic data from INE, the population inside PNPG is living well below the national average and also below the average for the Natura 2000 sites in Portugal (Table 3). These statements, based on available indicators, may not correlate necessarily to the perceived quality of living by the inhabitants, which is also influenced by the high natural beauty of the landscape. However, the numbers show beyond doubt that PNPG has a rural deprived population facing a serious unemployment problem. Figure 3 shows the historical trends of population residing in PNPG. Between the mid 19th century and 1930 there was a slow growth of around 4% per decade. From 1930 until 1950 there 54
Figure 2. Administrative divisions among PNPG. Case study areas are shown.
Table 3.
Selected socioeconomic indicators for different territories.
Indicator
PNPG
Natura 2000 network in Portugal
Portugal
Unit
Year
Population Population density Farmers and shepherds Activity rate Purchasing power
4.76 7.6 46.3 27.1 32
329.4 17.1 15.9 38.1 49
10,356 113.2 11.4 48.2 100
103 people people/km % of the total population % of the total population %
2001 2001 2001 2001 2002
Source: Instituto Nacional de Estatística 2001
55
Evolution of the population in PNPG (1864–2001) 25000 20000 15000 10000 5000
91
01 20
19
70
60
50
81 19
19
19
19
30
20
11
00
90
78
40 19
19
19
19
19
18
18
18
64
0
Evolution of the population in Portugal (1864–2001) 12000000 10000000 8000000 6000000 4000000 2000000
01 20
91 19
81
70
19
60
19
19
50 19
40
30
19
20
19
11
19
00
19
90
19
78
18
18
18
64
0
Figure 3. Evolution of the population in PNPG and in Portugal (1864–2001). Source: Fernandes 2006.
was a steeper rise at a magnitude of 10% per decade, similar to the decline in population that followed and that is still very much present today. As a consequence, PNPG’s population is significantly lower today than in the beginning of the 19th century. Additionally, until 1950 the trends in PNPG followed, albeit at a slower pace, those of the whole country. From then on, the decoupling and inversion is unmistakable. The growth phase that lasted until mid twentieth century can be explained by the expansion of agricultural plantations such as the corn revolution (Ribeiro 1945). It was interrupted by stagnation periods during World War I and the pneumonic epidemics in 1919. Two main factors account for the population decline that took place after 1950: strong emigration (particularly between 1950 and 1970) and rural exodus. The perceived lack of opportunities is a powerful incentive for people looking for better living conditions to migrate to more vibrant urban areas – which is particularly true for youngsters and young adults who attended school and thus have higher expectations for their future. In a global and competitive economy such as nowadays’, these forces probably tend to intensify, even though naturbanization processes (of an incomparably smaller magnitude) may become increasingly important for the future of natural areas. Although population in PNPG has been dropping, the number of households kept growing in the 1991–2001 decade (see Table 4 and Figure 4). This growth was prominent in the Municipality of Terras de Bouro located in the centre of PNPG and encompassing lands around the national road to one of the borders with Spain – where it reached 27%, more than doubling the rates occurring at any other municipality of PNPG and above the national and regional averages. Most parishes inside and outside PNPG are facing a population decline and an increase in the number of dwellings, but the latter seems to be a little more spread inside the park. The attraction poles in both municipalities although small in total size are located close to national roads as well as to the city of Braga which may possibly divert naturbanization trends in the nearby areas. This is relevant for detecting naturbanization trends as the PNPG parishes have as a whole a remoter location than the parishes outside the park. 56
Table 4.
Evolution of population and dwellings in PNPG parishes and inclusive territories (1991–2001).
Territorial division
Population change (%)
Parish∗
Dwellings change (%)
Portugal Northern region (NUT II) PNPG
4.9 6.3 −14.1
20.7 25.5 n.a.
Minho-Lima (NUT III) Arcos de Valdevez
Britelo Entre Ambos os Rios Ermida Gemil Lindoso
0.1 −8.3 −22.7 −20.9 −6.0 −15.6 −19.2 −9.5 −16.3 −19.6 −1.8 −16.8 0.7 −25.3 −32.0 −22.1
17.4 5.1 2.8 −3.0 −0.6 −11.3 55.6 12.2 28.9 4.3 10.2 −5.0 4.3 5.9 21.3 13.3
Campo do Gerês Covide Rio Caldo Vilar da Veiga
11.3 −11.5 −3.1 −17.4 −16.5 −6.7
34.3 27.0 31.2 24.5 36.5 44.5
Cabril Covelães Outeiro Pitões das Júnias Sezelhe Tourém
−5.1 −17.3 −11.2 −24.4 −14.7 −11.1 −20.8 −15.1
15.0 12.8 20.5 −4.7 0.7 13.5 17.0 9.4
Cabana Maior Cabreiro Gondoriz Soajo Gavieira Melgaço Castro Laboreiro Lamas de Mouro Ponte da Barca
Cávado (NUT III) Terras de Bouro
Alto Trás-os-Montes (NUT III) Montalegre
Source: Instituto Nacional de Estatística 2001. ∗ Only parishes partially or totally inside PNPG are shown.
The information presented suggests a naturbanization trend inside and around PNPG since there are some “islands” of population growth (e.g., in the parish of Entre Ambos os Rios, in Ponte da Barca, and in the parish of Vilar da Veiga, in Terras de Bouro) within a large area of strong real estate development. That is, some parishes seem to be able to counteract the global trend of population decline seen throughout the countryside. There seems to be only one exception to this trend as the Municipality of Arcos de Valdevez does not show population increase inside PNPG and the dwellings growth is not occurring in the majority of the parishes. The fact that the Municipality of Arcos de Valdevez portrays a slower trend towards naturbanization may be explained by the neighbouring Municipalities of Amares and Vila Verde’s growth, which seem to be experiencing a counterurbanization trend as working population from Braga begins to settle down in nearby areas. The main reason lies in several factors, namely proximity to the city and lower housing prices, thus explaining the growth in population and dwellings and eventually creating a trend more linked with counterurbanization than naturbanization. 57
Figure 4.
Evolution of the population and dwellings in parishes inside PNPG (1991–2001).
However, it is difficult to assure that this naturbanization trend is of a different nature from that seen in the rest of the country, since data do not distinguish between the types of existing occupation. Usually, and even if exceptionally a decrease in the total number of completely infra-structured dwellings is observed, the number of houses for secondary or seasonal uses continues to increase. Comparing data on population and urbanization from all the parishes inside PNPG, a first conclusion can be drawn. Major increases in the housing stock (above 25% per decade) were observed in all parishes of Terras de Bouro and also in Melgaço but only in one parish (Castro Laboreiro). These municipalities will be further analysed in the sections 4.6 and 4.7. 4.3 Public participation According to the several policy documents mentioned in sections 2 and 0, public participation is essential for sustainable development. Being tourism one of the driving economic activities in natural areas, it has become the focus of strategies to enhance governance and allow entrepreneurs and residents to actively participate in the definition of development guidelines. Swarbrooke (2005: 25) suggests that the key issues in the sustainable tourism debate are the principle of partnership, the green tourist, community involvement and local control, de-marketing: places, time, people, concept of carrying capacity, ecotourism, lack of performance indicators, value judgments and lack of factual evidence. A forum concerning protected areas, developers and other agents that promote the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism (ECST) in protected areas – in both Portugal and Spain – has taken place to discuss the PNPG. The ECST forum was created in 2002 as a fundamental prerequisite for ECST candidacy and aimed at defining a model for action and development for tourism activities in protected areas, encompassing the following tasks: (a) define the objectives and sustainable tourism strategy (based on territorial assessments); (b) define a formal strategy via a five-year action-plan that implements activities towards sustainability, and (c) create a permanent working partnership. The objectives of the Iberian network of the ECST in protected areas are primarily the promotion of debate and exchange of experiences and know-how, and the development of joint actions 58
including both countries. The sharing of experiences is carried out via interaction between technicians and entrepreneurs. There are partnering project proposals aimed at implementing common action (communication and broadcasting of ECST), with the purpose of bringing to the ECST the Iberian experience and reality. The Iberian network enables a new mechanism: the participation of a delegation of park representatives attend the annual meetings of the European Park Network, promoted by the EUROPARC Federation, since many are unable to attend the meeting. The forum resulted in the improvement of relationships between the PNPG, local bodies and the tourism sector. It enabled the consolidation of a technical body including PNPG, regional tourism associations (ADERE), municipalities and regional tourism development representatives that have since assisted in sustainable tourism issues. Other benefits were also reaped, such as the furthering of knowledge regarding the target region in terms of in-bound trips, allowing for a good analysis of the current situation. Opportunities for joint ventures were created, making use of the common objectives and coordination between the stakeholders. Relations between the various economic agents were also improved. Additionally, the forum allowed for the creation of a privileged information exchange structure, focused on access to standards, specific regulations, funding programmes, etc. In practical terms and regarding the application of PNPG to the ECST, the five-year action-plan includes the formal diagnosis and definition of objectives and development strategy. As beneficial as the forum demonstrated to be, there were nonetheless some limitations. Some economic agents lacked the adequate motivation, as the ECST is a mid to long-term process and does not necessarily produce immediate results. Another difficulty was getting the participants involved in real, tangible broadcasting and communication activities. Because a forum is a type of meeting that is essentially based on intervening and debating, it creates some level of expectation that may not be met. Therefore, it is important that it is kept in check to an extent. Another important aspect is the need for political endorsement prior to presenting any decisions as such. The technical participation was strong and dominant, furthering the need for increased political participation. It is well known that participation can be managed (Sharp 2002) by those actively involved in the process and so, in rural areas with a restricted number and variety of stakeholders and residents, public participation processes can easily be taken over by dominant actors. The power to influence decisions, or the nature of democracy as classically defined by Arnstein (1969) through the ladder of participation, is normally graded at level three or four for public participation in land use planning (Lourenço 2003). It is rather distant from the manipulation of citizens on the first step of the ladder but also far away from “citizen power” of the higher rungs. Levels three (informing) and four (consulting) imply methods such as attitude surveys, neighbourhood meetings, and public hearings. Inviting citizens’ opinions, like informing them, can be a legitimate step toward their full participation (Arnstein 1969), but if consulting them is not combined with other modes of participation, it is still deceiving of citizens’ expectations since they do not actually get to make decisions. Under municipality initiative and national guidance, territory plans are subject to public hearings procedures that nowadays include consultation beforehand of plan revision and update, besides the typical long established public hearings period before plan approval. Although the goal to promote public hearings in revision processes of PDM is somewhat recent, some municipalities foster its wide application. This might be a strategy to accommodate PNPG strict requirements as well as other national areas constraints and at the same time shield themselves from potential allegations. These may come from residents or outside investors, that later on would have their development intentions denied by the municipality which in turn would be most likely accused of not catering to local development and community well being. Public participation of PNPG inhabitants in the park territory was already stated in the master plan of 1996 and carried out normally before any plan approval (PDM and others). Curiously, no Local Agenda 21 plans have been prepared in any of the five municipalities included in PNPG, with the exception of the Municipality of Melgaço which is included in a sub-regional Minho valley Local Agenda 21 still at its infancy. 59
Table 5. Approved spatial plans that extend partially or completely over PNPG. Name
Typology
Main theme
Level
National Programme for the Territory and Land use Policies (PNPOT) Northern region spatial plan (PROT) (not in force yet) Alto Minho forestry plan
Strategic
General
National
Strategic
General
Regional
Forests
Subregional
Forests
Subregional
Forests
Subregional
PNPG master plan
Forestry land use and management Forestry land use and management Forestry land use and management Land use
Subregional
Natura 2000 plan
Land use
Cávado river basin plan Lima river basin plan Plan for Touvedo dam catchment area Plan for Caniçada dam catchment area Agro-environmental zoning plan for PNPG
Land use Land use Land use Land use Financial
Local land use plans for each municipality (PDM) Strategic plan of Ponte da Barca
Strategic and land use Strategic
Nature conservation Nature conservation Water Water Water Water Agriculture and funding General
Baixo Minho forestry plan Barroso Padrela forestry plan
General
Subregional Subregional Subregional Subregional Subregional Subregional Municipal Municipal
4.4 Territorial and land use planning If one is to judge spatial planning by the number of plans in force, PNPG is certainly a thoroughly planned area. In a non-exhaustive inventory it is possible to count twelve plans of different kinds, scales and sectors, the majority of them being zoning-oriented (see Table 5). This is partially due to the fact that PNPG is situated in a transition region according to administrative and natural boundaries, since it lies between the green Minho and the dried lands in Trás-os-Montes. It is questionable whether such a dispersion of goals and norms through plans effectively contributes to a balanced and sustainable territory. A more pro-active and integrated planning system concentrating more on management and less on report working is urgently needed. At the national level, PNPOT specifically addresses PNPG, considering that mountain activities in the area should be promoted, including tourism and environmental protection. Nevertheless, development options are far from clear. Instead, strategies are usually taken as win-win situations, with no evident concessions, ignoring the long lasting conflicts between nature conservation and economic development altogether. Some recommendations are given, however, regarding the urban areas where investments should be concentrated. The northern region spatial plan (PROT) is still being prepared and approval is expected by late 2008. Little is said about the National Park in the supporting technical reports: PNPG is typically considered as a place for nature conservation “lost” in the border with Spain. This can be consistent with the goal of nature conservation and even with the fact that choices have to be made regarding which territories should be developed in a competitive world. In fact, strategies and information tend to concentrate on more active urban poles (Viana do Castelo, Ponte de Lima – see Figure 5) in sectors such as industry, services, agriculture, energy and tourism. However, mountain areas deserve specific measures in order to prevent further human desertification. Naturbanization, probably as a result of its diffuse and recent nature, is not yet considered by the planning system, neither its potential effect of helping to curb down population exodus. 60
Figure 5. Territorial model presented in the Northern region spatial plan (Minho-Lima subregion).
Figure 6.
Zoning established by PNPG master plan.
PNPG was first zoned for conservation purposes in 1979. Later, in 1995, this zoning classification was updated under the PNPG master plan. The territory is divided into two main zones – rural environment and natural environment – characterized by different levels of protection depending upon several criteria such as the ecosystems in place, the kind and intensity of human land uses and the flora and fauna existent (see Figure 6). The latter is subdivided accordingly in three types of classified areas where the “total protection” status is the strictest one and comprises only a minor part of the total land. The plan is currently under revision, as well as most PDM for the five municipalities. 61
Figure 7.
Land cover in PNPG and surrounding region (2000).
There is a particular interaction between PNPG master plan and local land use plans. While the former typically defends self-containment for urban areas, there was a need to make agreements and compromises with the municipalities’ proposals fostering urban growth. In Melgaço and Arcos de Valdevez some expansion of the urban boundaries was allowed as there was consensus for most places, but in the villages of Lordelo, Cunha and Soajo, municipalities’intentions were not accepted by the National Park since the proposed urban expansion was considered excessive and invaded agricultural lands (Parque Nacional Peneda-Gerês 2007). 4.5 Land cover and land cover changes Land cover at PNPG is dominated by open spaces with little or no vegetation associated with high altitudes and extensive animal farming (see 7–10). Land use statistics are summarized in Table 6, Table 7 and Table 8. Forest cover in PNPG remains modest (around 15%) and tends to decrease, although the main forest losses in the region have occurred outside the National Park. The small decrease in the absolute forested area (around 3%) hinders a high turnover of this kind of land cover, i.e. a significant proportion of the forested area became impoverished at the same time a smaller area of deforested lands became forested. Also, the effects of a large wild fire that occurred in 2006 and consumed one of the most important conservation woods are not visible on the map, though some regrowth is expected. It is estimated that about 4000 ha of these high importance forests remain. A global trend towards vegetation cover impoverishment is visible: a transition to a state of a more sparsely cover or a more dramatic change to bare rock due to severe soil erosion. The absolute change of the class “shrubs, herbaceous vegetation or no vegetation” is not so pronounced because some agricultural areas have been transformed into it. Conservation measures are thus needed to prevent vegetation cover from further degradation. Cultivated lands are less common and are used mainly for private household-feeding. Agriculture abandonment was insignificant either in absolute or relative terms in the last decade. This can be explained by the dominance of animal farming, especially in the common ownership mountain ridges (“baldios”, in Portuguese) – however, these lands are not classified as agricultural per CORINE guidance. As for cattle, its impact on the environment is two-fold, carrying both burden 62
Figure 8.
Lands that shifted uses (1990–2000). Land cover in 2000 is shown.
Figure 9.
Main binomial land use changes (1990–2000).
and benefit. On one hand, grazing cattle prevents natural vegetation from growing and consequently restoring the ecosystem up to its peak. Conversely, cattle contributes to the emergence of landscape mosaics that results from the association of forest patches with natural shrub vegetation upon which the rich fauna of the park is dependent. Still, it is common for shepherds to set fires – usually illegal – in order to retain the natural pastures. Sometimes these fires spread out and burn up large patches of forests and natural ecosystems. Thus, forest restoration is a priority to be spatially determined according to specific studies. 63
Figure 10.
New urban areas between 1990 and 2000 (Fernandes 2006).
Table 6. Area occupied by land use classes in PNPG and surrounding Natura 2000 sites (in 2000). Area Land cover class
(ha)
(%)
Artificial surfaces Agricultural areas Forests Areas with shrub, herbaceous or no vegetation Water bodies
2 9063 12,637 65,590
0.1 10.2 14.3 74.1
1186
1.3
An interesting and unexpected phenomenon is the decrease of artificial surfaces by half between 1990 and 2000. This results from the conversion of dump sites into open spaces with little vegetation or into grasslands, though the area itself is insignificant since only around 0,1% of the land cover is included in the first category. This decrease has to be understood according to the database used, CORINE Land Cover, in which the smallest mapping unit is 25 ha. When higher resolution data are used (1:10 000 orto-photomaps), new spots of urbanization become visible along valleys and near reservoir lakes, especially in the municipalities of Ponte da Barca and Terras de Bouro, and in mountain areas in Melgaço (parish of Castro Laboreiro) as shown in Figure 10. In this particular 64
Table 7.
Land cover changes in PNPG and surrounding Natura 2000 sites (between 1990 and 2000).
Land cover class Artificial surfaces Agricultural areas Forests Areas with shrub, herbaceous or no vegetation Water bodies
Table 8.
Class change (ha)
Class change (%)
Relative change (% of the total PNPG surface)
−98 −42 −418 418
−61.3 −0.5 −3.2 0.6
−0.11 −0.05 −0.47 0.47
140
1.3
0.16
Main binomial land use changes in PNPG and surrounding Natura 2000 sites (1990–2000).
Land cover class
Change (ha)
Relative change (% of the total land use changes)
Relative change (% of the total PNPG surface)
Forest impoverishment of clear cut Other vegetation cover impoverishment Afforestation
1382 880 983
39.0 24.8 27.7
1.6 1.0 1.1
Table 9.
Number of applications filed to the Ecological Lands Council to remove the REN status.
Number of parishes
Number of applications (a)
3 7 3 6
46 ≤ a ≤ 54 27 ≤ a ≤ 40 12 ≤ a ≤ 19 0≤a≤8
Source: Barros (2008) based on the Local Council Archives.
parish, new constructions are located along a major axis near the Spanish border (Fernandes 2006) and most of them took over previous agricultural areas. 4.6 Case study: requests for zoning shifts in the Municipality of Terras de Bouro Further research was carried out at Terras de Bouro, the municipality that stands out in terms of global data for growth in the number of dwellings (Barros 2008). Surprisingly, three parishes were singled out because of the high number of applications submitted that requested permission for building in sensitive areas, thereby stripping them of their special status – ecological areas (REN) or agricultural areas (RAN) – see Table 9. This may be explained by the significant area of the municipality that is under ecological and agricultural restrictions which constrain building capacities. It should be noted that inside PNPG other constrains besides the special REN and RAN status apply (refer to section 4.4 for an explanation of land use plans in PNPG). REN and RAN classification have a national scope of application and therefore, areas thus classified are scattered throughout the country. With the onset of the PDM for the Municipality of Terras de Bouro, a period for requesting service and information was conducted resulting in 429 preliminary hearing inquiries related to 65
60 50 40 30 20 10
Figure 11.
Vilar da Veiga
Vilar
Valdosende
Souto
Rio Caldo
Ribeira
Monte
Moimenta
Gondoriz
Covide
Ciboes
Chorence
Chamoim
Carvalheira
Campo do Gerês
Brufe
Balança
0
Number of requests for zoning shifts by parish formulated in preliminary hearings.
800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100
Figure 12.
Vilar da Veiga
Vilar
Valdosende
Souto
Rio Caldo
Ribeira
Monte
Moimenta
Gondoriz
Covide
Cibões
Chorense
Chamoim
Carvalheira
Campo do Gerês
Brufe
Balança
0
Number of buildings by parish. Source: Instituto Nacional de Estatística, 2001.
541 areas. As shown by comparing the number of existing buildings by parish with the number of requests, there is not a direct correlation between them (see 11–12). A first analysis regarding the high number of preliminary requests per location, allows the conclusion that the parishes located around the Caniçada dam (Valdosende, Rio Caldo and Vilar da Veiga) concentrate the highest figures, followed by the parishes located around the seat of the 66
Figure 13.
Location of requests for zoning shifts.
municipality and national road 205-3 (Moimenta, Ribeira, Souto) towards the main urban pole of the sub-region, the city of Braga, with its 100 000 inhabitants. A selection of relevant indicators shows (Table 10) that PNPG parishes stand out in the context of Terras do Bouro Municipality with heavy number of requests for land use shifts and with higher rates of activity than the averages of municipality and PNPG, being closer or slightly above the averages for Natura 2000 areas. Also worth mentioning are the percentages of people employed in the tertiary sector, as figures fall within the interval between 40 and 70% in 2001. A synthesis of all analysed requests evidences the trend for urbanization in rural territory and especially in plots facing restrictions on urban expansion (see Table 11). In conclusion, there is a consistency of outputs from several numerical and spatial data (see 13–14), all of which point to potential trends for urbanization along main road axis and privileged locations near dams and reservoir lakes.
4.7 Case study: life histories of Castro Laboreiro’s inhabitants There was full compliance of all the people that were asked to answer a few questions about their personal motivations for being in that specific location at that time. Nobody refused to be interviewed and most of the people were local residents while the others were visitors. A few people living in recently built houses were also interviewed. All of the people approached responded to the questionnaire, meaning that there was 100% participation in the survey effort. This survey was undertaken at one of the parishes with higher population loss (Castro Laboreiro, in the Municipality of Melgaço, with a loss of 16,9% people in the last decade) and an accrued increase in the number of dwellings (28.9%). One of the main findings was that for a sample 67
Table 10.
Selected socioeconomic variables for the parishes of Terras de Bouro with the highest number of requests.
1991
2001
Variation (units)
Inhabitants, HM Dwellings Activity rate (%) Tertiary sector (% of the population)
193 125 37 53
187 164 32 70
−6 39 – –
∇
Inhabitants, HM Dwellings Activity rate (%) Tertiary sector (% of the population)
489 204 28 34
404 254 41 49
−85 50 – –
∇
Inhabitants, HM Dwellings Activity rate (%) Tertiary sector (% of the population)
772 294 34 69
803 420 38 72
31 126 –
Inhabitants, HM Dwellings Activity rate (%) Tertiary sector (% of the population)
1189 430 29 45
993 587 35 53
−196 157 – –
∇
Inhabitants, HM Dwellings Activity rate (%) Tertiary sector (% of the population)
625 222 37 51
564 259 35 60
−61 37
∇
–
Inhabitants, HM Dwellings Activity rate (%) Tertiary sector (% of the population)
742 284 30 35
699 347 34 42
−43 63
∇
Inhabitants, HM Dwellings Activity rate (%) Tertiary sector (% of the population)
1640 571 33 48
1530 825 36 53
−110 254
Parish
Variable
Campo do Gerês
Covide
Moimenta
Rio Caldo
Souto
Valdosende
Vilar da Veiga
Requests (no.)
Main location of requests
20
Vilarinho das Furnas dam; inside PNPG
27
Geographical center of municipality; inside PNPG
∇
Seat of municipality 20
52
Major road axis, inside PNPG; Caniçada dam
Major road axis 46
∇
–
–
54
∇
Major road axis; Caniçada dam
Inside PNPG; Caniçada dam 34
Source: Instituto Nacional de Estatística, 1991; Instituto Nacional de Estatística, 2001.
Table 11.
Urban areas and proposed expansion from requests analysis.
Zoning type (PDM)
Area (km2 )
Urban Rural Rural (restricted construction) Heritage value
1.6 2 4.6 0.3
Source: Barros (2008) based on the evaluation of public hearings during the PDM revision process.
68
Figure 14.
Example of location of requests for zoning shifts inside Rio Caldo parish.
population of property owners where 44% live predominantly in large urban centres or abroad (32%), people chose to have a house in this parish mainly because they have their family roots there (63%). However, an increasingly important percentage mentioned landscape (18%) and getting away from major urban centres (15%), providing some evidence of naturbanization principles and motivations. As such, the majority of the houses serve as homes for weekends and holidays. In the future, this periodic and/or seasonal flow of people – though not yet a naturbanization trend – may become one when people retire from active work. The phenomenon of naturbanization is clearly illustrated by one out of the twenty-five people interviewed that having left the city of Lisbon has come to Peneda-Gerês to live and work. Major advantages of living in PNPG as seen by the interviewee are lack of pollution (42%), quietness (28%) and less traffic and noise (25%). Typical problems worthy of notice are lack of adequate access or cultural activities mentioned each by 16% of the people interviewed. Lack of medical assistance was mentioned by 24% of the people as a major problem while 44% referred a wide variety of other issues instead. Namely, the lack of a reliable mobile communications network is considered very disadvantageous when people set up a business. They suffer constrains in their daily life activities. Due to this remoteness, simple tasks can become very cumbersome, delayed, or even impossible to carry out. In addition, this specific interview revealed a strong opposition to ideas or actions that could potentially ruin the natural beauty of PNPG landscape, such as proposals to build supermarkets or large constructions. In view of these different opinions it is obvious that the perception of new entrepreneurs and outside people coming to live in PNPG is related to other lifestyles and do not follow the local people’s needs and aspirations. In the future, this could bring conflicting and opposing views on development proposals for the area. 69
5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS 5.1 Limitations of the analysis Several limitations of this study should be addressed. One limitation was the restricted number of study sites. The data for this study were gathered in five municipalities and at micro level, at five parishes within PNPG. Future research designs might incorporate additional study units, especially the one and the only parish inside PNPG that shows population growth. A second limitation dealt with the treatment of “urbanization potential” in the Municipality of Terras de Bouro study sites. Based upon the three-fold typology of urban pressure inferred from the requests of zoning changes, a dummy variable set was operationalized in GIS to capture local context and differentiate between naturbanization trends and others. Terras de Bouro, where all PNPG inclusive parishes had high growth rates for dwellings, showing both urban presence and pressure, served as the reference municipality in the analyses. Future studies might incorporate more sophisticated contextual variables and enlarge the territorial scope. However, these limitations may be viewed as advantageous to the study. As mentioned, the research design specified that data would be collected in some study units but it is important to note that these were not randomly selected parishes. Instead, each unit portrays a clear trend for construction of new dwellings pointing to relatively significant levels of urbanization taking into consideration the territory at stake. The use of an exhaustive classification scheme (i.e. land uses and urbanization pressures in agricultural, ecological and other areas) to categorize requests provided ample justification for the use of a restricted number of parishes from the municipality that has more territory inside PNPG boundaries and one of the highest protected ecological land percentage (80%). A holistic approach, albeit time consuming, is seen as desirable in the study of a single natural area as PNPG, placing the area and the naturbanization concept within the context of the ongoing changes in the economic and territorial environment. The framing of this theoretical concept in a broader strategic context aiming towards sustainability has the potential to design an integrated reliable diagnosis that can foster more adjusted forms of global intervention. Although it is known that achieving sustainable development will require a set of policy measures better tailored than the previously used, a lot remains to be learned about the naturbanization and counterurbanization processes in Northern Portugal. Subsequently, the outcomes of these diagnosis efforts should be incorporated in the policy-making strategies for natural areas.
5.2 The occurrence of naturbanization processes in PNPG Some field knowledge shows that naturbanization and counterurbanization may be present in PNPG area. This distinction is possible due to the accessibility, location and landscape patterns as they vary. One parish is in the main access to Braga while the other two are in remoter places but with beautiful scenery. It is well known that increasing levels of affluence and higher levels of mobility led to the increased action radius of residential consumers (Bowler et al. 1992, Dieleman & Wegener 2004). This is combined with the ideal of owning a single family home, the need for a supportive environment for raising a family and the appeal of rural ambience (Audirac et al. 1990). Consequently, population in some rural areas grew at the end of the 20th century (Bontje 2001, Batty et al. 2002). In fact, in the last four decades of the 20th century, European, North American and other Western countries experienced growth of urbanized areas in the form of suburbanization of residential and economic functions, succeeded or accompanied by counterurbanization where population from the core and suburbs moved out to more rural areas (Berry 1976, Bontje 2001, Batty et al. 2002). As seen in the literature, people want to live in small towns and rural areas, yet few want to live far from a large or medium sized city (see Fuguitt & Brown 1990). Some authors regard this new phenomenon as the “dispersed city”, characterized by the spatial dispersion of the urban population that it is not functionally connected to activities specific of rural 70
areas, i.e. the population that resides in rural areas but does not carry out rural activities (Ferrás 1998, in Prados 2005). As anti-urbanization trends developed, the formal separation between city and countryside (if there ever was such a separation) evolved alongside economic and technological transformations that fostered the functional and physical integration of space. This integration was carried out to such an extent that economic activities and urban lifestyle spread practically throughout the entire territory of many countries (Machado 2003). Such areas are characterized by forms of dispersed urbanization, generally rendering the clear distinction between city and countryside utterly difficult. This happens where city peripheries or peri-urban areas exhibit a tendency for sprawling and, above all, for presenting boundaries that are increasingly difficult to define with regards to the rural area (Machado 2003). This is happening throughout the Metropolitan Area of Oporto and its connections to main Northern region towns of Braga and Guimarães that are less than 40 km from PNPG border. As it was verified, those counterurbanization plans start to approach the outskirts of PNPG. But in the other two parishes the explanations do not follow this trend and a naturbanization process (Prados 2005) seems to be under way. Effectively, protected natural areas are an increasingly popular and an important driving factor in the attraction of residential and other consumption orientated activities towards rural areas. Changes in the socio-demographic and economic structure, in the form of settlements and agricultural landscapes in the PNPG, need to be studied and more research and field work needs to be done here. Shifts are easily detected in changes of the landscape, on rehabilitation of urban centres, renovation of existing housing stock and construction of second homes, infrastructure renewal of the areas, development of enterprises associated with new activities, especially tourism and related services. Explaining factors for naturbanization process such as increased personal mobility, economic diversification, greater public investment, competitive land prices and housing characteristics are also found in the northern region of Portugal as they were found in Andalusia. The same evidence applies for other determinants such as the process of agricultural land abandonment and the creation of new outdoor recreational activities and the re-creation of traditional activities. In this context, conflicting uses can arise due to the pressures brought about by new business activities on protected areas, even if several studies and management plans have been carried out. Thus, the negative aspects of naturbanization, namely the destruction or downgrading of ecologically sensitive areas and landscapes, the destruction of social values of rural areas, especially communitarian practices, needs further research and consequently careful policy attention. As researched by Prados (2005), the presence of or the proximity to protected nature is not the only factor determining the attractiveness for living in a rural area, mainly by urban new-comers. Rural areas closer to urban regions are subject to their centripetal tendencies but the urbanizing trend was also detected in more remote rural areas with specific characteristics, namely river banks and closeness to dams and lake reservoirs. Therefore, other factors have to be taken under consideration such as accessibility to water sports and proximity to main roads and to larger urban centres. Areas under analysis in and around the PNPG, namely in the Municipality of Terras de Bouro, prove the existence of both naturbanization and counterurbanization phenomena. But naturbanization trends and their effects on population flows, number and location of related urban centres are much more limited and reduced in a quantitative approach than counterurbanization movements. 5.3 The role of naturbanization in the future of remote natural areas The future of non-competitive rural areas and, particularly, remote natural parks, is a long concern of planning professionals. This concern is at odds with envisioned strategic solutions which, in fact, are rare or altogether absent from spatial plans (see section 2.2 and 4.4). The difficulty of the problem should encourage national and regional governments to develop creative approaches and new roles for these low density areas detached from the competitive economy, but instead, priority is given – somewhat understandably so – to more active urban areas for which competitive 71
potential is higher. Strategic spatial planning thus becomes not really a way of inverting perceived negative trends (rural desertification) but more an instrument of stimulating desirable installed and emerging capacities. Given appropriate regulation, naturbanization processes may become relevant if a brighter future for low density natural areas is to be achieved. These counterurbanization fluxes were not analysed until now by the technical groups working on the spatial plans (namely the regional plan), and as a consequence it is highly plausible that no specific incentives will be devised. If natural areas such as PNPG continue to be regarded as “lost territories”, what future should be expected? Besides tourism development, which has already been attracting a great deal of investment, four emerging fundamental processes should be studied and stimulated: – creation of benefits (payments, or of other kind) for land managers protecting ecosystems and biodiversity. Although most of the ecosystem services are not currently valued, this situation shall change in the future, since those services are increasingly important for the sustainability of the earth system and, specifically, of urban areas, which are dependent on large amounts of resources coming from rural areas; – taking advantage of the new markets that are starting to value environmental services, in accordance with the previous objective. It is the case of the European Union emissions trading scheme, through which forestry projects may be supported by industries falling under the emissions quota allowance system; – naturbanization processes which may become a promising human qualification of remote natural areas such as PNPG. People living in these places may derive their income from land management (farming, forestry, animal farming, payment from other ecosystem services), or telecommuting (working at home). The three emerging processes described above, in combination with powerful driving forces such as tourism development, could, in the near future, forge a favourable environment for a truly sustainable development for low density natural territories. Achieving a correct balance between natural, economic and human systems is a major challenge for society but certainly not an impossible one, and natural parks where naturbanization processes start to play a role may be in a prominent position for that. The last twenty years have shown that traditional planning policies are no longer able to manage the wide range of demands upon space that comes from a diverse group of actors, such as those found in rural areas today. Strategic analysis on several topics including stakeholder analysis needs to be consistently carried out and the environmental aspects should be integrated into territorial issues. More decentralized, bottom-up and flexible management of sustainable policies needs to be practice within a monitored planning process where research takes place. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors wish to thank Cristina C. Danko (MSc, Environmental Engineer) for valuable suggestions and review comments and the students Maria de Jesus F. Esteves and Simão H. M. Sousa for their help in data collection and treatment. Maria de Jesus carried out the field survey on the parish of Castro Laboreiro. REFERENCES Ambiente Italia 2003. European common indicators: towards a local sustainability profile. Milan: Ambiente Italia. Arnstein, S.R. 1969. A ladder of citizen participation. Journal of the American Planning Association 35 (4): 216–224. Audirac, I. et al. 1990. Ideal urban form and visions of the good life – Florida growth management dilemma. Journal of the American Planning Association 56(4): 470–482.
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Barros, F. 2008. Análise do fenómeno da naturbanização ao nível do PDM: aplicação a Terras de Bouro (MSc Thesis). Braga: Universidade do Minho. Batty, M. et al. 2002. State of the art review of urban sprawl impacts and measurement techniques. SCATTER, Deliverable 1:Work package 1. http: www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/scatter. Berry, B.J. 1976. Urbanization and Counterurbanization. New York: Arnold. Bontje, M. 2001. Dealing with deconcentration: population deconcentration and planning response in polynucleated urban regions in north-west Europe. Urban Studies 38(4):769–785. Bowler, I.R. et al (eds.) 1992. Contemporary rural systems Vol. 2. Economy and Society. Wallingford: CAB International. Camagni, R. et al. 2002. Urban mobility and urban form: the social and environmental costs of different patterns of urban expansion. Ecological Economics 40:199–216. Champion, A.G. 1989. Counterurbanization: the changing pace and nature of population deconcentration. London: Arnold. Dieleman, F. & Wegener, M. 2004. Compact city and urban sprawl. Built Environment 30: 308–323. European Commission. 1998. European sustainable cities. 2nd edition. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. European Comisión. 1999. EDEC: esquema de desenvolvimento do espaço comunitário: para um desenvolvimento equilibrado e sustentável do território da UE. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. European Council of Spatial Planners. 2002. Try this way: desenvolvimento sustentável ao nível local. Lisbon: Direcção-Geral do Ordenamento do Ordenamento do Território e Desenvolvimento Urbano. European Environment Agency. 2002. Towards an urban atlas: assessment of spatial data on 25 European cities and urban areas. Environmental issue report no. 30. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. Fernandes, S. 2006. Análise da evolução da ocupação e uso do solo: aplicação com base num SIG para o Parque Nacional Peneda-Gerês (Relatório final de curso). Ponte de Lima. Food and Agriculture Organization (2007). http://www.fao.org/SARD/en/index.html. Accessed 14 January 2008. Fuguitt, G.V. & Brown, D.L. 1990. Residential preferences and population redistribution – 1972–1988. Demography 27(4):589–600. Instituto Nacional de Estadística. 1991. Censos 1991: resultados definitivos: XIV recenseamento geral da população. Lisbon: Instituto Nacional de Estatística. Instituto Nacional de Estadística. 2001. Censos 2001: resultados definitivos: XIV recenseamento geral da população. Lisbon: Instituto Nacional de Estatística. Lourenço, J.M. 2003. Expansão urbana: gestão de planos-processo. Lisbon: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian and Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia. Machado, A. 2003. Trabalho, Economia e Tecnologia: Novas Perspectivas para a Sociedade Global. São Paulo: Tendenz. Næss, P. 2001. Planning and Sustainable Development. European Planning Studies 9(4): 503–524. Parque Nacional Peneda-Gerês 2007. Relatório de revisão do plano de ordenamento do Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês: evolução dos perímetros urbanos (proposta). Prados, M.J. 2005. Territorial recognition and control of changes in dynamic rural areas: analysis of the naturbanization process in Andalusia, Spain. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 48(1):65–83. Quental, N. et al. 2004. Integração de critérios objectivos de sustentabilidade ambiental na elaboração de planos regionais de ordenamento do território. XI Jornadas da Associação dos Urbanistas Portugueses. http://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/bitstream/1822/1342/1/JLourencoAUP2004.pdf. Accessed on 18 January 2008. Ribeiro, O. 1945. Portugal, o Mediterrâneo e o Atlântico. Coimbra: Coimbra Editora. Sharp, L. 2002. Public Participation and Policy: unpacking connections in one UK Local Agenda 21. Local Environment 7(1): 7–22. Swarbrooke, J. 2005. Sustainable tourism management. Oxon: CABI Publishing.
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Naturbanization: New identities and processes for rural-natural areas – Prados (ed) © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-49000-9
Naturbanization and local development in the mountain areas of the Catalan Pyrenees A.F. Tulla, M. Pallares-Barbera & A. Vera Geography Department, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain
ABSTRACT: A process of urbanization has developed around the alpine ski resorts and the Natural Protected Areas (NPA). There are also processes of abandonment of settlement populations and mountain cultures by the disappearance of traditional economic activities. This entails a contradiction: the natural features of a territory can facilitate naturbanization, but it can also deteriorate the natural and socioeconomic environment of the territory. Local development, in the mountainous areas of Europe, can be explained by the existence of comparative advantages with regard to urban areas. In the Catalan Pyrenees, the theory of comparative advantage and the use of the territorial embeddedness theory enable us to demonstrate that, in the future, this short term analysis will have to be replaced by longer term analyses that also take into account environmental, social and cultural externalities.
1 INTRODUCTION: NATURBANIZATION VS URBAN SPRAWL IN EUROPE Many concepts and theories attempt to explain urban expansion in rural areas or in the urban fringe (Pacione 1984), but processes of urbanization in alpine ski resorts, close to Natural Protected Areas (NPA), have not been seriously analysed. This chapter develops the conceptualization and redefinition of these areas through an analysis of the economic geography of new developments in the fringe of natural protected areas in the Catalan Pyrenees. Framed as part of a research project conducted by our group, we intend to identify and evaluate the effects on the territory of tourism and new activities, which are attracted by the quality of the landscape and environment, and the perception of freedom included in the natural aspects of these territories. Definitions of urban sprawl and counterurbanization need to be clarified (Champion 1989). Urban sprawl is conceptualized as the phenomena of unplanned urban development, characterised by a low density mix of land uses on the urban fringe (European Environmental Agency EEA Report No. 10/2006: 5–6) and is associated with the rapid low-density expansion of cities in the USA in the early 20th century (Berry 1976). Nowadays, urban sprawl also includes planned urban expansions, but related to impacts on natural and rural environments with an increasing consumption of energy, land and soil. Specifically, the EEA has described sprawl “as the physical pattern of low-density expansion of large urban areas, under market conditions, mainly into the surrounding agricultural areas. Sprawl area is a leading edge of urban growth and it implies little planning control and land subdivision. . .” (EEA Report No. 10/2006: 5–6). However, at the end of the last century and the beginning of twenty-first century, the idea has arisen among planners and politicians in Spain that compact cities have more social, economic and environmental advantages than urban sprawl territories (Nello 2001). Transport, energy, water, land use and the price of housing, among other reasons, are highly supportive factors to induce the belief that compact urban areas with well provided services are more energy efficient, and offer high scale economies. Complementarily, Prados (2006) argues that NPA are an attraction for urban populations to move to remote rural areas because of the associated quality of landscape and environmental factors. This 75
constitutes a competitive advantage in comparison to rural areas in urban fringes, which do not have the qualities of an enhanced environment and landscape (Elbersen 2001). Of course, there are important differences between rural areas. Mostly, we can differentiate those areas that are affected by the urban sprawl process; those involving counterurbanization, where tourism and second homes are the main land uses; and finally, naturbanization areas, where housing is built in close proximity to natural protected areas. Naturbanization areas are associated with economic activities related with natural park activities and daily tourist visits, but also traditional activities, such as livestock rearing or craftsmanship. Nowadays, new activities related to new technologies, and ecotourism are very likely to be found in these areas. Our research group, involved in the project Local Sustainable Development in the Mountain Areas and the Threshold Between Territory Abandonment and Naturbanization (SEJ2006 – 04009), funding Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (2006–2009), proposes to identify and evaluate the effects on the territory, in economic, social, and natural terms, of the abandonment of some mountain zones and impacts of the leisure and tourism activities that have been attracted by the quality of the social, economic and natural landscape and environment. The naturbanization process is seen as a path towards local sustainable development. We base this project on three objectives: firstly, to analyse naturbanization; secondly, to study in detail the present state of the decline in population in some parts of the study area and its diverse repercussions; and thirdly, to propose strategies on the basis of sustainable local development and territorial policies. In order to explain the naturbanization process we are going to use Comparative Advantage and Territorial Embeddedness theories because we assume that local sustainable development in a mountainous area takes care of environment and landscape quality as a basic aim (Fig. 1).
Sectorial Policies Objective 2 Objective 3
Management of ENP and surrounding
Evaluation of Territorial Fragility Objective 1
Sustainable Local Development
Anthropic Natural Environment
Naturbanization
Population decline
Territorial Planning Methodology Territorial Taxonomies Land uses changes Landscape Functional Units Geosistem-Territory-Landscape Sustainable Indicators
Techniques of analysis Field work
Figure 1.
Statistical methods and GIS
In-depth interviewing
Graphic of local sustainable development in the mountain areas and the threshold between territory abandonment and naturbanization.
76
The description of the main project objectives are organized into ten specific research lines and three main groups of methodologies (Fig. 2) that allow the analysis of the process of naturbanization. The main aspects to consider are: 1. Implementation of the Territorial Taxonomies Method (TAXTER) a. Typology of residents and motivations for choice of residence. b. Inventory and classification of social and economic activities in the area of influence. c. To quantify the naturbanization process and evaluate territorial fragility. 2. To delimit Functional Landscape Units (FLU) d. Land use evolution analysis and evaluation of landscape impacts. e. To mark out Functional Landscape Units (FLU). f. To quantify the process of population decline and evaluate the territorial fragility. 3. Application of Geosystem, Territory and Paysages Method (GTP) Integrated Analysis of the Landscape. g. Diagnosis, synthesis and comparative valuation of different areas. h. Identification of landscape changes as indicators i. Revision of limits of NPA on the basis of natural protection policies and landscape integration. j. Proposals within the framework of the existing or suggested planning. The Study Area includes different counties in the Pyrenees (Fig.3 and Table 1), both in the High Mountains and in the low ranges to the south. In order to provide a general outline, Table 2 shows some of the results of a model to count seasonal populations (Mendizabal 1993) for two years, 1991 and 2001, where it can be seen that in the mountain counties there were 44% more inhabitants (permanent plus a seasonal average for the whole year) than in the census in 1991, and 77% in 2001, when the total increases for the whole of Catalonia were only 5% and 10%. Table 1 shows how the population diminished until 1991 but began to recover in 2001. This, together with the growth in secondary housing (Table 3) means that there is a major attraction of urban populations to these areas. In this study, we analyse each municipality that is close to or in the NPA, which will make these two situations even clearer. In Figure 4, we present the three main NPA located in the study area: the Cadí – Moixerò Natural Park (410.6 km2 ), the High Pyrenees Natural Park (698.5 km2 ) and the Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park (core 139.0 km2 and periphery 260.8 km2 ), which covers a large proportion of the total surface of these 9 mountain counties: 1.508.9 km2 to 8.825.6 km2 (17.1%). There are also other smaller NPAs in the framework of Natura 2000 with a total surface of 200–300 km2 , which makes around 20% of the total mountain region. Figure 5 shows the urban pressure on Natura 2000 sites in the north-western Mediterranean, and provides a more general view of the main urban land use in comparison to NPA areas. Our study area is half way between the Urban and Metropolitan Catalan Coast and the Toulouse conurbation and Perpignan. This situation presents an important urban demand on the NPA but also promotes a stricter environmental and territorial planning of mountainous areas. The Catalan Government has recently approved different territorial and urban planning schemes in these mountain counties to prevent urban growth, to maintain primary and sustainable economic activities and to regulate the so called ‘free space’. The Active Population in this region has changed very quickly in recent years (Tables 4, 5 and 6). Table 4 presents the distribution of active and occupied population in 1986 and 1996, The primary sector was 20–35% in some counties in 1986 and ten years later was only 11–17%, while in Catalonia as a whole it had changed from 5 to 3% in the same period. However, some counties such as Val Aran are similar in proportion to Catalonia as a whole and this seems to be the general model for the future. An important characteristic of the area is the importance of the manufacturing industrial sector (20–45%) and energy, twice that percentage for Catalonia. Recently, the building sector has become the most specific mountain sector with 7–18% while Catalonia has an average of only 7%. Tourism and personal and public services now provide around 50% of total employment, slightly more than the figure for Catalonia as a whole. 77
78
Figure 2.
3.1. Diagnoses, synthesis and compared valuation of the scope of study. 3.2. Identification of landscape changes as indicators 3.3. Geographic revision of the ENP (natural protected areas), and its management and limits, in light of the new policies of natural protection and landscaping integration. 3.4. Revision and analysis of the Territorial Planning (Regional Planning) and the Sectoral Policies. Proposals within the framework of the existing or suggested planning.
Objectives of local sustainable development in the mountain areas and the threshold between territory abandonment and naturbanization.
Geosystem (GTP Integrated Analysis of the Landscape) Characterization of the Landscape and indicators of sustainability
2.1. Land use evolution analysis and evaluation of landscape impacts (from 1956 to 2006). 2.2. To delimit Functional Landscape Units (UPF) from formulation of TAXTER and landscape changes. 2.3. To quantify the population decline process, to evaluate the fragility of the territory from UFP.
To quantify land use changes. To delimit Landscape Functional Units (UFP)
Objective 2. To analyse in detail the present state of the population decline of the study area and its repercussion on the natural and cultural patrimony of the study area.
Objective 3. On the basis of the expositions of sustainable local development, to propose strategies that abate the population decline and the abandonment of the territory on the one hand and allow, on the other hand, to avoid the excessive, intensive and speculative use of the territory.
1.1. Socio-demographic analysis of the population and basic characterization of the study zone. Typology of the residents and motivations for the residential election. 1.2. Inventory and Classification of the Social and Economic Activities in the Areas of Influence. Valuation of the investment in the matter of environmental conservation. 1.3. To quantify the naturbanisation process, to evaluate the fragility of the territory from TAXTER.
Formulation of Territorial Taxonomies (TAXTER)
Objective 1. To analyse, for the present and the next future, the impact in the study area of leisure activities and tourism, and to quantify the naturbanisation process (new urban network under construction because of the landscape’s attractiveness).
Research
Methodologies
Objectives
10 1
7 4
2 6
9 5
3 8
1 Alta Ribagorça 2 Alt Urgell 3 Berguedà 4 Cerdanya 5 Garrotxa 6 Pallars Jussà 7 Pallars Sobirà 8 Solsonès 9 Ripollès 10 Val d’Aran
N
0
Figure 3.
Table 1.
30
60 km
Planning as a base for sustainable development in mountain areas.
Population changes in the Catalan Pyrenees. Total Population
County
Surface km2
1950
1970
1991
2001
Population density Inhab./km2 2001
Alta Ribagorça Alt Urgell Berguedà Cerdanya Pallars Jussà Pallars Sobirà Ripollès Solsonès Val d’Aran
426.80 1446.90 1182.50 546.40 1290.00 1355.20 958.70 998.60 620.50
5681 22134 41933 11582 20069 10355 32700 12482 6555
5116 19,874 45,843 12,465 18,074 7747 33,851 10,734 4174
3514 19,010 38,965 12,396 12,860 5418 27,617 10,797 6184
3623 19349 38606 14239 12817 6120 26365 11560 7956
8.49 13.37 32.65 26.06 9.94 4.52 27.50 11.58 12.82
Total Mountain
8825.60
163491
157878
136761
140635
146.93
Total Catalonia
31901.10
3218596
5107606
6059494
6331231
198.46
27.67
5.08
3.09
2.26
2.22
74.04
% Mountain/Catalonia
Source: Own elaboration using data of IDESCAT and INE population services 1950–2001.
We will focus our contribution on the study of economic activities that make it possible to achieve sustainable local development with a clear transversal impact in the presented research lines, comparative advantage and territorial firm embeddedness. At the same time we will present a method, the second best option, which will help to choose some activities in the framework of regional planning. 79
Table 2.
Inhabitants by time. 1991
2001
Estimated Population
Population Census
Alta Ribagorça Alt Urgell Berguedà Cerdanya Pallars Jussà Pallars Sobirà Ripollès Solsonès Val d’Aran
5140 23029 47559 24771 16872 10681 34599 13197 20689
3514 19010 38965 12396 12860 5418 27617 10797 6184
Total Mountain
196537
136761
Total Catalonia
6340255 3.10
County
% Mountain/ Catalonia
Inhabitant/day indicator
Estimated Population
Population Census
Inhabitant/day indicator
1.46 1.21 1.22 2.00 1.31 1.97 1.25 1.22 3.35
7144 27185 52322 41897 19342 17337 38466 16479 28972
3623 19349 38606 14239 12817 6120 26365 11560 7956
1.97 1.40 1.35 2.94 1.51 2.83 1.46 1.43 3.64
1.44
249144
140635
1.77
6059494
1.05
6988973
6331231
1.10
2.26
137.14
3.56
2.22
161.05
Source: Own elaboration using data of Mendizabal, 1993 and estimation of stationary population (IDESCAT 2004).
Table 3.
Evolution Secondary and Primary housing 1981–2001. 1981
1991
County
Primary housing
No Primary housing
Alta Ribagorça Alt Urgell Berguedà Cerdanya Pallars Jussà Pallars Sobirà Ripollès Solsonès Val d’Aran
1128 5413 12412 3498 4419 1603 9067 2887 1607
542 2885 6295 5441 3166 2244 4721 1952 3352
2001
Total
Primary housing
No Primary housing
1670 8298 18707 8939 7585 3847 13788 4839 4959
1124 6190 12747 4050 4480 1796 9260 3254 1893
1073 3054 6794 8027 3490 2565 5776 2233 4255
Total
Primary housing
No Primary housing
Total
2197 9244 19541 12077 7970 4361 15036 5487 6148
1367 7017 14177 5543 4753 2486 9837 3826 2848
1203 3867 6855 10312 4864 2602 6753 2808 5027
2570 10885 21032 15855 9619 5092 16591 6634 7876
Source: http://www.idescat.net (2007).
2 AN APPROACH TO MOUNTAIN AREAS: EUROPE AND THE CATALAN PYRENEES In Europe, mountainous areas are quantitatively unimportant with respect to population. Nonetheless, they are important because of the size of the area they cover and the recognition of the value of their landscape for both the indigenous population and outsiders. For this reason, in these areas, local development should not just take into account economic factors but also social, environmental and territorial factors that contribute to creating the determining factors for local development. The high population density throughout Europe needs a distribution of activities and land uses that 80
High (meters) 0 600 1200 1800 2400 3000
N Natural Park of Alt Pirineu (PNAP) 0
30 km
Natural Park of Cadi-Moixeró (PNCM)
National Park of Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici (PNAESM)
Figure 4.
General Situation. Source: Own elaboration using MDE to 30 m and cartography of http://www.gencat.es/mediamb (21-1-2005).
allows each territory to pursue the optimal economic activity that each area can offer. These should be the best of all possible activities for a given area, despite the fact that these uses might also be optimal for other areas as well. In the future, not only should the pure economic profitability of activities be considered, but also the optimal social use of a given territory. Within this framework, local development can be explained on the basis of a reinterpretation of the principle of the comparative advantage that was developed by economists in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Within the framework of neo-liberal economics, it is necessary to revise a company’s criteria for profitability, bearing in mind diverse external elements. The inclusion of externalities in the optimal benefit analysis of firms requires the business’s economic behaviour to be related to the actions of outside agents. External economies can also modify costs and profits due to conditions in the natural, social and economic environment. Businesses’ territorial embeddedness emphasises the network of institutions and socio-cultural elements that allow them to develop strategies to foster loyalty to a given territory among both suppliers and clients (PallaresBarbera et al. 2004). Within the framework of the centre-periphery model, the urban ‘core’ acts as a counterpoint to the rural mountain ‘periphery’. Thus, in a balanced territory, the most beneficial activities for each area must be preserved and promoted. 81
Natura 2000 sites Urban (%) in a 5 km neighbourhood High: 100 Low: 0
Figure 5.
Urban pressure on Natura 2000 sites in the north western Mediterranean. Source: EEA Report No. 10/2006; Urban Sprawl in Europe, pp. 32.
Table 4. Active and occupied population 1986 and 1996. 1986
County Alta Ribagorça Alt Urgell Berguedà Cerdanya Garrotxa Pallars Jussà Pallars Sobirà Ripollès Solsonès Val d’Aran
1996
Active population
Occupied population
Active population
Occupied population
1382 7436 15438 4506 19573 4561 2179 12903 4004 2421
1209 6939 13290 4150 17878 4136 2001 11381 3681 2273
1526 7877 15421 5607 20588 5035 2569 11720 4855 3430
1345 7021 12922 5149 18709 4599 2387 10422 4419 3138
Total Mountain
74403
66938
78628
70111
Total Catalunya
2311806
1839097
2731672
2204652
3.22
3.64
2.88
3.18
% Mountain/Catalunya
Source: IDESCAT 1988. Padrons municipals d’habitants de Catalunya 1986. Estructura socioeconòmica de la Població. Generalitat de Catalunya: Barcelona and IDESCAT 1996. Estadística de població (1996). Generalitat de Catalunya: Barcelona.
Our research was carried out in the counties located in the Pyrenees (Fig. 3). This territory occupies an area of 8.826 km2 and had a population of 140,635 in the year 2001 (Table 1). It is characterised by valleys, some of them originating from glaciers and others through erosion caused by rivers, and the peaks range from 400 m to 3143 m at La Pica d’Estats, with the main habitats found 82
Table 5. Active population and economic sectors 1986. % from occupied population
County Alta Ribagorça Alt Urgell Berguedà Cerdanya Garrotxa Pallars Jussà Pallars Sobirà Ripollès Solsonès Val d’Aran
A&B
C&E
D
F
G&H
I
J
K,O, L,M & N P & Q
20.62 21.17 8.52 16.84 8.22 20.62 34.98 6.42 26.43 5.28
8.81 2.91 10.07 1.93 2.93 8.81 6.40 4.88 3.91 5.68
13.25 20.20 39.22 8.29 49.76 13.25 7.35 47.78 20.67 6.82
10.81 7.03 7.27 17.06 6.05 10.81 11.39 6.12 10.08 9.77
15.20 18.89 14.45 24.14 13.67 15.20 16.29 15.57 13.23 37.84
4.64 4.32 3.05 3.93 2.67 4.64 3.55 3.34 3.23 2.42
3.41 3.82 2.27 3.93 2.58 3.41 2.90 2.02 2.93 4.14
9.93 9.18 6.76 8.22 8.49 9.93 6.20 5.82 6.47 9.90
13.34 12.47 8.39 16.55 5.63 13.34 10.94 8.05 13.04 18.17
Total Mountain
8396
3571
23,064
5339
10,934
2218
1864
5175
6378
% Total Sectors Mountain
12.54
5.33
34.46
7.98
16.33
3.31
2.78
7.73
9.53
Total Catalunya 90,311 118,198 538,895 96,615 300,300 109,468 110,484
244,713
230,113
% Total Sectors Catalunya
4.91
6.43
29.30
5.25
16.30
5.95
6.01
13.31
12.54
% Mountain/ Catalunya1
9.30
3.02
4.28
5.33
3.64
2.03
1.69
2.11
2.77
Relative weight 255.40 mountain2
82.89
117.62 152.00
100.18
55.63
46.26
58.08
76.00
Sectorial codes of economic activities (CIDC-86): (A) Agriculture; (B) Fishing; (C) Mining extractives and chemistry; (D) Metallic manufacturing; (E) Energy; (F) Building; (G) Trade; (H) Hostelry; (I) Transport and communication; (J) Finances; (L,M,N) Public administration; Education, Health and Social Services; (K,O,P & Q) housing; productive services, personal services. 1 Percentage in mountain region/Total Catalonia. 2 Ratio of % mountain * 100/% Catalonia. Source: Own elaboration from IDESCAT 1988. Padrons municipals d’habitants de Catalunya 1986. Estructura socioeconòmica de la Població. Generalitat de Catalunya: Barcelona.
between 400 m and 1000 m and especially in flat areas, around tectonic pits or where rivers converge. The active agrarian population constituted 9.43% of the total active population in 1999, although it was 23.18% in 1970. In certain counties, the industrial and mining traditions have been quite strong, accounting for almost 50% of the labour force (Tables 5–6). Currently, in addition to traditional residual activities in all sectors, both industrial renewal and the development of the service sector, basically all aspects of tourism are worth noting. Farms and certain industries involving agrarian transformation have also been renewed, both of which are organised into co-operatives and thus maintain a highly dynamic sector (Tulla et al. 2003). In the year 2001, the GDP of these mountainous areas constituted 2.16% of Catalonia’s total (Table 7), while the population constituted 2.22% of the total (Table 2) and the area 27.67% (Table 1). When broken down into sectors, the GDP in the mountainous regions (as compared to Catalonia, in brackets) is distributed with 4.2% (1.7%) in the primary sector, 32.0% (31.3%) in industry, 13.8% (7.2%) in construction, and 49.8% (59.8%) in services (Table 8). We can therefore see that the figures, in mountain regions and Catalonia, are similar for industry, while the mountainous regions have more agrarian and construction activity and fewer service activities. There is a tight relation 83
Table 6. Active population and economic sectors 1996. % from occupied population
County
A&B
C&E
Alta Ribagorça Alt Urgell Berguedà Cerdanya Garrotxa Pallars Jussà Pallars Sobirà Ripollès Solsonès Val d’Aran
8.70 11.23 7.17 11.40 4.93 15.92 14.96 5.94 16.84 2.23
5.72 1.54 2.94 0.87 1.06 2.35 2.89 1.16 0.88 2.61
11.67 18.22 31.40 13.36 45.59 16.09 10.22 42.65 27.16 10.20
Total Mountain
5865
1228
% Total Sectors Mountain
8.37
1.75
Total Catalunya
70891
% Total Sectors Catalunya
3.22
% Mountain/ Catalunya1 Relative weight mountain 2
D
F
G&H
I
J
L,M & N
K,O, P&Q
15.32 12.02 12.04 17.85 7.71 9.76 12.74 7.51 14.44 14.02
24.24 22.57 17.67 24.56 14.80 17.33 22.41 16.07 13.46 32.16
5.20 6.88 4.12 4.27 3.42 4.89 6.79 4.08 5.16 3.25
2.16 2.66 1.96 2.14 2.12 2.46 2.22 1.75 1.56 2.04
15.76 15.95 15.53 14.31 13.08 23.24 17.93 13.68 12.39 16.51
11.23 8.92 7.18 11.22 7.30 7.96 9.84 7.16 8.10 16.99
21660
7581
12839
3086
1456
10510
5886
30.89
10.81
18.32
4.40
2.08
14.99
8.40
20998
686315
153625
418953
140961
69012
355349
288548
0.95
31.13
6.97
19.00
6.39
3.13
16.12
13.09
8.27
5.85
3.16
4.93
3.06
2.19
2.11
2.96
2.04
259.94
184.21
99.23
155.09
96.42
68.86
66.45
93.00
64.17
Sectorial codes of economic activities (CIDC-86): (A) Agriculture; (B) Fishing; (C) Mining extractives and chemistry; (D) Metallic manufacturing; (E) Energy; (F) Building; (G) Trade; (H) Hostelry; (I) Transport and communication; (J) Finances; (L,M,N) Public administration; Education, Health and Social Services; (K,O,P & Q) housing; productive services, personal services. 1 Percentage in mountain region/Total Catalonia. 2 Ratio of % mountain * 100/Total Catalonia. Source: Own elaboration from IDESCAT 1996. Estadística de població (1996). Generalitat de Catalunya: Barcelona.
between distance to the economic center of Barcelona and the economic dynamics of each county. The mountainous counties that are closest to the centre of the Barcelona metropolitan area, such as El Berguedà, are between 90 and 100 km away, while those located the farthest are between 200 and 250 km away, and the middle counties including L’Alt Urgell and La Cerdanya are between 125 and 175 km from Barcelona, although the transport networks and communications in all the counties are worse than in the rest of the country.
3 THE TRADITIONAL THEORY OF COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE Comparative advantage is a theory that was developed within the context of classical economics. Briefly, it posits that each country specialises in those goods and services which it is most capable of providing as opposed to producing the goods and services that it needs. This leads to territorial specialization in the production of goods and services, thus promoting intense international trade. David Ricardo (1817) founded the theory of comparative costs among the different regions in accordance with their natural or historical conditions (Ricardo 1950). The relationship between the costs of two types of merchandise in a certain country is the same as the relationship between their 84
Table 7.
GDP of economic sectors 1995. Million a CTS 1995
County
1995
2001
%GDP 1995 % Annual variation
Primary
Industry
Building
Services
Alta Ribagorça Alt Urgell Berguedà Cerdanya Pallars Jussà Pallars Sobirà Ripollès Solsonès Val d’Aran
68.8 206.7 377.8 154.8 210.0 105.6 306.2 139.3 176.2
75.4 240.0 416.3 185.8 254.9 122.2 360.2 167.4 204.5
1.6 2.7 1.7 3.3 3.6 2.6 2.9 3.4 2.7
4.5 6.2 4.9 6.9 8.1 8.9 3.3 9.0 1.7
34.9 25.1 34.8 9.6 28.1 22.0 46.3 32.1 19.0
17.4 14.3 9.2 17.2 15.1 17.4 7.4 18.9 19.6
43.2 54.4 51.1 66.2 48.7 51.7 43.0 40.0 59.7
Total Mountain
1745.4
2026.7
2.9
5.2
34.2
11.5
49.3
Total Catalunya
76735.5
94003.3
% Mountain /Catalunya
2.27
2.16
3.8
1.8
30.3
7.4
60.4
−0.67
288.89
112.87
155.41
81.46
Source: BRUNET, J.M. et alii. (1980). L’agricultura catalana. Estudi econòmic. Fundació Jaume Bofill i Banca Catalana: Barcelona. OLIVER, J. i SOY, A. [Dirs.]. (1996). Anuari Econòmic Comarcal 1996, Estimació del PIB Comarcal 1995. Caixa de Catalunya: Barcelona.
Table 8.
GDP of economic sectors 2001. Relative erigh of primary sector of counties (1975, 1995, 2001). % mountain primary sector GDP/Catalunya
% GDP 2001 County
Primary
Industry
Building
Services
1975
1995
Alta Ribagorça Alt Urgell Berguedà Cerdanya Pallars Jussà Pallars Sobirà Ripollès Solsonès Val d’Aran
2.1 6.5 5.5 3.6 4.1 4.6 2.2 12.7 0.9
40.9 19.1 35.6 9.0 36.7 28.7 34.3 24.8 26.3
12.7 12.1 11.3 20.9 19.4 18.1 16.5 13.4 11.8
44.3 62.3 47.6 66.5 39.7 48.6 47.0 49.1 61.0
Total Mountain
4.2
32.0
13.8
49.8
7.68
6.51
5.55
Total Catalunya
1.7
31.3
7.2
59.8
100.00
100.00
100.00
247.06
102.24
191.67
83.27
...
...
...
% Mountain/Catalunya
... 1.11 1.40 1.17 1.35 0.69 0.95 0.91 0.10
0.14 1.12 1.39 0.84 0.82 0.40 0.81 0.85 0.14
2001 0.09 0.92 1.35 0.40 0.62 0.33 0.47 1.26 0.11
In the 1975 Alta Ribagorça was included in Pallars Jussà. Source: OLIVER, J. [Dir]. (2002) Anuari Econòmic Comarcal 2002. Estimació del PIB Comarcal 2001. Caixa de Catalunya: Barcelona.
prices under the assumption of perfect competition. Henrich von Thünen (1826) added the costs of location to the previous analysis, and thus the cost of transporting goods and services, under the assumption of a homogeneous landscape. In 1933, the Heckscher-Ohlin model introduced different characteristics of productive factors in each region, produced by geographical variations. A country will export more goods and services that require intensive factors of which it has the greatest supply, and import goods and services 85
that require intensive factors of which it has the least supply. It is assumed that it is extremely difficult to alter the organization of each country’s intensive factors over a short period of time. Among these factors, education, the capacity for innovation and technology are considered highly important. In 1971, Earling Olsen claimed that for all regions there is a ‘relative advantage’ within the comparative advantage analysis, which can be measured from the standpoint of the cost of opportunity, if they specialise in the production of the goods and services they are best endowed with. This is based on the centre-periphery theory developed by Gunnar Myrdal (1957) in which unequal development tends to increase as long as diseconomies or other negative effects are not generated due to excessive growth and congestion in the more developed regions. If this occurs, the more peripheral regions are given opportunities for economic localization with comparative advantages (Olsen 1971, Peet and Hartwick 1999). This dilemma between balanced development and the polarization of unequal regional development suggests the possibility of some peripheral regions having a ‘relative’ comparative advantage in terms of certain goods and services. We have carried out various research projects in the Catalan Pyrenees along these lines, the locations of which are shown in Figure 3 and 4. The study of Tulla (1984) applied this theory to the production of dairy products in certain counties in the Catalan Pyrenees. Likewise, Pallares-Barbera and Vera (2000) demonstrated that El Berguedà, one of the counties in the Pyrenees, is undergoing an economic revival in industry and services due to the comparative advantages of a network of innovative small and medium enterprises.
4 THE ASSUMPTIONS OF THE CENTRE-PERIPHERY MODEL IN MOUNTAINOUS AREAS Human settlements and activities have existed since time immemorial and so mountainous areas involve problems that should be considered along with the regional reality as a whole. The urban ‘core’ and the rural mountainous ‘periphery’ are highly interrelated territories, each with their own strong characteristics. Along these lines, four basic premises should be taken into account: a) limitations on the space available for certain uses; b) the most beneficial activities for each area must be preserved or promoted in a balanced territory; c) both the nature and society of mountains form a part of our human heritage. Finally, d) the existence of a double market for land invalidates open competition as the sole policy and makes territorial planning advisable. A plot of land can have a different price if it is required for an agrarian use, for industry or for a second home development. This has to be pointed out in the planning objectives of each region. The transformation of dairy products allows a ‘relative’ comparative advantage, and it is suggested that there is an extremely limited amount of space available in mountainous areas for maintaining this activity. If we look at the prices received by farmers over a long period (1985– 2002) through the ‘Cooperative of Cadí’, together with the prices paid by farmers compared with Spanish and French averages, we see that there is a clear comparative advantage (Fig. 6). In order to be minimally competitive, flatter, more irrigated spaces closer to communication networks are needed. Since there is also little land for developing and building infrastructures, territorial planning decisions must be taken in order to delimit areas for each use instead of leaving decisions to open competition. In order to maintain a balanced use of the territory in a region, an analysis must be made of which activities are most appropriate for each area, thus avoiding spatial congestion and conserving the human and natural heritage. Mountains are a kind of human heritage and must be viewed as ‘capital’ and not as a ‘renewable resource’. In this sense, we must avoid aiming for immediate results and instead make long-term economic planning a priority. The demand for land for each use constitutes a series of different markets since a housing promoter can pay much more than an industrialist, who in turn can pay more than a livestock farmer. The needs for a certain type of land can be an excluding factor, since second homes can be located on sloped lots, while certain agrarian activities require flat land. Thus, what is needed is territorial planning based on the ‘second best option’ method. 86
COOPERATIVA CADÍ • Price paid for kg milk per year to the farmers of Cooperativa Cadí (1) • Spanish Median (1985–2002) (2) • French Median (1986–2002) (3) • Coop. Cadí in relation to Spanish Median (1965–2002) 18.64%
AC/ESP
AC/FR
(1) (2) (2) (1) (3) (3)
18.06%
10.53%
COOPERATIVA PIRENAICA AP/ESP • Price paid for kg milk per year for farmers of Cooperativa Pirenaica (1) (production factor, land and work force) • Spanish Median (1985–2002) (2) • French Median (1986–2002) (3)
CATALAN PYRENEES 18.06% (26.80%)
Figure 6.
vs
(2) (1) (3)
AP/FR
CATALAN PYRENEES 10.53% (10.78%)
SPANISH MEDIAN 44.86% year
(1) (2)
(3)
vs
26.80%
10.78%
FRENCH MEDIAN 0.25% year
Comparative advantage. Source: Own elaboration using data of both cooperatives (Cadi and Pirenaica).
5 COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE AND ‘THE SECOND BEST OPTION’ The principle of comparative advantage, when applied using the ‘second best option’ method, is based on two assumptions: space is a scarce resource which obliges us to be discriminating when locating activities, and there can always be a second most optimal placement when distributing activities among different areas. Let us imagine a scenario in which there are three regions (A, B and C) and four land uses or activities to be assigned to a location in these regions, as presented in Figure 7. These uses can include, for example, a protected natural area, a housing development for second homes, a dam and reservoir, and an agrarian training school along with its experimental fields and forests. The determination of the suitability of a use for each region will be made while taking into account a series of parameters, each with a ‘weight’ value that has been decided in advance, such as the creation of workplaces, environmental impact, social use, biological characteristics, accessibility, and so forth. Thus, each use will obtain a certain value for each region, which is expressed as a percentage. The higher the percentage, the better is the value. In our example, two technical assumptions are posited. The first is that all the regions are approximately the same size; and the second is that all the uses would occupy the same surface area. The best use for each region is chosen regardless of whether another region might have better conditions for that use. Thus, in Figure 7, the protected natural area will be located in region A (70%), despite the fact that B has better conditions (80%), since the other uses in region A have values of less than 70%. The housing development will be located in region B because it has the highest value of all the possible uses in B, and in this case it is also the region where housing development has the highest value. The dam and reservoir will be located in region C because it has the highest value (50%) among all the uses of this region, despite the fact that the dam and reservoir obtained a value of 70% in region B. Thus, all the regions will have the most highly valued use of land among all the possible uses in each region, even though this use may be more highly valued in a different region. In the second round of assignments, since there are more uses than regions, as shown in Figure 7, the agrarian training school will also be located in region B since it has the highest value (75%) and the other regions have already been assigned uses. 87
REGIONS LAND USES AND ACTIVITIES
A
B
C
Protected natural Area
70%
80%
20%
Extensive Second Housing
50%
90%
40%
Dam and reservoir
40%
70%
50%
Agrarian Training School
60%
75%
30%
Figure 7.
The percentage shows the maximum value that a specific area would obtain, with the location of one of these uses or activities (Solutions are acquired using different methodologies).
Comparative advantage and the ‘second best option’. Source: Own elaboration.
If the principle of comparative advantage along with ‘the second best option’ is not taken into account, the most likely outcome would be to choose the location of an activity based solely on the lowest costs or obtaining the highest value on a scale such as that used in our example. Thus, region B would attract the location of all four uses, leaving regions A and C with nothing, leading to the desertification of some regions and the congestion of others. In order to avoid this, the theory of comparative advantage operates using relative criteria and taking into account the best option for each region, even if this option is the second, third or nth option among all the regions for a certain use. If we use a terminology of costs, we are suggesting a location based on the relative cost unit rather than ‘total costs’ for a given activity (Smith 1981). If we link this with Olsen’s formulation, which was based on Myrdal’s theory of unequal development that we have used to analyze the Catalan Pyrenees, we can then state that the transformation of dairy products (Tulla 1991) or industrial embeddedness (Pallares-Barbera & Vera 2000) demonstrate the theory of centre-peripheral comparative advantage.
6 TERRITORIAL EMBEDDEDNESS AS LOCAL DEVELOPMENT FOR MOUNTAINOUS AREAS The concept of territorial embeddedness is defined within the dynamic incorporation of small and medium enterprises in a given area, where institutional organizations, local networks of economic activity and social collectives generate an economic space, which constitutes a favourable bed for establishing industrial enterprises. Territorial embeddedness refers to the enmeshing of economic and cultural relationships within broad social structures, which can be used to provide the basis for local economic policies (Pallares-Barbera 2002). In counties like El Berguedà, which has remained on the sidelines of the economic development generated by the Barcelona metropolitan area, there is a frequent need to answer questions about the nature of its development. It is believed that textile colonies and lignite mining are activities in crisis, yet all the economic and demographic indicators show a clear recovery throughout the county. 88
From our research, we can conclude that this county is turning into a ‘container’ (Dicken 2000, Porter 1990), which encompasses local institutions and practices that help to produce particular types of businesses. Despite the fact that business competition is global and remote regions thus appear less competitive, the role of the ‘container regions’ appears to be stronger than ever. This is only possible, however, if they are able to recover their productive structures by being differentiated from national structures through local values, cultures, institutions and history, becoming ‘glocal’ (Swyngedouw 2000), as is the case of El Berguedà. The businesses interviewed were developed with local capital, and the management and employees live in the county. Still, the fact that this business network has its roots in the place where it began is not only due to the fact that the employees and capital are local. The local socio-cultural ‘milieu’ is also responsible for spinning the network that ‘captures’ businesses for the territory, and in many ways it tacitly obligates them to include ‘local’ elements in their production, thus differentiating them from others. This is also a factor in their global competitiveness. This is not a case of cultural determinism (Dicken et al. 1994), in which all the businesses interviewed are similar or follow similar strategies. The businesses interviewed are all different, despite the fact that they have certain characteristics in common. The differentiation of the business systems depends on their integrated or separated natures, in accordance with the context in which they operate (Whitley 1992). A business’s greater or lesser degree of cohesion with the territory is the result of the distinctive configuration of the social, political, financial and educational institutions and the organization of work. There are always different degrees of territorial embeddedness depending on the county, but it is always sustained through a network of family SMEs with local capital. The management and employees constitute the channels through which the socio-cultural framework and local knowledge circulate to the business and embed it in the territory. El Berguedà can be distinguished from the neo-Marshallian industrial district, as reinterpreted by Becattini (1990), due to its low sector-based concentration and the low level of economic participation among businesses in the county. That is, one local business does not necessarily act as the supplier for another. While in a neo-Marshallian district, tacit knowledge makes information flow through direct contacts among businesses within a sector, constituting one of the decisive factors in competitiveness, in ‘embedded industrial districts’, direct action between businesses does not exist. They do not form a part of the same network, or process, of value added. However, they do share the existence of agglomeration economies, even though these may only be cultural, historical and social in the ‘embedded industrial district’, which serves to differentiate them. The concentration of many small businesses in El Berguedà characterises its territorial embeddedness and its significant variance from Perroux’s model (1970), in which the engines of regional development are large businesses that produce regional multipliers.
7 COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE AND MOUNTAINOUS AREAS Our studies have generated many different results that highlight the importance of comparative advantage in promoting sustainable development in mountainous areas: 1. The analysis of comparative costs of the different activities. In rural mountainous areas, costs are frequently calculated on the basis of the acquisition of external factors for farming or small businesses, which are mainly family-owned, not taking into account all the hours worked or remuneration of the land factor, due to traditional rural culture (Tulla 1991, Servolin 1972). In certain counties in the Pyrenees, specialization in dairy production has become the most profitable activity because the farmers have received an average yearly price per kilo of milk that is 18.06% higher than the average for Spain (1985–2002), and 10.53% higher than the average in France (1986–2002). This is possible because it is a highly dynamic co-operative Cadí that produces high quality cheese and butter with value added in the transformation process, and it exports 50% of its production. At the same time, the production factors acquired during the 1985–2001 period by another co-operative – La Pirenaica – show an average price of 26.80% 89
2.
3.
4.
5.
lower than the Spanish average, but 10.78% higher than the French average. There are also other advantages, such as activities that reduce the use of the individual work factor (Tulla & PallaresBarbera 2003). This process of specialization has been undertaken in three phases. The first (1920s–1960s) consisted of the decision to produce dairy products; the second (1960s–1980s) was the decision to specialise only in producing dairy products for high quality transformation with value added; and the third (1980s–2000s) was to improve the training, facilities, quality of the bovine breeds and organization of manufacturing and distributing in order to compete within the EU. Carrying out multiple activities also favours the competitiveness of costs as well as income in retired people’s family units due to the proximity to small urban and tourist centres. The evaluation of the negative and positive externalities of each activity or land use describes different aspects. First, an analysis must be made to know which activities generate negative externalities, such as industrial pollution or the process of building second homes in a high value landscape. Then, maintaining a well planned urban and natural environmental space with an attractive landscape generates positive externalities. Thus, if costs are calculated for the medium and long term and not just the short term, we can plan which activities and land uses are most beneficial for a sustainable development. For example, the promotion of hotels and tourist residences which will be occupied on a regular basis (hot beds) might be more desirable than an excess of second homes which will only be occupied periodically (cold beds), an average of 18 days per year in the Pyrenees (Martinez-Alier 1984). The consideration of the external economy for certain activities or land uses. It is a fact that many businesses, both in the industry and the service sectors, are beginning to more highly value the quality of the landscape when deciding on their location. Thus, the extensive use of land, the existence of a high level of agrarian activity and the use of natural areas for non-damaging leisure activities can be more easily integrated into the landscape and become a positive externality (Claval 1998). The use of non-monetary units to calculate efficiency in the production of goods and services. The energy balance, for example, can more clearly demonstrate the advantages of extensive agrarian activities compared to intensive ones. Economic efficiency can also be compared to ecological efficiency. This can be more closely related not only to the quality of the natural landscape, but also to the possibility of maintaining a minimum population threshold needed to preserve this landscape. There are several methods available to compare or refute the merely economic methods (Martinez-Alier 1984). Limitations on the amount of useful land available needs a co-ordinated specialization in land uses based on the best relative situation of each location, as was explained using ‘the second best option’ method (Fig. 7).
8 CONCLUSIONS In this presentation we have introduced a process of naturbanization in the Catalan Pyrenees and attempted to demonstrate, based on our research, that local development can be explained on the basis of a reinterpretation of the principle of comparative advantage. Using counterurbanization theories, we have examined the specific growth in housing and population around NPA, because of the quality of the natural and social environment and landscape. In the High Catalan Pyrenees, there are new processes which have led to an increase in the number of houses and seasonal populations in these areas, with a ratio 2 and 3 times more than the permanent population. This new reality will make it possible to implement sustainable local development (Fig. 1). If we start on the basis of the principle that European countries are very densely populated, then available land is becoming scarcer. Given this, the location of activities must be made a priority, not only because of businesses’ internal costs but also because of both the positive and negative externalities generated, and because of external economies and diseconomies. Some of the problems with the economic feasibility of activities in mountainous areas are the result of a partial, incomplete 90
calculation of the cost of activities other than intensive land use. In the comparative advantage of the specialization in dairy production, the leadership of the two co-operatives mentioned, which have recently formed an alliance with others in Catalonia, have accentuated the degree of specialization, quality and technology of the farms as well as investments (Tulla 1984). Territorial embeddedness is also a model of local development that can strengthen these ‘relative’ comparative advantages. The industrial tradition in the embedded district of El Berguedà is highly competitive in the labour market, especially because of the transmission of tacit knowledge of industrial discipline acquired through the incorporation of the system of industrial colonies. Commercialization involves a reduction in location costs for companies in El Berguedà, to the extent that this county is becoming an attractive centre for new investment without any added costs, in order to build and encourage a labour market that on other occasions may have been a barrier for entry. Thus, an overall network of embedded institutions and socio-cultural elements is created in a territory to include territorial differentiation based on historical factors and cultural adaptation, in order to analyse the particular features of every place.
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Porter, M. 1990. The competitive advantage of nations: 855. New York: The Free Press. Prados, M.J. 2006. Los parques naturales como factor de atracción de la población. Un estudio exploratorio sobre el fenómeno de la naturbanización en Andalucía. Cuadernos Geográficos 38(2006-1): 87–110. Ricardo, D. 1950. On the principles of political economy and taxation: 345. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Servolin, C. 1972. L’absortion de l’agriculture dans le monde de production capitaliste. L’universe politique des paysans: 108–132. Paris: A.Colin. Smith, D.M. 1981. Industrial location: on economic geographical analysis: 287. New York: John Wiley. Swyngedouw, E. 2000. Elite power, global forces, and the political economic of ‘Glocal’ development. In G. Clark et al. (eds.), The Oxford handbook of Economic Geography: 541–559. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Thünen, J.H.V. 1826. Der Isolierte Stoat in Beziehung auf Laundwirtschaft und National o Konomze. Rostock (German version). In H. Peter (ed.). 1966. Von Thünen’s isolated state: 303. Oxford: Pergamon Press. Tulla, A.F. 1984. L’avantatge comparatiu en àrees rurals de muntanya. Recerques 16: 51–70. Tulla. A.F. 1991. Women and Family Farms in Catalonia. Iberian Studies 20(1–2): 62–80. Tulla. A.F. 1993. Procés de transformació agrària en àreees de muntanya: 672. Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament d’Obres Públiques. Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya. Tulla, A.F. & Pallares-Barbera, M. (eds.) 2003. El món rural al segle XXI. Un compromís entre la cultura rural, les infraestructures de comunicació, les noves tecnologies i la iniciativa local: 471. Barcelona: Castellet del Foix. Tulla, A.F. et al. 2003. La transformació del model agrari en àrees de muntanya. Espais 49: 82–97. Whitley, R.D. 1992. Business systems in East Asia: firms, markets and societies: 288. London: Sage.
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Naturbanization: New identities and processes for rural-natural areas – Prados (ed) © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-49000-9
Naturbanization processes in Sardinia M. Campagna Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
ABSTRACT: The author analyses the Natural Park system in the Region of Sardinia, Italy. On the bases of the natural, cultural, historical landscape overview framework, the author presents preliminary analyses of naturbanization dynamics on the island. Exploratory spatial data analysis techniques are used to measure actual urbanization trends; the potential for promoting naturbanization models where not spontaneous, and future opportunities in the light of the actual spatial planning framework.
1 INTRODUCTION Naturbanization has been defined as a process of counter-urbanization by which communities extend their residence, work, and leisure needs towards de-centralised rural and natural areas (Prados 2005, after Berry 1976; Champion 1989). A correct approach to Natural Park planning may offer the opportunities to integrate sociocultural and economic development to objectives of natural conservation and sustainable natural and urban areas development together with the occasion for diversification of residential choices at the regional level. This contribution proposes the analysis of current trends in urbanization dynamics in Sardinia in the light of past and current spatial planning policies, and suggests a framework developed by the authors for Natural Park planning towards sustainable naturbanization management. As a matter of fact, as emerged by the preliminary exploratory spatial data analyses of urbanization dynamics in Sardinia proposed in this study, many inner rural areas of the island in recent decades have been suffering a sensible decrease in population showing increasingly underdevelopment conditions. Thus, naturbanization processes may contribute to balance the future development in the island helping, at the same time, to safeguard its rich natural and cultural heritage. To this end, in section 2 an overview of the Italian Planning System is given in order to introduce the overview of the evolution of spatial planning policies in Sardinia, presented in section 3. Then in section 4.1 the Sardinia case study is presented depicting those characters of the historical evolution of settlements as well as the main landscape features of the island which may help to focus the analysis of recent urbanization dynamics presented in section 4.2. Lastly, in section 5, the results of the analyses are discussed in order to have an insight about current trend in (nat-) urbanization processes, and possible opportunities and tools to manage naturbanization process in Sardinia. 2 OVERVIEW OF SPATIAL PLANNING SYSTEM IN ITALY In Italy, legislation influencing the processes of physical transformation of urban and rural space is organised according different main issues, namely urban and regional planning, environmental protection, and landscape preservation in terms of natural and cultural heritage features of territories. Besides, a multifarious set of sector regulations guide the implementation of sector spatial 93
development policies such as transport, industrial, or mining infrastructure, risk management, and so forth. However, we may argue that the main influence on spatial arrangement of settlement is regulated by the urban and regional planning legislation; while environmental protection procedures should be used to assess environmental consistency of spatial policies and development projects according to European Directives, landscape legislation is used to regulate the management of those areas characterized by sensitive and valuable natural and cultural resources. According to this outline scheme, the planning system is articulated in three hierarchical levels (Regional, Provincial and Municipal) which traditionally have been implemented in a top-down manner in order to plan and manage settlement growth. Without any attempt to be exhaustive, and for the sake of clarity, below are given general references to the main planning tools offered by the National legislation according to the scheme above; it should not be forgotten, however, that the complex framework given at the National level is further enriched by the plethora of Regional planning frameworks which extend and specify the National scheme especially in such Regions as Sardinia, where special autonomy was originally given by statute. At the regional level, the Regional Master Plan (Piano Territoriale Regionale di coordinamento, PTRC) was proposed in its first formulation by the National Planning Act 1150/1942, which delegated to the central government the responsibilities to devise objectives and policies of socioeconomic and spatial development. These schemes had barely been successfully implemented, until in 1990 Act 142 delegated the responsibilities for spatial development policies to the regional government, and the responsibilities for land use planning to the local level through the Municipal Master Plan (Piano urbanistico o regolatore generale, PRG). The main features of the PT are related to natural and cultural heritage protection (especially in recent legislative framework developments), major infrastructure planning, and designation of new settlement areas in order to balance existing urban and rural development pattern dynamics. As will be discussed later in the paper, in Sardinia the PTR was never used to regulate spatial development dynamics in the island, neither the Province PT recently adopted has been capable to do so until now. Beside the urban planning legislation, the Landscape Planning normative framework in Italy offers tools to parallel the PT in the management of spatial development patterns. Thanks to two Acts on Natural and cultural heritage and landscape preservation, since 1939 in Italy the planning system consists also of the Landscape Plans (Piani Teritoriali Paesistici, PTP). Since then, the evolution of the legislative framework composed the integration of the contents of the PTR and PTP, till in 2004 the new Act on Landscape and Cultural heritage preservation proposed a new kind of plan called Piano Paesaggistico Regionale (PPR), by which the regions are enabled to develop regional master plans to govern both landscape preservation and spatial development (Dlgs 42/2004, art. 135). Within the PPR areas, goods of particular interest or that are endangered by natural or anthropogenic dynamics are devised and regulated accordingly. Hence the PPR is going to play a major role in influencing spatial pattern dynamics, regulating possible land uses and permitted transformations in order to fulfil its landscape preservation objectives. In Sardinia a new PPR was adopted in 2006, and although it may be too early at this stage to analyse its outcomes, in the next section the plan itself is analysed for its main features in order to discuss opportunities and threats with regards to both general spatial development scenario and future urbanization dynamics in Sardinia, with an explorative prescriptive analysis approach. In order to complete the overview of the Italian planning system, a brief reference specifically to Natural Park planning framework is given in the remainder of this section. The matter is regulated in Italy by Act 394/1991. Before this act brought innovation to the national regulative policy for natural heritage in terms of comprehensiveness of environmental value recognition, a few previous laws established the older National Parks in Italy such as the Parco Nazionale del Gran Paradiso in 1922, the Parco Nazionale d’Abruzzo in 1923, and the Parco Nazionale della Calabria in 1968. These older parks were designated having in mind rather the conservation of physical features and habitats than the consistent management of local community development with sensitive and valuable environments. The Act 394/91 may be considered innovative for it proposes a novel approach, at the time of its adoption, according to which planning and management tools have to 94
pay new and broader attention to the local community life within the protected areas or, in other words, to the wise management of anthropogenic behaviour within the environment. This way, natural protected areas are not seen anymore as untouchable goods, but as valuable environments where human behaviour has to be consistent with its fragility and value. The act devises three main categories of protected areas, namely: the National Parks, the Natural Regional Parks, and the Natural Reserves. They are regulated by Act 394/91, which defines the general normative policy framework, major stakeholders for plan making and management, and implementation policies and tools. The act also specifies that within the regulative framework, economic and socio-cultural development of local communities should be fostered. Thus, a wise application of Act 394/1991 should take into account both the preservation of the natural heritage as well as the improvement of the quality of life of the local communities, this way allowing the natural areas to become attractive to host, with the limitations given by the park regulations and plans: potential ‘residential users’ who aim at enjoying a sustainable naturbanization model of living.
3 OVERVIEW OF SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT POLICIES IN SARDINIA 3.1 Urban and regional planning policies The spatial planning framework in Sardinia has been influenced after the Second World War by two main forces: on the one hand, Sardinia Regional Government (RAS), after its establishment in 1948, was granted special power and responsibilities compared to the other ordinary Italian Regions due to its statutory autonomy; and on the other hand, historical underdevelopment conditions diffused in many regions in the South of Italy – and made more dramatic by the war– drove the Regional Government to develop spatial development policy oriented mainly to foster infrastructure development for the sake of economic growth, rather than ensuring a balanced spatial planning scenario for the island. In the fifties, spatial policies were almost exclusively oriented to industrial development, driving to severe negative impacts on the environment, although in limited areas. Transport infrastructure development and improvement of agriculture production systems were also major objectives of the development plans charged with fostering the economy of the island. In the middle of the eighties, a season of environmental-friendly oriented planning policies started creating great expectations, but the results mostly failed to achieve the expected outcomes: Landscape Plans (PTP) developed at that time for most of the coastal parts of the region were annulled for normative inconsistencies a few years after their adoption. Later, in the nineties, according to a general move towards intermediate level of administrative responsibilities in spatial government introduced in Italy by the National Act 142/1990, new plans were developed by the provinces (four at that time in the region), but again they mostly failed to produce any substantial change in the regional spatial scenario (De Montis, in Deplano 2001). Nowadays, after the regional legislation limited abruptly in 2004 any new spatial development initiative in the coastal 2 kilometres buffer zone as a safeguard measure, a new Regional Landscape Plan (PPR) was adopted in 2006. The PPR in the areas of its establishing Regional Act 8/2004 has been adopted so far only for coastal municipalities, and its extension to the whole inner land is under development. The PPR, designed to fulfil a strict political will for landscape protection, has been developed with a severe normative which limits sensibly further development opportunities in the coast. Later in this paper, the implication of the PPR policy will be discussed in further detail, aiming at understanding its possible outcomes in terms of influence for future (nat-)urbanization dynamics. 3.2 Natural Parks and protected areas Besides the urban and regional planning framework outlined above in this section, Sardinia spatial development policies include the natural protection framework described below. 95
Figure 1.
Natural areas of Sardinia.
Two National Park Plans (according to Act 394/91) were developed in Sardinia, namely La Maddalena and Asinara. While the Asinara is a small island which was formerly used as a prison, La Maddalena is an urbanized area with a population of over 11,000 inhabitants in 2001 (ISTAT). A third park was established by the same national law but it has not been implemented so far: it is the Gennargentu and Orosei Gulf Park. Moreover, in 1989 the Regional Act 31, anticipating the approach of National Act 394/1991, designated areas of relevant natural interest – 9 regional parks and 60 reserves– together with natural monuments; at the time being most of the respective management plans still under a preliminary study. Many areas of interest for natural protection are found in the framework of the Natura 2000 network, which establishes special protection areas and sites of common interest according to the CE Habitat and Birds Directives (9 SPAs and 113 pSCIs). Furthermore, under the aegis of UNESCO, the Historical Environmental Geo-mining Park of Sardinia has been established in 2001 and the management plan is currently under development. Figure 1 shows the spatial distribution of the natural areas and park systems, while main quantitative features are reported in Table 1. 96
Table 1.
Quantitative features of natural protection areas in Sardinia.
Natural areas National Parks (L394/91) Natural Parks (RL 31/89) Natural Reserves (RL 31/89) pSCI SPA Geo-mining Park Total Sardinia
Area [km2 ]
Municipalities
Area of municipalities [km2 ]
Urbanized area [km2 ]
Population in urbanized area
Population in affected municipalities (2001)
7
2094.56
48
5329.27
86.81
325,728
611,221
9
3351.14
114
9456.95
64.29
158,202
489,642
60
746.69
84
8788.15
104.11
393,011
874,677
113 9 1
4619.12 161.37 2292.09
173 18 103
14789.08 1657.57 9449.49
147.54 68.24 100.86
454,755 296,022 262,355
1090,482 353,203 678,251
199 199
9490.82* 24,083,671
246* 377
18805.42* 24,083,671
264.47* 503.71
781,799* 1588,120
1274,238* 1599,511
As reported in the table, the actual urbanization in natural areas is very relevant, as 49% of total Sardinian population lives in protected areas, but the percentage rises up to 80% if we consider the total population who lives in municipalities intersecting natural protection area boundaries. In terms of total natural protected area, the analysis shows it equals 39% of Sardinian land, while the total area of municipalities whose boundaries intersect any natural areas rises to 78%. The high figures we obtain considering the whole of municipalities may be in some cases biased by densely populated communes which may intersect any small natural areas. However, the relevance of the phenomenon has to be considered without challenge. In the next section – where historic and actual dynamics will be described – the lack of any naturbanization character in the trends will be shown. Nevertheless, the potential for the implementation of naturbanization policy will be measured and discussed in the light of the actual planning system in order to understand the real opportunities for sustainable development planning. What should be noted here is that although natural heritage is a substantial value resource for the island’s sustainable development, the local spatial planning policies have not shown to fully consider its potential. Although RL 31/1989 seemed to be promising in this sense, its implementation failed to fulfil its objectives and most recent spatial policy development still fail to pay the deserved attention to this issue. It is left to the completion of the PPR for inner part of inland territories not to miss this opportunity, although favourable signs in this direction have not been found so far.
4 DETECTING (NAT)URBANIZATION DYNAMICS IN SARDINIA 4.1 The Island of Sardinia: Paradise Lost in the Mediterranean Sardinia features as a major island in the western Mediterranean. With a surface of 24 squarekilometres and a population barely over 1.6 million residents, it represents a peculiar environmental system surrounded by the sea between the African and European continents. Although it has shown a degree of social complexity of its inhabitants since the Bronze Age, when the nuragic people built over 7000 known – and possibly over 30,000 according to some estimates – stone towers called nuraghi located about 1 kilometre from each other, Sardinia faced through history low levels 97
1.800.000 1.600.000 1.400.000 1.200.000 1.000.000 800.000 600.000 400.000 200.000 0 1698
Figure 2.
1782
1861
1981
Population in Sardinia through history (Principe 1985).
of population density, bringing a wild landscape character until recent times. While a journey of twenty kilometres on the coast as well as in the inner areas of the island allows an observer to appreciate major changes in Sardinian landscape, in many areas it is still possible to make such journeys without being distracted by anthropogenic features. Thus, the island can be considered rich in terms of both natural and cultural heritage in wide areas and sub-regions. Since last century, the Sardinian population (whose historical and current trends are shown in Fig. 2) has settled mainly in centres less than 7 kilometres away from their nearest neighbour. The brief picture of the evolution of settlements in the island through history outlined above should be interpreted in the light of the recent spatial policies framework developed in Sardinia. Thus it will be enriched with the explanation of the main forces which determined the actual spatial layout and future opportunities of urbanization phenomena dynamics, in terms of possible trends toward further polarization around major urban centres versus counter-urbanization or naturbanization. 4.2 The analyses The analysis of recent urbanization processes in the island is based on data coming from the National Census on population, houses, and household in the last three decades (ISTAT 1981, 1991, and 2001). The methodology integrates exploratory spatial data analysis techniques (ESDA, Anselin, 2005) in order to show actual patterns in urbanization trends. At first sight, the clusters of municipalities with positive population growth rates are detected in the period 1981–2001 (Fig. 3), then the growth rates are summarised for each class of natural area and compared with the overall trend in the island (Fig. 2). As general features it can be noted in the map in Figure 3 that the main clusters of positive growth are located in the surroundings of major economic poles such as Cagliari (the regional capital city) in the South and in the Costa Smeralda around Olbia, which is a very active region in the tourism economy. In both cases, clusters of growth are lining along the coast. Beside the economic development attractor, it may be argued that household location choices follow a model according to which new houses are sought around the major poles along the coast. In the case of the Cagliari metropolitan area – which hosts around one fourth of the total population – this location choice is influenced both by lower prices and by the desire of low density single household residential areas, which are considered to have better residential quality features, (however, preferably along the coast). According to Figure 4, only natural areas corresponding to the Regional Parks and to the Geomining Park (see map in Fig. 5) show a positive trend in the last two decades. Nevertheless, at the current status of research no cue has been found about the population growth rates and the natural resources of those areas, and further investigation in this direction is needed. Beside population trends, the following charts (Fig. 6) document the workforce in employment as recorded in the national census 2001 (ISTAT). The workers are divided into three categories: primary, secondary, and other sectors. The chart shows the employment total figures for the municipalities whose territory is affected by each category of natural protected areas, the total 98
Demographic trends in Municipalities Major Roads Population growth 1981–2001 % 76% – 37% 36% – 18% 17% – 0% 1% – 12% 13% – 43% 44% – 100% (Natural Breaks Class) 0 – 3219 3220 – 14264 14265 – 37218 37219 – 98762
N
98763 – 203650
Kilometers 50
Figure 3.
Spatial distribution of major settlements in Sardinia and 1981–2001 growth rates. Source: ISTAT.
for all the municipalities affected by any category of natural protected areas, and the total for all municipalities in the island. Table 2 shows the actual percentages of workforce per sector for each of the categories above. This preliminary analysis shows that employment figures do not change sensibly at this aggregate level. However, a more detailed analysis may show differences at a finer scale of observation. To this end, from a methodological perspective, local measures of the disaggregated labour sector may show local resources and development potential. Moreover, for a better understanding of the naturbanization phenomena as a process, time series analysis would offer more insight. Unfortunately changes in the census variables over time make time series analysis cumbersome in the case of Sardinia. Thus, in this first overview study of naturbanization process in the island they have not been considered, leaving further insight to future finer scale investigation. For a better understanding of the resource system and the development potential, this study analyses the land use pattern in natural protected areas. As given in Figure 7, we found a general trend showing a dominance (>= ∼70%) of forest and semi-natural land uses except for SPA areas 99
100
9,64%
5,01%
1981–2001
2,23%
5,96%
3,97%
(RL 31/89)
Natural Reserves
Population growth rates in Sardinia (1981–2001).
0,37%
Figure 4.
9,24%
2,85%
7,65%
(RL 31/89)
(L394/91)
1991–2001
Natural Parks
National Parks
1981–1991
10,00%
8,00%
6,00%
4,00%
2,00%
0,00%
2,00%
4,00%
6,00%
8,00%
10,00%
12,00%
1,85%
5,36%
3,70%
pSCI
4,64%
8,46%
4,18%
SPA
2,74%
2,51%
5,38%
Geo-mining Park
1,94%
5,06%
3,28%
Total
0,33%
2,96%
3,39%
Sardinia
Figure 5.
Growth rates in the Geo-mining Park. Source: ISTAT.
where agricultural uses cover ∼96% of the land. The expected general dominance of forest and semi-natural uses can be considered high if compared with the average value of ∼59% for the whole island. It should be remembered here that the average population density is quite low in the island, where less than 1.6 million inhabitants live in more than 24 thousand square kilometres. Urbanized areas show a general low value between 0.02 and 0.49%, in the face of the average value of 2.70% we found for the whole island. This kind of analysis can be used to understand the economic development potential which could be achieved by implementing innovation in agricultural production, and to assess the economic potential of tertiary sector activities such as agritourism service development, to sustain possible residential population growth without introducing substantial changes in the land use patterns. This pre-feasibility analysis can be used in an integrated manner with the indicators of free housing stock potential given in the next section, which shows how many inhabitants could be settled in natural areas without further housing development. 5 DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS The analysis of the urbanization process in natural areas – after a positive trend in the decade 1981–2001 – shows a sensible decrease up to present. Many municipalities situated in areas 101
Regional Reserves (RL31/89)
Regional Park (RL31/89)
Primary
Primary
Secondary Others
Secondary Others
Regional Reserves (RL31/89)
pSCI
Primary
Primary
Secondary Others
Secondary Others
SPA
Geo-mining Park
Primary
Primary
Secondary Others
Secondary Others
All protected areas
Sardinia
Primary
Primary
Secondary Others
Secondary Others
Figure 6. Workforce per sector in different municipalities with natural protected areas in 2001.
characterized by high natural heritage resources are losing population, hence demonstrating that natural features of those territories are not able to influence resident’s location choices, which in turn favours centrality and economic development of settlements. This process leaves a considerable housing stock empty, and arguably the housing property value is affected by this. Thus, appropriate spatial planning policy may contribute to fostering the counter-urbanization process. The current Regional Landscape Plan PPR which aims at protecting landscape value along the coastal areas is diminishing the urbanization pressure, representing a favourable opportunity to face the problem of demographic depression in inner areas, but in turn further policy measures should be taken to foster sustainable economic development in deprived areas. The analysis of the 102
Table 2. Workforce per sector in natural areas.
National Parks (L394/91) Natural Parks (RL 31/89) Natural Reserves (RL 31/89) pSCI SPA Geo-mining Park
Primary (%)
Secondary (%)
Others (%)
2.6 5.5 3.0 4.0 2.6 3.9
55.5 57.4 56.3 56.7 55.5 57.2
41.8 37.1 40.7 39.3 41.9 38.9
Total
4.2
56.7
39.1
Sardinia
4.6
56.9
38.5
Sardinia
Geo-mining Park
SPA
pSCI
Natural Reserves (RL 31/89)
Natural Parks (RL 31/89)
National Parks (L394/91)
0
20
40
National Natural Natural Parks Parks Reserves (L394/91) (RL 31/89) (RL 31/89)
Figure 7.
60
80
100
pSCI
SPA
Geomining Park
Sardinia
Water areas
0,28
0,00
0,01
0,02
0,04
0,00
0,75
Humid areas
0,05
0,00
0,01
0,00
0,08
0,00
0,35
Forests and seminatural areas
70,69
97,66
69,38
77,17
3,36
74,20
58,67
Agricultural areas
28,49
2,31
30,54
22,76
96,26
25,78
37,53
Urbanized areas
0,49
0,02
0,07
0,04
0,27
0,02
2,70
Land use distribution in natural protected areas.
103
Table 3.
Carrying capacity of the existing housing stock.
Free rooms
Housing carrying capacity [inhabitants]
Potential growth rate (%)
Population 2001
Occupied rooms
Occupied houses
Room/ inhabitant rate
611,221
961,867
208,442
2
75,410
264,380
168,001
27.49
489,642
728,751
151,761
1
46,064
182,834
122,845
25.09
874,677
1341,277
292,396
2
104,553
362,760
236,564
27.05
1090,482 353,203 678,251
1689,977 555,114 1009,137
360,985 118,970 217,076
2 2 1
124,677 20,592 77,433
447,861 84,361 272,904
288,989 53,676 183,421
26.50 15.20 27.04
Total
1274,238
1983,506
421,856
2
149,683
538,601
346,006
27.15
Sardinia
1599,511
2444,566
516,139
2
168,722
614,129
401,833
25.12
National Parks (L394/91) Natural Parks (RL 31/89) Natural Reserves (RL 31/89) pSCI SPA Geo-mining Park
Free houses
considerable existing under-utilized housing stock in natural areas (Table 3) shows that its sole exploitation, without new residential development, offers a residential carrying capacity which supports a potential growth with an average rate of 25%.
6 CONCLUSIONS In this paper the preliminary analysis of urbanization processes in Sardinia are presented by the author. First results show that naturbanization dynamics are not in play at the current state of development, but there is an enormous potential for catalysing its start, that is, it could be a wise approach in order to face the problem of urbanization pressure on the coastal zone. Besides a correct approach to naturbanization management, it would be an occasion for sustainable development in inner deprived areas of the island in which economic opportunities to sustain affordable quality of life are currently lacking. Italian environmental and territorial policies foster sustainable planning and management to protect the natural heritage and at the same time stimulate social and economic development for populations living in natural areas and parks. On this premise, as demonstrated by this analysis, these opportunities have not been exploited yet, but present conditions suggest that nowadays the territorial policy framework would be favourable to follow this approach: there is a high risk now to lose another fruitful occasion for a balanced and sustainable development of the island. Further analysis should be developed to better understand this phenomenon and to create the knowledge needed to carry out a wise Natural Park planning and management, especially in this moment when the new PPR is providing for the first time in history a comprehensive framework for landscape planning in the whole island. Initiatives such as spatially comprehensive broad band networking and wise internal and external transport infrastructure planning may be considered of utmost importance for the fostering of future naturbanization, as it would allow – in accordance with the current landscape plan PPR objectives– counter-urbanization processes in favour of depressed inner natural areas, in the light of the opportunity of developing an economy of low impact value-added information services. This 104
way, Sardinia might aim at increasing its attractiveness by playing a major role as a quality-of-life place in Europe, exploiting its best opportunities for a sustainable development. REFERENCES Anselin, L. 2005. Interactive techniques and exploratory spatial data analysis. In Longley et al. (eds.), Geographic Information Systems: principles, techniques, management and applications – abridged: 235–266. Hoboken NJ: John Wiley and Sons. Deplano, G. 2001. Strumenti di pianificazione d’area vasta in Sardegna. Cagliari: Passamonti. Prados, M. J. 2005. Territorial recognition and control of changes in dynamic rural areas: Analysis of the naturbanization process in Andalusia. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 48(1): 65–83. Principe, I. 1985. Storia, ambiente e società nell’organizzazione del territorio in Sardegna. Storia d’Italia, Annali 8: 561–625. Insediamenti e territorio Torino: Einaudi.
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Part II: Socio-economic and political issues
Naturbanization: New identities and processes for rural-natural areas – Prados (ed) © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-49000-9
Rural tourism and urban growth regulations in Doñana National Park: Antecedents and current planning A.M. Doctor Universidad de Huelva, Spain
ABSTRACT: The Doñana Natural Protected Area is an exceptional space for rural tourism. In fact, tourism activities may be one of the most important sustainable development lines in this territory. In spite of this, rural tourism has not been highly developed, and Doñana continues being a recreational and residential destination for Seville and Huelva, its two closer cities. The access restrictions imposed by environmental conservation, the preference of territorial planning for sun and beach tourism mean that rural tourism in Doñana has been a purely secondary activity. The way of planning this increase is analysed, using two principal documents – Doñana Coordination Territorial Director Plan and Area of Doñana Spatial Plan – and also the Province of Huelva Special Plan for Natural Environment Protection and its Catalogue, the Sustainable Development Strategies Report for the Area Surrounding Doñana, the Doñana Natural Park Resources Plan, and its Sustainable Development Plans, among others.
1 INTRODUCTION The area of Doñana National Park, including the Natural Park which surrounds it, (although not completely) is, without a doubt, an exceptional space for rural tourism: beautiful landscape, the possibility of observing fauna directly, low human presence and, in short, the perception of being in a space in which the natural matrix is dominant in some cases, and very important in others, united with easy movement upon low impact means of transportation (walking, riding a bike or a horse) thanks to very low gradients. So, Doñana is a perfect place for rural tourism. In fact, tourism activities may be one of the most important sustainable development lines in this territory. In spite of this, and although, during last years, the demand of visits to natural protected area for didactic, scientific and recreational activities has increased constantly, and tourist services sector – cycling and riding routes, etc – has increased too, rural tourism has not been very highly developed in Doñana: it continues being a recreational and residential destination for Seville metropolitan area and Huelva urban area. The obvious access restrictions that are imposed by environmental conservation inside the National Park, the traditional preference of territorial planning and management in this area, for coastal sun and beach tourism (interior natural attractions would only be its complement), and the low supply, mean that, for the time being, rural tourism in Doñana has been a purely secondary activity, especially when compared with sun and beach tourism. But the predictable horizon would be its growth. So, the way of planning this increase is analysed, using two principal documents – Doñana Coordination Territorial Director Plan (PDTC) (we will use, in this paper, Spanish acronyms) (Consejería de Obras Públicas y Transportes – COPT further on –, 1988) and Area of Doñana Spatial Plan (POTAD) (COPT, 2003) – and also the contents of others such as the Province of Huelva Special Plan for Natural Environment Protection and its Catalogue (PEPMF) (COPT, 1986), Sustainable Development Strategies Report for the Area Surrounding Doñana (written by the International Commission of Experts) (Comisión Internacional de Expertos, 1992), the Doñana Natural Park Resources Plan (PORN) (Consejería de Medio Ambiente – CMA further on –, 1997), and its 109
Sustainable Development Plans (PDS) (CMA, 1993), among others. Finally, the development of these plans and documents regarding rural tourism infrastructures and encouragement is analysed, especially the POTAD contents.
2 SOME REFLECTIONS ABOUT NATURBANIZATION CONCEPT Naturbanization is defined as ‘la atracción de (new) población residente hacia (. . .) áreas rurales situadas dentro o en las proximidades de espacios naturales protegidos’ (Prados, 2006. vid. also Prados, 2005). Urban developments – understanding them as a group of residential, profitable and recreational uses – in isolated zones, linked, and not only coincident, with high valuable protected areas, are its more tangible result. Prados says that naturbanization is a broad process. Probably, this is so by its own novelty. So, it would be appropriate to reflect if it’s possible to include in this concept the residential atraction exerted not only by the natural protected areas, but also by heritage in general. For example, the Sardinian Geo-mining Parks (Campagna, 2007). Anyway, it’s necessary to sign that this author suggests it only in theorical terms, because he confirms that naturbanization process aren’t occurring in Sardinia currently. Naturbanization is, really, a specific variation of counterurbanization, identified in anglosaxon countries by Berry (1976), Fielding (1986) and Champion (1989). It lies in the population deconcentration from great urban centres to periurban and rural areas, in general in a not-planning way – but also with planned developments –, and with low density. In its case, naturbanization is a longer spatial wave movement. Although the definition of the naturbanization concept done by Prados (2006) is brillant, it’s possible to think, from a theoretical point of view, about a still incipient process like this and, so, which need to continue delimiting its definition in the light of its own development during the next years. It could be posed if it’s necessary that naturbanization was next to protected areas (Prados2006, 94 – declares that it must be so). Certainly, it introduces an objectivity element, and also the scientifically necessary conceptual delimitation, but it’s true too that the existence of a protected area, and its exact location and limits, are not always sharply known or noticed by most of the citizens, who are the purchasers of the buildings. It’s true that a middle-high cultural level is, or can be, one of the factors which determine this kind of residential choices, but also that economic level is even more influential, and this isn’t always directly related with an exact perception of territory. So, some naturbanization movements could be done to natural but non-protected areas. Another possible point of discussion could be the remote location that territories whith urban development must have to consider it as naturbanization. First of all, and being naturbanization a concept which still needs to be formalized completly, it doesn’t seem appropriate to restrict the phenomenon only to those remote places. In fact, during the International Workshop Naturbanization in the European Union (La Calahorra, Granada, Spain, march 21st–23rd 2007), three typical fields of naturbanization processes were recognized: mountain, coastal and metropolitan areas, at least the third of them close to populated regions. Certainly, the inclusion of urban development proccesses in coastal areas as naturbanization can be, almost always, very fearless, because the attraction exerted by natural protected areas is, except in counted cases, lower than beaches. Natural protected areas, including National Parks, can be localized near great urban areas too. This is the case, in fact, of both of two National Parks in Andalucía – Doñana with Seville, and Sierra Nevada with Granada –, and also of other European countries. Kampinoski National Park (Warsaw), for example, which is a very similar area to Doñana: 38.544 Ha (originally, 40.700); dunes, marshlands and pinewoods close to a large river (the Vístula); with a rich fauna, birds above all; recreational use, especially during week-ends; great potential to rural tourism; nearness to an international airport, a high speed train line, and highways; and residential use attraction in the woodland edges – a historic trend – by single-family housing second homes (Kampinoski National 110
Park: www.kampinoski-pn.gov.pl). In those cases, naturbanization can obey to the pure preference of some periurban areas over others to fulfil a previously adopted choice to migrate there from great city. Previous examples come to reconsider a possible antagonism between naturbanization and urban sprawl, according to the larger distance from city centres of first compared to second. Taking into account that the concept of naturbanization is determined by the nearness to natural protected areas, and that their location isn’t ruled – at least, not inexorably – by a long distance from the large urban areas (Doñana is a good example of it), this antagonism can be tinge. An interesting criterion to diference both of those processes, naturbanization and urban sprawl, is the association between naturban development and new activities linked with sector as new technologies or ecotourism, which superimpose to traditional in rural areas, as cattle farming or craftwork. Another criterion to distinguish them can be the reasons which unleash the process, to scale of the familiar unit who takes the choice to move from a residence place to other, although we must be clear that the newness of the naturbanization concept does that those reasons have still to be delimited. So, a better relation quality-cost opposite to more central residential locations is typical of urban sprawl, but not necessarily of naturbanization. On the contrary, it’s possible to find some specific demands, of chlorophylic type, shared by both process: woodland wide location, spaciouser home, including open space availability, contact with nature, quietness, security – Gude at al. (2006) point out the relation, especially in northamerican metropolitan areas, between rural residential development, and criminal violence and racial unrest-, pleasant and high quality landscapes, pure air, low human presence. About nearness to natural protected areas, a central element of naturbanization concept, real-estate companies make sure to use it, in their advertising campaigns, as quality appeal-guarantee. This kind of choices is influenced by non-locational motivations and factors too, as the presence or expectation of children in the family (this in turn is one of the factors which determine the higher trend to settle in this kind of areas in some ages), or the income level (this is a process done by medium-high income families). In the case of Doñana, it must be also point out the low planning breach control, typical of some councils located in the external edge of metropolitan areas, and the context of strong real-estate growth (the so-called real-estate bubble) characteristic in Spain during last years. Other factors have made easy this development (both of them naturban and periurban sprawl): the improvement and enlargement of road network – although this is, at the same time, cause and effect –, the spreading of those anglosaxon locational patterns, and the independence of familiar units regarding to the daily supply. Those are, in many cases, new demands come from new – or renewed- perceptions of spatial reality. About the consequences of this process, population growth – or, at least, stabilization – of the receiving territories is the most important (Prados, 2006, 100). In fact, Prados (2006, 98) thinks that this increase of population growth rates is the first – as early and most important-naturbanization index. Prados proved how, in Andalucía, Natural Parks nearer to coast or large urban areas improved more population tan others, that is especially important to Doñana, which belongs to both of this groups. The following consequence is the urban growth, inseparable of naturbanization process. Related to it, the inmediater result, in an economic point of view, is the development of building industry. It’s possible to emphasize the rise of new tertiary activities too, joined to the increase of specific population groups, with specific expectations, as the activities linked to natural environment leisure. Naturbanization can also help to revitalize traditional activities, which production supplied the new residents-visitors market. Finally, and often with public funds – although private funds can also take part, if reutilization as lucrative business is the final aim –, it can produce the restoration of cultural heritage elements. So that, naturbanization can be considered as a way to soustainable development. It’s an acceptable opinion, if we attend to its economic and social consequences – in fact, rural tourism, for example, is always promoted by civil services, as an excellent development model –, but it’s a matter of opinión if some of its negative impacts are considered. Among them, it’s posible to find a 111
second homes development, characterized by low rates of occupation, except if a strict definition of naturbanization concept excludes this kind of urban development. The supposed strategic character of naturbanization as a way to soustainable development is questioned if specific environmental impacts are considered, as these will be tackled about Doñana protected area. Those impacts put pressure on an environment – principally, the edges of protected areas (very important, because animal species of the Park, which isn’t a physically closed area, use it often) and the rivers nearness- which natural values are the final cause of naturbanization process. The most perceptible of those impacts, visually speaking, is the produced on landscape, because rural residential developments use to look for environmental privileged locations. Impacts on conservation purpose of protected area, related with alteration of natural habitats, can be added. Ecological breaking generated by naturbanization is part of this detriment, in the case of Doñana over natural corridors. More specific impacts are produced to, as the increase of risks determined by human presence, for example, wildfires (Doctor, 1991 and 2005; Pérez Vilariño & Delgado, 1995; Leone, 1997). The structure of rural residential developments use to produce impacts as the unsuitable drainage and treatment of sewage water, which go often to septic tanks, where pollutants can transmit to underground waters. This is very important in a wetland like Doñana, supplied by an aquifer. Even there are few known impacts, as the introduction of new species, adapted to life together with human, or the cascade effect over the others of the extinction of a species. Alteration of ecologycal balance is an obvious risk. After all those arguments, Is it possible to judge naturbanization as a new phase of the gradual subordination of rural mountain to urban areas, begun with First Industrial Revolution? The own advance of studies about naturbanization will give the answer.
3 DOÑANA: LOCATION AND GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS Doñana is one of the fourteen National Parks in Spain, and one of the nine located in the Peninsula (Garajonay, Teide, Timanfaya and Caldera de Taburiente are in the Canary Islands, and the archipelago of Cabrera, in the Baleares). Doñana National Park is situated amidst the Provinces of Huelva, Seville and Cádiz, in the mouth of the River Guadalquivir on the Atlantic Ocean. It’s surrounded almost completely by the Doñana Natural Park, which acts as an environmental mitigation buffer. In Spanish Law, as in other countries, a National Park has the highest protection status. It was introduced in 1916. Natural Parks appeared in the Natural Areas Law of 1975. It is applied to territories in which human activity is another component of natural balance, which is usual in Europe, and involves more flexibility in planning and management. So, it is an ideal status for developing the environmental function of a National Park mitigation buffer. Doñana National Park was declared in 1969, with an area of only 346.2 Km2 . Before, in 1963, a Biological Reserve had been created from 70 Km2 which were bought by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Spanish Government. Later, in 1980, it was declared as Biosphere Reserve, as a Ramsar site in 1982, and as a Patrimony for Mankind in 1994. Nowadays, the National Park has 507.2 Km2 . Although initially National Parks management belonged to Central Government, and the management of the other kinds of protected areas was for the Regional Governments, the Constitutional Court sentence 194/2004, of November 10th, established that above-mentioned management of National Parks concerned to those Regional Governments, except the National Parks which include areas of more than one Region. So, Doñana National and Natural Parks have, since July 1st of 2006, a unique management, keeping both of these protection statuses (this sentence can be consulted in www.tribunalconstitucional.es/memorias/2004/ memoria04.html). If the areas of the National and Natural Park are united, the whole surface is 1060.4 Km2 . From an ecological point of view, Doñana has a high rate of biodiversity: it is a strategic place for birds migrating between Europe and Africa. Also lynx (Linx pardinus) and imperial eagle (Aquila adalberti) populations are very important, both of them species in danger of extinction. 112
The area of Doñana is a mosaic ecosystem – beaches, dunes, woodland . . . –, dominated by marshland. Doñana and surroundings can be divided in five large territorial units: • The Southern Condado, which is predominantly agrarian, although it keeps important woodlands: vast lands with a communal and council origin inserted among agricultural zones, currently reforested with pine and eucalyptus. Condado county has historically had a traditional agricultura of cereals, grapevine and olive tree. This area has too, in the nearness of the contact between cultivated and unproductive fields, the principal towns of Doñana area: Bollullos and Almonte. Southern Condado is a land with fragmented and irregular plots – which is, together with other secondary elements, as hedges on roads, its principal landscape attraction-, which have currently changed traditional uses by intensive crops. This is, together with illegal buildings, the first threat for Doñana landscape. • The Marshland, a historically inaccesible, deserted and unhealthy territory, partially transformed during XXth century to a managed marshland, uniform and low valuable landscape – the POTAD describes it as ‘auténtico vacío paisajístico’ (p. 106). In fact, the areas with higher landscape importance are the edges with the other ecosystems – of orderly plots divided by walls, slopes, paths and irrigation channels. On the contrary, its ecological value incalculable. • The Sands, a few suitable lands for agriculture, wich was improved since the forties with a strong reforestation policy, using pine and eucalyptus, this, currently replaced by native species. It produced the foundation, between 1951 and 1952, of some forest settlements, with more than 1.000 inhabitants. The Sands is now very altered by intensive farming increase. • The Almonte-Marismas Plan, among Southern Condado, the Marshland and the Sands, a little structured landscape, because its agricultural colonization isn’t still completed. Cause it, its aesthetical value is low, although it’s near the protected area. • The coastal cord, which includes the living dunes, near Guadalquivir River mouth, with exceptional landscape value. This unit is characterized by the alternation of those dunes with the pine
Figure 1.
Doñana Protected Area and surroundings.
113
corrales (lower areas between two dune cords). Northwestern, we can find the Asperillo Cliff, the highest relief of Doñana, with high environmental and landscaping quality, intrinsic and as point of view. The Doñana territorial dynamics is currently characterized by farming increase. It began in 1971, when a report of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of United Nations signed the potential of the Doñana aquifer. Later, the Spanish Government declared part of the marshland (the Almonte-Marismas Plan) as National Interest Zone by its farming transformation. First settlers arrived since 1980. Anyway, it’s convenient to sign that rice introduction in the Guadalquivir mouth is previous. Also, during the eighties, strawberry was introduced in western Doñana surroundings, affecting public forests and plots of the Almonte-Marismas Plan. Strawberry has an important economic and environmental – because of the impacts on natural resources caused by intensive farmingsignificance. Doñana also has an important demand of building land for secondary homes, especially in the northern strip, with good highway connection to Seville and Huelva, and the location income generated by forestland in this zone. The base of increasing of this kind of development is the relaxed town planning control of councils. Part of those houses is currently transforming in principal homes. All those changes outside the protected area have been one of the most important troubles for Doñana. Specifically, they have affected to the lynx conservation. The lynx, symbol of the Doñana National Park – it’s the best indicator of its state –, is the most threatened feline in the world, and it’s in danger of extinction. Its current census is low and decreasing, especially in Doñana–lynx population has passed from 600 to 350 individuals between 1998 and today, and from 50 to 30 in Doñana, with only 12–15 breeding females (data from Ministry of Environment, and Doñana Biological Station) –, where captivity reproduction is being developed. Naturbanization is a strong impact on lynx population, because the pure detection of human presence by this animal changes its life cycle, threatening its survival. In fact, the necessary measures for the lynx conservation are completely opposite to the naturbanization effects: habitats – woodland – protection (it’s estimated that an adult lynx requires an own territory from 500 – females – to 1.500 Ha – males), avoiding its breaking, and restriction of road quantity, traffic and its speed (knocking down is the first cause of dead for lynx in Doñana, with 25 cases since 1982, and a peak of 6 between 2000 and 2001). But human pressure in the protected area surroundings is so high that lynx expansion by means of new areas colonization is practically impossible, because a crop or deforested field is an impassable obstacle for the lynxs. In spite of it, the environmental conservation of Doñana has improved too during last years: many natural habitats in the inner National Park (Giró, Costa & Salathé, 2002), and natural connection with Sierra Morena, thanks to Guadiamar Green Corridor (Arenas, 2003, 142–146). Anyway, there isn’t unanimity among recent and current researchs about success of the Guadiamar Corridor in environmental connection (Hiraldo, Coord., 2007).
4 MANY CONSECUTIVE PLANS The area of Doñana has been submitted to many consecutive land use, development and protection plans. This is quite usual in Spain, but it has been clearer here, because its high ecological importance has made it one of the first places where the plans have been approved. In fact, Doñana has been the only territory in Spain which has developed the Coordination Territorial Director Plan (PDTC, 1988), derived from the last Land Use Law from Franco’s time. Different documents have been approved before it and later: the Special Plan for Natural Environment Protection (PEPMF, 1986), the Sustainable Development Strategies Report for the Area Surrounding Doñana (1992) and, finally, the Area of Doñana Spatial Plan (POTAD, 2003). We can also emphasise the Province of Huelva Strategic Plan for Tourist Development (Diputación Provincial de Huelva, 2003), a sector document drawn up by the Huelva Provincial Council for all the province, and the 114
SPATIAL AND URBAN PLANNING
ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION PLANNING
Doñana Coordination Director Plan (PDTC)
Special Plan Natural Environment (PEPMF)
NON-BINDING PLANNING
Park Resources Plan (PORN) Sustainable Development Strategies Report for the Area Surrounding Doñana
Area of Doñana Spatial Plan (POTAD)
Sustainable Development Plan (PDS)
Urban planning
Figure 2.
Province of Huelva Strategic Plan for Tourist Development
Planning in the area of Doñana.
Urban General Planning (PGOU) of Almonte, a large municipality which includes much of the protected area. 5 THE FIRST ATTEMPT: THE PROVINCE OF HUELVA SPECIAL PLAN FOR NATURAL ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION (1986) The Especial Plans for Natural Environment Protection were documents from the Land Use Planning Law of 1975. Their objective was to impose land use restrictions for the Coordination Territorial Director Plans and for urban planning, both from the same law too. These restrictions were based upon the admission that the best environmental protection can only be reached balancing social use with conservation. The Province of Huelva Special Plan for Natural Environment Protection (PEPMF) was approved in 1986, and it was the first overmunicipal rules about land use there. It must be remembered that the Natural Park wasn’t declared until 1989 (Law 2/89, of 18th July, in which the inventory of natural protected spaces of Andalucia was approved, and established additional measures for its protection). For this reason, the PEPMF was the only protection document upon the National Park then. In fact, PEPMF was also the base of the Andalucía Natural Protected Areas Inventory Law, approved in 1989, which created the Natural Park. In general sense, PEPMF proposed the following about tourist and recreation activities: – Beating, by means of planning, contradictions as high value spaces, privatization, or impacts on weak elements of territory: coast, riversides, woods . . . and – Reconciling its development with traditional land uses, and integration in traditional urban landscape. Diagnosis divided the province into six areas. For Abalario-Doñana area, fitted with the western part of the currently protected area, the Plan explained that tourism, agriculture and forest 115
exploitation were its economic base. Included in tourist activity, three flows could be distinguished: summer beach, ecological and cultural tourism. The plan proposed the redirection of the coastal camp sites, located between summer centres of Mazagón and Matalascañas, to the development of scientific and natural tourism, without infrastructures which could cause landscape and environment destruction. The Plan did not have more specifications about the development of urban growth joined to this green tourism, because the PEPMF main objective was really the protection of areas with more natural values. To reach it, the Plan established two kinds of protected areas: 1. Integral protection zones, including wetlands, coastal units and scientific sites, and 2. Compatible protection zones, involving outstanding landscapes, mountain and coastal units with environmental interest, recreational forest lands, forest riversides and transformed wetland. Using those kinds, the PEPMF protected some areas of the current Natural Park: Asperillo Dunes (as an Outstanding Coastal Unit), Abalario Lagoons (as a Well Preserved Wetland), Northern Prepark, El Acebuche, and Abalario Pinewood (Environmental Interest Coastal Units), and La Rocina and Pilas Creeks (Environmental Interest Forest Riverside, currently included in the National Park). The protection level was different for each one.
6 THE COORDINATION TERRITORIAL DIRECTOR PLAN (PDTC, 1988) As with the PEPMF, the Coordination Territorial Director Plan (1988) also came from the Urban Law of 1975. According to this law, a National Land Use Plan had to be written by the Public Works, Transport and Environment Ministry, establishing the land use main aim, including decisions about natural areas that should be preserved and improved. Franco’s death and the resulting politicaladministrative changes, from a centralist to an autonomous State, prevented this National Plan from being approved. PDTC derived from the National Plan. Both of them would have some land use main aims which included: – Land and natural resource protection measures, in areas with landscape and ecological values, which hadn’t been developed; – Urban environment improvement measures; and – Protection measures against the urban development of areas without high landscape and ecological value, if such development wasn’t necessary. Although the National Plan wasn’t finally written, partly due to the development of the autonomous laws, a PDTC was approved: that of Doñana. This plan signed two general objectives: conservation and development. The PDTC included, also, a part (II.4) about ‘Tourist Development Planning and Promotion’, with seven general objectives which insisted upon tourism growth. The PDTC admitted Doñana’s natural and landscape exceptional values, and, accordingly, its high possibilities for tourism. The PDTC strategy was to promote Mazagón, Matalascañas and Sanlúcar de Barrameda for tourist development, avoiding the appearance of new urban centres in virgin areas. Regarding rural accommodations, the Plan proposed a development area between the forest settlements of Bodegones and Cabezudos, and Abalario zone, after restoring them. These settlements had been built by the Forest Heritage – the forest resources department of the Spanish Government in the Franco’s age –, after Doñana was declared Forest Interest County, to accommodate forest workers who were employed in public reforestation. Abalario was the first of those forest settlements. Begun in 1941 and finished at 1951, together with Bodegones and Cabezudos it had 68 workers’ houses with services such as schools, chapels and clinics. When the PDTC was approved, Bodegones was in ruins, and Abalario area was abandoned (since forest guards could live in towns, leaving the settlements), but Cabezudos even kept population. The PDTC also proposed to fit out rural accommodations – cabins or campsites – for rural tourism in Hinojos pinewood. 116
Figure 3.
Forest settlements of Cabezudos and La Mediana.
7 A CONCEPTUAL BREAK: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES REPORT FOR THE AREA SURROUNDING DOÑANA (1992) The PDTC was a correct theoretical approach, but it had a short and weak operative development, partly due to social conflicts between protection and urban and road network growth. These strong conflicts led the Andalusian Government to entrust to an International Experts Commission – coordinated by Manuel Castells, and composed by ten more experts from four different countriesa report about ways to develop Doñana, reconciling nature conservation with social and economic development, in order to put an end to the conflicts. The Sustainable Development Strategies Report for the Area Surrounding Doñana, later assumed by Regional Parlament, was finished in 1992. Its general strategy was to raise the added value of local products by means of increasing their quality, especially of the agricultural and tourist ones. The Report defined Doñana as a natural recreation place for Seville metropolitan area. It declared that Doñana Park was the greatest comparative advantage for the economic development, thanks to, among others, natural and ecological tourism. The Report proposed two general strategies: the location of profitable activities in the towns of the northern periphery of Doñana, and to limit the intensity of profitable activities in the ecosystems of the Park and its surroundings, restricting them to tourism compatible with conservation. According to it, in the Strategy 1 (‘Sustainable and profitable tourist development new model’), in the discussion about ‘Ecological and nature tourism’, two measures were suggested: – Development of a municipalities support network, and – Restoration of the Abalario area deserted settlements (including El Alamillo, which was later out of this group in the POTAD), with an unit maximum of 200 beds, and delimiting their Urban 117
Land (urban planning in Spanish Law classifies land as Urban, Suelo Urbano, Susceptible to Urban Development, Suelo Urbanizable, or Non-susceptible, Suelo No Urbanizable). To reach these objectives, the Report included six programs: 1. Recovery of the forest settlements of Abalario, Bodegones, Cabezudos and La Mediana. 2. Creation of recreational areas, nature observatories, paths . . . especially in the municipalities of the Seville metropolitan area or in those under its direct influence. 3. Redesigning of current campsites. 4. Recovery of peculiar buildings and empty houses for tourist use in Villamanrique, Hinojos and Sanlúcar de Barrameda. 5. Creation of infrastructures to support river tourism in Sanlúcar de Barrameda and Trebujena. 6. Promotion of natural recreation activities, such as horse and bike riding, river walks and green schools. The Report also included other urban-tourist proposals, as the writing of an Inner Improvement Special Plan (PERI) for Matalascañas and a Special Plan for Mazagón (the Inner Improvement Special Plan (PERI) and the Special Plan are two kinds of derived urban plans) – which included special protection for coastal dunes –, the building of the Dune Park – with tourist equipments, but excluding apartments and hotels –, also in Matalascañas, and the protection of whole the coast between Mazagón and Matalascañas. From the International Experts Commission Report, and the V European Union Framework Program about Environment and Sustainable Development on, and as a result of the agreement among the European Commission and the Spanish and Andalusian Governments, the Sustainable Development Plan (PDS, 1993–2000) was approved, with an investment of a378million. This First Doñana PDS was aimed to overcome the infrastructural deficits of the county. It included an Operative Plan cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund, with specific actions financed by the European Social Fund, the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund, and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. Those a378million were contributed by European Funds (75%), the Regional Andalusian Goverment (17%), and the Spanish Goverment (8%). It’s neccessary to sign that the proposals of the Report which had more resistance to be applied were the relative to irrigated farming, the first threat by Park, according to scientific community.
Table 1.
Investment and expected employment of the tourist infrastructure and supply actions proposed by Report (1992–2000).
Tourist infrastructure and supply actions
Investment(1)
Houses Recovery for Tourist Use Plan Forest settlements recovery for tourist use Puerta Doñana Centres (handicraft and catering) Campsite re-designing and re-equip Recreational areas and nature observatories creation, and adaptation of paths Particular buildings recovery for tourist use Plans Equestrian activities promotion Bicycle tourism promotion Green school Nautical activities promotion
228 8.299 224 168 476
28 86 30 0 42
4.513 1.411 24 600 240
110 87 2 49 6
(1) Thousands
of euros equivalent to 1991.
118
Employment
8 THE DEFINITIVE PLAN: AREA OF DOÑANA SPATIAL PLAN (2003) In 1993, the Andalusian Regional Goverment decided to check the Doñana PDTC, to approve the Doñana Spatial Plan (POTAD). Its Writing Commission was constituted in 1996. Some reasons advised to write a new land use plan for Doñana: the conflicts caused by the PDTC, Court criteria about its impossibility to classify land (Sentence of the Andalusian High Court of october 28th, 1992, which declared null and void the Susceptible to Urban Development Land contained in the PDTC), interests to redesign its area – excluding municipalities of the Province of Cádiz, Sanlúcar de Barrameda and Trebujena – and, finally, the Andalusian Government political priority to apply contents of the Sustainable Development Strategies Report for the Area Surrounding Doñana (1993–2000). The POTAD don’t plan the natural protected areas – this is the function of their own Park Resources Plans (PORN)-, and it only plans the rest of its countywide, that is the protected area surroundings. In them, the POTAD establishes restrictions for tourist activity – and, so, to urban growth –, which is limited to Mazagón and to isolated actions for nature tourism. The Area of Doñana Spatial Plan proposes three general objects. Two of them include contents regarding rural tourism: B) ‘‘Territorial structure improvement’ (with the action line 5: ‘Urban planning criteria about residential uses in rural environment’) and C) ‘Land use planning’ (with action lines 2, ‘Criteria of tourist uses location compatible with natural values’, and 3, ‘Adding value to forest, river and coastal land with recreational power for tourists and residents use’). The POTAD suggests the implementation of a new tourism model, characterised by the respect of natural and cultural aspects, the priority of the tourist use over the residential one – against the traditional trend of summer centres such as Mazagón and Matalascañas –, and the development of tourist equipments and services. All of this is expressed in two action lines: – Guidance for the processes in the tourist centres, and – Regulations of natural tourism in rural environment. About the first line, the POTAD follows the proposal of the PDTC concerning rural tourism promotion in the forest settlements (Bodegones, Cabezudos, Abalario and La Mediana), with 900 new beds on the whole, but no more than 300 in each one, and using environmentally adapted buildings. The POTAD also allows 300 beds for nautical and nature tourism in Queipo de Llano and Poblado Escobar, near Guadalquivir River. Regarding natural tourism in the rural environment, the Plan sets three zones, A, B and C (figure 4), with different regulations. Such that, in the A zone –which includes protected areas, Natura 2000 Sites (LIC) and some forest areas- only pre-existing buildings are allowed to be set up as rural accommodation, specially the four forest settlements (but without ‘edificability’ – ratio between built and total available ground – increase). In the B zone, 2.000 new beds are allowed, with maximum load of 300 for each new development, and 5 Km distance among them. Finally, in the C zone, free real estate developments in Urban and Susceptible to Urban Development land are allowed. This laxity is an open door to the second residence explosion, because Doñana municipalities have planned 54.644 new houses for next ten years, with high increases of the number of houses (909% in Aznalcázar) and of inhabitants (179.8% in Rociana del Condado). These data do not concur with the projection of population increase, because from the current 64150 inhabitants, the population in 2015 will be 69442 (+5.292, equivalent to +8.2%) (PLEGADIS & Fundación Doñana 21, 2006, 19–26). The later Mazagón Urban Plan (POM, 2000), for example, planed an Urban Land increase until 869,9 Ha, equivalent to a strip of 11 Km × 800 m, that is 60.000–70.000 inhabitants between july and august, double of the summer population in 2000. This development would include first and second homes, hotels, commercial and recreational services, and two golf courses, with 40 and 55 Ha respectively (Doctor, 2003). All of this would be in the confines of the Natural Park. Unlike Matalascañas, where restrictions to access to National Park hinder that its population fill it, in 119
Figure 4. Tourist use model in POTAD.
Mazagón, the higher road density and free access to Natural Park would do that human pressure on western protected area was untenable. So, as well as Mazagón urban development would be lower, Doñana tourist bet would be based on hotel growth, instead of second homes. It’s not taken advantage of the Matalascañas experiences about negative consequences – environmental and economic – of massive residential supply. Certainly, the definitive POTAD document advanced in this way, decreasing the ratio between residential and hotel beds from 3–1 to 2–1, but residential projects in Andalusian atlantic coast are undertaken inmediatly, whereas hotel projects develop slowly, or they are not developed to requalify, later, from Susceptible to hotel Urban Development Land to residential. About the forest settlements recovery, POTAD does not include the elements which had guaranteed the requested architectural integration into the county tradition. In this section, the only decisions included in the rules are the highness restriction to two floors in La Mediana, Cabezudos, Abalario and Bodegones (article 63.3), and, but only for Poblado Escobar, the uses integration into landscape by means of shape and materials adaptation (article 68.3). This last restriction would have been for all the settlements. Nor the keeping of the characteristics of the settlements and natural protected areas road network, as surface kind, width, etc, are recorded, neither the entailment of settlements tourist activity specifically to knowledge of the Park, for example, by means of little museums or interpretation centres. Finally, the Plan does not include rules about sustainable management of the settlements, as solar energy suppliying, or use of buildings stock, instead of new constructions. In the particular case of Bodegones, and in spite of its potential of tourist use, the Plan could have excluded its recovery, because it is completely in ruins. In fact, it almost has vanished off. Low quality of campings is another trouble of tourist supply of Doñana. The line of POTAD is to increase its capacity from 10.000 to 13.900 beds in Doñana countywide. This is not an appropriate 120
HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS AND DISSEMINATED IN DOÑANA PROTECTED AREA SURROUNDINGS N W
Housing developments and disseminated Urban Road network
E
Municipalities included in POTAD
5
0
Figure 5.
5
10
S 15 km
Doñana and Guadiamar Green Corridor protected areas State-owned forest and woodland
Housing developments and disseminated in Doñana protected area surroundings.
way, because it does not help to the creation of a qualified tourist supply. In fact, the previous rough copy of POTAD proposed its reduction, as starting point of the qualification of camping supply. About town planning troubles in the countywide, as the demand of residences in touch with a natural environment (that is, naturbanization), there is a proliferation of residential developments in Non-susceptible to Urban Development Land in Doñana, near (figure 5) towns, roads, areas with some kind of protection (not only natural protected areas, but also state-owned forestland), and/or woodland. La Puebla del Río is an example of this. As many of those housing developments and disseminated are non-legal, the POTAD proposes the action line B.5: ‘Establish criterions by town planning about residential uses in rural environment’. This is because, although the control of this processes is field of the municipalities, their proliferation and impacts advise an overmunicipal solution. This is, in fact, one of the reasons of subregional planning. The POTAD criterion is to legalize most of those developments and disseminated, after to connect them (article 20.3) to road, electric energy, and water supply and drainage networks. The plan only proposes the natural recovery when the developments affected to natural protected areas or riversides, including (article 20.2) their legal protection strips and flood zone.
9 TOURIST SECTOR’S VIEW: THE PROVINCE OF HUELVA TOURIST DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIC PLAN (2003) The Private sector’s – and also a few councils’ – aims can be seen in the Province of Huelva Tourist Development Strategic Plan (PEDT, 2003), promoted by Huelva Provincial Council, and written with a civic participation which was centred almost completely in tourist companies, without paying attention to private citizens. Evidence of this is its opinion about the PDTC, which is considered in the PEDT the reason of the paralysis of tourist initiatives in Doñana area. 121
The line A of the PEDT strategy is related with rural tourism: the incorporation of the protected natural heritage as a real asset of coastal tourist business. The Plan suggests distinguishing two kinds of protected areas, integral and active, the latter directed to economic profitability, to incorporate nature as an asset for tourist supply, with activities like trekking, bird watching, horse riding, etc. This line could become reality with some actions grouped in ‘Doñana Program’, which proposes: – Use as hotel or tourist services of currently non-used buildings in protected areas (in general, PEDT doesn’t distinguish between National and Natural Park, using the general concept of protected area), – Campsite re-qualification, changing free space to campsites for wood cabins, – Adaptation of Mazagón-Matalascañas and El Rocío-Matalascañas roads as landscaping ways (proposal included in POTAD later), – Creation of paths networks, open to motor traffic, – Small towers for birds watching, and – Two new entries to Asperillo Beach (virgin coastal dune between Mazagón and Matalascañas, included in the Natural Park), with coffee bars in inner parking and on the beach. Now there is only one: Cuesta Maneli. In other parts – it’s really an untidy document – the PEDT also proposes other actions, some of them incompatible with Doñana protection objectives. The green way from Matalascañas northwards, open to 4 × 4 and motorcycles, is a good example.
10 CONCLUSIONS Most of the municipalities are adapting their urban plans to the new (2003) regional Urban Planning Law. They must also adapt them to Andalusian Spatial Plan (2006), which orders that urban growth can’t be larger than 40% of current Urban Land, or 30% of current population. So, 54644 projected houses might not be built. Some of these municipalities could take advantage of POTAD with urban developments in the old forest and agricultural settlements (specifically Almonte, Isla Mayor and Moguer) or in the B zone (Almonte, Aznalcázar and Isla Mayor). This Plan rules Doñana rural tourist growth conditions, developing previous plans’ contents. Regulations are concrete and try to avoid an excessive urban growth in the surroundings of Doñana protected area. Anyway, building is not the only real trouble in Doñana, but people movement in fauna living spaces, especially in lynx living areas. So, 2900 people walking or driving – apart from the 300 beds in Queipo de Llano and Poblado Escobar, urban developments in C zone, and the residents – in Doñana may be too many: if, finally, these growths will be developed, the directorship of the protected area – Natural and National Park have a shared management – would have to consider controlling access to the Natural Park, to protect the fauna and the environment in general. Thus, although these rural tourist growths would be a strong development line for Doñana, building companies don’t want to invest in non-coastal tourist growth: they prefer to sell houses near the sea. Moreover, town councils need immediate urban land developments to collect money from local building taxes, partly because most of them are the largest company, in employment, for their territory, and partly because town halls financing from the Regional Government is low. So, there aren’t now any rural tourism development projects, because coastal urban growths are more attractive for everybody. In fact, only two municipalities, Almonte and Moguer, have planned actions to develop tourist urban growth (Doctor, 2003; PLEGADIS & Fundación Doñana 21, 2006). REFERENCES Act 2/1989 of 18th July, which approved the Inventary of Protected Natural Areas for Andalusia and additional measures for their protection were established.
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Arenas, J.M. 2003. ‘Current situation and proposals for improving functionality in the Guadiamar fluvial corridor’. In Consejería de Medio Ambiente: Protected areas in the Mediterranean basin, p. 135–152. Seville: Junta de Andalucía. Berry, B. 1976. Urbanization and Counterurbanization. New York: Arnold. Campagna, M. 2007. ‘Analysis of naturbanization processes in Sardinia’. International Workshop Naturbanization in the European Union. La Calahorra, Granada, 21st–23rd March 2007. Champion, T. 1989. Counterurbanization. The changing peace and nature of population deconcentration. London: Arnold. Consejería de Medio Ambiente. Junta de Andalucía. 1993. Plan de Desarrollo Sostenible del Parque Natural de Doñana. Seville: Junta de Andalucía Consejería de Medio Ambiente. Junta de Andalucía. 1997. Plan de Ordenación de los Recursos Naturales y Plan Rector de Uso y Gestión del Parque Natural de Doñana. Seville: Junta de Andalucía Cobos, F.J. et al. 2007. Bases del II Plan de Desarrollo Sostenible de Doñana (www.pds.donana.es) Comisión Internacional de Expertos. 1992. Dictamen sobre Estrategias para el Desarrollo Socioeconómico Sostenible del Entorno de Doñana. Seville: Junta de Andalucía Consejería de Obras Públicas y Transportes. Junta de Andalucía. 1986. Plan Especial de Protección del Medio Físico y Catálogo de la Provincia de Huelva. Seville: Junta de Andalucía Consejería de Obras Públicas y Transportes. Junta de Andalucía. 1988. Plan Director Territorial de Coordinación de Doñana y su entorno. Seville: Junta de Andalucía. Consejería de Obras Públicas y Transportes. Junta de Andalucía. 2003. Plan de Ordenación del Territorio. Ámbito de Doñana. Seville: Junta de Andalucía Diputación Provincial de Huelva. 2003. Plan Estratégico de Desarrollo Turístico de la Provincia de Huelva. Huelva: Diputación Provincial de Huelva Doctor, A.M. 1991. Los incendios forestales en la provincia de Córdoba. Córdoba: Junta de Andalucía. Doctor, A.M. 2003. Planificar al principio y al final del ciclo vital en núcleos secundarios litorales. In López Trigal, et al. La ciudad. Nuevos procesos, nuevas respuestas. León: Universidad de León Doctor, A.M. 2005. Territorio e incendios forestales. Sevilla: Junta de Andalucía. Fielding, A.J. 1986. ‘Counterurbanization’. In Paccione, M. Ed.: Population Geography: progress and prospects, p. 224–256. London: Croom Helm. Giró, F., Costa, L., & Salathé, T. 2002. Misión Ramsar de Asesoramiento No 51. Sitio Ramsar Doñana, España. Primera visita 1–4 de octubre 2002 (www.ramsar.org). Gude, P.H. et al. 2006. ‘Rates and drivers of rural residential development in the Greater Yellowstone’. Landscape and Urban Planning 77, 131–151. Hiraldo, F. (Coord.). 2007. Resultados de la investigación en el Espacio Natural de Doñana. Seville: Oficina de Coordinación de la Investigación. Estación Biológica de Doñana. Leone, V. 1997. ‘Gli incendi nel Mezzogiorno italiano’. Curso Presencia histórica de los incendios forestales en los montes. Universidad Internacional de Andalucía, Sede Antonio Machado. Baeza. Pérez Vilariño, J. & Delgado, J.L. 1995. ‘Análisis del riesgo de incendio forestal en Galicia’. Agricultura y Sociedad, 77, 109–123. PLEGADIS & Fundación Doñana 21. 2006. Análisis y diagnóstico de los instrumentos de ordenación urbanística de los 14 municipios del ámbito de Doñana. Almonte: Fundación Doñana 21 Prados, M.J. 2005. ‘Territorial recognition and control of changes in dynamic rural areas: analysis of the naturbanization process in Andalusia’. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, vol. 48, 1, 65–83. Prados, M.J., 2006. ‘Los parques naturales como factor de atracción de la población. Un estudio exploratorio sobre el fenómeno de la naturbanización en Andalucía’. Cuadernos Geográficos 171, 87–110. Tribunal Constitucional. 2004. Disposition 194/2004, of 10th November (www.tribunalconstitucional.es /memorias/2004/memoria04.html)
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Naturbanization: New identities and processes for rural-natural areas – Prados (ed) © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-49000-9
The influence of the localization of tourist facilities on the dysfunction of tourism discussed on the example of southern Tunisia A. Dłu˙zewska Department of Geography and Regional Studies, Warsaw University, Poland
ABSTRACT: Tourism leads to a drastic and mostly irreversible change of the behaviour of indigenous population of the dry areas concerning water usage. Southern Tunisia Oasis: Douz, Tozeur and Nefta are an area where such process takes place. The tourist who reaches the southern part of Tunisia is often the ‘beach’ tourist who took an optional trip, not particularly sensitive as far as cultural diversity and ecological problems are concerned. In this case it is hard to speak of any kind of water economy. Nevertheless, it is important to notice that there is no information in the hotels about the limited amount of water. What is more, water resources are even more drastically wasted by the hotel service. For local population which is used to economical water usage, watching such behaviour is both a ‘cultural shock’ and a sort of ‘discovery’. They learn that water is not a ‘limited’ resource, hence it can be used for other purposes – such as for unlimited irrigation of crops – as well. As a result, the highest water usage (often water waste) is observed in the agricultural sector, not in the tourism sector. Yet it is hard to refute that this kind of imprudent behaviour is an indirect effect of the development of tourism.
1 INTRODUCTION The question of negative impact of tourism, the so called ‘tourism dysfunctions’, is brought to discussion more and more often despite the indisputable profits which arise from tourism growth (e.g. improvement of the balance of payments, monument protection, etc.). The need for sustainable tourism development which takes into consideration the possibility of long-term usage of tourist areas is unquestionable. The philosophy of ‘sustainable tourism’ constantly wins new adherents in scientific circles of various disciplines (Bramwell, Lane 1993, Burns 1999, Butler 1991,1999, Clarke 1997, Cohen 2002, Garrod, Fyall 1998, Getz 1983, Gossling, Hall 2005a, b, 2006, Hunter 1995, 1997, Lew 1989, Lele 1991, Liu 2003, Meadows et al. 1972, Miossec 1977, Mowforth, Mount 1998, Robinson 1996, Saarinen 2006, Sharpley 2000, Wheeller 1993, Wight 1993, Wolfe 1983). Sheffield Hallam University in Great Britain issues an interdisciplinary science quarterly on sustainable tourism exclusively (The Journal of Sustainable Tourism). A section on sustainable tourism was also established within the structures of United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO). Despite the general agreement concerning the necessity of sustainable development, the opinions on the notion of sustainable tourism itself, the elements of tourism understood in this way, the priorities and real growth possibilities are discrepant (Hunter 1997, Lansing & De Vries 2007). When discussing sustainable tourism the questions of tourism capacity and absorbency (Getz 1983, Gossling, Hall 2005a, b, 2006, Robinson 1996, Wolfe 1983), transformations of natural environment caused by braking the limits of tourism capacity (Holden 2003, Huges 2004, Meadows et al. 1972, Mowforth & Mount 1998, Odell 1975), as well as other problems directly or indirectly generated by tourism are raised. Within the scope of geographical sciences, numerous outlines have been prepared illustrating the transformation process caused by tourism in the visited areas (Butler 1980, Mitchell & Murphy 1991, Miossec 1977, Shaw & Williams 1996). 125
The tourism dysfunctions were analyzed according to the character of the area visited by tourists – culture type of the inhabitants, natural conditions – (Burns 1999, Butler 1999, Cater 1993, Mowforth & Munt 1998, Tribe et al. 2000), according to the type of tourists (Aparna 2000, Bendel, Font 2004, Cohen 1984, 2002), and according to the type of tourism (Akama 1996, Aronsson 1994, Bryant & Wilson 1998, Butler 1992, Hardy et al. 2002, Ghimire & Krishna 2001, Godwin 2006, Pigram & Wahab 1997, Wheeller 1993, Wight 1993). The activity of representatives of the receiving community, which may also lead to dysfunctions, is examined too (Butler & Hinch 1996, Cole 2004, Dinn 1993, 1997, Mansfield 1992, Murphy 1998, Robinson & Hall 2000, Selin 1999, Timothy & White 1999, Wall 1993) as well as the linkage between the location of tourist facilities and the dysfunction level (Din 1982, 1993, 1997, Dłu˙zewska 2007a, b, Henderson 2003, Hong 1985, Porier 1994, Poirier & Wright 1993, Russel 2003, Sindiga 1996, 2000, Tosun 1998, 2002). The location of tourist facilities is one of the elements that arouse the largest controversy even within separate scientific disciplines. The opinions on the effects of locating tourist infrastructure facilities in the area or in the vicinity of the settlements of native population can be classified as extreme.
2 AIMS AND METHODS The aim of the work is to answer the following questions: How does tourism influence the behaviours connected with natural environment? Does location of tourist facilities in the vicinity of native population settlements exert a positive or a negative influence on the behaviour of the receiving community? This article is based on field research conducted by the author in Tunisia in 2002. During the research partially categorized questionnaire interviews with natives conducted among the inhabitants of Douz, Tozeur and Nefta oases were applied (43 people altogether). The research concerned various functions and dysfunctions of tourism and could be set in the methodology of cultural anthropology (Hammersley, Atkinson 2000, Jorgensen 1989, Mason 2000, Spradley 1980). The discussion is supplemented by indirect and direct observation which was verified in the time period between 1983 and 2006. The results have qualitative character and relate to the behaviour of people modified under the influence of tourism. The author did not take measurements regarding the actual water consumption. As far as the information on water economy (connected with tourism and particular investments in agriculture) is concerned, the author’s work is grounded on research conducted simultaneously in the same area by another team and on a research conducted in similar environmental conditions (e.g. in Morocco) (Bryant & Drake 1994, Dłu˙zewski 2006, Droulin 1953, Henia 1993).
3 BACKGROUND The contact of the receiving community with tourists often becomes an important innovation carrier (Shaw, Williams 1996). Changes in social behaviour in the areas visited by tourists are an effect of tourism itself: knowledge on politics and geography is broadened, the level of foreign language abilities rises. Nevertheless some changes that follow contacts with tourists can be considered as not quite beneficial for the receiving country. In such situation it seems sensible to raise the question whether tourist areas should not be located, for the sake of the receiving community, in a solid distance from native population settlements, so as not to relinquish the economic profits brought by tourism and at the same minimize the ‘culture shock’ arising from the meeting of both groups. There is no doubt that an excessive tourism development in some areas can lead to the degradation thereof, also in the social aspect. On the basis of the research conducted in the region of the Caribbean Sea, G. Shaw and A.M. Williams developed a concept of ‘self-destruction of tourism development’. The authors point to the fact that, paradoxically, the pro-tourist governmental policy can lead to destruction of 126
tourism qualities and to a decrease in the merits of particular areas. The concept of self-destruction of tourism development (on the example of the Caribbean Islands) demonstrates four main stages of this process: Stage 1 – The Caribbean Islands attract affluent tourists (exclusive leisure). Stage 2 – The growing promotion attracts less affluent tourists who want to mimic the most affluent ones. More hotels are built which has negative impact on the character of the place. Stage 3 – Mass tourism starts to emerge which results in a gradual social decline and environmental degradation. Exclusive tourism disappears (the place is no longer a ‘private paradise’). Stage 4 – As a result of environmental degradation the tourist inflow decreases (this concerns also mass tourists). A depreciation of tourism devices follows. At the same time native inhabitants are not able to return to the former type of economy. Tourism dysfunctions can occur with regard to both environmental changes and modifications of social and cultural behaviour. Among the most often described negative aspects of tourism which lead to socio-cultural dysfunctions the following questions are discussed: exclusion of given groups and regions from profit generated by the tourism sector – a process observed in most of the developing countries, (Liu 2006, Sindiga 1996, 2000, Tosun 2000), separation of tourists from the receiving community (Din 1982, 1993, 1997, Henderson 2003, Sindiga 1996, 2000) or – on the contrary – excessive presence of tourists in the areas inhabited by native population (Dłu˙zewska 2007a, b, Porier 1994, Poirier & Wright 1993, Tosun 1998, 2002), increasing social pathologies (Kibicho 2004, 2005, Middletown 2004, Porier 1994, Sindiga 1996), as well as specific tourist behaviours deviating from the cultural patterns of behaviour accepted in particular countries (Din 1982, 1993, 1997, Dłu˙zewska 2007a, b, Henderson 2003, Hong 1985, Russel 2003, Sindiga 1996). The opinions concerning the role of certain factors in the dysfunction process are quite different from the suggested preventive measures against social and cultural dysfunctions caused by tourism. It has already been mentioned that the location of tourist facilities is the most controversial element. Situating tourist infrastructure facilities in the area or in the vicinity of the settlements of local population meets with divergent opinions. A. Dłu˙zewska (2007b), K. Goymen (2000), R.A. Piorier (1994), R.A. Poirier, S. Wright (1993), C. Tosun (1998, 2002) are of the opinion that a considerable distance between hotels (especially mass facilities) and the areas inhabited by local people is definitely positive for the receiving community because it minimizes the culture shock caused by the tourist conduct. According to R.A. Poirier (1994) the behaviour of mass tourists is by definition controversial (even the norms resulting from tourists own culture are disregarded) so the location of tourist districts in the vicinity of cities is likely to become the germ of future conflicts. The problem becomes even more important when the participants of mass tourism represent different culture and different religion then the one of the receiving community. On the other hand I. Sindiga (1996), J.C. Henderson (2003), R.V. Russel (2003) and K.H. Din (1982, 1993) consider the separation of tourist centres from the districts inhabited by natives as explicitly negative. They criticize all attempts of separating tourists from their hosts (e.g. through architectonic solutions). It is interesting though, that these authors mention culture shock caused by the behaviour of tourists as the most negative result of tourist migrations – similarly to the authors which suggest separation of some types of tourism from the hosting society. They try to find resolution to the problem in the modification of tourist behaviour through education (Din 1982, 1993, Henderson 2003, Russel 2003, Sindiga 1996) or in the introduction of various types of restrictions and bans for tourists. Making casinos unlawful or introducing restrictions in alcohol sales in hotels are only some of the solutions suggested (Din 1993, Henderson 2003, Hong 1985, Russel 2003). C. Tosun’s (2001a, b) opinion differs from the already discussed ones. According to the author, contacts between tourists and natives not employed in the tourist sector should be limited by urban planning solutions (e.g. situating tourist facilities in some distance from the local settlements), yet certainly not through rigorous entry bans, perceived by the hosting community as humiliating. 127
Tosun (2001a) points to the fact that bans are often enforced against binding provisions of law. Not letting people from outside in the ‘hotel beaches’ in Turkey, which is against the inshore law and the state constitution, can serve as an example, (Art. 3621 of 4.04.1990). The ‘spontaneity’ of tourism investments, choosing ad hoc locations for hotels hoping for immediate profit, without taking under consideration long term planning and neglecting the binding provisions of construction law (Alipour 1996, Tosun 2001a) is also regularly stressed (Goymen 2000, Yuksel & Bramwell 1999). It leads to destruction of natural qualities of many regions, to their lower attractiveness and finally to discouragement of tourists, who praise tourist attractions most. This process, observable mostly in developing countries, perfectly illustrates the concept of self-destruction of tourism Williamsa (1996).
4 TOURISM IN TUNISIA Tunisia is recognized as one of the most rapidly developing countries in the world with regard to tourism. According to the data published by World Travel and Tourism Council, in 2005 tourism sector constituted 16.5% of the labour market (501,356 employed). The tourism sector generated 17.7% of GDP. The most important tourist attractions of Tunisia are: Mediterranean Sea coast, Sahara desert, the oases of Sahara, villages and Berber ksars, medinas in Arab cities (Tunis, Sousse, Monastir etc.), perfectly retained Roman and Fenician monuments, picturesque villages (Sidi Bou Said) and Kairouan – the holy city of Islam (Dłu˙zewska 2006a, b, Warszy´nska 2000) (Fig. 1). Tourism in Tunisia started to develop on mass scale in the 80s. Numerous foreign investments from Germany and Spain were allowed at that time (Grissa 1991). Thanks to the development of the tourism sector the unemployment rate sank rapidly and GDP increased (Poirier 1994, Poirier & Wright 1993, Smaoui 1979). The most intensive development and specialization of certain regions in tourism services followed in the end of the 90s. Since 1990 tourism in Tunisia has constantly been growing concerning both the number of visits and the income generated by this sector (Fig. 2). Even at the turn of 2002 and 2003, when many Muslim countries were plagued by recession caused by the attack on World Trade Center, no decrease in tourist visits was noticed here (Table 1, 2). This was possible due to preventive price policy – the prices of tourist packages were significantly reduced in comparison to previous years and therefore tourists reacted with an increased interest, especially those for whom a stay in Tunisia used to be too expensive and who did not fear to visit a Muslim country. These were in practice mostly tourists from the former Soviet block (including former Eastern Germany). Among European tourists visiting Tunisia, the dominant group is made up of the French, German, Italian and British (Fig. 3). One should however keep in mind that in the case of French tourists, an important percentage is made up of tourists of Tunisian nationality holding the French citizenship. A consequence of French Protectorate in Tunisia (untill 1956) and very strong economic cooperation between the two countries, knowledge of the French language in Tunisia is common. France remains then a favourite destination for emigration. An important reason to visit Tunisia, for this group of tourist is to meet their family members. The character of visits of many French tourists is different than that for other nationalities. An important growth of arrivals from other Arabian countries is also observed. The percentage of all tourists from Arabian countries reached 40% in 2004 (Fig. 3). The dominant group is made by citizens of Libya (23%) and Algieria (15,3%), which visit Tunisia for purposes such as: – – – –
shopping of products not available in Lybia and Algeria, services (ex. car service), entertainment (ex. to consume alcohol which is strictly forbidden in Libya), typical relaxing holiday (tourists from Lybia and Algeria more and more often buy holiday packages in Tunisian resorts) (Dłu˙zewska 2006b). 128
Figure 1. The dominating types of tourist attractions in the tourism centres of Tunisia (own study according to the tourist attraction classification) of J. Warszy´nska and A. Jackowski, 1978) 1 – leisure (sea), 2 – natural (sea, mountains etc.), 3 – sightseeing.
During the last years one can also observe an interest in Tunisian holidays from tourists form Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. Many top end hotels have transformed their offers to this category of tourist. The luxurious Hasdurbal Thalassa Resort in Hammamet, possesing the biggest hotel appartment in the world (1600 m2 ), with private swimming pools, gardens – for the comfort and full privacy of the sheiks’ wives, can be an example. As a comparison in the year 2001, the percentage of tourist from Maghreb was on the level of 5.7% only. Tourist from European countries made 73.6% of total that time (Le Tourisme Tunisien en Chiffres 2001). In 1995–2000 the percentage of income from tourism in Tunisia decreased by 7.5% in comparison to other countries in the region. This was caused by the growing popularity of Morocco (UNWTO). Due to the continuously growing real value of tourism participants worldwide Tunisia did not suffer a real income reduction. Thanks to numerous charter flights from almost all European countries, countless accommodation facilities adjusted to large tourist groups and a relatively cheap work force the tourist package prices are very low and Tunisia’s tourist offer is one of the most attractive offers with regard to price-product relation in the world market. 129
700
2000 1800
600
1400
400
1200 1000
300
800
200
600 400
100
1
2
0
200 0
1990
1995
2000
2004
800
7000
750
6500
700
6000
650
5500
600
5000
550
4500
500
4000
450
1
2
400
tys
mln
mln USD
mld USD
1600 500
3500 3000
1990
1995
2000
2004
Figure 2. The development of tourism inTunisia compared to world tourism in 1990–2004 (source: UNWTO), 1 – world, 2 – Tunisia: a – change in income generated by tourism in Tunisia in comparison with the world income from tourism, b – change in the number of visits to Tunisia in comparison to the changes in international tourist migrations in the world.
Table 1.
Tunisia
Income generated by tourism in Tunisia in 1990–2004 (in mln USD).
1990
1995
2000
2002
2004
Percentage in the region 1995
Percentage in the region 2000
Change 2004/ 2003 (in %)
948
1530
1683
1523
1910
17.9
10.4
20.7
Source: UNWTO.
Table 2. Tourist visits in Tunisia in 1990–2004 (in thousands).
Tunisia
1990
1995
2000
2002
2004
Percentage in the region 1995
Percentage in the region 2000
Change 2004/ 2003 (in %)
3204
4120
5058
5064
5998
20.2
18.1
17.3
Source: UNWTO.
130
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Figure 3. Tourist percentage from dominating countries in Tunisia in 2004 (source: ONTT): 1 – France, 2 – Germany, 3 – Italy, 4 – Great Britain, 5 – Czech Republic, 6 – Poland, 7 – Russia, 8 – other European countries, 9 – Libya, 10 – Algieria, 11 – other Maghrebian countries, 12 – other countries.
The dominating type of tourism in Tunisia is leisure tourism of mass character (Grisa 1991, Dłu˙zewska 2007b). Tourists decide to choose stationary stay in one of the leisure centres offered by tourist agencies in packages prepared by one of the largest Tunisian or West European tour operators (Dłu˙zewska 2006d, Poirier 1994, Poirier & Wright 1993). Many tourists treat the stay in Tunisia only as leisure and entertainment; many of them do not even leave the village where the hotel is situated. Most of the tourist facilities are adapted to this kind of expectations. Most of the facilities have over 250 beds and offer half board. Sightseeing tourism is also observable in Tunisia (Table 3). Taking under account the area of the country and different physical and geographical conditions, not all regions of Tunisia have been adapted to tourism. Statistical data collected by the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Handicraft in Tunisia proves that tourism is developing mostly in the following regions: Tunis- Zaghouan, Nabeul – Hammamet, Sousse- Kairouan and Jerba – Zarzis – Gabes. Yet the credibility of the data should be treated with reservation. ‘Tourism’ regions do not coincide with the official administrative division of Tunisia. The applied classification does not refer to the character of tourist attractions, types of landscape (e.g. coast, desert etc.), social groups division (e.g. Arabs and Berbers) or historical traditions (Table 4). More information on the regional location of tourism can be found in documents concerning the number of tourism investments in particular governorates (Table 5). A real, intense tourism development is present especially on Djerba (governorate Medenine) and in the coastal strip of Nabeul, as well as in Hammamet, Sousse and Monastir. These regions became real tourism conglomerates. One can definitely state that this part of coast developed a sort of tourism monoculture. Most of the resorts are situated in the vicinity of large urban centres, therefore an intensified cultural contact between tourists and natives (not employed in the tourist sector) can be observed. Tourism is rapidly developing also in the south of Tunisia: in the desert oasis Douz, Berber Matmata and Chenini Tataouine, in the oases Tozeur and Nefta as well as in numerous ksars. In this case the sightseeing tourism dominates – trips to these regions are offered with optional events in catalogues of tour operators organising longer stationary stays on the coast (Dłu˙zewska 2007b, Poirier, Wright 1993). Due to a considerable distance to main seaside resorts there is a need to book additional accommodation which resulted in a strong development of tourist accommodation facilities (Poirier 1994, Smaoui 1979). At present in many towns in southern Tunisia a specialization of tourism is progressing. Also in southern Tunisia tourist facilities are located in the vicinity of or even in the area inhabited by native population. The contact between tourists and natives (not employed in the tourism sector) is quite intense in southern Tunisia. Due to a more traditional character of this region compared to the cities of 131
Table 3. Tourist visits in Tunisia in tourism regions. Region
2000
2001
2002
Tunis-Zaghouan % Nabeul-Hammamet % Sousse-Kairouan % Yasmine-Hammamet % Monastir-Skanes % Mahdia-Sfax % Jerba-Zarzis-Gabes % Gafsa-Tozeur % Sbeitla-Kasserine % Bizerte-Beja % Tabarka-Ain Draham % Total
214,755 20.8 169,191 16.4 138,120 13.4 43,122 4.2 37,042 3.6 103,891 10.1 137,009 13.3 88,575 8.6 9.707 0.9 21.170 2.1 67.984 6.6 1.030.566 100
211,232 19.7 177,596 16.6 177,596 13.2 61,048 5.7 40,185 3.7 106,024 9.9 133,490 12.5 94,088 8.8 11.012 1.0 22.890 2.1 72.262 6.7 1.071.601 100
205,464 17.3 196,148 16.5 165,810 13.9 99,757 8.4 44,118 3.7 134,365 11.3 147,337 12.4 84,388 7.1 10647 0.9 24.131 2.0 78.553 6.6 1.190.715 100
Change in % −2.7 +10.4 +17.0 +63.9 +9.8 +26.7 +10.4 −10.3 −3.3 +5.4 +8.7 +11.1
Source: ONTT.
northern Tunisia or Djerba, especially at the beginning of tourist visits, the contact resembled rather a form of a ‘clash of cultures’ (Zaied 1992) (Fig. 4). The greatest intensity of contacts between tourists and natives (not employed in the tourist sector) can be observed in trade centres, visited by both tourists and the inhabitants of local villages (e.g. Douz, Tozeur, Nefta). There are no tourism investments in the coastal strip from Mahdia through Sfax and Gabes to Zarzis. The main obstacle is the industrial specialization and pollution (dirty beaches and contaminated water). In the east of the country there are absolutely no tourism investments – close to the Algerian border (due to the potential threat posed by Algerian radicals) and in agricultural regions of middle Tunisia (Dłu˙zewska 2006d, Poirier & Wright 1993).
5 FINDINGS Hotel resorts in Douz, Tozeur and to a smaller extent in Nefta are focused on organized bus trips or group trips in off-road cars. It means that these facilities are adjusted to the tastes and expectations of tourists who book organized holiday. Thus they do not differ in their character from the hotels situated at the coast of Tunisia: they have extensive recreation facilities with external swimming pools and green gardens sprinkled with flowers. Most of the hotel resorts are situated near or even in the area inhabited by natives. The hotels are preferably situated in the vicinity of oases due to their landscape. Therefore it can be assumed that the native population is exposed to what takes place in the hotel resorts. This creates favourable 132
Table 4. The number of hotels in Tunisia in the tourism regions.
Region Tunis-Zaghouan % Nabeul-Hammamet % Sousse-Kairouan % Yasmine-Hammamet % Monastir-Skanes % Mahdia-Sfax % Jerba-Zarzis-Gabes % Gafsa-Tozeur % Sbeitla-Kasserine % Bizerte-Beja % Tabarka-Ain Draham % Razem
2000 Number of facilities
2001 Number of facilities
2002 Number of facilities
108 15 133 18 103 14 26 4 47 6 57 8 140 19 71 11 11 1 14 2 26 3 736 100
109 14 136 18 107 14 26 3 48 6 59 8 144 19 73 11 11 1 14 2 28 4 755 100
110 14 137 18 106 14 31 4 47 6 66 8 147 19 76 10 11 1 14 2 32 4 777 100
Source: ONTT.
conditions for all kinds of functions and dysfunctions of tourism resulting from the contact (Przecławski 1979). It becomes more and more important to find an answer the questions like: who are tourists? What is the attitude of tourists to the resources (cultural and natural) of the visited place? Can the encounter with a different culture become the cause of tourism functions or rather dysfunctions? The research has shown that in case of southern Tunisia the type of tourists can be considered as highly dysfunctional (Dłuzewska 2007a, b). Tourists who reach the southern part of Tunisia are ‘beach’ tourist who took an optional trip. This type of tourists is not particularly sensitive as far as cultural diversity and ecological problems are concerned. Their behaviour causes numerous cultural, social and ecological dysfunctions (Dluzewska 1998, 2007a, b). The tourists who visit Tunisia correspond with the category described by E. Cohen (1984) as ‘mass organized tourists’ and ‘mass individual tourists’, the significant majority belonging to the fist one. Type of tourists translates directly to their level of knowledge on culture (Fig. 5). Tourists often dress too scantily (women sometimes wear bikinis outside the hotel area), drink alcohol and show each other affection in public places. This kind of behaviour is interpreted negatively by the native population and causes aversion to foreign visitors even among those who used to have a positive attitude towards tourism. The behaviour of tourists from the former republics of Soviet Union and from Germany was judged most critically. An absolute lack of scruples in exposing ‘naked body’ was pointed to most frequently in case of both nationalities (Fig. 6). As for German tourists an additional disgust was caused by the age of people who exposed their bodies (Dłu˙zewska 2007a, b). The origin of social and cultural dysfunctions is in most cases the location of tourist facilities, their vicinity to the settlements inhabited by local population. This vicinity encourages tourists to leave the hotel area (sometimes simply out of boredom) usually without changing their outfit or 133
Table 5.
Investments in the tourism sector in particular governorates (in Tunisian dinars).
Governorate
Hotel investments* 2002
Other investments in the tourism sector * 2002
Le Kef Jendouba Bizerte Beja Tunis Ariana Manouba Ben Arous Zaghouan Nabeul-Hammamet Sousse Monastir Mahdia Sfax Gabes Medenine Tataouine Tozeur Kebili Gafsa Siliana Kasserine Total
902 200 11 686 250 3 185 000 852 500 25 381 345 292 500 0 6 462 500 0 68 060 612 58 829 600 25 174 000 14 880 000 5 674 000 1 591 050 76 121 297 0 74 400 690 000 290 500 0 0 300 147 754
0 542 550 253 000 0 3 855 890 1 595 000 0 295 050 0 12 632 400 17 039 000 1 148 000 1 640 000 400 000 40 000 9 353 000 529 500 1 940 150 758 000 924 000 0 210 000 53 155 540
Source: ONTT.
behaviour (e.g. wearing a swimming costume) which usually happened during organized trips. The awareness of participating in a ‘trip’, at least in case of part of the tourists, resulted in a sort of modification of behaviour (e.g. in putting on a shirt). The fact that native inhabitants observe tourist conduct in the hotel area, e.g. sunbathing topless by the pool, also causes dysfunctions, which could be avoided by means of proper development planning solutions. Also, in this case it is hard to speak of any kind of water economy. It is difficult to estimate the exact amount of water used for a day by a tourist visiting Douz, Tozeur or Nefta. The research conducted in other areas of similar conditions point to an amount of approximately 200–300 litres a day (ISDEHS 2006, Dłu˙zewski 2006). Basing on the information received from the hotel managers we can assume that the amount may be similar in the case of the aforementioned oases. The usage concerns drinking water of best quality (water adjusted to irrigation is too polluted to be used for tourism purposes). Concerning 85,000 tourists and an average stay duration of 1 day (24 hours), 17 million litres of water are being used yearly for tourism purposes. The local population was used to economical water usage. In the past, the average water consumption per citizen (drinking water excepted) amounted to around 2 litres per 24 hours, which is around 20 times less than the average amount used by tourists. Yearly consumption of water in Tozeur governorate with its 99,400 inhabitants would amount to 72 mln litres (according to Institut National de la Statistique 2005). In the present situation these calculations are purely theoretical. Nevertheless, it is important to notice that there is no information in the hotels about the limited amount of water available in the respective areas. What’s more, water resources are even more drastically wasted by the hotel service: it is common that water in swimming pools is refilled every day and the lawn is watered too frequently and too generously. Especially the latter activities, which 134
Figure 4.
Level of criticism by locals of tourist behaviour in different tourism locations in Tunisia (source: own study, 2002) 1 – very low, 2 – low, 3 – medium, 4 – high, 5 – very high.
are most clearly visible for outsiders, pose the greatest threat and lead directly to changes in the behaviour of indigenous people of southern Tunisia. For local population watching such activities is both a cultural shock and a sort of discovery. They learn to know that water is not a limited resource, hence it can be used for other purposes – such as for unlimited irrigation of crops – as well (see also Aparna 2004, Butler, Hinch 1996, Doxey 1976). Among 43 interviewees who were asked the question, on what basis they consider that saving water is not necessary, 40 pointed to tourism as a reason. ‘Why are you telling me that water resources are limited!? There is so much water that they fill the swimming pools with it. Why should I not water my garden if tourists can use water as they please?’ (Ahmed, 32 years old). ‘You must be exaggerating. This (saving water) was an old approach. Our grandfathers had no artesian wells, now there is enough water. Just look at these beautiful green gardens in the hotel areas!’ (Mohammed, 25 years old). The lack of restrictions in water usage is especially related to young people who have watched a different water management than the one that was applied in the past. ‘They use water right, left and centre. My grandson has forgotten to turn of the tap and he dares to tell me, that it will all soak in whatsoever. Strange times. We had to save water.’ (Mohammed, 61 years old). 135
1 2 3 4 5
Figure 5. Attitude toward culture of Tunisia, declared by tourist (source: own research 2002): 1 – I transform my behaviour to the culture of locals already in hotel area, 2 – I transform my behaviour to the culture of locals outside the hotel area, 3 – Cultural differences do not exist – Tunisia is a tourist country, 4 – I’m not interested in cultural diversity – I’m on holiday, 5 – Tunisians make money thanks to my stay – it is their business to transform the behaviour to the one I like. 100 90 80 70
%
60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1
2
3
4 a
Figure 6.
5 b
6
7
8
c
Opinion of Tunisians about tourist from different nationalities (source: own research 2002): 1 – Germany; 2 – Russia, 3 – France, 4 – Italy/Spain, 5 – Great Britain, 6 – Libya, 7 – Algieria, 8 – Saudi Arabskia/UAE; a – positive opinion; b – neutral opinion; c – negative opinion.
The natives in Douz, Tozeur and Nefta use water mainly for agricultural purposes, to water oases, to a much greater extent than it was traditionally done. The attitude towards water usage within the household for hygiene and utility purposes has changed in a much smaller extent. Even though bathrooms were built in many houses and e.g. taking a shower is very common, the problem of ‘having forgotten to turn off the tap’doesn’t exist in this case. Similarly to the question of water used by tourists, there is no exact data concerning water usage for agricultural purposes in the discussed region. The measurements taken (e.g. on the basis of readings of meters in separate households) take into account neither the usage of all water flows nor their variable potential. 136
Table 6. The opinions of indigenous inhabitants of Douz, Tozeur and Nefta concerning water usage. Attitude towards water usage
Number of statements
Sample statement
8
Author’s comment
Traditional attitude – economical management of water usage
I don’t like it (to much of water use). Our ancestors proceeded differently.
People of advanced age.
Opposition to tourists
We can’t allow tourists to use water as they please and watch our oases dry out at the same time. It’s our water.
12
Middle-aged and young people
A pseudo-modern attitude
In the past there was no possibility to sink a well so we had to save water. Now there are more modernisations. Water resources are unlimited.
15
Young people
Underestimating attitude Critical attitude
But water is running! Someday we may run out of water. We should not interfere with nature.
5 3
Young people Middle-aged people (with higher education) and people of advanced age.
The temperature of water delivered to oases via pipelines is usually higher which leads to changes in the character of crops on particular plots. The crops which were previously cultivated in tiers are now gradually vanishing. ‘In the shade of palms lemon trees and mandarin trees were growing. In the lower parts we used to plant carrots, tomatoes, potatoes (. . .). When I watered it with the pipeline water everything ‘boiled’. Only palms survived.’ (Mohammed, 61 years old). ‘I had to give up the vegetable garden, the roots did not bear such temperature.’ (Ali, 45 years old). It is theoretically possible to cool the water down (many peasants do that) but such process makes the work more time-consuming. It also often happens that drinking water is used for agricultural purposes, because it has a lower temperature and therefore it is easier to water the plants with it. Due to the changes in cultivation in the oases, these places loose their attractiveness as tourists’ destination. ‘I remember that when I was I child streams ran through the oases and there were ponds where we could swim. Now everything is dry. The water runs through pipes.’ (Mohammed, 61).
6 CONCLUSIONS In almost all studied areas an intensive contact between tourists and natives (not employed in the tourism sector) resulting from the location of tourist facilities or from the presence of tourists participating in sightseeing tours was observed. The conclusion is that natives ‘watch’ tourists very intensely which causes all possible functions and dysfunctions of tourism resulting from the type of encounter. In this situation one can explicitly state that the location of tourist facilities in the vicinity of settlements of indigenous inhabitants in southern Tunisia causes negative effects not only concerning tourism dysfunctions of social and cultural character caused by tourist behaviour (Dłu˙zewska 2007a, b), but also concerning tourism dysfunctions of ecological character. In the south of Tunisia the behaviours connected with water economy changed significantly within the years 1983–2006. Today water is being exploited in a plundering way by tourists as well as by most of the citizens (especially of young age). The development of the tourism sector in the south of Tunisia started simultaneously with investments in artesian wells and pipelines transporting water to irrigate the oases. Therefore it is difficult to estimate explicitly to what extent 137
the behaviours concerning water economy were influenced by the investments and to what extent by tourism. The opinions were split even among the interviewees. In this case tourism has undoubtedly the function of a ‘starting factor’ which initiated a change in the traditional attitude towards water. It is worth emphasizing that the fatal consequences can be provoked not by the tourists’behaviours (an average observer does not have access to the information on the frequency of showers taken by a tourist within one day) but the behaviour of the hotel staff: frequent filling of swimming pools, excessive watering of hotel gardens – which is being observed by indigenous inhabitants. As a result the behaviours of indigenous inhabitants of the dry areas are subject to violent transformation. In consequence of this, a highest water usage (often water waste) is observed in the agricultural sector, not in the tourism sector. Yet it is hard to refute that this kind of imprudent behaviour is an indirect effect of the development of tourism. The lack of restrictions concerning water consumption may undoubtedly lead to ‘self-destruction of tourism’ (Graefe & Vaske 1987, Gursoy & Rutherford 2004). Tunisian government should definitely intervene in these matters. The actions to be taken by the government should include the introduction of water usage restrictions for hoteliers (e.g. ban on building new swimming pools, restrictions in water exchange in the already existing pools, introduction of obligatory information for tourists on water usage restrictions, etc.). In case of a further extension of the tourist area new accommodation facilities should be built in a proper distance from urban centres or, as it is in the case of southern Morocco, they should be given an architectonic shape referring to local architecture without an extensive recreational part. Many ‘good practices’ can be adapted from other countries’ which introduced them and achieved success.
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Naturbanization: New identities and processes for rural-natural areas – Prados (ed) © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-49000-9
The benefits of Nature Reserve Areas in local development: An opportunity to develop a sustainable strategy in peripheral areas M. Pallarès-Blanch Consultant on planning and local development, La Seu d’Urgell, Spain
ABSTRACT: This research proposes that Nature Reserve Areas can act as a driving force to articulate a quality label of landscape, heritage and territory in peripheral areas like the West Catalan Pyrenees. At the same time, through promotion of Nature Reserve Areas, a multiorganizational project of local development can be built. After an exposition of rural-urban dynamics in a global context, the chapter explains how the values of landscape and heritage in mountain areas can be an opportunity to put into practice integrated territorial policies applying transverse methodologies among actors, institutions and the private sector. At the same time, local development projects would prioritise the support of young people and women as one of the sectors most likely to innovate and maintain social and human capital in peripheral areas. Co-operation and collaboration are practices needed to create new economic activities with the participation of local actors.
1 INTRODUCTION The value and resources of the landscape and heritage of the Pyrenees, conserved in Natural Conservation Areas, have not been included in local social-economic development. The necessary policies and transverse working methods have not taken on board the benefits of these natural protected areas on local economic development. In some parts of the Pyrenees like Alt Urgell county the process of naturbanization is only beginning. There is a great opportunity to put the brakes on uncontrolled urban development. At the same time, the potential to exploit the heritage and resources of the Pyrenees still exists. This paper puts forward suggestions for action to be taken. 2 RURAL RESTRUCTURING PATTERNS AND SPATIAL IMPLICATIONS 2.1 From the frontier to the mixture The transformation process taking place in rural areas in Western Europe results in new functions for the territory. The new functions – social, economical and environmental – designated to rural areas can be key factors for new economic activities fulfilling the current needs of these communities. This is particularly the case of peripheral areas. It is a matter of fact that we are all immersed in increasingly urban and global dynamics. In this context, the borders of rural areas become less clear and differences between urban and rural characteristics are diffused. It is almost a reality seen at the beginning of twenty-first century that in rural areas agrarian activity is insufficient even for subsistence. Where the agricultural sector has not been renewed, agriculture becomes a more social than productive function. Rural space is not exclusively agrarian as well as agriculture is no longer an exclusively rural activity. Thus, leisure activities around rural, cultural, scientific and sports tourism become the most dominant alternative for agriculture-oriented areas but uncompetitive in the context of world market (Valdovinos 2000). 143
Since the growth of the service sector and the general decrease in the agricultural sector in western countries, both in terms of employees and number of farms, there is a deep restructuring process taking place in rural areas. In the same way, the urban life style tends to acquire urban diet with higher calorie intake, with greater importance given to animal products and from the food industry (Contreras Hernández 1997 in Valdovinos 2000). So there are homogeneous patterns of consumption, with common trends among western countries, what has been called the agronutritional western model (Malassis 1994 in Valdovinos 2000). This is particularly due to the strategies of big companies in this sector promoting this standard consumption. Therefore, location of agrarian space is concentrated and strongly specialised in very competitive production while traditional agrarian land use will disappear to leave land for other uses, probably for residential, services or equipment uses. The consequences of this land transformation on the landscape is the abandonment of traditional land management activities which imply the loss of rural landscape, ecological biodiversity and the growth of forest use (spontaneous or controlled). In this context, mountainous areas represent the paradigm of tertiary processes in rural areas as is the specific case of the Catalan Pyrenees. On the other hand, in Spain, institutional support for the agricultural model in recent decades is not as strongly focused or organised, when applied to these new multifunctional activities of rural space. Therefore, regional policies in rural areas in Spain took a very sectarian nature and they show significant differences between regions, according to the different regional policies of the autonomous communities. Integrated management of Spanish rural areas is not a widespread approach. Instead, there are attempts to coordinate agriculture, environment, transport, housing, immigration or educational policies, among others, between institutions at different spatial levels. This type of government leads to very important omissions; firstly; the natural factor of rural areas, secondly, rural area characteristics and peculiarities. A harmonious, balanced development has been difficult to achieve without general territorial plans. This compartmented perspective of rural space is the opposite way of considering the specific behaviour of nature systemic resulting from multiple interdependencies, circuits and flows in dynamic connexion. This is in part also due to the increasing ignorance of rural and environmental areas by the urban sector. The relationship city-countryside is unequal in time and space, therefore it is not easy to achieve balanced territory only from these rural restructuring patterns since they are the impact effects of global restructuring rather than the result of a new integrated policy. Most parts of the Spanish territory, 75% according to Pavon’s figures, were managed by agriculture professionals at the end of twentieth century (Pavon 2001). This is an unsustainable situation that will not last much since one of the most important threats affecting many rural areas is the continuity of the family farm system. Thus, the continuity of the local population is not guaranteed and neither is the sustainability of the snow tourism model, as it is not a sun and beach tourist destination, often used as a model. However, recent demographic studies show there is a process of immigration and repopulation of these areas. It is significant that there is not much tradition in research on inner migrations in Spanish demographic literature. At the same time, demographic research on rural areas was focused on depopulation. The population loss in Spanish rural and remote areas, and particularly in rural mountainous areas like the Pyrenees, continued because of emigration and the negative growth in population and the decrease in fecundity (Moren 2006). However, during last two decades there has been a significant change in terms of demographic indicators. In this sense, Guirado’s research on demographic changes in the Catalan Pyrenees mentions other studies where it has been proved that 2/3 of the municipalities of the entire Pyrenees show an increase in population due to immigration, which obviously indicates an important change in tendencies in these mountainous areas (Garcia & Joan 2003 in Guirado 2007). Probably because these changes are quite recent, the counterurbanization concept has been not clearly defined and often it can be mixed with suburbanization, rururbanization and periurbanization definitions (Ferrás 1998 in Moren 2006). This is especially true in southern European 144
countries. Currently, rural population evolution in Spain shows a complex map of contrasting situations, some with fast growth and some still in demographical crisis. Evidence shows that this evolution is the combination resulting from the size of the municipality and from its economic structure and, moreover, its location. In most of the reflections on these phenomena, two different topics can be distinguished which are directly related to new migration dynamics in rural areas. On the one hand, residential use of rural areas, and on the other, the changes in economic activity, strongly linked with the decreasing weight of agrarian activity and the introduction of postproductive rural space (AGE 1996, Majoral & Sánchez 1998, Tort 1998 in Moren 2006). However, too little is known about the impact of domestic migration on economic, labour and social activity in municipalities and in the villages and towns, and neither are there enough developed studies on personal aspects, motivation and interactive factors of this migration. Paniagua is mentioned by Moren as one of the pioneers studying the counterurbanization process linked with the growth of a new social class – new service class – influenced by British literature (Paniagua 2000, 2001, 2002 in Moren 2006). Furthermore, it is not only the case that urban studies have included within their perspective existing rural areas, as the urban transformation cannot only be explained by itself, but it is a fact that rural areas seem to reacquire their own dynamics, building new communities with its own identities. In this sense, naturbanization rises as the new concept that embraces not only the rural-urban dynamics but also the fact that rural areas have a new composition. Therefore, naturbanization is a more specific concept of the rural-urban dynamics and it is also constructed from a non urban bias. Research on the effects of naturbanization represents progress, very useful to explain from a more specific point the transformation process affecting areas with important natural heritage. (Etchélécou 2007). As a word, naturbanization can be considered an oxymoron. Yet the town and country developments flourishing on the edge of protected territories seem to show that the two words are not so contradictory. This is what Lanot’s research explores proving that “town and country planning, relating back to specific social practices and representations and to some extent an idea of nature, are developing around natural areas” (Lanot 2004). In the beginning of the 80s periurbanization was not a discourse which had to do with borders and the split between towns and the countryside but with the rururban fabric. In this sense, naturbanization as well as suburbanization or exurbanization refers to the ‘métissage’ character of the spaces instead of a logic of confrontation. (Jaillet 2004). In Spain, probably because rurbanization dynamics and therefore naturbanization spatial relations are quite recent processes, they still have not been studied in depth. Spain is a country where urbanization process grew very fast during the twentieth century in a very concentrated way. Currently, 96% of Spanish population is concentrated in half of the territory. Thus, there is a very unequal distribution over the territory: between 1900 and 2001 11 of 50 total provinces have lost population in total numbers and only 2 have increased inhabitants. On the other hand, the population density has changed from 37.2 to 80.7 inhabitants/km2 during the period mentioned before. This progressive concentration of population lead to the fact that in 2001 40% of Spanish population lives in 1% of the total territory. This way Madrid and Barcelona provinces concentrate 25% of the total Spanish population and 34,7% with Valencia and Seville provinces. In 1900 the dominant settlement of population was in towns between 1000 and 5000 inhabitants. Since then, the municipalities which have experienced a higher increase are those over 50,000, which have increased from 18 to 119, and from 2600,000 (13% of the total population) to 20,700,000 inhabitants, which represents 50,5% of total population. It is during eighties that big cities stopped their growth; although their metropolitan areas continued increasing, the exodus from the countryside started to decrease because there were not many people living there and also due to the increase in prices of housing and because transport system improved (Goerlich & Mas 2007). As a consequence of this, the process of concentration of urbanization in time and space and the revaluation of the countryside started later in Spain than in West and Northern Europe. At the same time, environmental policies, as well as nature reserves, have only later developed the management of territory role; when they began, in the first part of twentieth century, they only preserved areas. 145
Then, they were generally used by minority groups of travellers or walkers. This is a common trend among southern European countries. The rural restructuring process in Spain is still taking place in the twenty-first century, even though it has many things in common with things described by British geographers. That is, decisions made in the late 1950s and early 1960s, typically based on personal and prior association (and with a very individual character) have been replaced by mass movements attracted to large developments, which are typically unknown to the household prior to the relocation, the move being based on abstract preconceptions of the area. This change has been further emphasized at the extent that it had been possible to undertake urban-style moves in the countryside. In this context, counterurbanization comprises a complex system of individual decisions. Evidence from surveys in Britain demonstrated that it was not one mass movement but a process that would vary between different areas. In any case, what is relevant is the fact that the choice of rural residences close to natural preserved areas is attractive to people, firstly because of the growing environmental awareness, which has replaced the image of the rural as backward with a positive social image, and secondly with growing mobility among all socioeconomic groups, both in terms of travel and in access to private property (Harper 1991). New land uses have brought ‘urban people’ into the countryside, together with new attitudes and values on the rural environment; rural economies are no longer just linked to larger national economies – they now function in the context of an international or global economy; increasingly, those who live in the countryside are interpreted as forming society ‘in rural areas’ rather than as a distinctive ‘rural society’ (Bowler 1992). Three dimensions according to Bowler (Bowler 1992) define the central structure of the rural system and reveal the impacts of the processes of change; which in turn are interrelated. Thereby, changes in land use such as the transference of agricultural land into conservation/environmental protection zones, impacts on the employment structure, the resulting movements of population seeking either new employment or access to ’desirable’ rural environments, all lead to new social structures in the countryside. These processes of transformation act unevenly on rural areas – by person, household, locality, region and country. In this way, the contemporary transition of rural systems serves to perpetuate, even sometimes enhance, variations in the quality of life between people and places. Variations can act in value-sets – individual property rights, intervention by the national or local state, quality of environment etc. – and in institutional structures – planning legislation, land zoning, agricultural policy, environmental law, housing policy and welfare arrangements for the disadvantaged. These all act unevenly on rural economy and society – both within and between different countries. Bowler points up that ‘bottom-up’ community development has received greater emphasis on the problem of uneven social and economic contradictions relative to the previously dominant ‘top-down’ development paradigm. This can divest national governments of that responsibility but at the same time individuals are empowered to develop their societies according to their own value-sets. But it is not until the beginning of the twenty-first century that naturbanization processes take place in Spain in a more noticeable way, especially when the concept is associated with protected natural areas. According to Prados, naturbanization is an original concept which designs the existing relationship in new residential mobility patterns of population and in natural preserved areas; and it also analyses its consequences on the territory and on the landscape (Prados 2006, 2002). Her research is based on the demographic revival in natural parks in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia. The research does not yet include how new residents value living close to Natural Parks; to what extent mobility is a response to new employment opportunities of that area or how important rural multifunctionality is in implemented developed models. Immigration, residential options, choosing natural-rural areas and the capacity of identification with a natural protected area are three very significant factors to consider the compatibility of evaluation between rural development and environmental conservation in dynamic urban areas. In addition, she considers it urgent – in the context of regional development processes – to pay attention to urban planning in rural and natural municipalities in order to avoid the negative effects of residential pressure. The traditional lack of subregional planning programmes is, for her, another threat to consider of vital importance the integration of rural areas in the current models of social and economical policies (Prados 2006). 146
2.2 Naturbanization in the Catalan Pyrenees Catalonia is a peculiar country in terms of population and distribution through its territory. Due to its location in the Mediterranean coast, it is a place of confluence and exchange. In the very beginning of the twenty-first century Catalonia is composed of more than 7 million inhabitants. Various waves of immigration have come to Catalonia. In 1900, the population was about two million and between the 50s and the 70s there were already more than five million inhabitants following the arrival of a large migratory contingent coming from different places in Spain (particularly Andalusia, Murcia and Extremadura). The second migratory wave gained momentum at the beginning of the 90s and with the arrival of the new century, grew stronger. Thus, from 1992 to 2004, the population increased to more than 7 million. Thereby it has developed its economy and society through a model of constant immigration flows throughout the twentieth century (Cabré 2006, 1999). Catalonia, with important natural resources, has developed an early industry which has evolved from a service economy which allows a surplus of goods and services. Therefore, it is the binomial expanse economy-immigration that is the key dimension, structure and dynamic of the Catalan population (Vidal 1998). Catalonia is a microcosm of several natural frameworks and the less favoured are dominant due to its mountainous land (50.5% of Catalan surface has a 20% slope). As a consequence, population has been traditionally concentrated on the coast and pre-littoral. In addition, there is the political and economic success of the coastal city of Barcelona that since medieval age has been the indisputable capital of the country. Currently, 60% of the Catalan population lives in Barcelona metropolitan area; 38% is distributed between the other three capital cities: Girona in the north, Tarragona in the south and Lleida in the west. The least populated area is the region of the Pyrenees, in the northwest. However, the total population density of Catalonia is 224.58 hab./km2 in 2007, one of the highest in Spain and not far from the most populated regions of Europe. So the spatial inequalities are remarkable. Due to this unbalanced distribution of population, Catalan planners had historically been concerned with extended urbanism and the diffuse city (Ribas 1995). Tort assesses that the city is not the multiplicity of the village, neither is the countryside the enlargement of the garden (Abase 1973: 584 in Tort 2006), and as a consequence he proposes a prevention government instead of an execution government. According to his considerations, three signs were indicating the direction of urbanization at the end of the last century: the metropolitan phenomena, the landscape perspective and the rational ecologism of sustainable development (Ribas 1995). Yet, recent data demonstrates that Barcelona city is not losing population (Miralles 2006). However, there is the need to anticipate that a deconcentration process will take place from the metropolitan area of Barcelona, which will bring about competitiveness among the nearest cities. Nevertheless, peripheral areas will continue to be remote places. Therefore, the Pyrenees will not be where naturbanization impacts will have a higher expression in quantitative and population terms. But from the regional development point of view, promoting activities around nature is one of the basic attractions for new employment opportunities and new job sites.
3 REGIONAL POLICIES AND SPATIAL IMPLICATIONS OF PERIPHERAL RURAL AND MOUNTAINOUS AREAS IN WESTERN EUROPE Spatial implications from ongoing socioeconomic process in mountainous areas in the Catalan Pyrenees have partially studied and focused on tourist (Prats 2002), agrarian (Tulla 1984) or land use analysis (Martínez Illa 1988).The local development perspective is seen as a tool to revive areas in regression. Until now, local development methodologies and concepts have been explored more from the planning and management field rather than from the academia. In general, the framing conditions for rural areas in Europe have changed dramatically in the past thirty years. Key symptoms of this ongoing rural change are, amongst others, the decline of 147
farming, demographic change and migration, the withdrawal of services, increasing competition, deregulation and privatization. As a result, regional disparities proliferate between prosperous and structurally weak areas, between innovative and stagnating regions, between centres and peripheries (Brodda 2007). 3.1 Regional policies in peripheral areas Changes have also occurred in policies that are relevant for rural areas. New concepts and strategies of regional policy have been the subject of much debate since the mid-1990s. First formulated at the EU-level in the ‘Cork Declaration’ (1996), the concept of integrated rural development is particularly important. Integrated development stands for an approach based on a consistent use of endogenous potentials, a multi-sector regional and local implementation level, the participation of those affected, the development and use of network structures and partnerships, as well as the implementation of regional animation and capacity building and regional management (Brodda 2007). In view of the far-reaching structural changes, the classic steering instruments of the national authorities have proven to be insufficient. Other levels appear to be more appropriate to address many of the current issues. Responsibilities of the nation State are transferred either ‘upstream’, that is, to higher-level authorities, e.g. the European Union, or ‘downstream’ to regional and local authorities. At the same time, the relationship of public administration, economy and civil society is being reformed, especially at the regional level, which can be summarised under the term of regional governance (Casellas 2007). Brodda’s comparative study among three cases of peripheral regions: Scottish Western Isles, Jämtland Swedish province and Eisenwurzen Austrian trans-border region, reflects the heterogeneous development paths that can be identified in regional policies in general. Thus, in Scotland the most fragile areas have been declared support areas, where the focus is on working in parterships, local capacity building, inclusion and participation. In the Swedish province the importance of the social economy has been re-discovered and high professionalism and level of self-organization of local actors is noticeable. In Austria’s case study, traditional regional policy has been complemented with endogenous strategies – generally bottom-up initiated – and cultural initiatives stand alongside large protected areas and are equally understood as development instruments particularly suited for rural areas. In sum, in all three countries, the role of the nation state within regional policy is shifting from being a distributor of welfare towards and ‘activating State’ (Brodda 2007). Meanwhile the agricultural sector experienced high investments in technology and the modernization of their productive structures in the competitive areas of Catalonia, there was in the Pyrenees the impossibility to apply an intensive livestock model. This impediment and the better jobs provision from urban areas provoked emigration from rural areas and particularly from mountainous areas. As a corollary, modernising agrarian and industrial policies have had no impact in the more marginal rural areas. Those rural and mountainous areas lost population and especially active population until the 60s and 70s from the last century. There was a vicious circle of poverty taking place (fewer population, rural school were shut as well as other social services). The corrective measures at that time were the attraction of big companies, the majority of them linked with energy sector – hydroelectric industry – or linked with some public service. Industries absorbed an important amount of local active population and were, in some areas, the basis of the social and economical fabric. The crisis in those industrial sectors generated an important job loss because of the high dependency upon them. From a political point of view new, paradigms of rural development have arisen linked to the valuation of local resources (natural, human and social capital). In the same way, it is stated that the way to support family farms out of specialization patterns using diversification support is via rural tourism. Decisive factors to highlight in current strategies of rural development are the creation of economic activity of the territory, diversification of production (activities related with agriculture, industry and services) and the establishment of cooperation networks. With the union of agents in territory in mountainous areas, small size business can get over the distance to big urban centres 148
(demand centres). Tertiarization of the economies of the Pyrenees, related to tourism, together with the modernization process of the country in general, lead to an increasing equality in the distribution of the incomes between rural and urban areas. This has been the first time in the history of those territories – generally more marginal – that official data showed the disposable gross famliy income level (RFBD): in 1999 it was 10,560 Euros and in 2002 about 11,700 Euros in Catalonia: 11.460 Euros in High Pyrenees in 1999 and 12,919 in 2002 (www.idescat in French, 2007). Despite that fact, it has to be taken into account that the dramatic economic growth of the last two decades is now faced with three basic threats: the slowdown of building sector, the repercussions that a possible economic crisis would generate on tourist activity and the danger that climate change might produce to high mountain services. In this sense, it is necessary to develop measures to promote these three main ideas: diversification, promoting entrepreneurship and co-operation networks. Some examples could be enterprises linked with livestock consultancy; transformation of agrarian products and their increasing quality (reintroducing wine, for example); business related with health and well-being (home assistance, physiotherapeutic treatments, massages etc.); or recreational activities related to the natural resources and that are complementary to ski stations; agriculture, landscape, water, forest, snow and nature as a whole. 3.2 The business of nature The shift in UK government in 1997 implied more commitment for equal rights and social inclusion, as it happened in Catalonia in 2003 and in Spain in 2004. Environmental boards are now exploring new ways to value nature with equal policies. The acknowledgement of the cultural significance of nature combined with new ways of thinking about sustainability meant that, in turn, the complexity of joining environmental systems with economical and social ones, contributed to developing more sophisticated approaches for environmental management (Burgess 2000). His article shows conclusively that individuals who represent different ways of looking at the world and different interests can meet and discuss the basis of their values. This is, actually, the only possible way to demonstrate natural values: by open debate. It is the only way too to guarantee a relative stability of values distinguished from personal and more subjective preferences (Holland i Rawles 1993 in Burgess et al. 2000). In this context, natural preserved areas come out as the only solution to protect the environment in a rational way. It is not the agro-ecological capacity that people in general and public institutions appreciate, but the services as a leisure space. Then, appreciation from urban people is nowadays one of the scarce supports that the livestock sector can rely upon to survive. Therefore there is a need to establish a territorial tool which is dynamic and capable to attend to urban demand as well as to the necessities of people living in the natural preserved areas; it should also be materialized by a continuous social and political participation, with economic and personal resources. It is recommendable to avoid the loss of local actors responsible for the landscape quality in these spaces (Muñoz 2002). Natura 2000 Network is partly that kind of instrument; in Catalonia, with an Environmental Board which is semi-independent from the Spanish government, little budget has been dedicated to it yet (Mulero 2004). But the most noticeable aspect of Catalan Nature Reserve areas is the lack of connectivity among spaces; instead, the current map of natural spots is formed by isolated islands of high quality nature. Another important obstacle at the moment is the lack of interest from the local population, especially professionals working on local administration (tourist boards, local economic policies, leader groups etc.) that, as yet are not interested in the benefits of natural protected areas for local development. There is also the lack of strategic policies to integrate rural tourism promotion with the conservation of the landscape and the territory (Planas 2003). It is also necessary to find a balance between conservation and economic development. To achieve it, joint local leaders are required to create new types of association and profit from the abundance and diversity of the natural resources. There is the need to create ‘natural’economies able to generate wealth and maintain the social and economic vitality of local people. Besides that, the subjectivity 149
of this balance has to be recognised, when some social conflicts, confrontation or disparity of interests begin to show, then this means there is a poorly integrated sector of local population in the Nature Reserve areas management, and local development policies as a whole. Then, the balance would be creating economic activities compatible with the natural and cultural heritage respecting and conserving, with agricultural activities, industrial activities, raw material transformation, both commercial and recreational, and thus economic viability and social equality. At the recreational level, ecotourism with local specific characteristics, respecting their traditions, resources and values but from a contemporary perspective and at international level (Benito et al. 2003). The existence of a critical mass with enough demand to generate a process of endogenous economic development is essential and unavoidable in order to enhance former factors. This is a key question in remote areas like the Pyrenees where, apart from the usual weaknesses of rural areas, the lack of a critical mass and the weak social fabric are the main factors not allowing endogenous local development. Only more accessible rural spaces which are better integrated with urban areas have adapted to the dominant economic model. The remaining areas face an uncertain future because of the lack of alternatives. Among them, mountainous areas face a difficult situation especially due to the communication limitations and the obstacles for productive, competitive economic activities (Peña 2003). Until now policies applied to mountain areas have had two basic limitations according to Peña: their agrarian bias and also compensatory perspectives of mountain disadvantages. This has probably been the first result from local actors in order to obtain a more sensible statement of mountainous areas. But during the last decade of the twentieth century European agrarian policies changed from endogenous development to sustainable development, that is, from incompatibility to the compatibility of protection and development. Current policies aimed at mountainous areas are sustained on two pillars: the heritage and employment. The possibilities that mountain areas present in order to satisfy urban needs and demands of leisure and new life-styles in preserved natural and cultural environments are undeniable (European Parliament 1998). In this sense, decentralization policies are needed. According to Peña, development of rural mountain areas cannot be placed outside general development, as isolated spaces only relying on local resources. However, the key factor of the stability of rural areas, especially in mountain areas, is accessibility of employment opportunities for young people and particularly young women, since this is the most notorious factor in social destruction. Therefore the most dynamic rural mountain areas are those with less difficulties maintaining local people and these are areas close to diversified employment no further than 30 to 50 km, that is, less than 1 hour away (Peña 2003). As Peña states, the concept of territorial integration implies that rural mountain areas have to be included as part of the whole space, with the same standard of infrastructure, and with similar accessibility to principal work and service centres. 3.3 New functionalities of rural mountain areas In this sense, we must insist on the highlighted threat to rural areas and particularly mountain areas and their diversity, so that certain homogeneous policies can produce disfunctionalities. A deeper knowledge of these areas is required for local people as well as potential consumers. This is fundamental to achieve the satisfaction of the users in the context of postproductive societies and, particularly, in spaces of high environmental quality. So it is vital that these qualities revert economically to local people, avoiding effects which tend to provoke dependency on foreign economies through subsidies. The current heterogeneity of rural areas can be summarised in three types: 1. Rural areas enclosed in metropolitan areas that are not only dominated from an intellectual point of view but also are physically threatened. 2. Rural sectors near urban networks of medium cities with which complex interrelations are maintained. This is the case of central regions of Catalonia and around Lleida plane. 150
3. Mountain areas far away from poles of development. In these areas there are significant handicaps related to services and equipment. At the same time, these areas are those which better preserve their environment, although urban dynamics tend to grow in them (Moltó et al. 2004). These areas had an important attraction during late 70s and early 80s and were called in Spain ‘neorurals’. These new households were not actually very important in quantitative terms but in qualitative terms, developing new economic activities in the craft industry. Instead, rurbanization process has more impact in quantitative terms, but it takes place close to metropolitan areas (Nogué 1988). Therefore, we do not expect the important effects of rurbanization in the mountain areas of Catalan Pyrenees but of naturbanization. However, speculative effects can unsettle current urban structures. The value of the land is reduced and many people think that progress is the most important despite the fact that some environmental effects might be unavoidable. In the third place, after neorurals and rurbanization, there is a population impulse derived from political measures to develop alternative activities to agriculture, such as Leader and Proder, as well as the structural funds and other sectoral programmes like Life, Equal, Interreg etc. These policies contribute to widespread rural-urban relationships, too. This has been the case of regions that have received special attention but is rarely the case in Catalonia and of the Catalan Pyrenees. The Leader project has had little impact in the sense that there were no other regional policies – territorial and transversal – to articulate it, and without a general perspective of the country, the effects tended to be individual. In any case, it is a matter of fact that the main resources of these areas are landscape as well as heritage and ethnographic elements associated to the rural society, and that they are very attractive to essentially urban societies that do not know the rural environment. Opposed to sun and beach tourist products, mountain areas can develop a new relation between countryside and city. But it also has to be considered that at least for the moment, there are some inequalities between local people and foreigners; it is not the same living the whole year than only at weekends. Another important aspect to take into account in mountain areas is the fact that certain initiatives applied by local political measures imply radical changes, and they rely on disjointed, aged means. We therefore have to ask, as professionals of local development strategies, if in these cases the local population is capable of assuming these initiatives or will rely on foreign investors, thus generating external dependency. To avoid this, the limited capability for adaptation of some local people to a new reality has to be considered, at the same time that local population has to be included in political decisions in order to engage them in the decision making process. Rurals and neorurals, locals and foreigners relations have to be helped, bearing in mind that young people and women are the principal agents able to innovate (Pallares-Barbera et al. 2002). The abandonment of agrarian activities and the diminishing of human pressure on the cultural landscapes favours a degradation of the natural resources. It is necessary to preserve them as one of the elements that are more attractive to urban population. In this sense, we must redefine relationships between agriculture and society and develop Plans of Sustainable Development in rural areas, in the way as the Plans de Development Durable in France and Contracte Global in Catalonia, promoted by the current Catalan government (however these are still not promoted enough because of the lack of economic sources). These plans are designed to promote the traditional function of farmers and landscape, answering the need to preserve cultural landscapes from an environmental, landscape, cultural and productive point of view. 3.4 From an economic development approach to a sustainable development approach Economical Local Development can be a response that combines in a creative way the use of local resources, a socially redistributive model of development and the satisfaction of social needs not fulfilled. Concepts like ‘local initiatives of employment’, ‘territorial agreements for employment’, ‘new job sites’ are some of the tools to create employment (Hernando 2007; Ramos 2000a; Ramos 2000b). Barcelona province is in this sense a reference at Catalan level as well as at Spanish level. But this employment policy has not been developed enough out of urban areas. In this sense, the west Catalan Pyrenees suffer excessive distance to these pools of employment support to profit 151
from them. At the same time, the distance does not even allow the demonstration effect since few professionals are able to travel often to the main urban centres of the country. To expose a deep analysis of what employment support policies can provide for the social cohesion of equal opportunities, innovation and development is not the purpose of this research. What becomes essential for us, as professionals of local development in rural and peripheral areas, is to highlight the existence of tools but at the same time the impossibility sometimes to take advantage of them since they are often policies designed for the urban context. This is not to say that those policies are not useful for rural and peripheral areas. To a certain extent, it is understandable that employment policies are created where there is an important amount of labour force, not because of its scarcity but because they represent a higher demand for training and occupational programmes and services. Here we come to the traditionally divided nature of what used to be essentially urban and what was essentially rural before rural-urban dynamics in a postproductive context. To some extent, we assert that concentration was to urban characteristics as dispersion was to rural characteristics. We have demonstrated in this chapter that this traditional polarization is gradually becoming less visible with counterurbanization, rururbanization and naturbanization processes. Nevertheless, in peripheral and remote areas like the west Catalan Pyrenees there is a definitive contrast of what we can consider living conditions compared to urban areas. In simple terms, the weaknesses of social fabric and lack of provided services are the other side of the coin of mountain areas, the corollary of which is the abundance of natural resources, landscape and natural and cultural heritage.
4 SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND GEOGRAPHICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF WEST CATALAN PYRENEES OR HIGH PYRENEES This research is based on clarifying the benefits of natural preserved areas for local and rural development in mountain areas as peripheral areas. At the moment, the project is trying to enlighten the potentialities that natural preserved areas can provide to develop employment opportunities and new business for local development. This debate is still minor in Catalonia. Nature Reserve Areas: the Pyrenees are one of the basic resources that have to be preserved as the main and unique source for a sustainable development. However, the Nature Reserve Areas management have been drawn only with conservational goals. There are several reasons that cannot be highlighted in this chapter, but among those that can be there are three that are important to consider here. In the first place, a conservational approach has been the principle purpose of the Nature Reserve Areas, where academic disciplines are more divided between social and natural sciences than they are now. Secondly, because interorganizational cooperation is the only way to develop integrated policies, this is difficult in local communities not only because of the lack of organizations but also because they are not used to creating co-operative networks. Thirdly, since Nature Reserve Areas have had quite restrictive measures with strong positions of their professionals, the local population tended to see them as limitations and obstacles for economic development rather than to highlight the advantages that they present. At the same time, the local population expects Nature Reserve Areas to give solutions that generally come from other institutional boards with responsibilities closer to the economic development, such as Employment Board, Tourism Board, Agriculture Board, Housing Board and Territorial Planning Board (Pallares-Blanch et al. 2006). This situation is mainly due to the following causes: 1. Lack of good communication programmes which, in turn, is generally due to the low financial support that Nature Reserve Areas receive. 2. Lack of economic agreement among different sectors of society which results in a non-holistic perspective, considering mountain areas as if they had not been integrated in the general development country project. 152
3. The dominance of an economic model related to urban development. Ski resorts have been the basic cause of the economic development of these regions and they have been managed until recently exclusively by private means, although with public financial support and without economic control by local population. 4. The previous point is partly a consequence of the brain drain that these areas undergo, mainly of young people, highly qualified women and entrepreneur class. We are talking about areas that have gone from a marginal situation of subsistence and non competitive agriculture to leisure areas for urban populations. Big economic lobbies have obtained big benefits but with very expensive structures, and now some ski resorts are showing deficit balance. In sum, the model is unsustainable at several levels: generation of remainder, need for high investments with difficulties to recover them, occasional use of facilities by time and space, shortage of qualified and local labour, low wages which are not attractive enough for people with a more urban life-style, among others. As has been explained, west Catalan Pyrenees have traditionally been an emigration area which has attracted the arrival of people sensitive to the environment, generally with a quiet life-style. These immigrants had developed interesting business using the natural resources but they had to face a lack of political support in economic and legal terms as well as in basic public infrastructures. Local oligarchies have not been porous to innovation, usually because of a narrow perspective and fear of the unknown. Little confidence is a usual factor in local decision making. On the other hand, academic research has not been focused on these areas and less still from a social sciences perspective. Jobs related with the fourth sector have not had enough support until recently with infrastructure investments. Finally, the weakness of the social fabric is an important obstacle in the creation of societies to adopt, for example, organic production, defence of local food production, local heritage, etc. The mainstreaming approach and the investment in specific training for young people and women would be the most useful proposal to reverse the situation that has overtaken West Catalan Pyrenees economies. 5 SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND GEOGRAPHICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF L’ALT URGELL 5.1 Physical environment The region of l’Alt Urgell is situated in the Pyrenees. The Pyrenees make up 1/5 of Catalonia. However, only 1% of the population lives here and it is responsible for only 1% of GNP. The main geographical factors are the steep mountains and harsh climate. As a result, this area has socio-economic characteristics which determine its vulnerability and do not favour rapid economic growth. These characteristics are: 1. Traditional agricultural economy. 2. Aging population, directly related to the forsaking of agricultural work and traditional production methods. 3. Lack of infrastructure and equipment. 4. Great distance from urban areas, giving this area a certain provincial, peripheral nature 5.2 Socio-economic environment The fall in number of agricultural businesses, the lack of industrial advances have occurred alongside growth in services without previous experience in the sector. In the area of urban development, concentrated in the valleys, the presence of urban planning has increased along with the construction of housing, both first and second homes. Communications, 153
in particular secondary communications, have improved as well as urban facilities in villages. As far as demographics are concerned, the most notable factor is immigration from other parts of Catalonia, European Community countries and non-European Community countries and from the Principality of Andorra. The percentage of foreign population of the west Catalan Pyrenees area was 14.70% of the total population in Catalonia, therefore over the Catalonia average which is 13.85%. These transformation processes have also affected the area and society in the mountain region both environmentally and culturally. These effects can be seen as a negative impact and as new opportunities for local development. The socio-economic transformation of the region over the last twenty years also provides new job opportunities. At the present time, however, innovative initiatives are few and far between, especially in the field of the environment. As far as tourism is concerned, accommodation is the main service. There are very few businesses providing complementary services for tourists such as tourist guides, horse-riding and adventure sports. At the same time, the local government has invested little in tourist facilities, except for the Parc del Segre (canoe-kayak water park). Thus, it could be said that the fact that l’Alt Urgell is the least touristy and least ski-able area of west Catalan Pyrenees has contributed to its conservation. 5.3 Fragility of social fabric in West Catalan Pyrenees: conflict between social and human capital in the exploitation of protected natural resources for local development The structure of the physical environment determines the structure of the population, establishing patterns of population which follow precisely fluvial systems. For this reason ‘scale economies’ are especially difficult. On the other hand, the region has only four main points of entry, from Andorra, Cerdanya, Pallars and Lleida. There is no railway. The Alt Segre Valley is the most densely populated functional system in West Catalan Pyrenees. The two main towns are la Seu d’Urgell and Puigcerdà. This area is directly influenced by the Principality of Andorra (71,822 inhabitants in 2007), together forming the most populated area in the West Catalan Pyrenees (73,906 inhabitants in 2007), with a total population of 145,728 inhabitants. Despite this volume of population, in the West Catalan Pyrenees the social fabric still holds certain limitations which act as brakes in the acquisition of new ways of thinking about work and valuing resources (Pallares-Blanch 2005, Pallares-Blanch et al. 2006, Comas d’Argemir 1995, 1997, 2002). We could say that, on the other hand, the disadvantage of the area being better conserved than others is the weakness of the social fabric, which can be set out in the following ten points 1. Low demographic density/lack of critical mass. 2. Aging population/lack of entrepreneurial spirit.
Table 1.
General geographical treats of Alt Urgell county. 2007.
Number of municipalities Area Population density Populations density of Catalonia Total population Alt Urgell Total population in the regional capital; la Seu d’Urgell Total population Catalonia Source: www.idescat.cat.
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19 1447.5 km2 14.5 people per km2 224.58 20,936 residents 12,317 (58.90% of county) 7210,508
3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Traditional individualism of the population in mountainous areas/lack of community spirit. Long distances to urban centres/lack of nearby resources. Globalization/threat to local identity. Geographic location as a border region/peripheral location. Traditional hierarchical culture/historical lack of events related to class struggle, absence of minority protests against established power structures. 8. Paucity of capacity and willingness to create workplaces for qualified people/low quality in local authority workers. 9. The above points result in a general conservationism which causes a scarcity of human, social and intellectual capital: not enough to create and innovate in all fields and, particularly, in local development. 10. We believe that a taskforce to amalgamate cultural dissemination, research and evaluation of the surroundings as well as economic and tourist development could alleviate some of the aforementioned negative aspects.
6 CONSERVATION AREAS IN THE ALT URGELL REGION In the European context which prevails in Catalonia there is a great diversity in the landscape and high biodiversity in species and habitats. Environmental protection policies are expressed in a system of conservation areas which currently occupy 30% of the land area. In addition to this figure, we must take into account protected marine areas. The Alt Urgell region has a great variability in its habitats of communal interest, it is the county with the second greatest number of habitats in Catalonia, after Pallars Jussà. This variability is a result of high altitude and the complexity of the existing landscape structures. This high variability has resulted in 33.7% of the land being included in the Natura 2000 Network. All areas included in the Plans Espais d’Interès Natural were also included in the European network, except Serra del Verd, with a tiny surface within the county. On the other hand, the Alt Urgell has some land
PROTECTED NATURAL AREAS IN THE PYREENEES AND NATURE 2000 NTW
Natura 2000 Network N Area Protected Natural Areas/Natural Parks
Figure 1.
Protected natural areas in the Pyrenees and Natura 2000 Network.
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PROTECTED NATURAL AREAS AND NATURAL PARKS IN STUDY AREA Natura 2000 Network Area Protected Natural Areas/Natural Parks
High Pyrenees Natural Park
La Seu d’Urgell city (capital of the county)
Cadí-Moixeró Natural Park
Figure 2.
Protected natural areas and Natural Parks in study area.
in the two nature reserves of l’Alt Pirineu and Aran: Cadí-Moixeró (established in 1983) and West Catalan Pyrenees (established in 2003). Both parks, due to their territorial structure, have their main centre far from the Alt Urgell region. The same factor can be seen in the Caça de Boumort National Reserve, which has two possible access points to the Alt Urgell region. These are not used much and the main access roads are in Pallars (W). The distance between the county capital and the nature reserves explains to some extent the lack of interest in heritage and landscape it has suffered until now.
7 TWENTY YEARS AND TWO MODELS OF NATURE RESERVE AREAS MANAGEMENT The current territorial processes in the Pyrenees area can be summarised in a double dynamic which is reflected in the landscape. On the one hand, this results in migration away from this area and has caused the homogenization of the countryside on a large scale; and thus the progressive disappearance of certain types of characteristic Pyrenees landscape. On the other hand, the intensification of land use for tourist activities concentrates on the countryside and have resulted in urbanization and the replacement of the traditional landscape with a less harmonious one. NRA in the mountain counties can be found in the previously noted areas in regression. NRA are defined as land areas centred in the mountain tops and forested slopes, with populated centres 156
outside their limits. This generalised exclusion of towns by NRA limits the possibilities of developing the area in an integrated manner. When the NRA have management structures, as in the case of conservation areas, beneficial local development has been obstructed by their own legislative framework (territorial limits and the exclusion of valley floors and villages) and by the specific objectives set out when they were established. Thus, the priority in the management of the NRA has been to a large extent adapted to nature conservation. Therefore there are few direct actions in the sphere of socio-economic development in this area. There is evidence of problems in the environment which have substantial repercussions on this natural environment. The following are some of the most significant: 1. Depopulation. 2. Isolation of the natural environment in comparison with inhabited areas, or rather its functional separation in terms of more inhabited areas. 3. Increased risk of fire 4. The cessation of forestry 5. Changes in economic activities, passing from a community predominantly active in the primary sector to one based on the tertiary sector (tertiarization of the Pyrenean economy). 6. Lack of economic means, in particular for the maintenance of infrastructures. In certain Pyrenean regions there is a high proportion of seasonal population, often not connected to the local community and thus foreign of that environment 7. The concentration of people at certain times of the year creates a high demand for services for temporary periods. This demand is difficult to respond to and at the same time creates substantial pressure on the services and the environment (collapse of the road system going to urbanized areas in the mountains, lack of health services, waste generation, high water consumption, risk assessments for emergencies, etc.). All of these problems bring about homogenization of the natural environment and landscape, and above all the loss of the land’s cultural value.
8 NATURE RESERVED AREAS AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT 8.1 Lack of planning of economic, tourist and cultural promotion and management of the Nature Reserved Areas Until now those responsible for the management of the NRA and for the experts in socio-economic and tourism and, above all, cultural promotion have all worked independently, even contradicting each other in their discourses. This is also a social matter, still present in many sections of society. It is still currently possible to witness how the councillors responsible for the environment and agriculture and also tourism can contradict each other. In addition, the farm workers’ unions have a strained relationship with the Department of the Environment and Housing, with its sphere of action and its objectives. This lack of co-ordination between the different administrative departments has produced an environment which lacks debate, far removed from the main centres of specialist services. All in all, this has meant that NRA management, Rural Integrated Development (RID), Local Development (LD) methodologies and the growth of a professional atmosphere dedicated to valuing, fostering and maximising the benefits of the NRA for LD have evolved very slowly. The expectation that the Natural Parks should invigorate their areas of influence have often been excessive. The implementation within the area of a specific management core to administer the natural environment often does not lead to an improvement in infrastructures, rural development, or paradigms of mobility, health and schooling, as these are the responsibility of other departments in the same government. This fact is especially significant when urban responsibilities are considered. Power remains in the hands of the local government and the commission for urbanism of the Department of Territorial Policy and Public Works. 157
The NRA, through the Department of Environment and Housing, solely establishes the land which is not to be developed; not agricultural, industrial or urban land, even though they have been given responsibilities and the corresponding objections. The Department of Environment and Housing intervenes in a very advanced phase of the project, when freezing the project is difficult because of significant investment already made. This practice contrasts with existing practices in other regions where territorial policy is included in environmental policy. This fact brings us to a significant contradiction when taking into account natural or semi-natural matrixes on a landscape scale. 8.2 Co-ordinated work: an opportunity for the Alt Urgell region The urban processes inAlt Urgell have been, until now, concentrated in populated centres, especially in the area immediately surrounding the capital, La Seu d’Urgell. This fact brings us to the conclusion that in this county the natural/semi-natural matrix remains relatively well-preserved. The dynamics on a landscape scale remain relatively stable. Despite this statement, the economic dynamic from the general abandonment of agricultural activity is precipitating the structure of this cultural landscape. One of the landscape elements which is suffering most from the ‘deconstruction/standardization of the landscape’ is cultivated fields. They are located in areas ideal for infrastructures on valley floors or in areas where there are new processes of naturbanization. The loss of landscape is as much in terms of quality as well as quantity. The valley floors are, on the one hand, the most suitable areas for human habitation and the most susceptible to transformation (facilities, industrial estates, car parks etc). On the other hand, the quality of these ‘cultural structures’ created over decades is decreasing due to abandonment, due to changes in cultural practices and due to uniform crop cultivation. This fact necessitates: – Awareness of the importance of maintaining landscape diversity (education and dissemination). – Awareness of the importance of maintaining cultural and natural heritage (education and dissemination). – Creating mechanisms to restore heritage elements (involvement of local population and local institutions). – Creating mechanisms to remove ‘eyesores’ in the landscape (involvement of local population and local institutions). – Implementing co-operation between NRA themselves with the aim of generating synergy (working in networks). – Creating a management structure for the new Nature 2000 Network areas, the county matrix and particularly the points of entry to the NRA. 8.3 Twenty years and 2 models of enpe management We believe that the Alt Pirineu region is experiencing a decisive phase. It would be possible to follow the example of the ‘laissez-faire’ attitude of the Costa Brava (Catalan coast), which is more like a 1960s approach than one from the beginning of the twenty-first century; or we can exploit this opportunity. At this juncture, faced with the obvious effects of global change, a question mark is placed over the model ski stations–second homes. Thus, this would be a good time to promote eco-tourism and sustainable tourism. The main tourist attraction, at least potentially, is the heritage and Pyrenean landscape, particularly as represented in the NRA. The most emblematic in the High Pyrenees is ‘National Park of Aigüestortes’. If this park is the cathedral, the Natural Parks would be the finest churches and then, a series of minor chapels and small churches spread over the region would be the NRA. This is what we have. The work done up to now since the 1980s would have consolidated the classification and identification of these areas. 158
8.4 The European Charter for Sustainable Tourism In this context, we believe is a priority to adopt the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism (ECST) in the NRA in High Pyrenees. The ECST is a new instrument which allows for co-ordinated work among NRA managers, the tourist service industry and travel agencies, with the objective of developing their activities in accordance with the principles of sustainable tourism. The application of the charter involves not only conservation of the NRA, but improvement in the activity of all parties involved. The beginning of the process to put into practice the ECSTS has very positive implications for the NRA and the population of the Pyrenees, by means of its joint vision to foster relations between tourist activity and other sectors, and the objectives present in the land. The adoption of the ECSTS implies identifying, consulting, and involving collaborators, setting strategic objectives, assigning the necessary means, following through a plan of action and evaluating the results. 8.5 Proposal for the creation of a Centre for the Development and Interpretation of Heritage and Pyrenean Landscape We are working on a concrete proposal for an Interpretation Centre which will direct projects as well as group together the majority in terms of socio-economic promotion, tourism, job creation, LD, and exploitation of the NRA. At interpretation centre user level, the following should be available: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Information for those who need help in understanding the environment. Pre-preparation to aid understanding of the visit. Visitors whose needs are satisfied by the interpretation centre. Guided visits.
At wider user level, the activities and contents of the display area, as well as other communication activities, should take into consideration the following concepts: – Breaking away from the idea of a “virgin landscape” as opposed to the excessive conservatism of areas which are rarely much altered – Avoiding the division between the concepts of ‘nature’ and ‘culture’. – Connecting with and educating urban society, foreign to the reality of rural mountain life. – Warning about the consequences of climate change. – Explaining the consequences of global change, especially the danger of acceleration, reducing our capacity and reaction time. – Informing on the importance of fostering a competitive agricultural sector in association with the service sector, stimulating a direct link between production and consumption. In addition to the productive element, the agricultural sector contributes greatly to the maintenance of the landscape. At research level, the centre should basically document the area in all fields of knowledge. 9 CONCLUSIONS This chapter has tried to go further in the identification of NRA and natural resources as capable of providing benefits for local economic development of peripheral areas like West Catalan Pyrenees, considering the case of one specific region – Alt Urgell. The case examined is a good example of how a region with abundant natural and well preserved resources has difficulties taking advantage of them because of the lack of multiorganizational structures and integrated actors, public institutions and private sector. At the same time, the social fabric of these areas presents important limitations, too. Mountain areas with tourist resorts, generally based on ski attraction, have experienced important growth in economic rates and population rates. Although the success of rural tourism has to be recognised together with other recreational activities related to nature. However, 159
IMPACT OF: INTERACTIVE ACTIVITY CENTRE
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH PROJECTS
• CULTURAL PROJECT FOR THE CITY, THE REGION AND THE PYRENEES TO: • To provide culture, art and science to:
• Research and study in order to maintain and improve habitats and landscape conservation in the pyrenees. • Knowledge of natural and cultural heritage (to know is to love) • Encourage visitors and local residents to respect habitats. • Proposals for improvement of habitats • Collaboration with universities
LA SEU D’URGELL INTERACTIVE ACTIVITY CENTRE
SOCIAL COHESION PROJECTS • Permanent relationships which strengthen social fabric • Information’s campaigns • Educational and training workshops for schools, immigrants, the elderly etc.)
Figure 3.
LOCAL CULTURE PROJECTS
• Regional schools, throughout the pyrenees and catalonia. • The general public • Foreign visitors • Networking with other regions with similar characteristics
LOCAL ECONOMIC PROJECTS • New jobs • New local businesses (tourist guides, cultural services etc.) • New tourist products • To attract more visitors • Consolidation of existing tourist attractions
• Local synergy • Cooperation with local business (Cadí, Grifone, among others)
DOCUMENTATION AND CONTENTS CONCERNING NATURAL CULTURAL HERITAGE
RECOGNISED CONSERVED, HABITATS
• Reinforcing local identity • Integration of immigrants • Channels for dialogue and communication for the creations of new initiatives
INTERACTIVE ACTIVITY CENTRE AS A SOURCE OF LOCAL DEVELOPMENT
Impact of interactive activity centre.
forests Life and work in the mountains
art pastures
architecture
crops
beginnings
stones
Ancient forebears
Figure 4.
Life and work in the mountains.
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inner inequalities in the mountain areas do not disappear since the economic and demographic growth has been concentrated in tourist regions. At the same time, in order to create innovative and imaginative projects of local development, training professionals on participation and integrated approach, multiorganizational structures and participation of all actors are needed. These limitations are one and the same obstacles that do not provide employment opportunities for qualified labour, particularly young people and women. Paradoxically, Barcelona Metropolitan Areas is a reference in the Spanish context for its good employment policies. This contradiction is due to technical reasons, apart from political ones, and the specific nature of rural and particularly mountain areas. Apart from the specific geographical characteristics, the specific social characteristics of these areas are not considered enough in employment and regional policies. Further research is needed on specific elements of regional governance and social capital in these areas. Moreover, as a consequence of the marginalization period, the mountain and rural areas have not had a balanced demographic and social structure due to the process of abandonment (Hervieu 1995). The resulting situation is that these areas become trapped in a vicious circle since they do not have the capacity to get over their limitations by themselves, meanwhile local development strategies tend to enhance endogenous progress. In order to shift the situation, our proposal consists of an Interpretation Centre on Landscape and Heritage responsible for the promotion of local resources with research and exhibitions. It should be enclosed in a Local Development Centre focused on the implementation of integrated employment policies in close contact with NRA management. Undoubtedly, certain places must be protected in an extremely rigorous manner, but this is not the case in the Natural Parks of Catalonia. The benefits provided by these areas are undeniable, as they keep natural ecosystems and allow for cultural consolidation of great value. However, other problems, principally related to socio-economic commodities, persist and are to a large extent a consequence of the lack of importance given to them. Often the conservation areas occupy only the areas least affected by human activity and this fact is detrimental to the protection and the value of the landscape. A split exists in the traditional relationship between society and nature because the park favours the rupture between the valley floors, with its strong anthropologic pressure; and the more forested and high mountain zones, with a tendency towards abandonment and strict conservation. The communication between the administrators of the conservation areas and the local population is not sufficiently developed, a fact which accentuates the strong feeling of isolation of the autochthonous people, their negative perception of the conservation areas, and their lack of sensibility in relation to protection of the environment. Certainly the differences in administration and planning between the areas included in the conservation area classification and those which are not so classified, but are situated nearby, are marked too. If the conception of nature does not take into account the human imprint in its definition and landscape, it cannot be considered as a value to be protected for its own sake; then we are condemning most conservation policies to failure, a fact which can be seen in the majority of conservation areas in Catalonia. We must wait to see if our proposal for facilities can be a launch pad from which to promote the benefits of the conservation areas protected by LD in a way which is integrated with the local population, other administrations and other projects at local level. Of course, this is not only about demanding more facilities, when there are currently many that are under-used or not properly used. It is also important to facilitate collaboration between the different local governments and agencies (e.g. economic sectors which could collaborate with the NP), so that the NP can influence the local development. The adoption of the ECST could be the start of a change in the management of the NRA and the businesses favouring collaboration which would benefit the aims of the NRA as well as these businesses and local development of the area. In addition, it would provide the necessary tools to achieve quality tourism which could bring great benefits for the protection of the environment, economic growth and improvement in quality of life. 161
Faced with the ‘weakness’ of local institutions in the field of territorial policy and the lack of co-ordination in initiatives from the various responsible management organs, it is of the utmost importance that space for debate on the future of the territory is created. In the same way, it is necessary to consolidate the minimum technical structures to work for local development in the widest sense. In these territories it is very important to facilitate working in networks and often strategic actions above local council level are needed. Although the NRA, and in particular the conservation areas situated in the West Catalan Pyrenees region, cannot answer the general needs of these areas; they can however facilitate debate and participation of the local population and the agents involved to provide room for discussion of the model of territory development desired, action to be taken, and how these are to be achieved. The case of Vall Ferrera Sustainable Local Development Plan promoted through the Natural Park of High Pyrenees could be an example to follow in other valleys and areas linked to NRA. The current proposal for the conservation areas is to build a network of interpretation centres situated in ‘pre-park’ areas in the main populated centres to welcome visitors, serving as gateways to the NRA. These ‘pre-park’ centres should be seen as not merely information centres for foreign visitors but also as a key facility in the area. The interpretation centres should allow the discovery of the territory in a wide sense, and at the same time concentrate their efforts in creating launch pads to make local development possible, endeavouring to consolidate the minimum technical structures. In this type of context, it is important to facilitate the creation of synergies with other possible facilities of promotional initiatives such as tourist offices, museums or permanent exhibitions open to the public etc. Economic tertiarization, and specifically tourism, has been the alternative to the economy of diversification due to the loss of import of the primary sector in mountain areas. In this sense, the existence of two major models of tourist development in the Pyrenees becomes evident: downhill skiing and nature pursuits. In the areas linked to the NRA it would seem obvious to work as in the aforementioned example, relating nature and cultural pursuits. In order to promote the second model, it is vital to re-value local heritage on behalf of the local population. This revaluation necessitates converting local heritage into an economic resource as well as an element of community invigoration. The tasks of sensitising and encouraging participation of the local population, and conversion of heritage into an economic resource, require direction and consensus among the administrations with territorial commitment. The Alt Urgell territorial matrix is of some value based on its landscape, its diversity of habitats and its particular orographical configuration. The challenge and opportunity which our field of work faces is to predict the negative effects of naturbanization, found in counties which have undergone a powerful process of naturbanization. Finally, the strategy for invigoration should have its foundation in identifying these attributes, assigning them value, identifying the situation and planning strategies of action to maintain these natural and heritage values (create consensus documents such as a ‘Landscape Charter’, implement theTerritorial Plan of High Pyrenees, among others). This strategy should include local associations, private social work foundations and caretaker institutions. REFERENCES AGE. 1996. From traditional countryside to postproductivism: Recent trends in rural geography research in Britain and Spain. Madrid: Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles. Aldomà, I. et al. 2004. La transformació del territori i del paisatge de l’Alt Pirineu. In E. Vicedo (ed.), Medi, territori i històri: 139–164. Lleida: Pagès. Benito Hernández, I. et al. 2003. Guía de criterios para el desarrollo de actividades recreativas en espacios naturales protegidos Los espacios rurales entre hoy y mañana: 225-231. Procc. XI Coloquio de Geografía Rural, Santander, Spain, 2002. Bertrand, C. & Bertrand, G. 2002. Une géographie traversière. L’environnement à travers territoires et temporalités. Paris: Éditions Arguments.
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Naturbanization: New identities and processes for rural-natural areas – Prados (ed) © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-49000-9
Landscape change and urbanization: A case study from Catalan Pyrenees M. Barrachina Department of Geography, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain
ABSTRACT: Increase in urbanization development represents nowadays a trend which is common to many European mountain regions. New residential areas are in most of the cases related to winter tourism attraction and specifically to ski resort locations. Likewise, the existence of nature protection areas is able to influence urban space demand in their surroundings and even to lead to what is known as naturbanization. Together with the intense use of land for urbanization, land abandonment characterizes mountain landscape. As a matter of fact, urban development exerts a great pressure on agrarian activities, which run the risk of becoming marginal or even disappearing. In this paper the case of the Pyrenean valley known as Vall Fosca is addressed. It is used as an example of current dynamics in Pyrenean landscapes: ongoing land abandonment and the implementation of an economic model based largely on tourism, thus bringing about an intensive urbanization process.
1 PYRENEAN LANDSCAPE DYNAMICS AND CONFIGURATION The way Pyrenean landscapes look today is the result of an intense humanisation of space (GarcíaRuiz et al. 1990). Pressure exerted by traditional societies on the environment in order to obtain the most of resources available shaped mountain landscape for thousands of years. Therefore, any conception of wilderness areas and natural landscapes must be left behind, since they ignore the decisive role of ancient ways of land management in landscape configuration. Such traditional systems, mostly based on agriculture, livestock breeding and forestry, entered into crisis with the spread of global capitalism during the 20th century (Mateu et al. 1981). As mountain areas were incorporated into the sphere of capitalism, traditional practises were progressively abandoned. As a result of the implementation of the new economic model, the bond between society and its surrounding environment disappeared. Inputs were not longer generated within the system but externally. Pressure on land diminished sharply, leading to landscape change. The space being formerly dedicated to crop growing reduced and the traditional (and intensive) use of fire for charcoal obtaining or meadow delimitation stopped. Husbandry pressure is nowadays less significant when compared to those pressures occurring one hundred years ago. The easiest way to detect this shift in land management is to observe forest spread. Biomass increases considerably as forests replace former crop fields or meadows (Boada & Peñuelas 2003). Spontaneous forestation entails new substitution groves whose structure is different from those of mature forests. In fact, they are more similar to tree plantations. Weakness is a consequence of the lack of heterogeneity in forest composition: many same aged exemplars and an understory with many species from previous stages that have not yet been eliminated by the vegetation succession process. At a landscape level, the most important consequence is heterogeneity loss (Marull et al. 2006). The mosaic which had characterised traditional landscapes disappears and its multifunctionality is affected, thus involving physical and ecological consequences: agriculture-linked species’ biotope reduces (ICO 2005; CBMS 2006), fire recurrence increases significantly in the 167
low Mediterranean mountain (Vicente-Serrano et al. 2000) and hydrological regulation varies due to higher rain interception by vegetation (Gallart & Llorens 2004). Together with the consequences of abandonment, land use intensification for urbanization has an impact on landscape. The most accessible areas are set aside to residential, recreational, infrastructure, etc, in a way which breaks with traditional landscape’s physiognomy and organization. These areas of better access are also the most suitable for agriculture. However, it is impossible for agriculture to compete with assets generated by urbanization. Throughout this paper, the changes in Vall Fosca’s landscape together with their contextualisation will be addressed. Its recent history, through the 20th century, can illustrate how changes in society are reflected on landscape. It is also used as an example of current trends in mountain areas: the ongoing implementation of an economic model supported on tourism and urbanization which pays low attention to land management. Protected areas play a significant role in the area, since a part of the municipality is under a certain degree of protection. Besides, it will be affected by the coming enlargement of Aigüestortes National Park. Nature protection is to be used as an asset to attract tourism but, on the other hand, it could hinder the development of the local authorities’ economic project. 2 THE AREA OF STUDY: VALL FOSCA 2.1 Physical aspects Vall Fosca is the name given to the Flamisell basin, which belongs nowadays to the municipality of La Torre de Cabdella. It is located farthest north in the Catalan region of Pallars Jussà (province of Lleida), covering an area of 165,47 km2 . Vall Fosca is part of three geomorphologic units, which can be elaborated from north to south as follows: axial Pyrenees, the region delimited by the rivers Noguera Pallaresa and Noguera Ribagorçana and inner Pre-Pyrenees. The valley’s name, which translated from Catalan would mean ‘dark valley’, denotes its uneven topography. It is a closed and narrow valley with a marked difference in height across its 25 km of length, where the lowest points exceed the 900 m and the peaks at the top of the valley almost reach the 3000 m (Peguera, 2982 metres). The head of the valley is a huge lacustrine basin originated from quaternary glaciers. The set of about thirty glacial lakes which can be found there has been utilised for obtaining hydroelectric energy from the beginning of the 20th century. The upper lakes are connected to Lake Gento, which regulates the whole system from 835 metres above Cabdella’s power station. Climate is determined by the Pyrenean range it belongs to: abundant precipitation mostly occurring in autumn and spring and low mean temperatures. Differences in height and in topography mean a large climatic gradient along the valley. Typical conditions for the Pyrenean high mountains, mainly found at higher altitudes at the head of the valley, can be distinguished from those for the Pyrenean low mountain. Sub-Mediterranean characteristics can be also identified southward. Table 1 shows variations in temperatures and precipitation measured at three different meteorological sampling points (Boneta 2003). The vegetation distribution pattern is strongly influenced by both the altitudinal gradient and the substrate conditions. Typical Mediterranean mountain communities as well as alpine species are to be found in Vall Fosca. Likewise, human intervention cannot be neglected as a determining factor in vegetation distribution. The total absence of natural coniferous forests together with deciduous forests’ growing pattern can be seen today as a consequence of traditional land management practices. The valley’s former specialisation in livestock breeding lead to high deforestation rates as forests were turned into meadows. Nowadays, reforested pine trees (Pinus sylvestris and Pinus uncinata) are practically the only conifers which grow in the valley. In the lower land, crop field extension was given priority due to better conditions for land cultivation. A few deciduous trees such as oak were nevertheless maintained and used as additional protein source for cattle. The vegetational landscape is nowadays composed by deciduous forests, basically Quercus humilis and Quercus petraea and small groups of Populus tremula, Corylus avellana and Betula 168
Figure 1.
Location of the study area.
Table 1. Average temperature and precipitation values in Vall Fosca.
Annual mean temperature Mean temperature (coldest month) Mean temperature (warmest month) Annual precipitation
Mont-ros (990 m)
Cabdella (1442 m)
Lake Gento (2140 m)
10.8◦ C 3.0◦ C 19.2◦ C 1030 mm
9.2◦ C 1.8◦ C 17.5◦ C 1263 mm
3.4◦ C −3.6◦ C 12.6◦ C 1308 mm
pendula. Rhododendron ferrugineu or Vaccinium myrtillus could be pointed out as predominant undergrowth or shrub layer species. Perennial tree species, Quercus rotundifolia are found in southern sunny slopes, basically on rocky and poor soils. The main mountain shrub communities consist of Cistus laurifolius and Buxus sempervirens at lower altitude and Calluna vulgaris and Juniperus comunis as altitude increases. Reforested pine forests are found in the altitudinal interval that would correspond to the subalpine division (1600–2300 m). Reforestations were carried out in order to stabilise slopes, since landslides were a significant and recurrent phenomenon, which brought about great emergency situations in Espui and Cabdella. In total, around 950 ha of young pine trees were planted, not 169
only Pinus sylvestris but also Pinys uncinata (at higher altitudes). The reforestations were mostly performed between 1940 and 1970. Meadows predominate in the alpine division (2300–3000 m), spreading from 1800 to 2600 m approximately. Nardus stricta and Festuca eskia are two of the most important alpine herbaceous species. Festuca gautieri is important in the sub-alpine sector. In lower elevations species from Aphyllathion and Xerobromion communities predominate. Most of the grassland at the bottom of the valley is ‘semi-artificial’, which means that can be partly farmed and watered. 2.2 Socioeconomic aspects According to official figures (IDESCAT 2006), the number of inhabitants that live in the municipality is 735. However, the number of those who stay in the valley throughout the year is rarely beyond 400. Population is spread out in 19 different centres: La Pobleta de Bellveí, Espui, La Plana de Mont-ros, la Central de Cabdella, la Torre de Cabdella, Pobellà, Guiró, Mont-ros, Astell, Cabdella, Oveix, Paüls de Flamisell, Molinos, Castell-estaó, Beranui, Antist, Estavill, Aiguabella and Envall (ranging from the most populated to the least ones). Gramenet was the last centre to become depopulated, which occurred at the beginning of 20th century. Until 1970, they belonged to three different municipalities: Mont-ros, La Pobleta de Bellveí and La Torre de Cabdella. The town council is nowadays located in La Torre de Cabdella. Indeed, high emigration rates were one of the main reasons for carrying out a municipal fusion policy in mountain areas. Maximum levels of population in Pyrenean areas were generally reached during the 19th century. Later, they would adopt a decreasing tendency. During the 20th century the population dynamic underwent important changes which would take place in most Pyrenean valleys almost simultaneously. Population in Vall Fosca increased noticeably between 1910 and 1920 due to the construction of the first hydroelectric power station in the Catalan Pyrenees (Figure 2). Although information given by census is not completely reliable, population at the very beginning of the century (1900) was around 1350 inhabitants (Boneta 2003). 1911 proposed an injection in the valley’s economic and social system. Between 1911 and 1914 the construction of the hydroelectric power plant was carried out in Vall Fosca. During this period the number of arriving workers doubled local population. At the same time, a certain number of locals left primary activities and started to work in the power plant construction and later maintenance. For the first time, the tertiary sector was predominant over husbandry, which underwent a reduction in the available labour force. As a result of land expropriation, currency was present in the valley. That turned out to be quite unusual for 2600 2400 2200 2000 1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 1900
1920
1940
Torre de Cabdella
Figure 2.
1960 Mont-ros
1980 Pobleta de Bellveí
2000 Total
Population in Vall Fosca between 1900 and 2006 according to INE (National Institute of Statistics).
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a society in which exchange was the usual form of transaction. Another important consequence of the hydroelectric project was a noticeable improvement in the communications. It took only three years to build the first pavement road that would cross the valley lengthwise. After building operations had ended, only a small part of the coming workers stayed in the valley, which contributed to population increase. In the most populated centres, like La Torre de Cabdella, inhabitants went up to 100% between 1900 and 1930 (Boneta 2003). Later on, like in most of Spanish Pyrenean regions, the primary sector entered into a definitive crisis from the second half of 20th century. Emigration to most populated and industrial areas became widespread and depopulation accelerated. Nowadays population seems to have stabilised. In any case, such a reduced size makes population difficult to describe in terms of stabilisation, especially when taken into account that it is characterised by an inverted population pyramid. In short, population is nowadays highly fragile due to the effects of any destabilising factors.
3 LAND USE CHANGE THROUGH THE 20TH CENTURY: A SHIFT FROM PRIMARY ACTIVITES TO TERTIARY SECTOR 3.1 Issue introduction Along this document, land use change in Vall Fosca throughout the 20th century will be dealt with in two ways. Firstly, by analysing and describing the shift in economical activities and in social organisation which the disappearance of traditional organisation entailed. This process was as a last resort caused by the introduction of the traditional society into the sphere of global capitalism and market system, which generalised around the second half of the 20th century. On the other hand, land use change is lead nowadays by both the ongoing effects of rural crisis and newest trends related to urban development. Secondly, land use change can be addressed by pointing out physical landscape transformations. A quantification of changes in land cover (related to land use) will draw a better picture of how changes in society have at least a physical response on landscape, thus showing the complex interrelation between nature and society. At the same time, this kind of analysis helps in throwing light on the effects that current trends and decisions will have on landscape. 3.2 Mountain traditional system What defines traditional activities at most is their obliged adaptation to climate and topography conditions. Societies resorted to all possible solutions to make the most of the resources available. The valley’s economy was founded on subsistence, exchange often being limited by its physical limits. Also some exchange with the nearest centres in the low lands existed. However, the traditional system cannot be regarded at as a closed economy if we consider how ‘mobile’ the active population was. People responsible for flocks’ seasonal mobility, as well as freight goods carriers or even day labourers developed their activities in distant places in the same year. Due to poor land accessibility, livestock breeding developed more than land cultivation. Topography and poor soil conditions relegated agriculture production to subsistence. Although land situated at the bottom of the valley (the flattest areas) was the most suitable for agriculture, terraces were also to be built in areas of high slope as food demand increased (as a result of a sustained population growth until the end of 19th century). It is important to notice how the altitude gradient could influence land cultivation in Vall Fosca. To give an example, conditions at La Pobleta de Bellvei (806 m) were more favourable for crop growing than those at Cabdella (1422 m). That explains why population centres at higher elevations are far more specialised in livestock breeding than the ones situated at lower altitudes. Forestry was not important at all in Vall Fosca due to the scarcity of wooden resources. Forest space had a minimum delimitation in the valley. In fact, wood availability could pose a real problem at some times. However, environmental restrictions were not the reason for reduced forest space 171
but human activity. This fact shows ancient societies’ capacity to change their environment, to adapt nature to their social structures. Vall Fosca was highly dependent on livestock breeding, which constituted the base of their economy to a greater scale than in other Pyrenean valleys where people lived also on forestry (wood and charcoal production). The vast majority of land was therefore occupied by meadows and grassland. Forests were cut down or burned in order to increase the amount of land available for livestock breeding. Sheep flocks were the most important livestock in the valley. La Torre de Cabdella former municipality (Cabdella, Espui, La Torre de Cabdella, Aiguabella, Astell, Guiró and Oveix until its later enlargement in 1970) owned many hectares of communal lands, which also received livestock from other places outside Vall Fosca. Communal meadows were located in the head of the valley (northwards), in Filià Mountain (northwest) and in Guiró Mountain (west). The communal lands’ total extension was around 7862.8 ha, which nowadays represents 47% of the total municipal area. Both communal land exploitation and seasonal livestock mobility could be considered as the main elements for defining traditional organisation. Livestock fairs were of the greatest importance for the Pyrenean families, since livestock was sold and bought there (which comprised the only economic income for farmers). Moreover, other issues were negotiated at fairs, for example workforce recruitment, communal land taxes or even marriage arrangements. 3.3 Transitional period: hydropower exploitation as a turning point in the valley’s system Hydropower exploitation is considered as the key factor that has introduced Pyrenean regions within the sphere of global capitalism. The first hydroelectric power plant in Spanish Pyrenees was built in Cabdella between 1911 and 1914. Vall Fosca then became the first example of Pyrenees’ incorporation into the capitalist system. According to the model enunciated by Wallerstein (1974), mountain areas were incorporated into the system as peripheral areas: they were able to offer a service for the centre at a low cost but they had no means to participate in any decision made by the centre. The origin of the exploitation of water resources in the Pyrenees must be based in the growing energy requirements that came from industrial sites. It must be taken into account that those sites were completely immersed in the Second Industrial Revolution. Energy obtained in peripheral areas was the most profitable option, once suitable resources and technology had been allocated there. In this way, Vall Fosca started to produce services (first electricity and later leisure) which were required by the system to work efficiently. Furthermore, the cost of generating these services was lower than the price of producing them in the centre (for example if electricity was to be generated by coal combustion in industrial sites). The effects of the new plant allocation were not equal along the valley. Those population centres located in the vicinity of Cabdella were the ones which benefited the most. Population growth was the most evident consequence, followed by the establishment of new communication infrastructure and a life discount in electricity price. Some villages would double their population by the arrival of foreign workforce, a part of whom settled down in the valley and worked in the station after its building was ended. That was the case of la Torre de Cabdella village, which increased from 447 to 952 inhabitants (1900–1930). Tertiary and secondary activities appeared for the first time in the valley once the power plant was built and came into operation (1914). Further hydroelectric projects would expand energy exploitation in Vall Fosca with Molinos (1919) and la Plana de Mont-ros (1940) power plants construction. Regarding the primary sector, it continued to be the first occupation activity in the valley. Nevertheless, some farmers dropped partially or totally their activity to work in the power plant construction or operation. 3.4 Disarticulation of traditional system and integration into market economy It is out of discussion that energy requirement by industrial sites was the first step in the incorporation of Pyrenean areas into market economy. The infrastructure required to transport materials 172
and to perform building operations led to physical aperture of mountain areas to the plain. Relations with the ‘outside’ could then extend and intensify. Soon, mountain agriculture and husbandry suffered the consequences of market logic, which focused on high productivity and profitability. Because of the fact that mountain farming could not match those principles, marginal lands (those of the lowest productivity) were progressively abandoned. Activities which could not be included in the market sphere (because of their low profitability) were given up. In this way, a system that had been self-sufficient for thousands of years could not be supported anymore and became highly dependent on external forces and actors. Although hydroelectricity entailed benefits such as an improvement in communications with the plain, the residents’ access to electricity and, in some cases, currency availability generated from land expropriation, no investments were made in order to modernise cattle farming. The situation remained the same until the sixties. The migratory flow towards industrial areas was the largest then. For the first time, farmers faced the possibility of substituting their activity for a better economical position and quality of life. Migration flows became important, firstly to the regional centres and later on to the industrial sites. Farms that continued with their activity were obliged to grow in order to become competitive enough, although real chances to be able to compete with the intensification in the plains were few. Land availability did not pose a problem for farm enlargement, since many properties had been abandoned. Not only farm typology changed but also farming activity itself. Crop growing was completely dropped and artificial meadows were the only cultivation to be maintained. Sheep flocks reduced dramatically due to the lack of shepherds and because of the introduction of cow herds. Milk cooperatives started to operate in the region. Nevertheless, specialisation in milk cows was not so great in Vall Fosca as in other Pyrenean regions. As a matter of fact, coexistence of milk and meat herds and even some sheep flocks was still usual there. To give an example about the importance of conversion to dairy produce, in some regions like Cerdanya and Alt Urgell, traditional agriculture turned into a capitalist way of production. Its relative success could be summed up as the presence of a dynamic agrarian sector which was perfectly integrated in the region’s economy (Tulla 1993). The general outlook for the Catalan Pyrenean farming in the late eighties was nonetheless a fragile and weakened sector highly dependent on external factors and highly subsidized afterwards. After the Spanish State had joint the EEC/EU, further destabilizing aspects like the agrarian surplus crisis, the key points of the 1992 CAP policy (‘McSharry reform’, consisting on abandonment facilitation, milk quotas establishment, etc) had a high impact on mountain farming. Later problems concerning food security (mad-cow disease) entailed further problems for mountain farms, especially for those the production of which was carried organically. These are some of the factors which lead to a dramatic decrease in the number of mountain farms. In Vall Fosca they reduced from 243 to 27 farms in 45 years (between 1962 and 2007). Livestock number and hectares per farm, however, increased as a general strategy to ensure feasibility. In addition, the importance of funding can not be omitted, especially regarding European funds. At the beginning of the 21st century most of the farms have undergone a shift in their production orientation, which is considered as one of the few options to carry on with livestock breeding. 13 farms have shifted to organic production in Vall Fosca. Since 2001, many farms in the whole Catalan Pyrenean region have made the same decision. In most of the cases, the main motivation has come from the high subsidies that organic conversion receives, coming to a large extent from European funds for agro-environmental measures (which were first applied in Catalonia in 1998). At the same time that primary activities were losing relevance, the tertiary sector became the primary occupation source in the Pyrenean valleys. Growing tourism demand coming from industrial centres involved a progressive implementation of tourist facilities and establishments. The first and most dramatic changes took places in regions like Vall d’Aran and gradually spread out to the rest of the Catalan Pyrenees. Vall Fosca has been one of the latter examples to meet tourism and urbanization development on a big scale. This point will be developed later on in this document. 173
3.5 Landscape change analysis Many traces of the transformations in the leading social and economic model are visible on the landscape. Thus, it becomes a perfect source of information to illustrate how dramatic those changes were. Traditional mountain landscape was characterised by multi-functionality. Socioeconomic and cultural values must be added to ecological functions. As land was progressively abandoned, pressure ceased and growing conditions for vegetation changed. In order to determine the impact of socioeconomic transition on landscape, land cover change (in relation to land use) will be analysed. The study of landscape dynamics together with socioeconomic contextualisation underlines the bond between society and environment. Moreover, the knowledge of landscape dynamics can be used to predict the consequences and impacts of current decisions on territory. With the help of aerial photography, major landscape transformations can be determined for the last fifty years. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) offer the tools for performing this kind of analysis. Specifically, Miramon GIS software has been used in all the operations that will be briefly commented next. The main objective is to define a group of land use categories that can be photointerpreted according to land cover criteria and taking contextualisation into account. This operation is done from two distant moments in time. Information resulting from photo-interpretation is then overlaid and, in this way, changes in landscape are detected. Time intervals are chosen according to available sources of information. The present situation is analysed by means of the latter cartography available, which is the 2003 orthophotograph. A highly valuable source of graphic information is found in aerial pictures taken in the fifties (1956/57 for the Pyrenees) by the North American army (the so-called ‘American flight’). Numerous research projects have already used them in the identification of landscape changes. Working with GIS requires graphical information to be referenced according to a geographical coordinate system. Aerial pictures must be first processed accordingly. For doing so, the set of pictures that are required to cover the study area (26 in the case of Vall Fosca) are geo-referenced and geometrically corrected with the aid of a terrain model (digital elevation model) and a group of ground control points, which transfer three dimensional coordinates onto the pictures. Aerial pictures are in this way turned into ortophotographs. Then, photo-interpretation and digitalisation can be performed for 1956/57 and 2003 and the obtained information overlaid and analysed. Table 2 shows the recorded hectares of every land use/cover category identified for the years 1956/57 and 2003, together with the change in their extension.
Table 2.
Output data from landscape change analysis (1956/57–2003) expressed in ha. 1956/57 (ha)
Deep forest Open forest Plantations Plantations (open) Scrub Grasslands and pastures Agricultural Abandoned agric.: Grasslands Abandoned agric.: Scrub Abandoned agric.: Forest Non-productive Inland waters Built-up areas Major roads Total
2003 (ha)
789.41 378.61 0 0 2693.23 4817.15 2157.58 307.1 885.78 167.29 4049.7 249.14 16.3 15.41
2446.17 249.56 865.38 84.16 2708.14 3481.47 1032.64 200.14 1109.44 136.25 3905.63 268.8 19.11 19.83
16,526.72
16,526.72
174
(ha) 1656.76 −129.05 865.38 84.16 14.91 −335.68 1124.94 −106.96 223.66 −31.04 −144.07 19.66 2.81 4.42
Figure 3 shows the differences in land use/land cover distribution corresponding to 1956/57 (on the left) and 2003 (on the right). Changes in land cover dominance and distribution are easily perceived. It has to be taken into account that such shift has an effect on landscape structure and thus, on landscape function. The most important changes detected during the period of research can be summarised as the loss of land set aside for agriculture together with reduction of meadows and pastures. The most spectacular increase in land cover share is undergone by forest cover (from 8.08% to 22.88%). Scrub and forest keep on extending onto abandoned land following vegetal succession. Spontaneous forestation consists mainly of deciduous trees and holm oaks, since pine trees were almost totally eradicated in order to delimitate pastures. An important contribution to forest expansion is found in pine plantation as can be noticed in Figure 4. The most important contribution to forest category came from the ‘deep forest’ category both in 1956/57 and in 2003. Pine tree plantations (Pinus silvestris and Pinus uncinata) appeared as a new sub-category in the land use/cover map of 2003. Pine plantations were carried out between 1940 and 1970 in order to stabilise slopes, since landslides were a significant and recurrent phenomenon in the valley. Nowadays they are an important element of the valley’s landscape. No management plan has been carried out for two main reasons. Firstly, use of wood for heating disappeared due to the high discounts in energy prices which hydropower exploitation entailed. And secondly, commercial exploitation of wood has never been found profitable. It must be noticed that analyses in land cover changes at a landscape level could continue further on and go deeper into the ecological implications of landscape change. However, it would certainly go beyond the scope of the present study. What seems to be clear is that any intervention on environment led by socioeconomic forces will have a certain response on the landscape. The point is to determine what the consequences of
Built-up areas; 0,1 Inland waters; 1,51
Major roads; 0,09
Non-productive; 24,5
Inland waters; 1,63
Forest; 8,08
Forest; 22,88
Nonproductive; 23,63
Scrub; 21,66
Agricultural; 6,24
Agricultural; 13,05
Scrub; 23,10 Grassland and pastures; 22,28
Grassland and pastures; 31,01
1956/57
Figure 3.
Built-up areas; Major roads; 0,12 0,12
2003
Changes in land use/cover distribution for 1956/57 and 2003.
Abandoned fields; 3,60
Abandoned fields; 12,53 Plantations; 22,88
Open forest; 28,35
Deep forest; 59,1
Open forest; 6,60 2003
1956/57
Figure 4.
Deep forest; 64,69
Contribution to land use category ‘forest’ in 1956/57 and 2003.
175
the arising development models will be. It could be stated that Pyrenean regions find themselves in a new transition period nowadays. The future of farming is uncertain since it depends on the confluence of so many actors which operate beyond the system itself. Like in many Pyrenean regions, tertiary development based on mass tourism and urbanization consolidation has been considered as the most feasible and realistic choice to maintain a minimum of population in the territory. Nevertheless, these new activities failed to manage the territory, which is one of the contradictions that will be discussed later on. It will be argued as well how the availability of building space for residential use together with the presence of areas of high environmental and landscape quality (National and Natural Parks) could motivate the development of naturbanization processes.
4 A NEW MODEL: TOURISM AS THE BASIC PILLAR Vall Fosca is near to becoming a new example of monoculture in the Pyrenees. Local authorities attempt to prevent further depopulation by seeking new opportunities in tourist activities and urbanization. Little attention is paid to diversification, in spite of the fact that primary occupation is still relatively important and could ensure continuity, at least in the short term. According to official census, 15.8% of the active population works in the primary sector (IDESCAT 2006). 60% of the official population holds a job in services (tertiary sector), 15.5% in industry (mainly working in the hydroelectric power plant’s maintenance) and 8.2% in construction. (IDESCAT 2006). At the end of 2003 the town council announced a project which would lead the valley’s future development: the construction of a tourism complex – Vallfosca Mountain Resort – along with the establishment of new skiing facilities located in Filià Mountain. The new built up area would be located in Espui, a small population centre within the limits of La Torre de Capdella municipality. Espui would then concentrate 7400 additional beds, given out between hotel places (65%) and second residence (35%). Espui’s current number of winter residents rarely exceeds thirty. Along with the residential area, other equipment and services (catering and commercial, sport facilities, conference room, well-being centre, etc) would be placed in Espui. One of the authorities’ main concerns was to avoid dependence on the temporal nature of skiing. Therefore, a 9-hole golf course (expandable up to 18) was also planned next to the building complex. Skiing facilities would cover 3400 hectares in two phases and would have capacity for 3500 skiers. In the second phase, facilities would be extended and thus, linked up with the existing Boí-Taüll winter resort (in the Boí valley, which is found westwards). A cable car would be installed in Espui in order to provide access to the facilities. Simultaneous building of both the residential area and the ski equipment was set as a requirement by the town council to start residential building operations. The reason is found in low incomes coming from skiing exploitation at such altitude (around 2000 m). Once a real-estate group has managed to sell out its building project, the skiing resort fell to be of low priority for them since it actually supposes a loss-making activity. The aim of local authorities was then to ensure that ski resort project would necessarily be carried out. Public announce of the project by local authorities provoked controversy. From the beginning, the Vallfosca Mountain Resort project was supported by a part of the local residents, the town council of La Torre de Cabdella, the county council and the head of the Department of Trade, Consumption and Tourism. Supporters would argue that it was the best economic alternative possible for a highly depopulated territory where most of the stock-breeding related activities had already disappeared. With respect of the groups against, the Vall Fosca Activa platform was set up by a local initiative. The platform was backed by different environmental groups, like DEPANA, IPCENA, Mountain Wilderness, Rururbans-Pallars or Salvem Pedra, as well as by excursionist groups. They adopted a sceptical attitude towards the project’s success in generating local resources and dealing with depopulation. For them, the result would be an unbalanced situation motivated by an excessive growth of urban centres – Espui would multiply its population by 100%, there would be a reduction of agrarian land, an increase in land prices, and a spreading of empty second residences, etc. The 176
speculative character of the whole operation has been denounced by these groups insistently. The skiing resort is doubted to be built, being only used to justify the large-scale urbanization. Nevertheless, the Catalan government gave the green light to the project. The golf course was finished in 2005, while apartment construction goes on. Some interventions have started in the future skiing area as well. Building operations were first performed by Vallfosca Interllacs, whose assets were late in 2005 purchased by the real-estate group FADESA. The bigger capital which this later enterprise owns would accelerate the project’s attainment. FADESA has released that the ski resort will be ready for the 2007–2008 season. Protests against the project arose not only because of its monoculture and speculative character. It was found incompatible with nature conservation interests. The ski resort is located within the limits of the Filià’s PEIN, that is, a Catalan nature protection concept. For that reason, environmental associations appealed the project approval by the Catalan Department for Environment. The appeal was nevertheless rejected in 2005 by the Catalan High Court. Vallfosca Mountain Resort project could be described as a new example of land appropriation mechanisms. According to them, land is considered like merchandise and every action pursues speculative profit. Throughout the process, the following steps and actors could be therefore identified: – Land owners, usually farmers who prefer to sell their lands and not to use them for agrarian activities anymore. The difference in land price for tourism or urban use is much superior if compared with agrarian use. As a consequence of rapid capital gain coming from property sector, land is perceived as the only source of income. – The town council is strongly interested in all the economic operation and is aimed to guarantee that both the building and sport operation will be completed. Promoters are asked then to create a banking endorsement which would correspond to the cost of the ski resort construction plus the discount rate. – Land buyers are also promoters and can make use of a large capital for investment. Such kinds of promotion combine urbanization supply with open-air activities like ski resorts or golf courses, together with hotel resorts, commercial areas, etc. – The workforce destined for building operations consists (increasingly) of foreign immigrants. They are paid lower salaries, independently of the risks that this profession entails. – Land sellers are again the same promoters. As a result, a vertical integration takes place in the whole activity. This would explain, in the Vall Fosca concrete example, that three buying and selling operations have already taken place among different promoters. Initial promoters aim to obtain, as fast as possible, a benefit coming from the differential profit’s materialisation. – Apartment buyers are usually private owners who will combine an investment which preserves property worth with expectations of future differential profit. At the same, time they enjoy open-air activities. – The ski resort requires large dimensions together with snow availability in order to be profitable. Moreover, it can not be anyone but the promoter itself who stands in charge of the ski exploitation. The ski resort can be considered the project’s reason for being but it is not profitable by itself. It needs the profit generated from the building operation. – Employees in tourist activities and in the ski resort require specific knowledge and preparation. In the vast majority they come from places which have nothing to do with the project development. The final outcome of this confluence of actors and circumstances is an economic enclave separated from the valley’s indigent economy (not only agrarian activities but also services and tourism activities). It is also responsible for excessive consumption of space and for landscape alteration. It could even be said that all the operation’s benefits move outside the location where everything takes place. The vast majority of the elements that have been just mentioned can be recognised in many Pyrenean areas. They are also beginning to take shape in Vall Fosca or have even occurred already. 177
5 NATURE PROTECTION AREAS IN VALL FOSCA: A SOURCE OF OPPORTUNITIES AND CONFLICTS The proximity to nature protection areas can play a major role in generating a demand for urbanization projects. Although the main strategy used in Vall Fosca until now has focused basically on winter sports promotions, the appealing character of a ‘natural’ space can not be denied. Nature protection areas are recognised (and usually idealised) spaces which offer quality landscape, quality products and leisure activities and, of course, enclosed ‘wild nature’. In fact, naturbanization processes take place since a nature protection area is able to attract a number of people who would be willing to settle down in its vicinity. Catalan Pyrenees and pre-Pyrenees count on many protection figures defined by the Catalan legislation from 1985 (law 12/1985 of Natural Spaces). To give an example, the only Catalan National Park (Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici, from now on PNAESM) and the biggest Natural Park in Catalonia (Alt Pirineu, PNAP) are both located in western Catalan Pyrenees (Figure 5). Every protected area in Catalonia must be incorporated into the PEIN (‘Pla d’Espais d’Interès Natural’/‘Plan of Areas of Natural Interest’). PEIN was passed in 1992 (Order in council 328/1992). It includes currently 144 spaces across the Catalan region, granting them a basic level of protection. Concerning Vall Fosca, 27.7% of the municipality is currently under some kind of nature protection figure (Figure 5). This percentage could be increased in the short term, since an enlargement of Aigüestortes National Park towards the valley is foreseen. The first protected area in Vall Fosca is Filià’s EIN (‘Espai d’Interès Natural/Area of Natural Interest’), an area of 5.67 km2 that will be directly affected by the ski resort project. The second one belongs to the National Park of Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici (PNAESM). 40.14 km2 of the park’s peripheral protection area are within the municipal limit. In addition, 59.02 km2 are part of the Catalan’s habitats proposal to be included in the Natura 2000 network. All these areas count upon different levels of protection and thus restrictions vary considerably. The most restrictive category is that of National Park. It is forbidden to carry on any kind of activity which would spoil landscape or natural resources. Only traditional ways of resource exploitation, like extensive cattle breeding, are allowed in exceptional situations, being limited to specific areas. Filià, on the other hand, is also part of the PEIN but its degree of protection at that moment is much more permissive. Thus, activities such as skiing could be allowed only if the environmental impact has been determined and approved by regional authorities. Finally, spaces belonging to the European network Natura 2000 are not necessary under a restrictive status. In fact, it is not clear yet what level of protection these areas would have, once Natura 2000 had passed into force. In July 2006 the Catalan government announced the National Park (PNAESM) coming enlargement. According to the government’s proposal, the protection area would become 94% more extensive (by adding 13,000 ha to the 13,901 existing ones). Likewise, the protected peripheral area would increase by 56% and would be granted with a higher level of protection, becoming a Natural Park. La Torre de Cabdella is among the 15 municipalities affected by the park’s enlargement. In case the proposal was carried out, a 50.3% of the municipality would become protected (12.57% as National Park and 37.73% as Natural Park). Although being part of the National Park is an effective appeal to attract visitors (PNAESM is the most visited park in Catalonia andVall Fosca could become the third entrance to reach the park), the town council adopted a critical attitude towards the project. The reason is simple, Filià’s ski resort would be a spot within the new peripheral protection limits. Therefore, future enlargement prospects to the Boí-Taüll ski resort would be put at risk. La Torre de Cabdella town council has asked the Catalan government for guarantees that the enlargement and joining of both resorts will be finally carried out. That point was agreed upon just the previous June in the ‘Mountain winter resort director plan’. The councillor of the Environment undertook to study the best option to meet the town council’s demands. In their intention to interfere with the resort project, NGO IPCENA and Vall Fosca Activa platform reported the exclusion of Filià from Natura 2000 network to the European Commission. One of the reasons they argued was the habitat value of Filià Lake which, in fact, was 178
10
0
50 km N
Municipal division National Park National park’s protection area (buffer) Natural Park Areas included in PEIN Natura 2000 proposal
1000 0
Figure 5.
5000 m
Nature protection areas in Vall Fosca and north-west of Catalonia.
a low-represented Pyrenean habitat in the Catalan proposal for that time (2005). Filià Lake value is also recognised in the PNAESM enlargement project as a reason for higher protection. However, the lake would be excluded from the PNAESM proposal for being within the space designated to the ski resort. The final Catalan proposal for Natura 2000 was completed in 2006. Filià was excluded again.
6 CONCLUSIONS It is not easy to predict the consequences that current decisions will mean for the valley’s future. Likewise, it is also hard to find the formula for keeping mountain areas a suitable place to live in. In any case, moving towards monoculture does not seem the solution, since it makes territory dependant from such an unstable activity as tourism. 179
It is not clear yet that a real naturbanization process is taking place in Vall Fosca. Although some of its mechanisms and principles do in fact exist, as the potential attraction of population coming from nature protection areas, it is uncertain that first residence would be fixed in Vall Fosca. Actually, current urbanization in Vall Fosca would rather correspond to a great spread of second residence. This phenomenon counts already on several precedents in the Catalan Pyrenes. Previous experiences show some examples of negative consequences: excessive growth of urban centres that must be provided with basic infrastructure, increase in land prices, total marginalisation of agriculture, spreading of second residence with a low occupation index (in some cases less than fifteen days per year), etc. The fixation and stabilisation of population in the territory seems difficult then. The urbanization project in Vall Fosca seems to take this into account and reserves a 65% to hotel places. A hotel place generates more work places and increases tourist expenses. Besides, they are less soil-consuming than second residence. In any case, such a growth (7400 beds) in a small centre of less than 80 census inhabitants seems excessive. Furthermore, new uncertainties arise, like those related to climate change. Increase in temperatures and winter shortening could compromise seriously winter tourist demand. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report draws quite unfavourable scenarios, with a temperature increase between 0.8 and 1.9◦ C for 2020 in the Pyrenees. According to a report referring to climate change consequences in Catalonia (CADS 2003), skiing could only be viable over 2000 m and assisted by artificial snow. Therefore, diversification becomes indispensable, agriculture and stockbreeding can not be left aside. Besides, it must be taken into account that these activities generate the basic resource which tourism demands: landscape. In that sense, the National Park’s coming enlargement towards Vall Fosca should be seen as an opportunity for stockbreeding rather than a threat for the municipality’s economic interests. The new protection category that would be founded – Natural Park – has a great potential for creating consolidated synergies with stockbreeding. To give an example, cattle farming could thus count on a strong and well known identification that would make its products more important (in the sense of quality identification). Furthermore, one of the main premises which motivates conservation in a Natural Park is the promotion of traditional activities. In short, new strategies must be formulated to make the most of the territory’s potentialities in a rational way.
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Institut d’Estadística de Catalunya. 2006. Estadística bàsica territorial. La Torre de Cabdella. In http://www.idescat.net/territ/BasicTerr?TC=9 Mateu, X. et al. 1981. La penetració del capitalisme a les comarques de l’Alt Pirineu. In Documents d’Anàlisi Geogràfica 1: 9–67. Marull, J. et al. 2006. Anàlisis estructural y funcional de la transformación del paisaje agrario en el Vallès durante los últimos 150 años (1853–2004): relaciones con el uso sostenible del territorio. In Areas. Revista internacional de ciencias sociales 25: 105–126. Tulla, A.F. 1993. Procés de transformació agrària en árees de muntanya. Les explotacions de producció lletera com a motor de canvi a les comarques de la Cerdanya, el Capcir, l’Alt Urgell i el principat d’Andorra. Tesi doctoral. Departament de Geografia. Barcelona: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Vicente Serrano, S. et al. 2000. Influencia de la ganadería en la evolución del riesgo de incendio en función de la vegetación en un área de montaña: el ejemplo del Valle de Borau (Pirineo Aragonés). In Geographicalia 38: 33–57. Violant i Simorra, R. 2001. La vida Pastoral al Pallars. Tremp: Biblioteca Ramon Violant i Simorra. Garsineu Edicions. Proposta d’ampliació del Parc Nacional d’Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici. Departament de Medi Ambient i Habitatge. In http://mediambient.gencat.net/cat/el_medi/parcs_de_catalunya/aiguestortes/ propo_ampliacio.jsp Wallerstein, I. 1974. The Modern World System Capitalist. New York: Academic Press.
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Part III: Natural effects in naturbanization processes
Naturbanization: New identities and processes for rural-natural areas – Prados (ed) © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-49000-9
Protection of beach and dune systems of the western coast of Huelva – Developments in the planning and future prospect M.A. Barral Area of Physical Geography, Department of History II, University of Huelva, Spain
ABSTRACT: The western coast of Huelva has enjoyed a great environmental interest derived from the presence of tidal marshes in a considerable state of conservation. The great dynamism characteristic of these ecosystems, along with the symbolic nature of the fauna that they gather, has helped concentrate efforts to environmentally protect them. However, tidal marshes have formed due to the sheltering of beaches and dunes that often give rise to spit bars or barrier islands. Overall, they make up a complex ecosystem that has evolved as a whole until human activities have begun to disrupt them. Undertaking a review of the plans and regulations with environmental implications that have been adopted in recent decades in this littoral, particularly those affecting beaches and dunes, explains why there has been a growing interest in the protection of wetlands over coastal sandy areas. Furthermore, the analysis of these plans allows evaluation of future opportunities for the conservation of endangered beach and dune systems of the west coast of Huelva as a consequence of progressive urban and tourist developments.
1 INTRODUCTION In recent decades there has been great progress on the theoretical approach for addressing the protection of the natural environment. On the one hand, the classical belief of the immutable natural equilibrium which considered that isolation favoured conservation (McIntosh 1985) is discarded. Now what is relevant is the need for interconnection between ecosystems, promoting the creation of ecological networks in which the protected natural areas are surrounded by buffer zones and are connected by ecological corridors (Castro 2002). On the other hand, scientific knowledge on the functioning of natural systems in order to carry out an adequate management that promotes their conservation is considered to be necessary. Finally, moving away from the original idea of preserving the natural environment without human influence, it is relevant to consider the important biodiversity and the great adaptation capacity of some ecosystems which have been managed by man for a long time and adapted to their activities (Makhzoumi y Pungetti 1999). From the traditional listings of Protected Natural Areas (PNA) it is worth considering the need for establishing ecological networks of PNAs. Such ecological networks should sustain not only the ecosystems best preserved, but also those that gather examples of the diversity of natural environments present on the planet; these should have a large enough size to ensure the genetic survival, or otherwise be interconnected by ecological corridors to supplement their small size. This new approach inspires, among other initiatives, the planning schemes of the Habitats Directive of the European Union (CEE 1992), whose application have led to the configuration of the Natura 2000 Network. The aim of the protectionist interest of this Network is the conservation of a repertoire of all the habitats and species present within the territory of the EU; within each of these, a significant sample must be protected. The spaces designated for the implementation of this Directive are known as Sites of Community Interest (SCIs), whose selection depends on each Member State of the European Union. A large part of the habitats present in each state are 185
represented by their PNA, included in all the SCI listings. Only the examples of habitats that are not represented in the PNA are added. These do not have to be declared PNA, but they must ensure the conservation of the natural values that led them to be considered as SCI. A similar aspect frames the development of a new strategy in the Governing Region of Andalusia, called Network of Natural Protected Areas of Andalusia (hereafter referred to as RENPA). This strategy emphasises the need to know the functioning of ecosystems, responding to their varying levels of human interference and the interrelationships which are established amongst them in order to achieve an integrated and systematic management of the territory that prevents their destruction, either inside or outside those especially protected areas (Castro 2002). The implementation of this management proposal is considered in the Andalusian Territorial Regulation Plan (henceforth referred to as POTA), in which strategies for the territorial articulation, economic integration and sustainability of the socioeconomic development are approached, taking into account the ecological basis of the territory (Junta de Andalucía 2006). The application of these novel theoretical approaches to the territory of Andalusia clash with a previous situation decades ago where natural spaces were defined for their protection under the old demanding parameters. Outside of them a large territory is left with natural values – often very important – that should be managed carefully to avoid their complete destruction. The approval of the POTA can help prevent such spaces from being freely available to the decisions of urban management plans, which are carried out at a municipal level. This situation is usually worrying, especially in the coastal areas, where the territory is not explicitly protected and is considered by municipalities as a place for immediate or future expansion of the cities and tourist centres, which represent for them a major source of wealth. This work proposes as an objective the progress in the diagnosis of the degree of protection that the present beach and dune systems of the western coast of Huelva have (Fig. 1). To achieve this objective it is necessary to analyse, in the first place, the characteristics that distinguish them within the littoral in general, either in their own field of study or else highlighting the interest caused by similar means in other areas of the Gulf of Cadiz. Secondly, a review is done on the impact that the different plans – either for protection or management – have had on these systems, which have affected them in recent decades. The POTA is highlighted by its recent approval – and especially its sub-regional version of the western coast of the Province of Huelva. These plans allow the development of conclusions on the possible evolution of beach and dune systems, either towards a greater protection or towards a gradual destruction.
Figure 1.
Location of the area under study in the south west of Spain, between the river mouths of Guadiana and Odiel.
186
2 SANDY COASTAL AREAS – THE CASE OF THE WESTERN COAST OF THE PROVINCE OF HUELVA Today the coast of Huelva follows a repeated outline in a large area of the Gulf of Cadiz, including the furtherst east area of the Portuguese coast. This outline is the result of a Quaternary palaeographic evolution due to sea-level changes, of which the most relevant result is the development of terraces and tidal marshes in the river mouth. The general characteristics that define this littoral focus on a neogenic substrate rich in sand, which in the coast forms cliffs and in the interior contain a set of river systems that cross from norht to south, opening up wide tidal marshes prior to the mouth of the estuary. The picture is completed with the various morpho-sedimentary formations of sandy nature – which are a subject of the present study – whose origin, like that of the marshes, can be associated to the Flandrian transgression that took place in Huelva at 6500 cal yr BP (Zazo et al. 1994). During this transgression, the sea rose over the lowest fluvial terraces and formed wide coves in the river mouths, and water level reached around +1/+1.5 m with regard to the current level. The formation of beaches on the continent or not too far from it, constituting barrier islands or spit bars, will be determined by the irregular fall of the sea level until reaching the current levels (Lario et al. 1995, Lario 1996, Zazo et al. 1996, Goy et al. 1998, Borja et al. 1999, Dabrio et al. 2000), together with the great availability of sand in a scarcely slanted continental platform. In addition to those sands there are also those coming through the rivers and the weathering out of the cliffs, transported by an important west long shore drift. The presence of the general beach-dune-wetland outline which defines the physiography of this littoral, together with its evolution, allows featuring the presence of a complex system within which beach and dune systems can be characterized due to their sandy nature and their most direct connection with the proximity to the coastline (Barral 1998). Whereas in the littoral of Huelva there are hardly any genetic or morphologic variations in the formations of beaches, the littoral dunes have been genetically classified into three basic types (Borja 1997): coastal dunes, dune fields and ‘littoral Aeolian sheets’. In the western area of such littorals, it is the first of these categories that is best represented, with some dune fields present (Barral 1998). On the eastern side, by contrast, coastal dunes are scarce, while the littoral Aeolian sheets of El Abalario and the dune fields of Doñana cover a large area (Borja & Díaz del Olmo 1996, Montes et al. 1998). The coastal dunes constitute a ridge of mixed sands – of wind and hydraulic origin – of rectilinear to slightly wavy tendency and of variable dimensions, which are arranged in parallel to the coastline, shaping the continental shelf closure of the beach. In this littoral stretch one can also differentiate inherited or residual situations which allow distinguishing the so-called paleocoastal dunes – among the coastal dunes – corresponding to today’s dunes that evolve independently to the coastline morphodynamics (Barral & Borja 1999). Typically, between two paleocoastal dunes a part of the beach is retained which separates them by way of a flat and elongated sandy surface. The paleocoastal dunes also present various degrees of evolution depending on the final balance between the processes of wind deflation and protection exerted by the vegetation in each case. This last circumstance is usually represented in the progressive degradation of the dune crests. Dune fields are spaces constituted by one or several littoral dunes whose origin is exclusively wind-driven, and are formed by the winds coming from the sea. Studies on the geomorphology of the littoral dunes of the western area of Huelva province are scarce, being either on its full extension (Barral 1998), or only on some of its sections (Borgniet 1994, Barral & Borja 1997, 1999, Barral et al. 2004). This sandy substrate, loose, stirred by the wind, which does not retain humidity, harbours ecosystems well adapted to these and other circumstances, such as the dune modelling, salinity and the intensity of the breeze close to the sea. These parameters are the ones which determine a vegetation and wildlife distribution following a gradual change from the shoreline towards inland. The vegetation present in the western coast of the Province of Huelva shows the differences between the current beaches and stabilized dunes, whose particularities further underline the interest 187
of these natural environments (Bejarano 1994, 1997, Bejarano et al. 1997). In active beaches, the factors that impede the normal development of the vegetation are very diverse, such as the substrate instability with scarce decomposition or high evapotranspiration favoured by the constant winds and salt water splashes from the sea. The result is a scarce herbaceous cover with reduced flower diversity but with species adapted to this unfavourable environment. Among those species the most notable are Euphorbia paralias, Silene nicaeensis and Ammophila arenaria although Eryngium maritimum, Salsola kali, Elymus farctus and Sporobolus pungens are also present. With respect to the dunes, the greater stable conditions allow the overlap of tree and herbaceous strata canopies, prominent in this littoral stretch due to the presence of a reforestation forest for fixing the dunes consisting of Pinus pinea along with Cistus salvifolius. Next to these species, other species such as Corema album, Rosmarinus officinalis and Halimium halimifolium also develop. In some areas, especially in the Punta Umbría spit, it is important to distinguish the presence of Juniperus phoenicea subsp. turbinate and Juniperus oxicedrus subsp. macrocarpa, that make up the potential vegetation of these dune formations. The distribution of beaches and of the various categories of dunes present in the coast of Huelva – between the openings of Guadiana and Odiel rivers – is reflected in a geomorphological sketch drawn up from the photo-interpretation of stereoscopic pairs in 1994, at a scale 1:20,000, with the support of the inspection at the field site (Barral 1998, Barral & Borja 1999). The mapping includes the limits occupied by the group of littoral sandy bodies, distinguishing the dune typology established beforehand, as well as the surface occupied by different anthropic activities. Among these activities, we can highlight urban use (cities, tourist centres) and other uses of less impact for the modelling of dunes such as recreational centres and agricultural activities (Fig. 2). The total length of beaches and dunes that make up the area of study for the date analyzed is of 30.65 km2 , in which the coastal dunes, current or inherited, constitute the basic element providing fundamental information with respect to changes in coastline position and direction. The current coastal dunes have an extension of 1.63 km2 , while the paleocoastal dunes occupy 9.73 km2 , divided into 7.41 km2 of phytostabilized dunes and 2.32 km2 of semi-stabilised dunes (Table 1). In general, coastal dunes constitute 83.4% of the dune surface analysed, and 37.1% of the beach-dune systems. Dune fields are particularly developed in those places where a coastal dune is broken or degraded, as occurs to the west of Isla Canela (Ayamonte) or in Punta Umbría. The progression of coastal dunes towards the inland – when the smoothness of the topography allows it – is also observed, coinciding with important sediment inputs. This happens in La Redondela, in El Rompido spit – where the wind dunes cover the previous paleocoastal dunes – and in the closure of El Portil Lagoon. In the area under study this type of dunes occupy a surface of 2.27 Km2 , representing 16.6% of the total occupied by dunes in this littoral area of Huelva, in addition to 7.4% of its beach-dune systems. Finally, it is important to highlight the morphologies that, considering the organization of the sets of beaches and dunes existing in the western area of the province of Huelva, convert it into a littoral with an exceptional geomorphological and landscape interest. The spit bars and barrier islands constitute the elements of coastal regulation in the Gulf of Cadiz, which in this sector count as some of the most significant examples. The spit bars of El Rompido and Punta Umbría, as well as the already mentioned barrier islands (of inherited condition) of Ayamonte and Cabezos de El Terron, are witnesses of the evolution of the littoral since the end of the Flandrian transgression until recently. These formations prograde due to the progressive adherence of new beaches with their coastal dunes, so that sometimes the flat area between two dunes corresponding to the beach is preserved. The surface occupied by beaches, not considering the dunes or the paleocoastal dunes, is of 12.29 Km2 making up 40.1% of the beach-dune systems. In 1994 – the date used as a reference for this study – human activities led to the progressive degradation and even total loss of the dune morphologies in an area of 7.71 km2 , which constitutes 15.4% of the total sandy bodies. Such activities have to keep to the planning procedures proposed by the different administrations, which have been very diverse from that date until today. 188
Figure 2.
Distribution of beaches and of the various coastal dunes categories present in the area under study.
Table 1.
Surface occupied by beaches and the different types of coastal dunes in the area under study, as well as by urban or tourist centres settlements. Total area (km2 )
Paleo-coastal dunes phytostabilized Paleo-coastal dunes semistabilized Total paleo-coastal dunes Coastal dunes Dune fields Total dunes Total beaches Human areas
7.416890 2.322406 9,739296 1.636153 2.271658 13.647109 12.291690 4.712270
Total area beach-dune systems
30.651070
% paleo-coastal dunes 76.2 23.8 100
% dunes 54.3 17.0 71.4 12.0 16.6 100
% beach-dune systems 24.2 7.6 31.8 5.3 7.4 44.5 40.1 15.4 100
189
3 IMPACTS DUE TO ENVIRONMENTAL OR URBANISTIC PLANNING IN THE LITTORAL OF HUELVA The main national laws that bind planning to the coastal areas of Andalusia are the Law of Territory Planning and the Coastal Law. Urban planning in Spain is realized under the budgets of the Law of Territory Planning (BOE 1998), according to which the soil is classified as urban, developable and non developable. The urban land is already occupied by constructions and the developable land is expected to become urban. The non developable land includes areas to be protected due their distinctive landscape, historic and environmental values…, and others reserved for agriculture, forestry, livestock or similar activities in which case they could be re-assessed as urban land in the future. In short, the first two categories represent the complete loss of the ecosystems in the territory, while the classification as non developable land only ensures a delay in such transformation. In the case of the Spanish Coastal Law, it defines and delimits the area of Maritime-terrestrial Public Domain (hereafter referred to as DPMT for its Spanish initials), already reflected in the Spanish Constitution (BOE 1988, 1989). Specifically, it establishes a buffer zone of 100 m extendable to 200 m from the shoreline, which is included in an influence area which covers a minimum of 500 m. Following the Coastal Law, the DPMT should be classified as a non developable soil of special protection in the correspondent urbanistic regulation. The Regional Government of Andalusia has powers on the territory and environmental planning, generating their own plans and regulations. The need to know the territory well before addressing its planning, leads to an early approval of the Special Plans for the Protection of the Physical Environment (henceforth referred to as PEPMF) and a Catalogue, one for each province. They contain a review on the main environmental values of the territory, looking at diverse aspects such as geology, hydrography, climatology or biogeography. Finally, the areas that harbour ecosystems – considered of relevant interest for their conservation – are delimited, forcing the municipal planning to classify them as a non developable especially protected land. The PEPMF of the province of Huelva (BOJA 1986) includes the sandy body in the western littoral diagnostic area which are being analysed in this study (Ayamonte-Huelva) (Junta de Andalucía 1988). On the date of the plan, the environmental unit that includes the sandy bodies – of predominantly horizontal arrangement – still has a scarce tourist occupation, with the main centres being located in Isla Cristina, La Antilla, El Rompido and Punta Umbría. These coastal areas have an enormous tourist potential and are even defined as poorly exploited; however, its use should be considered after studying the accomodation capacity of the environment and the creation of an adequate tourism infrastructure. The PEPMF already includes particular planning aspects in terms of the natural characteristics and the ecological value of each space, whose delimitation is later reflected in the municipal plans and in the declaration of the Protected Natural Areas (PNA) by the Regional Government. For this purpose, the plan is supported by the Catalogue of Spaces and Protected Places, in which the three salt marsh areas present in the study area, as well the coastal lagoon of El Portil, the forest area of Enebrales of Punta Umbría and the El Rompido spit are included. While in the first four areas aformentioned the plan leaves virtually behind any sandy bodies, the last two are integrated primarily by beaches and coastal dunes, both current and relict. Specifically, El Rompido spit was included in this catalogue due to its geomorphological particularities, rather than by the most common elements of the ecosystem like vegetation or fauna. The approval of this plan allowed its preservation until today, as it led to the paralyzation of various urbanisation projects that were already underway in the spit bar. As a legacy of the PEPMF in each province, and with the aim of strengthening protection of the delimited areas in the Catalogue of Spaces and Protected Places, the regional Act 2/89 approving the Inventory of Natural Protected Areas was promulgated; it declares that for the littoral analysed, there are four protected areas, three of which are granted the category of ‘Natural Area’ and one of Natural Reserve (BOJA 1989). A Natural Area, equivalent to an IUCN category II (IUCN 1994), constitutes a protective regime on areas of exceptional natural value and relatively little anthropogenic value. The aim of the protection focuses on the conservation of its flora, fauna, geomorphological constitution, special 190
beauty of its landscapes or other components of outstanding environmental value. In the protective regulation the possibility to conduct traditional activities inside it is considered, provided that they do not endanger the natural values under protection. The study area counts on three Natural Areas, namely Marshland of Isla Cristina and Carreras River, Marshland of Piedras River and El Rompido Spit and Enebrales of Punta Umbría (Fig. 3). On the other hand, the category of Natural Reserve corresponds to an IUCN Category I (IUCN 1994). It represents a more strict protection class than that of a Natural Area and it generally applies to smaller spaces. The aim of this category is to protect the ecosystems, communities or biological elements of a special value and that tend to be fragile, and therefore they require a limited exploitation of the resources they hold. Only those activities that aim to preserve or regenerate such ecosystems – under exceptional circumstances – are allowed. It is also important to point out the presence of a buffer zone around each reserve which further protects it against the activities carried out in the surroundings. The surface area covering this zone will depend on the type of ecosystem protected. The study area only counts on El Portil Lagoon Natural Reserve, whose buffer zone is very wide and covers the fluvial basin that drains towards the lagoon (Fig. 3). In terms of the planning of the territory, the lands considered either as Natural Areas or Natural Reserves, together with their buffer zones, are classified as especially protected non developable soils, and they should be reflected as such in the municipal plan. The analysis of the ecosystems included under this protection categorization shows the great interest given by the environmental policy of Andalusia to the preservation all the wetlands present in the area under study, yet leaving slightly aside the sandy formations nearby. Specifically, 25.5% of the total beach-dune systems of the study area are under the frame of one of these two protection categories, highlighting the Natural Areas that protect 25.2% of its surface (Table 2). Out of the whole protected surface under the status of Natural Area, only 15% affects beach-dune systems (Table 3). In the case of El Portil Lagoon Natural Reserve, including its buffer zone, the
Figure 3. Table 2.
Limits of the Natural Areas and Nature Reserve present in the study area. Surface of beaches and dunes included within the limits of Natural Areas and Natural Reserves.
Beach-dune systems Beach-dune systems protected by natural areas Beach-dune systems protected by natural reserves Total beach-dune systems protected by natural reserves & areas
191
Total area (km2 )
% beach-dune systems
30.651070 7.712655 0.114164
100 25.2 0.4
7.826820
25.5
Table 3.
Comparison of beach and dune surfaces included within the limits of the NaturalAreas and the Nature Reserve of the study area as well as its relation with the wetlands and other natural environments included within them.
Natural Area km2
%
Natural Reserve (El Portil Lagoon)
Buffer zone (El Portil Lagoon natural reserve)
Total natural reserve and buffer zone (El Portil Lagoon Natural Reserve)
km2
km2
km2
%
Beach-dune systems Wetlands & other environments
7.712655 43.357533
15 85
0.011208 0.144011
Total area
51.070189
100
0.155220
Table 4.
7.2 92.8 100
%
0.102956 12.224445 12.327402
0.92 99.2 100
0.114164 12.368457 12.482622
% 0.90 99.1 100
Surface of beaches and dunes protected as Natural Areas in this coastal area of Huelva, as well as its relation with the wetlands and other natural environments included within them. Isla Cristina Marshland of Piedras Marshland and Carreras River and El Rompido Eenebrales of Punta River Natural Area Natural Area Umbría Natural Area km2
km2
%
Beach-dune systems 1.023873 4.1 Wetlands & other environments 23.839047 95.9 Surface occupied by natural areas 24.862920 100 Total beach-dune systems 1.023873 3.3 (30.65107023 km2 )
%
5.203270 21.3 19.260765 78.7 24.464035 100 5.203270 17.0
km2
%
1.485511 85.2 0.257720 14.8 1.743232 100 1.485511 4.8
surface occupies only 0.9% of the sandy formations, that is to say 0.4% of the total beaches and dunes of the littoral analysed (Table 2). Considering each protected space independently, the Marshland of Isla Cristina and Carreras River Natural Area dedicate 4.1% of their surface to protect sandy formations, which represent 3.3% of the total beach-dune systems analysed. The Marshland of Piedras River and El Rompido Spit Natural Area dedicate 21.3% of their surface to protect these ecosystems, mainly corresponding to the El Rompido spit, which constitutes 17% of the total beach-dune systems in the area under study. The Enebrales of Punta Umbría Natural Area stands out as it dedicates 85.2% of its surface to protect beach-dune systems, representing 4.8% of the total surface of these ecosystems (Table 4). The approval of the Coastal Regional Guidelines in 1990 represented an attempt on an integrated planning of a territory that is as complex as the coastal zone is (BOJA 1990). The goal of the plan was to establish a reference framework that would join the policies of this sector and urban planning, with the aim of avoiding contradictions in the actions of the different administrations (Junta de Andalucía 1990). The intention was to establish the maximum compatibility between the uses and exploitations of the littoral potential and the preservation and renovation of the existing resources. Once again, the analysis of the study is done by characterising the homogeneous territories where the sandy formations of the western coast of the province of Huelva are integrated into ‘Territorial Unit of Coastal sandy areas and dunes’ and ‘Territorial Unit of Beaches’. The guidelines are accompanied by a map (poor in detail) that allows relating, in broad terms, these two units with the area defined by an aerial photography of 1994 corresponding to the beachdune systems. The introduction of the cartography in GIS in order to carry out comparisons with more recent plans enables the detection of the differences in the surface derived from the evolution of the coastline in the period between both dates (Table 5). Despite the fact that the cartographic 192
Table 5. Total surface occupied by the different municipal and regional plans that have regulated the uses and protection of the beach-dune systems of the western littoral of Huelva.
Beach-dune systems in the study area Coastal regional guidelines Urban planning Territorial Regulation Plan of the west coast of Huelva
Total area (km2 )
% study area
30.651070 30.650969 30.635055 30.650681
100 99.9997 99.9478 99.9987
base is very different in terms of the scale and the great dynamism affecting this littoral, an attempt has been made to pass the information into only one cartographic base, so that the differences are fewer than one could expect. Such cartography divides each of the environmental units into several categories; in this case it mainly deals with the differences in the geomorphology and stability of the sandy formations. The ‘beach unit’ is defined here as a narrow coastal fringe that excludes the coastal dunes, which from a geomorphologic point of view constitute the internal closure of the high beach. For this reason, when transferring such cartography to the GIS, a unit referred to as ‘live dunes’ and ‘sandy beaches’ has been included, occupying 5.45 km2 , that is, 17.8% of the total surface of beaches and dunes (Fig. 4, Table 6). The rest of the dune formations, irrespective of whether their origin is wind or coastal driven, fall under the heading of ‘fixed dunes’, with 18.74 km2 , representing 61.1% of the beach-dune systems. In total, the Coastal Regional Guidelines of Andalusia provide planning procedures for 78.9% of the beach-dune systems along this littoral, whereas 21.1% is left outside of them. This is mainly due to the introduction – already in 1990 – of urban spaces that occupied 12.9% of its surface, but also due to erroneous geomorphologic interpretations in some areas, which were identified as useless salt marshes (4.7%), aquaculture marshes (3.2%) or other natural environments (0.3%). The new aspect of this plan is that it gives precise guidelines for the delimitation of DPMT and includes actions to interrupt the intense urbanisation processes along the coastline, such as avoiding new communication infrastructures in coastal routes or preventing the privatization of properties of the DPMT. The Coastal Regional Guidelines of Andalusia must be respected in the urban plans of the affected municipalities. These plans must reflect the limit areas of DPMT provided that they are delimited. This determination mainly affects the ‘beach territorial unit’, and in the outer side the ‘sandy areas and dunes territorial unit’, e.g. the formations of beaches and live dunes defined in the cartography which reach 17.8% of the total. With regards to the ‘beach territorial units’, the guidelines establish integral respect of the most fragile places, without any type of infrastructure: intertidal zone, sub-aerial beach and dunes. Moreover, the municipal plans must prevent alterations in the physical-natural integrity of the dunes, avoiding developments of any kind and infrastructure works. This last indication affects the ‘sandy areas and dunes territorial unit’, e.g. 61.1% of the beach and dune systems covered in the area under study. Finally, it should be highlighted that the dune areas have to be qualified in such plans as epecially protected non developable land and must be included in their protection catalogues. Since the end of the 80s and during the decade of the 1990s, the municipalities included in the western area of the littoral of Huelva updated their rules for municipal planning, whose determinations suggest a great interest in the expansion of tourism. Such regulations framed much of the DPMT defined by the Coastal Law and the natural environments protected under the categories of Natural Areas and Natural Reserve, which had the category of ‘especially protected non developable land’. Nevertheless, it highlights the scarce attention given to the rest of the indications arising from the Coastal Regional Guidelines of Andalusia, whose observance would have meant the impossibility to declare new land as developable or dedicated to other uses of great impact on the dune ecosystems of the littoral. 193
Figure 4.
Distribution of the natural resources and use categories in the Coastal Regional Guidelines of Andalusia that affect the beach-dune systems in the area under study.
Table 6.
Natural environments and use categories established in the Coastal regional Guidelines of Andalusia for the area under study.
Stabilized sand dunes Sand beaches and active sand dunes Marshland Marshland with aquaculture Other environments Settlement of urban and tourism centres Total area classified
Total area (km2 )
% total area classified
18.738887 5.454962 1.451903 0.974404 0.079560 3.951250 30.650969
61.1 17.8 4.7 3.2 0.3 12.9 100
194
Figure 5.
Distribution of the various classifications of land affecting the beach-dune systems in the study area, according to the corresponding urban development planning.
The legislation analysed are the Subsidiary Rules (hereafter referred to as NNSS) of Ayamonte, 1995; the General Plan for Town Planning (henceforth referred to as PGOU) of Isla Cristina, 1987; the NNSS of Lepe, 1995; the NNSS of Cartaya, 1994; and the NNSS of Punta Umbría, 1992 (Fig. 5). The urbanized surface on the dates when the different municipal rules are approved reaches 4.55 km2 , representing 14.8% of the total beach-dune systems (Table 7). Such sandy environments harbour the towns of Isla Cristina and Punta Umbría, and the corresponding remaining tourist residential developments on the coast. To cover the population growth in those cities, and especially to promote tourist activities in the littoral, the municipal regulations predict a growth based on the declaration of 6.22 km2 of developable land. This means that they approve the destruction of 20.1% of the sandy bodies along this littoral. This decision clearly ingnores the duties imposed by the Coastal Regional Guidelines mentioned above, which focus on the preservation of these ecosystems. An area of 18.96% is declared as especially protected non developable land, which 195
Table 7. Type of land use applied to beach-dune systems in the set of municipal plans that affect the area under study. Total area (km2 ) Non developable land Non developable and protected land Developable land Urban land
0.906444 18.962018 6.218154 4.548438
Total classified area
30.635055
% total classified area 3.0 61.9 20.3 14.8 100
Table 8. Type of land use applied to the beach-dune systems in the municipal planning of Ayamonte. % total beach-dune system
Surface (km2 )
% of the category
% municipality
Non developable land Non developable and protected land Developable land Urban land
0.016538 2.038180
1.8 10.7
0.3 31.2
0.1 6.7
3.868377 0.617612
62.2 13.6
59.1 9.4
12.6 2.0
Total beach-dune system by municipality
6.540709
–
100
21.4
Table 9. Type of land use applied to the beach-dune systems in the municipal planning of Isla Cristina.
Non developable land Non developable and protected land Developable land Urban land Total beach-dune system by municipality
% total beach-dune system
Surface (km2 )
% of the category
0.758378 2.003721
83.7 10.6
18.2 48.2
2.5 6.5
0.515600 0.879950
8.3 19.3
12.4 21.2
1.7 2.9
4.157651
-
% municipality
100
13.6
represents 61.9% of the beach-dune systems, including in this category the DPMT wherever it is delimited and the surfaces of the NPA. Only 0.9 km2 are declared as non developable areas without any other specification, and this represents 3% of the total. The circumstances are very different depending on the different municipalities, based on whether their cities are located or not on the coastline, whether they have Natural Areas or Nature Reserves and whether there is a wide area of beaches and dunes within their limits. The municipality of Ayamonte, in whose boundaries 21.4% of the beach-dune systems under study are integrated, establishes in its NNSS the delimitation of the DPMT and of the Marshland of Isla Cristina and Carreras River Natural Area, spaces that are classified as especially protected non developable land, representing 31.2% of the beach-dune systems of the municipality and 10.7% of the total area studied (Fig. 5, Tables 8–12). The rest of the sandy formations are divided among a few tourist centres (9.4%), some non developable land with no special protection (0.3%) and the core land for urban development, reaching 59.1%. Thus, this municipal regulation represents the clearest example of the failure of the Coastal Regional Guidelines, with the urbanization of all beach-dune systems that were left outside the limits of the DPMT or from the Natural Areas. The municipality of Isla Cristina holds 13.6% of the beach-dune systems analysed, where the city is partially situated. The PGOU approved in 1987 described as non developable land the entire 196
Table 10. Type of land use applied to the beach-dune systems in the municipal planning of Lepe.
Non developable land Non developable and protected land Developable land Urban land Total beach-dune system by municipality
% total beach-dune system
Surface (km2 )
% of the category
0.00 5.920900
0.0 31.2
0.0 94.4
0.0 19.3
0.010500 0.338412
0.2 7.4
0.2 5.4
0.0 1.1
6.269814
–
% municipality
100
20.5
Table 11. Type of land use applied to the beach-dune systems in the municipal planning of Cartaya. % total beach-dune system
Surface (km2 )
% of the category
Non developable land Non developable and protected land Developable land Urban land
0.129912 1.551140
14.3 8.2
5.4 64.7
0.4 5.1
0.191252 0.525250
3.1 11.5
8.0 21.9
0.6 1.7
Total beach-dune system by municipality
2.397556
–
% municipality
100
7.8
Table 12. Type of land use applied to the beach-dune systems in the municipal planning of Punta Umbría. Surface (km2 ) Non developable land Non developable and protected land Developable land Urban land Total beach-dune system by municipality
% of the category
% municipality
% total beach-dune system
0.001614 7.448074
0.2 39.3
0.0 66.1
0.0 24.3
1.632422 2.187212
26.3 48.1
14.5 19.4
5.3 7.1
11.269323
–
100
36.8
area occupied by the set of sandy formations except for the urban areas (21.2%) and their growth predictions (12.4%). It includes the delimitation of the Marshland of Isla Cristina and Carreras River Natural Area and the DPMT as especially protected non developable land (48.2%), while the rest is considered as non developable land (18.2%). This way, this rule fulfils on its own initiative the provisions that would be established in the guidelines which were approved years later. The fact that a large part of the eastern municipal dune areas are Public Forests property of the Regional Government of Andalusia may help to explain this classification. The NNSS of Lepe’s municipality, approved in 1995, also includes the determinations of the Coastal Law and the limitation of the Marshland of Piedras River and El Rompido Spit Natural Area. It declares as especially protected non developable land 99.4% of the beach-dune systems of its littoral, leaving only as an urban land the area occupied by the tourist housing development of La Antilla (5.4%), as well as a small area for urban growth (0.2%). These data are especially relevant as 20.5% of the beach-dune systems of the western littoral of Huelva are located in this municipality. The municipality of Cartaya, with 7.8% of the systems under study, shows a parallel situation to Lepe, given that their NNSS of 1994 declares especially protected non developable land 64.7% 197
of the surface integrated in the DPMT and in the Marshland of Piedras River and El Rompido Spit Natural Area. Only 8.0% of the sandy coastal environments are foreseen as land for urban development, in order to attend the expansion of the tourist residential developments of El Rompido and El Portil (21.9%). Punta Umbría harbours the maximum extension for beach-dune systems of all the municipalities analysed, reaching 36.8% of its surface. Its NNSS gathers the provisions for the growth of the municipal city, declaring 14.5% of its surface as land for urban development, plus 19.4% occupied by Punta Umbría. The rest of the municipality represents 66.1% of the beach and dune ecosystems, classified as non developable land, despite the fact that in the text of the Plan it specifies that it is considered as a special protection area which includes the delimitation of the DPMT and of Enebrales of Punta Umbría Natural Area. Summarising, the beach-dune systems of the western littoral of the province of Huelva are classified as urban land in 14.8% of its surface, where there are no longer signs of such ecosystems. In this sense, the municipality of Punta Umbría stands out, having destroyed 7.1% of the total beachdune systems from the date of the plan approval. In the rest of the municipalities, such area oscillates from 1.1% in Lepe to 2.9% in Isla Cristina. Land for urban development accounts for 20.3% of the total surface of beaches and dunes in the area under study, corresponding to the expansions of urban and tourist developments, and where the total loss of dune modelling and present ecosystems can be predicted. In this category the municipality of Ayamonte stands out, whose NNSS plans a future destruction of 12.6% of this natural environment for tourist use, followed by Punta Umbría, whose municipal expansion will affect 7.1% of the same natural environments. With respect to the non developable land, this covers 3.0% of beaches and dunes, which contrasts with the 61.9% declared as especially protected non developable land. Here the municipalities of Punta Umbría, with 24.3% and Lepe, with 19.3% stand out, in that they harbour Natural Areas whose shared aim is mainly to protect the coastal sandy environments which are the object of this study (Marshland of Piedras River, El Rompido Spit Natural Area and Enebrales of Punta Umbría Natural Area).
4 IMPACTS ON THE COASTAL SANDY ENVIRONMENTS DUE TO THE TERRITORIAL REGULATION PLAN OF THE WEST COAST OF HUELVA The Territorial Regulation Plan of the West Coast of Huelva (hereafter referred to as POTLH) constitutes the most recent law which the sector and municipal plans that affect this coastal area of Huelva must comply with (BOJA 2006a). It was approved in June 2006, and its formulation arises on the proposal of the Territory Planning Law of the Governing Region of Andalusia (BOJA 1994). Among its contents, this law states that this plan must indicate the areas for the protection and improvement of the landscape and the natural resources. The rules and guidelines included in such laws are binding to the Urban Development Plans, and they must be incorporated into regulations in process, and at the same time, approved regulations must be modified. The overall objectives of this Plan are framed in the Bases and Strategies of the POTA established for the coastal environment and the networks of medium-sized cities (BOJA 1999, 2006b). Among those objectives, it is important to point out the interest to protect and the need to revalue the natural and landscape resources. The Plan goes beyond the recognition of the value of the proximity of the natural spaces as attraction population hotspots and of dynamic economy – as is formulated in the ‘Naturbanization’ phenomenon (Prados 2005) – insisting on promoting the process as one of the guidelines for the planning and management. To achieve this, one of the components of the general strategy lies in the protection of spaces of greater natural and landscape values, as well as in the work towards their territorial integration. This way, such spaces will contribute to the natural and tourist use of the territory. This new revaluation-oriented tendency also affects NPA, guaranteeing in any case the protection and restriction of use established in the specific environmental regulations of each space. 198
Figure 6.
Distribution of the categories established under the Territorial Regulation Plan of the Western Coast of Huelva that affect the beach-dune systems for the area under study.
To tackle the planning of this littoral, this Plan sets off from the analysis of the landscape already advanced in the Coastal Regional Guidelines of Andalusia, although it now achieves a greater detail. In order to be able to compare the territorial incidence of this Plan with the previous rules, the limits of the units established in the Map of Proposals for Use Planning have been moved to the SIG, regarding that exclusively affecting the beach-dune systems in this littoral area, with a total surface that varies slightly from the previous ones (Table 2). Among the categories that are established for this littoral in the mentioned Map of Use Planning are those known as ‘Environmental Protection Areas’, made up by the NPA, the DPMT, the Public Forests and the SCI (Fig. 6). The plan proposes to safeguard these areas from urban processes 199
Table 13.
Categories established in the Territorial Regulation Plan of the West Coast of Huelva that affect the beach-dune systems of the study area.
Total area DPMT DPMT-SCI DPMT-Natural area DPMT-Public forest DPMT-EVN DPMT-Cabezos and geomorphological points of interest DPMT-Urban land Natural area SCI Public forest Model forest Non developable land Urban or developable land Table 14.
km2
% total area
30.650681 2.208025 0.354020 4.359550 1.224968 1.399090 0.176480 0.770009 3.123557 0.335797 6.248927 0.075675 0.350003 10.024577
100 7.2 1.2 14.2 4.0 4.6 0.6 2.5 10.2 1.1 20.4 0.2 1.1 32.7
Groups of categories of the Territorial Regulation Plan of the Western Coast of Huelva established in relation to its protective-conservative character, destroyed, urbanized or undetermined.
Total area Total protected area (DPMT, natural area) Total area maritime-terrestrial public domain (DPMT) Natural environments Recovery of the dpmt (DPMT-urban) Forest area (public forests, model forests) Sites of community interest (SCIS), Protected total area and SCI proposed Urban or developable land Non developable land
km2
% total area
30.650681 13.615701 10.492144 9.722135 0.770009 6.324602 0.335797 20.276101 10.024577 0.350003
100 44.4 34.2 31.7 2.5 20.6 1.1 66.2 32.7 1.1
and landscape intrusion, protecting their ecological, environmental, productive and recreational functions (article 54). The delimitation of the DPMT is of great interest, as it includes the entire coastal front and a large part of the wetlands. In the planning map it can be seen that in some cases the domain has been incorporated to the littoral protection categories or to other categories established in the plan (Table 13), reaching in general an extension of 10.4 km2 , which represents 34.2% of the total beaches and dunes it manages (Table 14). The POTLH assumes the indications of the Coastal Law with respect to the DPMT, insisting on the prohibition of urban developments and on the protection of the dune fronts and sandy coastlines, as well as in the planning of the public domain. The Urban Development Plans will need to consider the limits of the DPMT and classify as constructions outside the planning those buildings located in it and mapped as ‘recovery of the DMPT’ (article 73), which affects an area of 0.77 km2 . On the other hand, in the same article the Ministry of the Environment is advised to modify the limits of the DPMT in order to include San Bruno Island (Ayamonte). In this municipality, the strict delimitation of the DPMT should have included a vast area of the ancient barrier islands formed by beach-dune systems, nowadays classified as urban or developable land. The NPA, Public Forests and SCI represent a large area of the beach-dune systems managed by this plan, with 3.12 km2 , 6.25 km2 and 0.33 km2 , reaching 31.7% of the total of beaches and dunes analysed (leaving aside the areas which coincide with the DPMT). 200
The rules or guidelines that the plan gives to each category are different, yet all of them must be declared in the municipal planning programmes as especially protected non developable land and must include, provided that the sector regulation allows it, areas allocated to recreational activities (article 32). This last indication refers to the strategy of giving importance to the value of natural spaces, which can count with low, one-storey buildings integrated in the landscape and allocated to activities tied to the contact and enjoyment of the natural environment. Despite this classification, other projects or plans may be authorized in the SCI (the plan does not specify what type) provided that they do not affect their natural habitats or the species that motivated their designation (article 55). In the case of Public forests, the plan indicates that they are subject to a strong protection, with the prohibition of constructions except for the monitoring, management or conservation of the present forest formations. However, the possibility that the administration will reclassify them when it is essential for municipal growth is also foreseen (article 56). A second category for this coastal area established in the Map of Proposals for Use Planning is named ‘Areas of Territorial Interest’, representing the large landscape units recognized in the west coast of Huelva. They include the so-called spaces of natural value, Cabezos and geomorphological points of environmental concern, Model forests and Pine landscapes (article 54), which must be classified as special protected non developable land in the Urban Plans (article 57). There are few examples appearing in the study area which represent only the first three categories: the first two coincide with the DPMT which affect 4.6% and 0.6% of the total area, while the model forests represent a single classification and mean 0.2%. The plan prohibits any construction both in model forests and in Cabezos and geomorphological points of interest (article 60), and communication routes or soil movement is also prohibited in the second category (article 61). In addition to these prohibitions, the plan recommends the incorporation of spaces of natural value to the adjacent Natural Areas (article 58). In the area under study, the coastal area (the point of the arrow, or the extreme west) of El Rompido spit has been declared space of natural value, which represents the eastern limit for the expansion of La Antilla urban development. The rest of the study area is declared as urban land, occupying 10.02 km2 (32.7% of the total surface). The presence of this category involves the irreversible destruction of dune morphology and the ecosystems they support, so the possibility of predicting future expansions of urban or tourist centres is greatly interesting. It is the urban planning that manages the growing areas, but it is linked to the rules and guidelines of the POTLH. Among the guidelines of that plan there is one stating that the new urban land correspondent to municipal residence growth must be adjacent to urban land (article 16); and that new land devoted to vacation and tourist use must fulfil the relationship of one hotel bed for two residential places (article 41). On the other hand, it must be considered that these Urban Development Plans must meet the rules established by the POTA, which provides a model city whose growth has to be justified according to demographic parameters, not admitting increases in urbanistic land over 40% of the existing urban land nor growth that means population increase over 30% in eight years (article 45).
5 CONCLUSIONS AND PERSPECTIVES The west coast of the province of Huelva harbours beach and dune systems that sustain a wide variety of ecosystems of great conservation interest. The combination of coastal beaches and paleocoastal dunes, forming barrier islands and spit bars, are particularly important in this western coastal area. These contrast with dune fields and ‘littoral aeolian sheets’, which are more typically found in the eastern sector of the coast. The study of the urban and land use planning of the municipalities of this littoral confirms that the urban and tourist growth occupies primarily these natural systems, so their growth must be regulated in order to avoid a complete destruction of them. 201
Until today the declaration of various NPA and the limits of the DPMT have represented the most secure protection of 44.4% of the beach-dune systems along this littoral. In the case of the Natural Areas and Nature Reserve, the subsequent plans and regulations have respected their limits in all cases and they have been declared as especially protected non developable land, covering 24.4% of the total surface of beaches and dunes included in the study. The POTLH includes a possible west expansion of the Marshland of Piedras River and El Rompido spit Natural Area with a surface of 1.40 km2 , representing 4.6% of the total included in the DPMT. Specifically, the DPMT has recently been delimited in this coastline area, although the classification as especially protected not developable land has been respected. The POTLH covers an extension of 10.49 km2 of DPMT, representing 34.2% of the beach-dune systems of the study area, in some sectors overlapping with the limits of Natural Areas. On the opposite side there is urban land, an area where the dune morphologies and ecosystems that it once housed have irreversibly been destroyed. This type of land has increased its surface from 4.71 km2 in 1994 to 10.02 km2 in 2006, reaching in the latter date 32.7% of the total of beachs and dune surface. In this respect, it is important to highlight that the expansion foreseen in the urban plans approved between 1987 and 1995 predicted a total occupation of 10.77 km2 , so that the approval of the POTLH has represented a slight reduction, attributed mainly to the delimitation of the DPMT. The remaining land, which represents 22.9% of the total, is managed by the POTLH, as it was done before by the less precise and detailed Coastal Regional Guidelines of Andalusia, whose rules and guidelines deal with urban planning. If the new plan is strictly followed, the persistence of beach and dune systems integrated in Public Forests – representing 20.4% of the total surface area – is envisaged. However, there is the possibility that in the future – as specifically stated in the plan – there will be a need for a partial de-cataloguing of Public forests in order to provide space for urban centres. The Public forests represent 20.4% of the total surface of beaches and dunes, whose protection is not assured indefinitely. A similar situation could occur with the 0.2% of Model forests. On the other hand, the SCI’s, with 1.1% of the total surface, are protected at a European level, which could imply the perpetuation of its protection. However, the POTLH recognizes the possibility of authorising projects or plans without specifying of which type, but they must be preceded by an environmental impact evaluation report. Finally, 1.1% of the surface of beaches and dunes in the west littoral of Huelva is considered non developable land without any specification, so a possible conversion to urban land without any objection by the POTLH is envisaged. Following what has been described, the main danger for beach and dune systems is the future growth of tourist and urban centres. In fact, the POTLH in 2006 recognizes an increase of urban land of almost 113% with respect to 1994. Despite the fact that POTA includes rules to control the growth of urban centres, according to which it will not be possible to declare as urban land over 40% of the urban land already existing, this does not prevent such areas to expand indefinitely along the coast in subsequent plans, for example towards adjacent Public forests. REFERENCES Barral, M.A. 1998. Sistemas de playas-dunas del litoral occidental de la provincia de Huelva. Diagnóstico sobre su ordenación y protección: 112. MA Thesis on Preservation and Management of the Environment. (Tesis de Maestría en Conservación y Gestión del Medio Natural). Universidad Internacional de Andalucía, Sede Iberoamericana de La Rábida. Barral, M.A. & Borja, F. 1997. Dunas litorales del sector Ayamonte-Isla Cristina (Huelva). Caracterización geomorfológica y ordenación. In R. Cámara Artigas (ed), Cuaternario del litoral y entorno continental del Mar de Alborán: 22–25. Melilla: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Ciudad Autónoma de Melilla. Barral, M.A. & Borja, F. 1999. Dunas litorales del poniente onubense. Aproximación cartográfica y valoración espacial. In L. Pallí y C. Roqué (eds), Avances en el estudio del Cuaternario español: 49–56. Girona: AEQUA. Barral, M.A. et al. 2004. Aproximación a la regionalización ecológica del SW de Iberia. In J. Márquez & M. Gordo (eds), Fronteras en Movimiento: 269–278. Huelva: Universidad de Huelva.
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Naturbanization: New identities and processes for rural-natural areas – Prados (ed) © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-49000-9
Conservation of coastal habitats in Mediterranean areas: A combined analytical framework for case studies E.D. Ivanov & I. Manakos Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania, Alsyllio Agrokepiou, Chania, Greece
W. van der Knaap Wageningen University, Chair group Land Use Planning, Wageningen, The Netherlands
ABSTRACT: Coastal zones exhibit higher habitat and biodiversity values and also a multitude of economic, residential and recreational demands, compared to inland and open sea. Major pressure on the coast is exerted from both the concentration and dispersal of population and activities. Consequently, a big problem is the “artificialization” of the coast, manifested with urban sprawl and congestion of infrastructure and activities. This has led to emergent governance challenges as land use conflicts, natural and human-induced hazards, environmental degradation including water pollution, coastal erosion, etc., and ultimately to loss of habitats and of biological diversity. This paper presents an overview of both the physical landscape expression of coastal artificialization processes and related planning responses, aiming to tackle the problem from different angles. The final part of the paper presents a proposed analytical framework for case-study research and adduces examples from a case-study in Western Crete, carried out in the framework of ECONET-COHAST (an INTERREG IIIB/ARCHIMED project).
1 INTRODUCTION Coastal zones are distinguished with higher habitat and biodiversity values, compared to inland and open sea and also with the attraction of very high economic, residential and recreational demands. The coastal zone can be defined “as the ensemble of areas and specific territories that are influenced physically, economically and socially by strong interaction between land and sea” (Blue Plan 2005). Major pressure on the coast is exerted from both the concentration and dispersal of population and activities. Migrations no longer go from the countryside to the urban areas but from inland to the coastal areas (Intelligent coast project, www.intelligentcoast.es). The coast can also be described as a transition zone where government agency authority changes abruptly, storms hit, waterfront development locates. It is also the place where terrestrial-type planning and management programs are at their weakest (Clark 1998). Consequently, a big problem of concern is the “artificialization” of the coast, manifested with urban sprawl and congestion of infrastructure and activities. The Blue Plan (2005) stresses that: “with more artificial land and pollution, over fishing, erosion, salt water intrusion, invasive species and global warming, degradation of coastal ecosystems and loss of terrestrial and marine biodiversity will continue and lead to a proliferation of costs and risks.” This leads to emergent governance challenges as land use conflicts, natural and human-induced hazards, environmental degradation including water pollution, coastal erosion, etc., and ultimately to loss of habitats and of biological diversity. Muessner (2005) emphasised that major obstacles for implementing biodiversity conservation objectives in cultural landscapes (despite the reached political commitments) include the lack of sufficient ecological data and the lack of adequate methodologies to achieve the conservation targets 205
locally with a high consensus and acceptance of local societies and stakeholders. To advance in that direction, methods for rapid assessment (for target setting), guides and support (for decisionmaking) are needed to be applied nowadays. The author explained also that “these have not to be developed from scratch; a wider variety of specific methods exists for a long time. It is rather the integration of useful components in combination with new ideas that underpin an up-to-date concept of conservation that reflects the current trends and development in the world” (Muessner 2005). Apart from the methodological deficiencies being as important as the missing ecological data, the political dimension in addressing the conservation targets is still the factor of dominant importance. Beunen (2006) stressed that “decision making, no matter how much knowledge of whatever kind is used, remains politics”. This chapter presents first an overview of the contemporary phenomena of coastal artificialization, emphasizing one of its main constituents – urban sprawl. It is followed by an overview of major resulting environmental and ecological impacts, emphasizing two of the strongest – habitat loss and invasive species spread. In parallel with presenting these physically expressed landscape features, the chapter also presents related planning responses – main instruments, policies and approaches aiming to tackle the problem from different angles. Following the above recommendations of Muessner, the final part presents a proposed analytical framework for case-study research and adduces examples from a case-study in Western Crete, carried out in the framework of ECONET-COHAST (an INTERREG IIIB project).
2 COASTAL ARTIFICIALIZATION The overall features of transforming natural and semi-natural structures into human-made structures, like built-up spaces (such as residential, commercial, industrial sprawl, coastal defence, terrestrial and marine transport infrastructure), intensified production (under plastic and greenhouses), (artificial) parks and gardens, artificial beaches etc. are generalized within the notion of coastal artificialization. Although no explicit description of coastal artificialization could be retrieved from published literature, the following features were derived from related studies (EEA 2006, Blue Plan 2001, 2005, Suarez de Vivero & Rodríguez Mateos 2005): – The process stems from the change in major population and business migrations from rural-tourban concentration towards urban-to-suburban dispersal. – Main driving forces can be linked with the “highly dynamic economic activities that generate short-term social benefits in the shape of higher rates of employment and income, and, in normal circumstances, immediate political returns” (Suarez de Vivero & Rodríguez Mateos 2005). – The process is strongly dependant on spatial planning performance and closely related with the decentralization and weak multilevel coordination of decision making. These two conditions make its manifestation very region- and even locality-specific. – Although artificialization features can be observed all over the areas of human reach, certainly not everywhere do they bring the above mentioned concerns. Quite the opposite, many communities are now getting ardently involved in building institutions for sustainability, and at least in Europe, most do debate it. Spatially, the artificialization process can be outlined with the appearance of linear infrastructures of accessibility, then belts of buildings along the coast (and other high amenity areas); followed by dispersed urban developments, ribbon developments and much intensified (agricultural) production sites, often forming a continuum, up to the edges of inaccessible or less accessible terrain. This pattern is observed on many (small) coastal plains, surrounded by mountains in the Mediterranean (Blue Plan 2001). Several Mediterranean spatial patterns (or models) of urban sprawl are presented in the Blue Plan (2001). The temporal dynamics of this continuous process may be divided into four stages. The process may be initiated by driving forces aiming at improving economic opportunities, social wellbeing, 206
territorial cohesion etc., which needs the restructuring (development) of the original natural or semi-natural (rural) areas. – Initialization stage is manifested with the development of public infrastructure for accessibility and enhanced business opportunities, which often mark the start of the coastal artificialization. – Landscape transformation expresses the change of the landscape view from natural and seminatural to one with sporadic and dispersed human constructions. The advantages offered by proximity and built infrastructure drag sprawl of residential, recreational and production constructions. People like to settle for living in high amenity areas like the coast, motivated by a better quality of life, and new economic potentials, despite the high risks of natural hazards. This fact may be expressed in elevated real estate prices (EEA 2006). – Landscape saturation expresses the changes from sporadic to dense occupation of the coastal strip by constructions. It could be exclusively production oriented, like on many fertile plains and deltas in the Mediterranean; or mainly service-oriented as the coasts are among the most attractive tourist destinations. Tourism in Europe, especially in the Mediterranean, is closely linked with construction, i.e. hotels, second residences, apartments, leisure and commercial infrastructures, which facilitates the expansion of artificial areas (EEA 2006). – Landscape congestion is reached as a result of the saturation when consequent issues like mobility and traffic congestions arise, which need new infrastructures, and in their turn, open new economic opportunities. Costa del Sol in Andalusia (Spain) is frequently adduced as an example of the large extends and rapid rates of coastal artificialization sprawl that took place there. Suárez de Vivero and Rodríguez Mateos (2005) described these processes as the “new costal economy” of the Spanish Mediterranean Region. This model of coastal over-development has been criticised as one of the most environmentally destructive, also aggravating economic conditions. Consequently in several cases built-up areas have been subjected to demolition in Spain (first in Majorca, recently in Andalusia too). The congestion of population, activities and structures in the coastal zone, has also lead to the economic marginalization and de-population of the coastal hinterland (see OECD 2005). The marginalization of mountain-region economies increases the vulnerability of rural societies and inland cities and still causes a movement towards the coast (Blue Plan 2005). The increasing imbalance may therefore bring further land-abandonment inland (with loss of highly valued features of the cultural landscapes) and also further congestion of people and activities on the coast. These patterns will add more sustainability and safety (climate change induced) issues to those already high at stake. Yet, the subject of coastal artificialization has scarcely been addressed both in landscape research and in planning (at least in English language).
3 RELATED PROCESSES OF SPRAWL AND INTENSIFICATION The overall process of coastal artificialization shares much in common with the related processes of urbanization, urban sprawl and land use intensification, which can be viewed like its main constituents. In the Blue Plan (2001) urbanization is defined as the process of conversion of the rural population to urban and the consequent urban population growth. Urban sprawl is a term broadly used to denote the physically expanding urban areas or urban land consumption. Land consumption is a term used to describe conversion of land from non-agricultural or undeveloped uses to developed uses like residential, commercial, and industrial (Bryant 2006). Wu (2006) emphasises that “sprawl is widely discussed but poorly understood”. It may mean different things to different people. Some define sprawl as “spatial expansion of cities” others describe it as “the lack of continuity in expansion” or as “chopped-up, spread-out, segregated, low-density, auto-dependent development”; but most observers seem to agree that sprawl can be characterised by a fragmented 207
pattern of land development (Wu 2006). The European Environment Agency (EEA 2006) explains that: – “Sprawl [in Europe] is the leading edge of urban growth and implies little planning control. – The current evidences suggest that where unplanned, decentralised development dominates, sprawl will occur in a mechanistic way. – “Sprawl is particularly evident where countries or regions have benefited from EU regional policies” – Urban sprawl in the coastal strip of the Mediterranean is no longer necessarily induced and supported by the main cities. By its nature, urban land use along the coasts has become suburban (EEA 2006). According to Wu (2006) “it is claimed that sprawl is ugly, reduces amenities and open space, increases the cost of public services and taxes, causes traffic congestion, increases runoff and flooding in urban areas, and reduces wildlife habitat and water quality. Sprawl has even been blamed as the cause of obesity, asthma, apathy, and antisocial behaviour”. Despite those negative impacts it has to be underlined that at present it is still the preferred “western” way of life (Brueckner 2000), strongly related with major (energy-intensive and service-oriented) developments (Gonzalez 2005) and generally favoured by local and regional governance institutions (Frenkel 2004). 3.1 Studies of urban sprawl in Europe and the Mediterranean Historical trends, since the mid 1950s, show that European cities have expanded on average by 78%, whereas the population has grown by only 33% (EEA 2006). The ratio of the land consumption over the population growth is denoted as “urban expansion index” (Pijanowski 2002). In Europe it represents a 2.4-fold increase of urban usage in relation to the population increase. Today, approximately 75% of the European population lives in urban areas, while still enjoying access to extensive natural or semi-natural landscapes (EEA 2006). Southern European cities have a long urban tradition in which the urbanization process has been slower, with fewer periods of rapid growth and the cities have been very compact. In recent decades, however, urban sprawl has started to develop at unprecedented rates (Blue Plan 2005). Most South-European countries are still unable to implement zoning and building control. Regarding the Mediterranean, the Blue Plan (2005) asserts that “one of the main problems remains the inadequacy of institutional coordination in this area where various rules and administrations in charge of maritime and land-based issues confront each other”. That grim picture is particularly pertinent to the southern EU member states that are part of the so-called “urbanism” planning tradition. They are labelled as typical representatives of the so-called “Mediterranean Syndrome” of government (La Spina & Sciortino 1993), which often results in a rigid, legalistic and formal model of command-and-control type of planning regulation. It has created a huge gap between established plans and reality. Spontaneous urban development and especially illegal building is one of the major spatial ordering pathologies of Greece, Italy and Spain (Giannakourou 1998). Giannakourou (1998) explained that “under this regulatory framework, patterns of interest mediation tend to be legalistic, adversarial and closed, with informal and ad hoc negotiation between the authorities and private interests often taking place in the shadow of the law”. 3.2 Land use planning and Growth Management policies Growth management is a widely promoted policy for restraining urban sprawl. Growth-management tools, derived from the compact city and new urbanism perceptions, were developed and implemented extensively during the 1980s and 1990s. This approach promoted the preservation of resources like open spaces, rural and agricultural production lands by focusing on compact, mixed use, and clustered development. Frenkel (2004), after reviewing common growth management tools, summarises that despite the wide array of available tools and their proven success in specific conditions, it is still difficult to say that growth-management policy succeeds in preventing urban 208
sprawl or in achieving urban-region sustainability. Frequently its application is confined by the conflict between national government policies aiming at development restrictions and local government policies aiming at development support. “Growth management policy is in contradiction to free-market forces, mostly in its objection to local interests, and requires legislation and changing ordinances and regulations” (Frenkel 2004). Regarding the potentials of the latter, Antrop (2005) explains that land use changes are made by numerous users, acting in a non-concerted manner, which causes rather chaotic autonomous development of the landscape. Spatial planning aims to steer control and guide the autonomous processes of land use change, to achieve a preconceived goal. He explains also that the future of an autonomous development is perceived as a trend with a rather vague and uncertain outcome. In most cases, these trends are an extrapolation of case studies or samples using available information, which is often incomplete, imprecise and outdated. Decision-making is based upon this kind of imperfect knowledge and has to deal with uncertainty and risk (Antrop 2004). This (future) uncertainty is often treated imperfectly by models and by planning (Couclelis 2005). Anthrop concludes that “planning evolves as sub-sequential redirections of the autonomous development, and chaotic changes will always follow the temporal main trends”. Strictly planned landscapes with controlled management only occur in completely artificial landscapes such as gardens, parks and urban-centre sites (Antrop 2004).
4 RATES OF URBAN SPRAWL ON THE COAST Coasts are being urbanised at an accelerating rate, and local communities are being transformed in order to accommodate these new economies. According to the last report on the state of the costal areas prepared by the EEA (2006) in 2000 the share of area covered by artificial surfaces was 25% higher along the coasts than in inland areas. This confirms 1990–2000 trends in European coastal zones, which show that the growth rate of artificial surfaces on the coast have grown about 1/3 faster than those inland. 61% of total land uptake by artificial surfaces was due to housing, services and recreation. Closer examination of internal differences within coastal zones shows that urban surfaces are more concentrated within the first kilometre of the coastline (EEA 2002). In some countries they represent up to 45% of the area. Therefore, the immediate coastal strip (i.e. the first kilometre from the coastline landwards) receives most pressures. According to the Blue Plan (2005) this proportion is projected to increase between now and 2025 with population and tourism growth and the development will vary between regions. In coastal zones that are already urbanized and countries where the coastal land is now protected, urban overflow will take place mainly on a secondary line (Blue Plan 2005). 4.1 Studying environmental impacts Bryant (2006) outlines four major effects of urbanization on the environment, namely (1) an increase in temperature (urban heat island effect); (2) an increased runoff due to impervious surfaces; (3) lower levels of native species diversity and higher levels of non-native species; and (4) increased production of carbon dioxide. Gilbert (1991) noted the high spatial variability of the physical environment of urbanised areas, including variability in soil temperature and moisture levels, solar radiation and humidity, and wind speed and direction. On the coast the linear urban sprawl results in many impacts, including pollution, traffic congestion, degraded landscapes and coastal ecosystems, and increased coastal erosion. Impacts on ecosystems and landscapes are virtually irreversible. In the Mediterranean the most important impact comes from the construction of tourist facilities (hotels, yacht harbours, etc.) on the coastline itself (Blue Plan 2005). One of the consequences of coastal urbanization is the increased vulnerability to flooding (Blue Plan 2005). Roads, marinas and hard defence structures on the shore generally disturb the physical interactions between land and sea. They may change the sea current courses and cause coastal erosion in adjacent areas. The hard-structures coupled with destruction of coastal dunes and wetlands 209
may exert cumulate effects with impact on coastal ecosystems located in areas far away from population centres. Additionally, landwards the roads generate ribbon urbanization along the coast which consumes a great deal of space. Details and estimations on the habitat loss, coastal erosion and soil impacts in the Mediterranean are presented in the Blue Plan (2005) and EEA reports (2002 and 2006). 4.2 Integrated Coastal Zone Management ICZM has been defined by the EU as a dynamic, multi-disciplinary and iterative process to promote sustainable management of coastal zones covering the full cycle of information collection, planning, decision-making, management and monitoring of implementation. At present the ICZM is a widely promoted land-use planning instruments in the EU. It is intended as a non binding, proactive tool (not regulatory), adopted as a Council recommendation (2002/413/EC), and its implementation is monitored and steered by the European Commission. Numerous strategies, guides and handbooks for implementing ICZM have been developed and published in the last decade (e.g. by UNEP-MAP in 1994, 1999, 2001 and 2005; also by the European Commission, 2000). The European Code of Conduct for Coastal Zones was developed by the international organization “the Coastal Union” and adopted by the Council of Europe Ministers in April 1999. The review of a number of recent ICZM projects, carried out throughout Europe (within several initiatives, namely the EC Demonstration programme on ICZM, the TERRA CZM programme, the UNEP-MAP programme on ICAM) reveals that mostly issues related to waterfront regeneration, public access, environmental quality and public safety are so-far addressed. Despite the 30 or more years of ICZM implementation (Pickaver et al. 2004) it is hard to find explicit outcomes in terms of biodiversity safeguarded, at least in Europe. Also, according to Klinger et al. (2004) its present widespread implementation does not yet prevent environmental degradation due to human activities. Major factors refer to the lack of political will to implement adopted regulations; failure to fully integrate management solutions across ecological, economic, and socio-cultural spheres; or when implemented, the insufficient time-elapse for detecting positive changes (Klinger 2004). Unlike this generalization, a quite complete process of coastal zone management evolution was described in the Netherlands, by Van der Meulen & Udo de Hues (1996), which has proven many of the expected long-term benefits. The above authors outlined four phases in the development of integrated policy for costal management of the dune system in Holland: – First phase (started in the nineteenth century) – primary function of water extraction and no nature functions considered. – Second phase (started in the fifties) – still primary function water extraction, which is intensified (because of the growing demands), with nature conservation subordinate to it. High environmental quality was strictly maintained and it benefited biodiversity as well, although some habitats were lost, due to the intensification (nutrient-rich water brought in from the rivers). – Third phase – water extraction, recreation, and defence and nature conservation received equal priorities. EIAs and ICZM plans were carried out. – Fourth phase (the beginning of the nineties) – “The Dutch Government proclaimed nature conservation as the main function of all coastal dunes. Actions were initiated to place all dunes under the Nature Conservation Act before the year 2000” (van der Meulen & Udo de Hues 1996). The entire coastal dune zone of Holland is now part of a national ecological network and at the same time drinking water companies studied alternatives for water catchments to minimise the damage to nature. Furthermore, plans for regeneration of the dune environment were put into practice (van der Meulen & Udo de Hues 1996). Encouraging is also the French example, where implementing a coastal area law and a coastal conservation centre, with mobilising public opinion, land-owners and associations, some political decision-makers and judges have made it possible to limit urban sprawl along the coasts, push back second-line urban pressures, and protect and enhance a number of exceptional natural and cultural locations (Blue Plan 2005). 210
5 IMPACTS ON HABITATS AND EXOTIC SPECIES INVASIONS European coastal zones comprise a great diversity of unique ecosystems and specific habitats, as listed in Annex I of the EC Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC). There are nine main habitat complexes on coastal sites, namely: forest, rocky habitats and caves, raised bogs, mires and fens, natural and semi natural grassland formations, sclerophyllous scrubs, temperate heath and scrub, freshwater habitats, coastal and continental sand dunes, and coastal and halophytic habitats (EEA 2002). Urban development impacts biodiversity through land disturbance and conversion to impervious surfaces, removal of original vegetation, introduction of non-native exotic species, and fragmentation and isolation of remaining natural habitats. Habitat loss is the single greatest cause of the threat (to biodiversity), and alien species invasions are second (Bryant 2006). Biodiversity loss is one of the predominant environmental problems affecting Europe’s coasts, as biodiversity depend on the combined healthy state of land, freshwater and sea (EEA 2002). The most degraded and endangered coastal habitats are the dune ecosystems (as a result of construction and pedestrian pressure), shallow waters (subject to physical changes, pollution and over-fishing), wetlands, and some beaches that are used as spawning sites by turtles (Blue Plan 2005). Tourism in particular contributes to the degradation of natural habitats and other biodiversity. The coastal overdevelopment is interrelated with the marginalization of the less accessible rural areas, with opposite changes: depopulation and land abandonment which also leads to the loss of vulnerable semi-natural habitats that depend on traditional land-use practices. Mixed agriculture, pasture and natural grassland land cover have all decreased along European coasts (EEA 2002). Land cover change is a potential driving force of distribution of exotic and invasive species at a local scale (Loewenthal 2005). The newly developed green areas, such as parks, gardens, and leisure and recreation spaces are reported to increase significantly the richness and cover of exotic vascular plant species, whose relative abundance is well correlated with the proximity to gardens (O’Shea & Kirkpatrick 2000). A review of numerous studies of the flora of European cities (see Bryant 2006), including inventories of both native and non-native species, outlined that cities have more species than the surrounding landscape (Pysek 1998). The spatial heterogeneity is cited as major factor for the enhanced species diversity, especially pronounced at the urban fringe, where agricultural land, forest, and developed lands of varying intensity are juxtaposed (Bryant 2006). Godefroid (2001) found that alien plant species were favoured in cities because of their increased tolerance of nitrogen, light, drought, heat, and alkaline soils. 5.1 Integrative and segregative conservation The following paragraphs outline major features of conservation strategies as described by Muessner (2005). The author refers to two overall types: segregative and integrative strategies, each with respective strengths and weaknesses. He stresses that the current segregative conservation strategies (as protected area designation) are left with little potential for further biodiversity recovery in Europe, where even if certain species (mostly threatened and very often charismatic) were saved, the general trend of biodiversity decline continues. Further designation of protected areas is close to its limits and at least in Western Europe (IUCN 2003), partially because of public opposition. James & Boothby (2002) state that the protection of single species or habitats by segregative strategies without measures in the context of the landscape as a whole cannot compensate the risk of species losses caused by land-use processes. On a longer timescale the observed decrease in biodiversity can only be reduced by new approaches in general land-use strategies that complement the segregative strategies (Muessner 2005). The current challenge for nature conservation cannot be stopping changes in cultural landscapes, but rather steering and influencing them with appropriate strategies and instruments (Muessner 2005). Main reasons for the limited potential of the segregative approach refer to its system immanent weaknesses, trying to preserve islands of conservation favourable conditions in a matrix of unfavourable conditions. In this way they exert smaller effects on biodiversity than sectoral 211
land-management ones, which also attempt to integrate conservation targets. This is exemplified by Muessner, with modern agricultural practices, which are still the most prominent reason for the loss of biodiversity in European cultural landscapes. The author asserts that the codes of Good Farming Practice (GFP) are of utmost importance for halting the loss of biodiversity and although GFP is not a nature conservation instrument per se, it has more influence on the biodiversity than most instruments solemnly dedicated to nature conservation. Therefore new integrative conservation strategies, properly fitted to particular patterns of land-use (with distinct pressures and conflicts) have to be developed to improve the biodiversity conditions in the landscape matrix (or out of the protected areas). 5.2 NATURA2000 network The EU Birds and Habitats Directives are the cornerstone of the European Union’s nature conservation policy and a key tool for achieving its aim of halting the ongoing loss of biodiversity by 2010. Together, the two directives establish the so-called NATURA2000 network of specially protected sites. Sites are designated to maintain habitats and species of European importance. Unlike national parks and other traditional forms of protected areas, the focus of NATURA2000 sites is the conservation of the specific habitats and species with no restrictions on socioeconomic and other activities that does not have a negative impact on the focus of interest for the sites (WWF 2007). In North Western Europe the importance of nature and nature conservation and its position in planning and legislation developed in the past 60 years. Despite the high-level of political commitments, the implementation of the EC Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) “can claim the dubious record of being one of the most litigated environmental instruments in the EU, as Member States have failed both to transpose it correctly into their legal systems and to comply with any of the deadlines established by the Directive” (Diaz 2001). Implementation of NATURA2000 is mostly assessed on the basis of procedures and work related to the rules set by the Directive. Its impacts on land use decision-making and their ecological consequences need further attention. Despite the difficulties, the European network of delimited sites is nearly complete. However, the impacts of applying integrated conservation policy on the sites vary widely and yet remain a very disputable issue. The problems of applying integrated conservation policy might be attributed partially to the fact that the differences within local/regional spatial planning styles and land use practices were not taken into account when imposing the Directives for implementation in different countries. 5.3 Conservation planning in coastal regions In Europe the relative portion of protected areas designated on the coast (terrestrial and marine) remains lower than observed in continental regions (Blue Plan 2005). This illustrates the difficulty of classifying areas that suffer strong anthropogenic pressures as protected without directly controlling land property and activities. Most protected coastal areas are designated because of their specific ownership status, like public property, donations or purchase by NGOs. It is usually through purchase that the most important areas are protected, but typically very small areas can be afforded. Large areas seem frequently designated on the bases of a reached political compromise, hence occupying rather the areas of least bio-productive capacity, instead of those of highest biological richness. In any case a major challenge at the coast is to develop integrative conservation strategies to safeguard biodiversity out of the protected areas. France was the first Mediterranean country to pass a specific management instrument (1975), the “Conservatoire du littoral”, whose aim was to protect the remaining natural coastal lands. By 2003 this conservation centre was protecting about 11 percent of the French Mediterranean coastline and 21 percent in Corsica. “Without its activities virtually no natural space would remain on the Provencal seafront” (Blue Plan 2005). Such largescale initiatives are not yet obvious in the eastern Mediterranean areas (like the Greek islands), where despite the levelling off of the massive tourism growth, generally much more of the natural character has remained. However, smaller programmes and projects aiming to resolve coast-specific 212
problems have been widely applied both in the West and the East, of the European Mediterranean, typically following the principles of the specific Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) instrument.
6 COMBINED ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK FOR CASE STUDIES This part outlines research recommendations, intended for assessment of conservation problems and support for proper conservation actions. Methodological elements of various disciplines and approaches are selected and exemplified, addressing issues of the application gap between conservation science and policies, issues of particular importance in Mediterranean coastal areas. 6.1 The need for bringing closer science and policy-making in the field of biodiversity conservation Several authors have explained that deficiencies in applicable scientific knowledge and uncertainties in policy implementations have led to much complicated decision-making and rigid bureaucratic procedures (Beunen 2006, van der Knaap and Beunen 2007) and contradictory, even wrong results in biodiversity conservation (Sutherland et al. 2004). Jasanoff (1990) wrote about the need to investigate the politics of scientific advice to explore “some of the enduring conflicts between democratic and technocratic values”, or the weight to be given to recommendations from experts and the public when considering advice for policy-making. Hoppe (2005) explained some of the usual ways policy asks for scientific advice to legitimise its pre-formed decisions and for scientific advice following its own interests, unless better paid by others. As both lose credibility, the author adduced models for mutual transmission of knowledge utilization in policy to provide more sophisticated images of science/politics boundary arrangements. In the conservation field, there seems to be a still widening gap between conservation science and policy-making. Researchers-ecologists analysing the so called conservation crisis strongly recommend the development of application standards based on the scientific evidence, while researchers in policy-making seem to disagree with this type of technocratic and science-based actions. Many conservation experts feel that the emphasis on community participation, development and equity dilutes the main goal of conservation initiatives: saving species and habitats. Many social scientists believe that conservation strategies that ignore the human element are bound to fail. Both tend to agree that the issues have to be examined holistically and that the integration of policy implementations at local level should be the best solution, but local actors feel safer in their own speciality domain, and resist the appeals for collaboration and negotiation (Pinto-Correia et al. 2006), which usually come from “above”. Beunen (2006) cautioned that top-down conservation policy implementation may give counter-productive results. In this regard authors in planning have recommended thorough studies about the context of decision-making (Beunen 2006, Pinto-Correia et al. 2006, van der Knaap and Beunen 2007) in pursuit of integrated and sustainable results. Other authors have stressed the importance of utilising the best available technical means (Geertman 2002, Couclelis 2005). Geertman (2002) reviewed the missing links between the current planning practice and the (potential) support function of GIS arguing that planning support systems (PSS) should be developed to bridge this gap. He criticised spatial planners and designers for being quite antagonistic to the development of highly systematic and computer-based models. Couclelis (2005) stated that “land-use modellers and PSS developers must bear at least a small part of the responsibility for this state of affairs, by not providing the kinds of tools that planners really need”. Faludi and Waterhout (2006) state that while in the 1990s the communicative or argumentative turn in planning was initiated, in the 2000s there seems to be an apparent countermove – an “evidencebased turn in planning”. They explain also that while the concept, first introduced in the UK, may be new, the idea and its practice had plenty of historical examples. Davoudi (2006) cautioned that its mainstream interpretation may repeat the “ambitious and naive assumptions that the complex political and socio-economic processes could be technicized, commanded and controlled through 213
a scientific process”. He recommended rather “an evidence-informed society” referring to the capacity to make use of the available evidence. In the field of conservation, particularly, Sutherland et al. (2004) highlighted that much of the current conservation practice is based upon “anecdote and myth”, rather than systematic scientific evidence appraisal. They studied the sources of knowledge for protected wetland management in East England. The results revealed 61 management actions with 170 knowledge sources used, of which 77% were categorised as anecdotal (“commonsense”, personal experience and speaking to other managers), whereas only 2% were based upon verifiable scientific evidence The authors developed the Evidence-based conservation approach, promoting learning from the success and mistakes of management measures applied throughout the UK’s protected areas. This approach draws on the lessons from medicine’s revolution in improving public health, some 30 years ago. In biodiversity conservation planning, evidence-based target setting is crucial, because as Svancara et al. (2005) warned “policy-driven targets may actually create more harm than good” when implemented with the presumption that such targets would be sufficient, because it was proven successful for other fields of environmental management. Sutherland et al. (2006) explained that when considering the delivery of an evidence-based policy, scientific advice and the consequent decisions must be based on the best available evidence from all relevant sources, translated in a meaningful form to all key stakeholders being involved at an early stage and throughout the policy development. “This represents a move towards an analytical-deliberative process in decision-making” (Sutherland et al. 2006). Muessner & Plachter (2002) have proposed methodological standards for nature conservation planning on landscape level, out of protected areas. They developed a methodology for integrating biodiversity values in the codes of Good Farming Practices, applied respectively for different agricultural uses, as a result of a three-year project, working with expert panels in Germany. Related to the Mediterranean coastal zone, such a systematic and evidence-based conservation framework would possibly appear as a bigger challenge than in the north-west of Europe, from where most of the above ideas originate. On one hand, the Mediterranean coastal areas seem to have accumulated all strongest impacts (see above coastal artificialization, species” invasions) that need very difficult targets for interventions. On the other hand, Mediterranean political cultures, as outlined by Giannakourou (1998), Papageorgiou and Vogiatzakis (2006), seem to represent many barriers to meet such targets. Therefore any attempt for proposing solutions should be viewed as a starting point, offering methodological recommendations from which successful end-results would not follow in the near future. Similar studies (Pickaver et al. 2004, Henocque 2003) have presented methodologies for analysing and monitoring integrated planning processes (with proper indicators) reflecting on major endeavours to integrate biodiversity conservation in Coastal Zone Management programmes, involving interactions between many institutions in the most-heavily impacted regions of coastal overdevelopment in France and elsewhere. They concluded that real improvements were mostly observed as a result of longer-term sectoral policies, despite the 30 or so years of developing integrated ones. 6.2 Methodological guide in coastal region context The proposed guide follows a combined analytical framework, elements of which were elaborated within the ECONET-COHAST project. It consists of five steps, starting with systematic literature review to address a specific area, to outline a regional context for conservation policy-making, as well as the available scientific evidence about the area-specific conservation problems; the understanding of these problems is then complemented through new evidence-development techniques including multi-temporal remote sensing and field work; the third step aims to review actual and historical planning processes in the area, designed to address particular conservation issues. The general goal of the first three steps is to reveal what the situation is, and what future conservation planning objectives should be set. The fourth step offers ways for structured comprehensive information to be communicated to local actors and to support an integrated, area-based 214
conservation policy and the fifth – tools for scenario analyses to assess the impacts of desirable developments. 6.3 Systematic literature review to outline a context of conservation policy-making Pullin and Steward (2006) devised a set of guidelines for undertaking formalised systematic review of problems in conservation and environmental management, based on the health services model. The guideline stages include planning and conducting a review, aiming to produce a systematic overview of evidence on the effectiveness of interventions and their outcomes. The set of guidelines comprises “protocol formation, search strategy, data inclusion, data extraction, and analyses.” The systematic review relies on an explicit search strategy for locating sources of evidence (both published and unpublished) and on strict criteria for assessing the evidence quality – a process called “critical appraisal” in medical research (Pullin and Knight 2003). The collation of evidence is done though synthesis of knowledge from multiple sources including scientific literature, grey literature, expert opinions, the internet etc., suggesting the application of meta-analyses technique (Sutherland et al. 2006). Defining the subject of systematic review needs careful consideration of sensitivity (meaning the inclusion of all relevant information) versus specificity (reflecting on the proportion of most relevant information) (Pullin and Steward 2006). The authors suggest that the approach for ecological reviews needs high sensitivity and low specificity. The systematic review of information aimed to outline elements and interactions of social and ecological systems in Western Crete that are relevant to several conservation issues of highest importance. These refer to the conservation of endemic plant species found here and nowhere else in the world, as well as the congregation of all West-Cretan habitats of priority conservation importance, included in Annex I of the Habitat Directive (HD 92/43/EEC), located in a small coastal plain of south-west Crete. Appropriate elements are approached as suggested by Berkers and Folke (1998) referring to the social capital, which is reflected in the richness of social organizations and the institutional capital, reflected in the supply of organizational ability. These elements determine the characteristics of social systems relevant to conservation issues, such as property rights, land tenure, knowledge of natural resources and environmental ethics. Papanastasis (1993) emphasised that land tenure was the most complex problem in West Crete, a decade ago. He explained that the problem referred to the unclear land-property rights on most of the rangelands and forestry areas, and there were many disputes about the ownership, especially between individual people and the government. This situation was possible due to the lack of a national cadastral system. He raised alarm about the conversion of wild-lands, including the very limited forest cover (4.5% at that time) into olive plantations and rangelands, as well as the conversion of arable land into residential areas, facilitated by the lack of building planning and control. To date, the National cadastral system of Greece is still under construction. A study of the OESD “Place-based Policies for Rural Development Crete, Greece” (2005) mentioned the lack of adequate spatial organization of land use and adherence to traditional management models (inheritance of property with no land tax, and formal recognition). These factors have led to the creation of small and scattered land-holdings. The above document stressed that the land-fragmentation phenomena is particularly striking in the area of Chania, West Crete. The strong top-down approach in environmental decision-making is another particularity of Greece. A pan-European study on the “national level of public participation, as seen by national experts” outlined Greece as the most centralized among 12 EU states (see ENCORA project, www.encora.eu), concluding that all decisions are taken by the government, with the employment of committees for engineering support. In its endeavour to implement the NATURA2000, the Greek government attempted, in a similar centralized way, to set up a strong administrative system, by appointing a National Committee of Protected Areas and the so called “management bodies” assigned to carry out conservation measures on the NATURA2000 sites. NGO reports from Crete (in 2005) have raised major alarms, pointing out that less than 20% of the sites were assigned such bodies and that even those that had, were actually left inactive due to financial and 215
organizational problems. Papageorgiou and Vogiatzakis (2006) highlight that organizational and institutional weakness, ineffective policy coordination and a rather limited political commitment to conservation as major causes of the poor policy in Greece of the “new” integrated conservation, promoted for the realization of NATURA2000. Finally, a study by Dimitrakopoulos et al. (2004) analysing the coincidence of the designated NATURA2000 sites and the sites of highest biodiversity importance in Crete concluded that there is a 30% overlap at best. 6.3.1 Detecting environmental changes and impacts and evaluating their ecological consequences with RS and field work Extracting quantitative and qualitative information from multi-temporal remote sensing (MRS) is chosen as an appropriate starting point as it reflects on both human and natural features, land and water, space and time, in a single dataset. The strategy of integrating multi-source information consists of first exploring with MRS (series of LANDSAT TM images) to get indications on the state and change of major habitats and land uses of interest and then collecting data and information from other sources (very high resolution images, site visits, existing data) to elaborate them. Specifically MRS is applied in order to: (a) map rates of artificialization sprawl and respective change in major ecosystem components (as soil and vegetation); (b) determine stage and trend of artificialization in coastal areas, and (c) assess impacts of those changes on the habitats of interest as well other hazard-related issues. This step should help to prioritise target areas for detailed planning studies within a region. The MRS methodology was elaborated and tested for the case-study in Western Crete, in the framework of the ECONET-COHAST project. It allowed for mapping rates of change, and consequently to determine trend and stage of artificialization sprawl it delimited 19 units of coastal plains in the region. Seven units (total 6167 ha) pertain to the network of NATURA2000 and 12, out of it (23932 ha). MRS analyses showed that on 5.7% of the areas within NATURA2000 versus 7.6% out of it, soil and vegetation were removed, or artificial structures were placed. These numbers roughly indicate the extent or sprawl of artificialization. They imply that the designation of Sites of Community Importance (SCI) had nearly no effect in preventing the destruction of natural habitats along the coast, since the rates of sprawl are nearly the same in and out of the network. After 1995, the rates of land-use change increased in all but one of the NATURA sites. Similar trends are observed in the areas outside the network, which were not intensively used in the period before 1995. These indications confirm the presumption that designation of sites in NATURA 2000 did not influence decision-making in more nature-respecting way, in the region of Western Crete. On three of the sites located on the northern and north-western shores, artificialization sprawl occupied nearly 10% of the sites’ areas, reducing directly the areas of several habitats of community importance. Conservation experts from the region of Crete did not consider these impacts especially worrisome, as they have focused their attention primarily on the habitats of priority conservation importance according to the Habitat Directive. The latter have been preserved better, although direct impacts were detected on Dune Juniper thickets (Juniperus spp.) and Mediterranean Temporary Ponds (M.T.P.) (codes 2250 and 3170 in Annex I of the HD). Attention is raised to the fact that when natural habitats on the coast are disturbed or removed, they frequently become habitats for the spread of alien and invasive species. Possibly the local conservation experts have underestimated the threat of wider distribution of invasive plant species, which may be devastating for the few populations of several very narrow-endemic plants, found in West Crete and nowhere else in the world. According to published literature, plant invasions follow closely the new artificialization features (see above – section 5). An inventory of the distribution of 9 invasive plant species in five of the studied coastal units located sources for the wide distribution of most of them, and possibly at present it is mostly limited by the very intensive grazing. Grazing is also quite criticised in Crete, for accelerating land-degradation and desertification processes. Local experts commented that the numbers of flocks of sheep and goats have been subjected to control and reduction. Where grazing was restricted, as in residential and leisure sites, the invasive plants are widely distributed. Therefore, there might be a conflict between the conservation and desertification measures in the 216
near future. These measures need detailed analyses for assessing their compatibility, particularly in the sites where endemic plant species are found. 6.3.2 Analysis of substantive conservation planning objectives, as expressed in all plans, policies and ideas regarding the area The purpose is to outline what are the actual objectives of authorities and stakeholders. A wide range of environmental sustainability elements, subject of local and regional governance has to be explored. Extensive questionnaires to address the municipal governors, experts and councillors are needed, as well as interviews with involved scholars, NGOs, and other stakeholders. A suitable framework for accessing multiple plans in an information system of plans (ISoP) was elaborated by Finn et al. (2007). An ISoP application was illustrated in a pilot project. Specifically it was used to facilitate a planning process for resource protection in a rapidly urbanising county in the Chicago, Illinois (USA) region. As the authors explain it “can be used to develop understanding of the goals and intents of multiple government agencies and interest groups, identify congruence and conflict among plans and facilitate discussion”. This analysis should result in a sort of commonly agreed problem definition for the area. In West Crete, most pronounced consequences of uncontrolled and little concerted development include extensive tourism-driven urban developments especially along the northern coast, sprawl of often illegal summer houses and rooms-to-let, and high density of (poorly planned) roads and other transport infrastructure (Report on State of Environment in Greece, 2001 by National Centre for the Environment and Sustainable Development, 2001). In most urban areas, residential, production and leisure functions are hardly distinguishable, and in suburban spaces all possible functions are usually mixed. At present most of the municipalities in West Crete are involved in the development of a detailed spatial plan and only one has adopted it. Regional and sub-regional (Prefecture of Chania) spatial plans have been adopted, stipulating indicative functions (areas for urbanization, for extraction of minerals), and these plans seem to represent the ambitions of few experts. Issues regarding environmental quality, open space and land-use efficiency are poorly covered in the adopted plans, and hopefully will be – in the expected municipal plans. Local conservation experts singled out one municipality, Inachorion – located in south-west Crete, where ecological policy (including the designation of a NATURA2000 site) has been promoted by local leaders in the 90s and has been well supported by the local community at present. The local government won elections with a prepared strategy for sustainable development. It adopted local environmental legislation, and applies zoning for intensive agricultural production, residential areas and nature protection. It is engaged also in coastal management actions at the most touristattractive (and consequently pressured) site in the area, called Elafonisi, including protection and restoration of Dune Juniper habitats, one of priority conservation importance, listed in Annex I of the HD. Yet, new sustainability challenges will have to be faced in the area due to the continuous depopulation of the mountainous settlements and respectively the concentration of population on the coast. Figure 1 shows changes of the population numbers for coastal and mountain villages in 40 years period (1961–2001) located within and around the protected area of Elafonisi, in the municipality of Inachorion. Historical data is derived from a planning study of the area, titled “Spatial zoning study of western coasts in Chania prefecture (Kokkinos Gremos – Acrotiri Krios)”. Until now the methods are applied for outlining research and planning objectives and the following two steps aim to set the scene for the operationalization of these objectives. 6.3.3 Structuring available and newly generated data and information on relevant environmental, socio-economic and governance performance indicators for the operationalization of an Integrated conservation policy In order to serve as a policy support, the information extracted is structured into a number of indices and indicators in accordance with the following frameworks: (a) the four pillars of sustainability – environmental, social, economical and governance; (b) the ELANEM approach (Cendrero 217
1. M. Crizoskaliptos Year
Popul.
1961
4
1971
11
1981
35
1991
65
2001
86
3
2
4
Popul.
1961
0
1971
0
1981
30
1991
82
2001
108
Year
Popul.
1961
315
1971
246
1981
165
1991
111
2001
83
6. Plokamiana
2. Livadia Year
5. Vathi
POPULATION CHANGES IN VILLAGES OF SOUTH-WEST CRETE, GREECE
5
6
7
Year
Popul.
1961
120
1971
75
1981
70
1991
43
2001
27
7. Tsitsifia
3. Keramiti
Year
Popul.
1961
50
Year
Popul.
1971
32
1961
200
1981
31
1971
138
1991
15
1981
89
2001
1991
40
2001
32
Altitude
4. Amigdalokefali Year
Popul.
1961
162
1971
105
1981
79
1991
49
2001
16
Figure 1.
7
Legend
N 1
W S
0
950
Villages E
1,900
Sea SCI Meters 3,800
Population changes in villages of south-west Crete, Greece.
et al. 2002) for coastal sustainability assessment, viewing important environmental functions as waste sink, service-support, naturalness, source of resources; (c) the DPSIR (EEA 1999) framework reflecting on several conservation perspectives, i.e. preservationist, win-win, traditionalist (see Svarstad et al. 2008). These frameworks were used to guide the construction of a matrix of 64 parameters, organised into 16 indicators, four for each pillar. It was proposed (see Bonazountas and Levadouru 2007) and used as a common methodology for six case-studies within the ECONETCOHAST project. The parameters selected for completion of the West-Cretan case study are shown in Figure 2. Consequently their estimation/evaluation was approximated for the detection of ecologic, social or economic impacts when public interventions are to be considered. Data and information was collected from the following sources: EUROSTAT and Greek national statistics, Hellenic Habitat Project (Dafis et al. 1996), MRS, very-high resolution (VHR) remote sensing, inventories and field work, visits and document/report analyses. The available list of selected parameters has to be discussed and fine-tuned with local actors, in order to be adopted as policy-support. It should help for the formulation of integrated planning objectives on regional/local levels and also to set base-line information for future monitoring of the progress towards sustainability. 6.3.4 Simulate changes and respective impacts with GIS and MRS material under different scenarios of alternative spatial development This step relies on Scenario evaluation through land-use simulations. It should facilitate the construction of a “landscape vision”. The latter expresses the long-term development perspectives for a given landscape or, in other words, the “visionary landscape” (Rodiek 2004). It has to present the desirable and realistic state as reference for assessment of planning objectives and target setting. It is 218
GOVERNANCE PILLAR
ENVIRONMENTAL PILLAR
Biodiversity
Inventory of invasive species Species at risk from Red List Data Distribution and abundance of Key species Species with economical value
Water resources
Areas of polluted waters Bathing water quality (Blue flags) Remaining wetlands (out of historical) Irrigation areas
Soil and substrate
Areas of polluted/eroded soils Extends of beaches Fertile areas out of cultivation Cultivated areas (croplands)
Landscape
Areas of artificialization sprawl Visual landscape quality Natural and semi-natural areas Space available (designated) for development
Population dynamics Coastal integrity
Population density Public Access to natural areas Use of cultural heritage resources Land (and water) tenure
Hazard and safety
Total area subject to hazards Built area subject to hazards Infrastructure in hazard zones Agricultural lands in hazard zones
Human development
People having completed vocational training Adult literacy rate Gender-related development index Life expectancy at birth
Human Pressure on Habitats
Land use patterns and composition Total extent of artificialized areas Artefacts affecting natural habitats Eutrophication
Legislation Human, technical and financial resources Natural resources protection/ restoration
NGOs and stakeholders involvement
SOCIAL PILLAR
Figure 2.
Adopted Environmental legislation Jurisprudence (No of EIS) Jurisprudence (No of rejected/modified projects) Adoted Land use plans Available staff (experts) Budget of the environmental sector Expenditure for maintenance of infrastructure Spatial planning studies Protected territory Anti-erosion measures Restoration of degraded lands Coastal (flood) defence NGOs involvement Stakeholders groups involvement Level of NGOs involvement Level of stakeholders involvement ECONOMIC PILLAR
Domestic performance
Economic Value – GDP Investment by Government Employment (per sector) Unemployment (per sector)
Local labour
Average regional income Jobs and companies created Diversity of labour Public vs. private employees
Sectors
Structure
Areas of tourism infrastructure: hotels, golf, marinas Areas of extensive production Area, devoted to mining/quarrying Areas of intensive production No of visitors Necessity for Infrastructure Demand for real estate Transportation infrastructure
Coastal sustainability parameters selected for West Crete (Greece).
based on the past/permanent situation in the landscape, but the vision of the future cannot be retrospective neither permanent, given the spatial-temporal dynamics of the coastal areas. Participatory stakeholder action and scenario construction are necessary when developing a landscape vision (Muessner 2005). The concept of “landscape character” refers to the shared expression of the way the natural and cultural elements of landscape combine to make areas different from each other, giving each area a unique sense of place, the last part refers to the concept of “genius loci”. It aims to assess both structural (visual and biophysical) features and functional (qualitative) features that are often hidden in people’s perceptions, values and norms, especially when it comes to cultural qualities (Muessner 2005). For the selected target area of south-west Crete (Elafonisi), environmental impacts of the expected artificialization sprawl were simulated on the basis of the current trends continued and in the condition of applied zoning and conservation measures. It indicates that if the development trend continues, the space occupied by human objects – mainly greenhouses, will be doubled in a decade (from 8.3 to 15.8% of the mapped coastal plain area). 219
%
18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
15.82
8.32 3.20 0.68 1984
1995
2006
2017
Year
Figure 3.
Increase of artificialized surface in NATURA2000 site. GR4340002 (Elafonisi), South-west Crete.
Legend
8
7
Invasive sp. (potential sources)
Priority conserv. importance Coastal dunes with Juniperus spp.
6
Mediterranean temporary ponds Palm groves of Phoenix Pseudo-step pe Endemic Androcymbium ssp.
Land use/cover Artificialized areas Bared soil Nature (grazing) Trees (planted) Greenhouses Buildings
5
Oxalis Carpobr Acacia Site pes-carp. otus ssp. saligna 1 2 3 4
Opuntia ssp.
5 6 7
4
8
3
2 N W
E
1
S
475 Meters
Figure 4.
Conservation issues in south-west Crete. NATURA2002 site GR 4340002 Elafonisi.
220
As can be seen in Figure 3, areas of artificial surfaces were approximated on the basis of fractionreflectance of Calcite-mineral after spectral un-mixing of LANDSAT TM images from years 1984, 1995 and 2006. The value estimated for year 2017 is an extrapolation of the historical trend. The continuation of this trend may exhibit several negative consequences: as stressed earlier, it may facilitate the distribution of invasive plants (closer to the locations of the endemic species); further direct loss of natural habitats of community importance, the overexploitation of soil and water resources, and finally – the deterioration of the visual qualities of the landscape. These results will be presented to the local government and local actors. They are expected to offer support for implementation of the local ecological policy, by clarifying contestable issues and such for further studies. An overview of the present situation is illustrated on Figure 4. Figure 4 shows the present situation of several conservation issues: locations where invasive species were found – either planted in gardens or “escaped” out of them (field trip on 7 December 2007), locations of the classified habitats of priority conservation importance (from the Hellenic Habitat Project), sprawl of artificial feature – greenhouses, buildings and roads (mapped on VHR image Ikonos from July 2006, donated by GEOINFORMATION SA (GR) and INTA SPACETURK). In conclusion, it has to be stressed that despite the concentration of conservation efforts at the Elafonisi site, a problem of concern is the fact that population numbers and intensive production activities are increasing fast within the protected area. The trends of artificialization sprawl resemble the development pattern of the neighbouring coastal plain, located to the south-east, in the municipality of Pelekanou. There, the mapped percentages of the artificialized surfaces were respectively 18.5% in 1984, 30.7% in 1995, 43% in 2006 and the estimated value for 217 reaches 55.2%. This site had comparably favourable natural values (including habitats of priority conservation importance according to the HD) and attractiveness for tourism, residential and leisure activities, but it was developed as nearly complete greenhouse field. These facts and figures should help the local agencies and communities to develop more sustainable visions for their future living environment.
7 CONCLUSIONS This chapter presented an introduction to the subject of coastal artificialization, a process of continuous congestion of population and activities on the coast, with emphasis on urban sprawl. It reveals also relevant explanatory elements of several planning fields that aim to tackle the problem from different angles, either at its source (construction) or its impacts (loss of species and habitats, pollution, hazard-risks, etc.). Conservation planning, spatial planning and ICZM succeed well in creating and promoting high-level policies with convergent goals as preserving environmental quality, nature and open space. Yet, most seem to prove little applicability in coastal regions undergoing rapid artificialization sprawl, quite typical for the Mediterranean and elsewhere. The urgent issues as people’s (and their property) safety (in the expected climate change), and biodiversity loss can only benefit from the applied programmes and their end-results. The latter still exhibit strong deficiencies, despite the adopted agendas and related procedures. In coastal areas a big challenge is to integrate conservation targets in zoning and building control, which Mediterranean-European countries are mostly unable to implement through traditional permissive planning instruments, despite the increasing necessities for safety, open space and biodiversity. These planning objectives might be adequately addressed through new development participatory practices, when demand and awareness become high. Studies for defining the potential and synergy between these objectives might help to strengthen strategic spatial planning in dynamic coastal areas. Such studies, attempting to embrace holistically the issue, were initiated within an INTERREG IIIB project ECONET-COHAST in the ARCHIMED region: Greece, southern Italy, Malta and Cyprus. The project aims to promote convergent conservation strategies at landscape scale for coastal habitats of Community significance. 221
In the last part of the chapter the ensemble of a combined methodology for assessing integrated conservation problems in the context of Mediterranean coastal areas with artificialization sprawl is described. It reflects on the ambition to develop a holistic and comprehensive study addressing several literature-defined gaps, as those defined between conservation science and policy-making, land-use modelling and spatial planning, high-level policies promotion and their local operationalization.
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Naturbanization: New identities and processes for rural-natural areas – Prados (ed) © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-49000-9
Evaluation of protected natural reserves through GTP model – The case-study of High Pyrenees Natural Park A. Pelachs, E. Mendizábal, J.M. Serra, J.M. Soriano & A. Serra Mountain Areas and Landscape Research Group (GRAMP), Departament de Geografia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
ABSTRACT: The evaluation of the geographical space where the protected nature reserves are placed, besides their natural value, requires another type of analysis that helps to value the space from a global and holistic point of view. Georges Bertrand suggested in 2000 a new method: the GTP model. This model describes and analyses the geographical space system integrating Geosystem, Territory and Paysage (Landscape). We present the application of this methodology in the High Pyrenees Natural Park. The result is the ’Landscapes Catalogue’. This approach represents a good opportunity for evaluating geographical space in general and particularly for the surrounding of Natural reserves. Landscape characterization is a basic point in any Naturbanization approach.
1 INTRODUCTION The declaration of protected natural areas is based on the definition and cataloguing of different natural values such as the habitat’s importance, rarity, singular landscapes and other variables which have a special interest. However, it is true that the ‘importance of protected areas in Spain in socioeconomic dynamics forces tackling the complex task of guaranteeing the natural patrimony conservation and its biodiversity, taking into account that many of those protected areas play a crucial role in rural development’, as highlighted by Jorge Bonnet Fernández-Trujillo (2005), President of Europarc España. In addition, it is important to state that a fifth of the Spanish territory is within the socioeconomic buffer area of these parks. For this reason, the evaluation of the geographical space where the protected natural reserves are placed, besides their natural value, requires another type of analysis that helps to value the space from a global and holistic point of view. Georges Bertrand suggested in 2000 a new method in which he describes and analyses the geographical space system through GTP model, integrating Geosystem, Territory and ‘Paysage’ (Frolova 2003, Frolova & Bertrand 2007). This approach represents a good opportunity for evaluating geographical space in general terms. The aim of this paper is to present a Landscapes Catalogue of the High Pyrenees Natural Park, founded in 2003, applying the methodology proposed by Bertrand (2000). This catalogue is presented like a useful method for the correct evaluation of the Natural Protected Areas and it has to serve to present some indicators that can be keys for the correct definition of the phenomenon of Naturbanization (Prados 2006). It is necessary to take into account that in the analysis of the Natural Protected Areas the environmental indicators are the principal reference obviating the socioeconomic variables. This is not an opposition to this system of evaluation; on the contrary, the objective is to improve it using complementary elements that are important for the global comprehension of the natural system. In zones of Mediterranean mountains, it is necessary to take in to account the culturalization of the space that makes it difficult to separate what is natural and what is humanised. For this reason, even though naturbanization is analysed around natural spaces with the maximum degree of protection 225
in Spain (National Parks), it is necessary to say that they are places that have not been exempted from human influence in the past. For this reason, it is convenient to analyse other natural protected areas with a less restrictive protectionist regime, that protect the natural space at the same time as analysing the interests and the sustainable development of the activities that they have helped to configure in these areas. This would be the case of the Natural Parks. The natural values of these spaces that attrack the societies that live close to the Natural Parks are the same or higher to those of the spaces surrounding the National Parks. In this case, there are local development policies that help the maintenance of the population, without this blocking initiatives for the establishment of foreign population that relocate their residences around the Natural Parks, attracted by their natural values. It is important to remark that in Spain the main body of the population does not have the capacity to distinguish the real difference between a National and Natural Park. Following this reasoning, we consider that it is acceptable to analyse naturbanization processes in National and in Natural Parks in Spain. Thus, with the acceptance of the Natural Park for the study of naturbanization it is possible to obtain beneficial effects for the study of this phenomenon: a. In first place, the locations where this phenomenon can be observed are more numerous and therefore, the elements of comparison are much more diverse than those around the National Parks. b. In second place, as these are places where a certain humanization of the space is accepted under the principles of sustainability – unlike in the National Parks where these activities are excluded – it could be interesting to see to what extent this is positive or negative for the phenomenon of the naturbanization. c. In third place, doing research in a Natural Park makes it easier to include socioeconomic indicators, but this inclusion it is not always possible in the National Parks. However, the indicators of the natural values must be preponderant – at least theoretically. Nevertheless, an important handicap to the valuing of the influence of the natural space in the immediate surroundings is the delimitation of the natural protected area. In some cases, the design of the limits of these areas is made breaking with the traditional system or relationships and isolating the natural values influenced by the society. For this reason, the habitat spaces and the villages are out of the limits of the park. This aspect makes the naturbanization phenomenon different and therefore its consideration is interesting. d. Finally, working on different types of natural spaces allows to re-investigate areas that are the heritage of some human activities that have moved (with ups and downs) through 6000 years of history. However, nobody can deny that the present territory is the result of a few millennia of human presence. And now when some of these natural protected areas are analysed, it is possible to observe that the current trend is the abandonment of the management of the territory. That is, in the moment that a space is protected by its natural values, the activities that are developed there have less relationship with the use of the territory, and nowadays the space for living becomes less important. It is even possible to see the paradox that the population increases but the direct management of the territory decreases. The concept of naturbanization must also be capable of explaining this type of phenomenon and therefore, explaining the extent to which the population that settles in a natural protected area needs or does not need the territory. And logically, this question is easier to analyse in a Natural Park than in a National Park, duet to the limitations of occupation of the space that the latter has. The Landscapes Catalogue of the High Pyrenees Natural Park has been used to illustrate these ideas because it is a good example for the study of the concept of naturbanization – as is the fact that it is a Natural Park located at some distance from the metropolitan area of Barcelona (three hours in private transport). The limits of the High Pyrenees Natural Park have been delineated leaving ouside some villages which paradoxically use the Natural Park as an opportunity for tourist development. This is a park with an important number of patrimonial elements resulting from the relationship 226
Study area Natural Park High (meters) 0
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Figure 1.
10 km
Localization of the High Pyrenees Natural Park.
between the society and the environment. It is important to note that it is a recently recognized park that has to make allowances to see a future affected by the phenomenon of naturbanization or not. For all the reasons exposed, the Landscapes Catalogue of the High Pyrenees Natural Park has focused on the identification of different indicators of the geographical space that will serve to contrast the environmental quality of its geosystem. There are also socioeconomic values and aspects that explain the dynamics of the territory and that help to evaluate the changes that have occurred during the last fifty years. To be able to achieve this objective, it has been necessary to carry out the research in an area bigger than the limits of the Natural Park (Fig. 1), because although in administrative terms the limits of the park can have some sense, from the point of view of functionality of the geographical space it is impossible to split the activity of the valleys from the peaks in a mountainous area like this. This relationship was present before when the territory was more important for the improvement of natural resources from the primary sector than nowadays, because other economic sectors are interested in the development of the area, such as building or skiing. It is important to report that the design of the catalogue has been inspired by the Catalan Act 8/2005 for ‘Protection, Management and Planning of Landscapes’. This act establishes that landscape catalogues ‘are descriptive and prospective documents that determine landscape typologies of Catalonia, identifying their values and their state of conservation as well as proposing main goals of landscape quality that must be accomplished’ (Art.10). 227
For these reasons, the catalogue of the High Pyrenees Natural Park is based on the article 10 of Act 8/2005, adapting the needs of the Park and developing the criteria proposed. The definition of specific landscape characteristics is based on recognisable elements that contribute to different landscapes, but it does not specify if those landscapes have better or worse quality. The landscape identification is strongly related to the definition of the characteristics and it implies natural, cultural and visual elements that distinguish a specific landscape from another. To identify a landscape is to define specific aspects. The result of this process are the units of landscape, a basic territorial piece on which is based the new landscape policy of Catalonia; the units are the basis onto which all the information in this catalogue is structured. 2 REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS The High Pyrenees Natural Park is the largest Natural Park of Catalonia, with a total surface of 69,850 ha. This Natural Park is located in the axial Pyrenees at the eastern end of the Pyrenees and on the southern side of this mountain chain between the Noguera Pallaresa River (to the west) and the Segre River (to the east), near where the borders of Spain, France and Andorra meet, in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula. Axial Pyrenees is the highest area with old rocks, formed by igneous rocks such as granite and metamorphic rocks such as slate or schist. Consequently, the current shape of peaks, valleys and depressions of the Natural Park are the result of the Quaternary glacial erosion, the driving erosion force which modelled the terrain and stressed the differences between sunny and shady slopes of mountains, clearly determined by the structural component and its bedrock. Moreover, the highest summit of Catalonia – Pica d’Estats (3143 m) – can be found inside the High Pyrenees Natural Park (Fig. 1). Subsequently, the rivers of the Pyrenees, with enormous erosional power, modified glacial erosion by digging even more former glacial valleys. In this Natural Park, it is important to stress the valleys of rivers Noguera Pallaresa, Noguera de Cardós and Noguera de Vallferrera, with average altitudes of 1300–1400 metres of their axes, contrasting with average altitudes over 3000 metres in their upstream. Regarding the climate, this Natural Park is characterised by high climatic diversity caused by altitudinal gradient among different valleys and summits, their orientation, aspect and their structural disposition. At the bottom of the valleys, sub-Mediterranean climate with continental tendency predominates, with a fluctuant precipitation around 700–800 mm/month. However, Atlantic climate, sub-Alpine and alpine climate appear when the altitude is increased and result in a high precipitation, over 2000 mm/year. 3 MATERIAL AND METHODS The methodology used is based on Bertrand (2000) and it comes from the idea that geographical space must be treated as the relationship between society and environment from different points of view, since a given object could be analysed differently depending on the knowledge area chosen and the main goal of the analysis. However, the valuation of geographic space should be global and should consider the whole set of interactions (Mendizábal et al. 2006). There are several concepts which are necessary in order to describe different processes between nature and society in a given piece of land. Bertrand (2000) proposed the three main ones: geosystem, territory and landscape, which describe the GTP model (Fig. 2): a. The geosystem is a naturalistic and systemic concept that enables analysing structure and biophysical functioning of an area, as it works at present and in the past. Furthermore, it incorporates the human perturbation in the system as a component of fundamental analysis, enabling the valuation of the degree of human impact on the ‘natural’ system. For instance, vegetation or a tree itself is a concept that is analysed from this point of view. 228
Perception et fonction d’usage
Espace Géographique
Figure 2.
Téléologie des sous-systémes
Processus dominant Naturalité naturalisté et anthropisation
Concepts/notions at méthodes
Source
Entrée naturaliste
Ressource
Entrée socioéconomique
Artificialisation
TERRITOIRE
Ressourcement
Entrée socioculturelle
Artialisation
PAYSAGE
GEOSYSTÈME
Globalisation et interface
GTP model (Bertrand, 2006:67).
b. The territory is a concept that enables analysing the repercussions of the organization and socioeconomic functioning of the considered area. Therefore, the natural source turns into socioeconomic resource. This evaluation would no longer consider vegetation or a tree itself, but the forest cover and the human appropriation of wood. c. Finally, the landscape represents the cultural dimension of the considered area. Landscape is the social representation of a land, that is, the image that society has of it. Hence, this evaluation is based on the geosystem perception by part of the society – in this particular case by the perception of the environment through the five basic senses (hearing, taste, smell, touch and sight) and the creation of a cultural heritage with extra value (material and immaterial). For instance, the tree of Guernica as a symbol of traditional freedoms for the Basque people. With that purpose, according to Act 8/2005 and GTP methodology, the starting hypothesis is based on the idea that the High Pyrenees Natural Park landscape is the result of a human process of collective transformation of nature. Therefore, it is proposed to process physical, environmental and human variables, in order to have a set of territorial units with their own individual meanings which allow the characterization of the whole Natural Park. Information on the Landscapes Catalogue of the High Pyrenees Natural Park has been analysed considering the principles mentioned above. 3.1 Definition of units of landscape The analysis of the variables was used to do a first delimitation of the units of landscape. The units are defined as a part of the territory characterised by a specific combination of landscape components and of clearly recognisable dynamics that confer an idiosyncrasy differentiated from the rest of the territory. The criteria used for the delimitation of the units is that established by Act 8/2005; the processes is the following: a. To cover all the territory, so that each point or place always belongs to a specific unit of landscape. Therefore it is important to know the difference between typology and unit, because one unit contains different types of landscape. b. According to the law, the units have a certain extension because it is important that the unit does not lose efficiency in the process of incorporating the guidelines in the planning. Therefore, the unit has to be significant enough for the management goals of the Natural Park of the High Pyrenees. c. The main objective of the Catalogue is to integrate the landscape into the territorial planning; this is the scale of the research. Therefore, this will be the same scale used in the partial territorial plan, that is, 1:50.000. This level of detail is optimum for the study of the information on the landscape necessary for territorial planning, sartorial plans of development or strategies for the 229
conservation of nature. However, it is not much for cataloguing the landscapes of a Natural Park. The cartography basis used in the research is between the scales 1:30.000 and 1:25.000. d. The definition of the units has to be based on constant landscape elements throughout the years, and it is possible to assure that the catalogues have a high period of validity. This is an adequate aspect to the definition of the catalogue. e. There is not any element that argues by itself the delimitation of a unit of landscape. The character of the landscape unit will depend of the combination of relief types (mountain, valleys, plains, etc.), land covers (crops, urbanised zones, river bank forest, etc.) organization of the space, historical dimension (secular landscape structures or more modern ones), perception (texture, colours, forms), among other functions. Therefore, the more approaches to each unit, the easier it will to find elements that have the possibility to distinguish the behaviour of the units. Other works written by the research of have been useful to synthesize all this information (Esteban 2003, Aldomà et al. 2004, Soriano et al. 2001). f. It is necessary to avoid the discontinuity of units of landscape in the neighbouring spaces. This means that a determined limit of the unit of landscape does not have the same layout as the territorial area. This is an aspect that has been taken into account, so that the units can be pending completion. Thus, based on criteria a, b and c we have delimited the study area around the Natural Park of High Pyrenees for this study, which has allowed us to develop the criteria proposed. The limits have been established following the actual boundary of the Natural Park, the Natural Protected Areas Plan (PEIN) and the actual protected zones in the surroundings, as well as the natural limits based on the present protected area (Fig. 1). A first proposal of landscape units through different variables was set. They were based on points d; e and f and took into account the prompt inclusion of the Natural Park into the Landscape Units map of the High Pyrenees. Furthermore, they were clustered into five groups that would help to delimit and value those landscape units: a. b. c. d. e. f.
Physiographic factors Landscape structure, from a landscape ecology perspective Land cover Historical dimension of landscape Viewshed maps Landscape elements
Through these groups, landscape units are classified according to the main elements of geosystem (a & b), territory (c & d) and landscape (e & f). However, the units obtained are the result of these five groups and the expert knowledge of geographic space, necessary in order to interpret variable results. Finally, it is important to state that a good selection and delimitation of landscape units is a keystone to proposing comparative studies between different locations and helps to define a suitable working scale. 3.2 Analysed variables (I): Environmental data (Geosystem) The variables proposed for the analysis, which have been used to mark out and value the units, are based on the GTP model. A set of physical and environmental explanatory variables of the natural system has been used to deal with Geosystem. These variables are useful to discover different Functional Typologies of Landscape (FTL) for the whole Natural Park (Ninyerola et al. 2006). For physiographic factors a set of clusters have been defined in the territory, in which its topographic and climatic behaviour was homogeneous. To define them, topographic and climatic variables were extracted from the Digital Climatic Atlas of Catalonia (http://magno.uab.es/atlesclimatic/). In addition, remote sensing imagery was used in order to add information about the real state of land cover. A temporal series of 2002–2005 form satellites LANDSAT-5 TM and 230
LANDSAT-7 EMT+ was used to calculate these physical variables mentioned above (16 days temporal resolution, 30 m spatial resolution). The aim of this first delimitation was to create a Functional Landscape Typologies map of the Natural Park of the High Pyrenees. In order to do this, it was highly important to consider relief type, since it is the most relevant driver of some important aspects of a landscape such as altitude, aspect or slope. Therefore, it is essential to analyse the territory and proceed to the cartographic representation of the main physical variables (altitude, slope, aspect and hydrology) through a digital elevation model designed through altitude curves from the Cartographic Institute of Catalonia (ICC). The climatic factor also has a special relevance, since most of the biological distribution of animals and plants are highly conditioned by these factors. From the Digital ClimaticAtlas of Catalonia, a few variables were extracted from a 180 m spatial resolution map designed with dates from 1951 to 1999. After a suitable treatment, they were used for Functional Landscape Typologies identification. On the other hand, remote sensing variables mentioned above will add environmental information over the real state of land cover, for instance their water stress, the phonologic state (or greenes, NDVI) and the surface temperature. As mentioned above, these were taken from satellite imagery of LANDSAT-5 TM & LANDSAT-7 ETM+ for the period 2002–2005 in 30 m spatial resolution. A first treatment of this imagery such us radiometric and geometric correction and cloudiness extraction was undertaken in order to calculate three indexes: the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), surface temperature and the wetness index. Finally, pixels were rescaled to 180 m resolution to adapt them to the same resolution of the climatic variables. Monthly and annual indexes were calculated for the period mentioned above. All this information processing aimed at obtaining a whole database for the Natural Park with a final spatial resolution of 180 m, which is the minimum resolution for a reliable climatic map based on meteorological stations. The methodology used to aggregate all variables is based in a multivariate statistical method named clustering. The module ISOMM from the GIS MiraMon was used in order to apply this technique for such an amount of raster variables. The technique groups or clusters pixels with similar values for different variables, hence a final map is obtained which groups pixels in categories depending on their topoclimatic behaviour. It is a semiautomatic iterative system that enables the creation of a hierarchical legend of areas with similar environmental conditions for the selected variables. It is important to distinguish three phases in the elaboration of this cartography: – Phase 1: selection and transformation of variables. Once variables were selected, different transformations had to be undertaken not to create statistical artifacts. The two main transformations are indicated below: a. Logarithmic scaling of mean annual water balance (BHM) and mean annual precipitation (PMA), because of the wide range of the variable standardization. b. Reduction of remote sensing indices through the statistical technique of the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to avoid redundancy between them. All variables were standardised before running ISOMM module in order to transform them to the same scale. – Phase 2: delimitation of Functional Landscape Types through ISOMM module of the MiraMon GIS. A second phase lies in confronting these classification with five control zones in which a previous expert knowledge of their landscapes is given. These control zones are used to validate the statistical classification undertaken and they were chosen based on their representability for the park. – Phase 3: creation of a hierarchical legend. Through the results obtained in the ISOMM classification, every class was re-analysed using tree-joining-Ward’s method, which led to the discovery of how different classes were from one another. 231
To sum up, the FLT has been processed from 3 different perspectives: a. Orthographic variables: slope, curvature and the average annual figure of real solar radiation (Ninyerola et al. 2000). b. Climatic variables: annual thermal amplitude, average annual precipitation and average hydrological balance, processed from the Digital Climatic Atlas from Catalonia (Ninyerola et al. 2000). c. Remote sensing variables: normalised difference vegetation index, land surface temperature and humidity index. Obtained from a series of Landsat-7 ETM+ and Landasat-5 TM images (Ninyerola et al. 2006). The comparison between land cover from 1956 and 1993 has been used for the land use analysis between 1956 and 1993, as well as for the landscape structure change. The landscape metrics behaviour (cohesion, connectivity and complexity), have been processed by means of FRAGSTATS 3.0 software (McGarigal et al. 2002), from the processing of master matrices generated from each of the two years analysed with 6 metres resolution. A first analysis was performed using the diagnosis of changes arisen between 1956 and 1993. Moreover, it was aimed to explain the behaviour of landscape patches in two different scales: a macro scale (the whole study area) and to a land cover scale, without detailing over a specific forest management or a crop field since they were goals out of our present study. The structural behaviour of different patches in the landscape would provide information about the direction of the change between 1956 and 1993. The methodology proposed is based on different photointerpetation scales. A priori, these different scales could hamper results interpretation since they correspond to different zoom levels, hence the different values of the landscape metrics calculated. To avoid misinterpretations, a former analysis was performed to 4 m, 6 m and 10 m spatial resolution in order to asses metrics behaviour with changing scale. This test suggested a 6 m spatial resolution, a reasonable compromise between large and a small resolution, and enabled an easier interpretation between 1956 and 1993. Once the suitable spatial resolution was set, we aimed at evaluating general trends more than specifying absolute values of environmental risks or real fragmentation problems, since this is considered an aim of a deeper study on these issues. However, metric values do not compromise subsequent studies of comparison with new editions of Catalonia Land Cover Maps. 3.3 Analysed variables (II): Territory system The analysis of the territorial variables has been done using the dynamics of the actual land cover. According to the method applied, the land cover is the specific spatial disposition of each landscape, and its cartography shows a zonification of the territorial units of landscape. In this sense, we have used the Land Use Cover Map of Catalonia elaborated by the CREAF from colour orthofotomaps (1:25.000 of year 1993), in order to obtain a big vision of the land. This map is available at http://www.creaf.uab.es/mcsc/poligons.htm (21-12-2005), in raster and vectorial format. The map and other stadistical data has been used for to explain the different land uses types of the High Pyrenees Natural Park. The legend used for this map has determined the photo interpretation that has been developed in this research. In order to include the historical dynamics in this analysis, the study of the human factor as a principal agent of transformation of the landscape has been done following the identification of forms and structures of landscape that are identified in the orthophotomap of the Institute of Cartography of Catalonia (ICC) at scale 1:25.000. In order to do so, we have used the photo interpretation of the orthofotography of 1956–57 – elaborated especially by this research – in order to highlight the change from the mid 20th century to the present. The main objective of this part has been to present the principal changes and differences between 1956 and 1993, and to analyse them in two different ways: a. On the one hand, to obtain a logical sequence of raster information that allows the enrichment of the TFP with regard to possible changes from years 1956 to 1993. 232
b. On the other hand, to interpret the changes in land cover and to know what specific dynamics accompany each of these transformations. The methodology applied in the treatment of the first aerial photograph (useful for the identification of the continuity, discontinuity and composition of landscapes), has been based on the geometric correction of the different images of 1956. This has been necessary to follow a methodology based on: (1) scanning the aerial photography; (2) georeferencing the aerial photography using control points; (3) generation of the Digital Model of Elevation suitable for this type of image (1 m side of pixel); (4) geometrical correction of the aerial photographs; (5) cutting of each corrected image; and finally (6) mosaic all the images (Matamala et al. 2004, 2005, Soriano 2006). The graphic information of 1956 is exceptional and allows a detailed photo interpretation that is possible to compare with the land cover map when the image has been geo-referenced. Their detailed study, when compared with present information (land cover map 1993), allows us to know with accuracy the volume and significance of the process of change in the last 50 years, and therefore to explain which has been the most recent territorial dynamics. This change is explained in the following categories: 1. Cropland: sown soil, therefore exploited at the moment when the aerial photography was taken. It corresponds to the category of Crops in the Land Cover Map of 1993. 2. Abandoned cropland: agricultural areas that are not currently being exploited but that still have specific characteristics of these areas (terraces, allotments, etc). This category does not correspond to the Land Cover Map of 1993, but has been added to the low dense forest for the analysis of the historical dimensions. 3. Pasture: areas with herbaceous coating destined to livestock pasture. This type corresponds to the category of Grasslands and Bogs and Marshes vegetation in the Land Cover Map of Catalonia of 1993. 4. High dense forest: forest with an arboreal coating equal or superior to 20%. This category corresponds to Reforestations and Forest in the Land Cover Map of 1993. 5. Low dense forest: forest with an arboreal coating between 5% and 20%. The correspondence with the Land Cover Map 1993 is direct. It includes the Bushes category. 6. Urban: areas constituted by continuous or small disperse constructions. This category corresponds to Urban and Built-Up Land of the Land Cover Map of 1993. 7. Electricity infrastructure: areas affected by the establishment of infrastructures used by the hydroelectric exploitation of the zone. It does not have correspondence with the Land Cover Map of 1993, but has been added to the low dense forest for the analysis of the historical dimensions. 8. Non-vegetation land: naked zones of vegetation, generally of natural character. This category corresponds to rocky cliffs and slopes, natural naked zones, artificial naked zones, glaciers and permanent snows of the Land Cover Map of 1993. 9. Continental waters: these areas are occupied by glaciers and artificial reservoirs excluding the fluvial courses. This category does not correspond to a specific value of Land Cover Map of 1993. The legend designed for the 1956 land cover map implied a reclassification of the Catalonia Land Cover Map (LCMC) of 1993 in order to facilitate comparison. It is important to mention and explain those reclassifications: a. The bush category established in the LCMC for 1993 has been included in the category of low dense forest. Bushes are considered in the LCMC as ‘areas under a composition of bushes equal or over 20%, and a forest cover less than 5%’. That enabled distinguishing this category from the low dense forest in the LCMC: ‘areas with a forest cover between 5% and 20 %’. However, in the interpretation of aerial photos of 1956 nuance was difficult to detect and we decided to group bushes in the low dense forests. Moreover, in most of the images analysed, bushes without trees were difficult to identify. 233
b. Concerning the category of glaciers and permanent snow determined by the LCMC of 1993, it has been included within the unproductive soils, since it was considered not precisely detectable in the aerial photos of 1956 and could be easily misclassified as bedrock. c. Reforestation in the LCMC of 1993 was included as high dense forest for comparison. d. Roads and railways were assigned to the nearest neighbour patch with a higher area. Furthermore, the land cover map from 1956 has been used to find some aspects related to the artificial land cover development of the territory. Thus, cereal crops, the paths network, grazing intensity, the borders (cabins or cottages used for agro-pastoral activities) and the meaningful forestry fell, have been treated in a specific way. This makes possible a detailed valuation of the possible loss of traditional activities (Ninyerola et al. 2006, Soriano et al. 2006). Finally, the local socioeconomic activities have been treated by means of the area taxonomy study (Pallàres et al. 2004). To perform such an analysis, two fundamental methods of spatial analysis were used: geographic information systems (GIS) and factor analysis. GIS enabled to make explicit what was formerly implicit by arising interrelations which had not been observed in the territory. On the other hand, statistical analysis of a few socio-economic variables of a different sort of areas was performed through factorial analysis. This method is used for the study and interpretation of the relationships found between a group of variables. The goal is to discover common factors among all variables under study. In the present study, they have been used to interpret what will be called ‘quantitative values of actual activities’, being precise in our evaluation. The methodology used implies working with spatial and alphanumerical data through different phases. It is important to state that these two sorts of data (spatial and alphanumerical) must be processed separately since they require different calculation techniques. Once all data is compiled, a factorial analysis is run. First results made us consider the need of variable reduction, hence in a few cases variables where aggregated through themes (for example: hotels, camp sites, restaurants, etc. were grouped in a new ‘tourism’ variable). However, other variables were rejected for analysis. A set of 127 variables organised in five information sets have been analysed as alphanumeric data with the Miramon GIS (Pons 2000) and the factor analysis (Pallarès et al. 2004): – – – – – –
Set 1: demographic and economic variables. Set 2: social variables. Set 3: industrial and commercial variables. Set 4: agricultural variables. Set 5: livestock variables. Set 6: orthographical variables.
The factor analysis has made it possible to classify the territory according to different sets of factors which have been used to identify common factors in every unit in the Natural Park area. Alphanumeric variables were extracted form the census of the Statistics Institute of Catalonia (http://www.idescat.es), from the agrarian census and the housing census (tables 4.1 to 4.6). Since it was an analysis of the territory, it was necessary to include spatial variables that would enable the induction of homogeneous characteristics between different locations of the area under study. To determine municipality taxonomies, biophysical variables were extracted from the geo-referenced databases of the ICC, available through the Environment Department of Generalitat de Catalunya (http://www.gencat.es/mediamb/sig/bases.htm). Some data was used directly from these databases without any processing of spatial analysis, or simply main GIS procedures such as clip or reclassification categories or reduction of the number of variables. However, in some cases it was necessary to perform a complex spatial analysis: an altitude map, for instance, had to be created. The original database is in an Excel 2000 format. Its validation was performed through the statistical software SPSS v13.0 for Windows and the final statistical analysis was performed through SAS v.9,1 software (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA). 234
A quality assessment of data was also performed in order to reject inconsistency or mistakes in input data. The actions undertaken are specified below: – Checking outliers or non existing categories. – Recoding of erroneous values where necessary. – Data obtained has not been manipulated afterwards since the statistical package used provide tables and lists directly. After data compiling, different multivariate statistical techniques have been performed to analyse data, specifically Factor Analysis with Varimax rotation, to obtain classes or clusters of municipalities. Through factor analysis, a description of a matrix of several dimensions is possible by reducing the number of factors, hence the number of dimensions is also reduced, which enables easy matrix description and conserves the maximum information (Vera 2007). 3.4 Analysed variables (III): Landscape The ‘Paysage’ (landscape) has been valued by means of documentary and graphic information sources and field work. For this reason, the first analysis has consisted of the generation of visual basins using the Miramon GIS (Pons 2000). The visual basins have been elaborated from the principal road network, the most important collados (mountain passes), the main towns and villages, plateaux and summits lower than 2000 meters, between 2000 and 2500 meters and higher than 2500 meters. This has allowed us to consider the visual impact of landscape unit and to consider the visual exposure as another element in the territory collective image configuration. In addition, the documentary information and the field work have made it possible to value how the impact of cultural heritage of every territorial area has influenced the perception of the people. This is the case of many literary works such as accounts of travellers which have been located in the Natural Park, as well as some legends which have been compiled for their documentary and landscape value (Mendizábal & Pèlachs 2006). Moreover, an architectural heritage inventory has been made, whose value could also be considered. The heritage has been classified in several categories: ecclesiastical (for example, Romanesque architecture is well represented in this Natural Park), bridges, castles, vigilance towers, and other elements of interest. Finally, a brief compilation of traditions and special celebrations has also been done. 4 RESULTS The final result of the analysis has been the High Pyrenees Natural Park Landscape Catalogue, presented with different GIS information layers, which allow us to analyse separately all the variables used to characterise Geosystem, Territory and Landscape. There are 27 landscape units that have been identified according to the field work and the expert opinion based on the elaborated information (Fig. 3). Every one of these units has been named after a local place for a larger territorial integration, and has been presented in a format containing sections elaborated with the following main information: a. General description and main characteristics (a summary of the main characteristics of the unit). b. Physiographic and map location, in order to find the study area by means of relief and topography. c. Recent historical evolution, with the general description of land cover, the recent historical dynamics (between 1956 and 1993) and the change in tendencies in the last 50 years. d. Organization and structure of landscape, with a description of the unit’s functional organization, a selection of the main habitats and the cover structural dynamics. e. Landscape elements assessment, by means of a summary of the main components of the Geosystem, Territory and Landscape model. The objective pursued in the elaboration of the cards has been to provide the agents of the Natural Park with an effective tool capable of giving solutions to the goals of landscape quality. It is important to emphasise that the objectives can change with time. Because of this, for the 235
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Montroig Certascan Àrreu Marimanya Alt Tavascan Vall d’Esterri i Alta Noguera
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Landscape units of the Natural Park of High Pyrenees.
considerations of the GTP model, different informative variables of each of these categories have been analysed with the intention of establishing a typology of values that can be broadened and updated in a permanent way. The treatment of the GTP allows structuring the geographical space from different material and immaterial elements of the territory that can continuously be subject to revision, since many of the principal values of a landscape above all others are cultural aspects. In this sense the following values have been considered: a. The Geosystem has been approached from two categories: – The values of the habitats of special interest according to the materials used by the technicians of the Natural Park of High Pyrenees with regard to the following coding: HC (Cartography 236
of the Habitats of Catalonia); Corine (Codi Corine of European Habitats); HIC (Habitats of Community Interest). For each habitat, the percentage of concentration in each unit has been calculated in order to know the distribution of the habitats in the study area. This allows the agents to value the importance of each habitat. – The values of the different physical elements, that is, those that they represent (or they can represent), an icon or a singular place at landscape level. – The values of the different categories of land use with regard to the spatial structure, according to the principles of ecology of the landscape. b. The Territory has been analysed with regard to the dynamics intrinsic to the concept of landscape, highlighting those values that are key to understanding the socioeconomic activity of the space; if they are the main urban areas and the infrastructures, the rest of categories of land use have also been taken into account. The following aspects have been highlighted by this reasoning – Qualitative values of activities of 1956, which have been useful for identifying: gunwales, agricultural left, crop of cereals, cuttings and pastures (as it has been explained in section 2). These elements have been categorised from a qualitative valuation that obeys the averages and distribution of the study area. Six categories have been considered: null, low, middle-low, middle-high, high and very high. – The current dynamics of populaton abandonment in all the Pyrenean area force to consider this as an element of the inhabited landscape. Moreover, the kernel is the person responsible for the local government organization of the past socioeconomic activities and therefore structures the landscape. For this reason there are units that have many centres of population and others that have none. – Quantitative values of current socioeconomic activities. As has been explained before, the valuation of the present socioeconomic dynamic has been used in municipality data. The quantitative appraisal of the current socioeconomic activities has been experienced only by those units that contained the main town. For that reason, in some units the territorial information of other units that belong to the same territorial area is important. The qualitative appraisal has served to make the specific variables more relevant. c. The Landscape has been analysed from two viewpoints: – The values of each unit where the potentiality is based on different people, villages, roads, necks and plans, but also from each territory where these elements can be seen. – And from the appraisal of the cultural patrimony with a selection of the chronicles of journeys and legends known, architectural patrimony (churches, bridges, castles and towers for panoramic viewing, etc) and the festivals and most distinctive traditions of each unit. The set of all these elements has given as a result an extensive, agile and handy interactive data base from which it will be possible to monitor the future dynamic like, for example, naturbanization. However, although the creation of the Natural Park of High Pyrenees makes it difficult to analyse the phenomenon of naturbanization, it gives enough elements of analysis to select the main indicators of the geographical space.
5 CONCLUSIONS The GTP model will help naturbanization studies because it is a deep analysis of the different elements of landscape valuation which is included in Prados’ objectives (2006). The different elements that design and characterise the geographical space make global assessment very difficult. Otherwise, the link between GTP model and SIG becomes a useful tool for information integration and permits decision-making based on the goals of the Natural Park managers. The landscape unit limit allows us to set the most important values on the territory, but its geographic delimitation should not become an obstacle for the implementation of other analysis scales. 237
REFERENCES Aldomà, I. et al. 2004. La transformació del territori i del Paisatge de l’Alt Pirineu. In E. Vicedo (ed.), Medi, territori i història. Les transformacions territorials en el món rural català occidental. Lleida: Pagès: 139-164. Bertrand, G. 2000. Le paysage et la géographie: un nouveau rendez-vous. Treballs de la Societat Catalana de Geografia 50: 57–68. Bonnet Fernández-Trujillo, J. 2005. Anuario 2005. Madrid: Fundación Fernando González Bernáldez. http:// www.europarc-es.org/intranet/EUROPARC/preview/anuario2005.pdf Duda, R.D. & Hart, P.E. 1973. Pattern Classification and Scene análisis. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Esteban, A. (ed.). 2003. Los Paisajes del Parque Nacional de Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici. La humanización de las altas cuencas de la Garona y las Nogueras (4.500 aC – 1955 dC). Madrid: Ministerio de Medio Ambiente – Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales. Frolova, M. 2003. Bertrand, Claude et Georges: Une géographie traversière: L’environnement à travers territoires et temporalités. Paris: Éditions Arguments. Frolova, M. & Bertrand, G. 2007. Geografía y Paisaje: ¿hacia estudio integral del medio ambiente?’. In D. Hiernaux & A. Lindón (eds.), Tratado de Geografía Humana, México: Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Iztapalapa: 254–269. Matamala, N. et al. 2004. La utilidad del catastro como fuente para estudios de biogeografía cultural. In A. Cadiñanos et al (eds.), III Congreso Español de Biogeografía: 126–133. Bilbao: Servicio editorial de la Universidad del País Vasco. Matamala, N. et al. 2005. Estudi de les dinàmiques del paisatge en zones de muntanya: una proposta metodològica. In S. Riera (ed.), Una aproximació transdisciplinar a 8.000 anys d’història dels usos del sòl. Monografies: 87–97. Barcelona: Universidad de Barcelona. Mendizábal, E. et al. 1993. La població estacional en els municipis de Catalunya. Papers de demografia 75. Mendizábal, E. & Pèlachs, A. 2006. La descripción de los paisajes del Pirineo catalán por algunos viajeros (1750–1950). In A. López Ontiveros et al. (eds.), Representaciones culturales del paisaje. Y una excursión por Doñana. Colección de Estudios. Madrid: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Mendizábal, E. et al. 2006. Paisajes de Cataluña: una propuesta para su descripción y análisis. In V. Paül & J. Tort (eds.), Territorios, paisajes y lugares. Ametlla del Vallès: Publidisa. Mcgarigal, K. et al. 2002. FRAGSTATS: Spatial Pattern Analysis Program for Categorical Maps. Amherst: University of Massachusetts (computer software programme). Ninyerola, M. et al. 2000. A methodological approach of climatological modelling of air temperature and precipitation through GIS techniques. International Journal of Climatology 20: 1.823–1.841. Ninyerola, M. et al. 2006. El diseño de Unidades Funcionales del Paisaje vegetal mediante técnicas de Teledetección y SIG. In M. Redondo et al. (eds.), IV Congreso Español de Biogeografía: 105. Madrid: Artbox Comunicación. Pallarès, M. et al. 2004. Taxonomías de áreas del Pirineo Catalán: Aproximación metodológica al análisis de variables socioterritoriales. Geofocus 4: 209–245. Prados, M.J. 2006. Los parques naturales como factor de atracción de la población. Un estudio exploratorio sobre el fenómeno de la naturbanización en Andalucía. Cuadernos Geográficos 38(1): 87–110. Pons, X. 2000. MiraMon. Sistema de Información Geográfica y software de Teledetección. Bellaterra: Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals (http://www.creaf.uab.cat/miramon). Soriano, J.M. et al. 2001. La utilización histórica del espacio pirenaico: la vegetación y los suelos. In Actas del XVII Congreso de Geógrafos Españoles: 220–223. Oviedo: AGE, Universidad de Oviedo, GEA & CeCodet. Soriano, J.M. 2006. Catáleg de paisatges del Parc Natural de l’Alt Pirineu. Bellaterra-Llavorsí (umpublished document). Soriano, J.M. et al. 2006. La gestión del Parque Natural del Alto Pirineo mediante el mapa de Unidades del Paisaje. In M. Redondo et al. (eds.), IV Congreso Español de Biogeografía: 37. Madrid: Artbox Comunicación. Vera, A. 2007. Anàlisi de l’espai economic Pirinenc a partir de la creació d’unitats territorials socioeconòmiques. PhD Thesis. Bellaterra.
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Naturbanization: New identities and processes for rural-natural areas – Prados (ed) © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-49000-9
The consequences on landscape of new land uses in the upper forest line R. Cunill, A. Pelachs & J.M. Soriano Mountain Areas and Landscape Research Group (GRAMP), Department or Geography, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain
ABSTRACT: Nowadays mountain landscapes are hugely attractive for tourists. However, in addition to tourists, the environmental quality attracts new residents too. Until now traditional systems have influenced the culture in these areas. Nowadays, these systems have almost disappeared. In this chapter we try to see how this change has affected the mountain landscape and propose different items that help to value the landscape. We specifically focus our attention on the upper forest limit area. In spite of the virgin vision that society has of these spaces, high areas have received human management. We try to measure the evolution of the pasture use and the consequences of this for the landscape. We complete a contemporary analysis of the historical documents and geographical information systems. Finally, the discipline of pedoanthracology is used with the aim of carrying out a long-term use analysis.
1 INTRODUCTION The landscape that we see today at our latitudes and that we identify as rural landscape is the result of persistent human action. For millennia the activities and the traditional economy (agriculture, stockbreeding, mining, forestry, etc) have managed and determined the landscapes of these territories. But during the last century this traditional system has gone through a deep crisis. Traditional activities have been abandoned and substituted by some new ones. This research focuses on the analysis of one of these primary activities, on its decrease or disappearance and, especially, on its implications for the landscape. Indeed, the abandonment of the primary activities – related or not to the phenomenon of depopulation – entails a generalised forest growth. Forest is spreading in some places that were, until few years ago, occupied by crop fields (at the valley’s bottom and in the sub alpine area) or by grasslands (in the alpine area). We focus our work upon this last space. In most occasions there is a competition between marginal traditional use (stockbreeding) and the utilization of this high area for recreational activities (ski and snow sports). Such activities entail an increase in tourist frequentation. The territory where this research is carried out is a natural protected area, the Alt Pirineu Natural Park, which is the most extensive in Catalonia (69,850 ha) and the most recent creation (year 2003).The research area choice has to do with the Natural Park’s aims. Protecting the landscape is one of the reasons that have led to protecting this space, as the park’s goals contemplate. Therefore, landscape is one of the main values. However, the protection of a space implies it has to make society aware of the landscape values and the biodiversity of this territory. This new knowledge produces a calling effect, which causes an extraordinary increase in tourist frequentation in the beginning. This frequentation is the basis for the attraction or growth of different activities, urbanization being outstanding because of its impact on the environment. This research, then, does not focus on the urbanization process but in the changes and trends of a fundamental factor which provoke this naturbanization: the landscape. 239
Figure 1. Area of Alt Pirineu Natural Park. Source: own elaboration from Generalitat de Catalunya environment information system.
2 THE STUDY AREA The research area is located in axial Catalan Pyrenees in a border area with France. It is a mountain zone where the maximum heights of the Catalan territory are found. Plans of Boldís, on which this research focus, are located in the Alt Pirineu Natural Park. This is in the upper part of the Noguera Pallaresa River, between the regions of Pallars Sobirà and North of Alt Urgell (Fig. 1). Plans Boldís are an extensive plain, placed at 2300 m above sea level, between the valleys of Cardós and the Vall Ferrera. Geologically, it consists of a glacial peneplain composed of schists and phyllites. This produces soft and rounded relief suddenly interrupted by quaternary ice action upon its slopes. The largest part of this plain is placed in the municipality of Lladorre. The town of Lladorre, with a total extension of 146.99 km2 , includes the head of the Cardós valley, which is closed by peaks of more than 3000 m above sea level. Within its borders there are a total of six population centres: Aineto, Lladorre, Lleret, Tavascan, Boldís Jussà and Boldís Sobirà. These two last towns, known as Boldissos are the nearest towns to the plains that receive their name (which they also own). They are located in a tributary valley of the Noguera de Cardós. Boldís Sobirà or high Boldís, is located at 1480 m above sea level while Boldís Jussà or low Boldís is located at 1303 m above sea level. According to Marugan and Rapalino (2005), such types of settlements composed of two homogenous towns could be due to a certain productive specialization. Both of them joined the town of Lladorre, according to 19th century documents. This big and hilly municipal area that includes an elevated number of little villages is one example of the actual territorial situation in Pyrenees. The depopulation has induced the annexing between population nucleii and the local government governs an extensive area with a few people. Regarding the population, the town of Lladorre and Boldissos have suffered the same vicissitudes as many other mountain areas in our latitudes. The twentieth century started with the recuperation after the population crisis of the nineteenth century. The maximum population was attained on the 20s. Decrease in population has continued since then. We identify two moments of population loss. The first starts after this decade and finishes at the end of Civil War. After stabilising during the post-war period, the decades of 1960 and 1970 involved very high population losses for the towns. Examining the municipal term of Lladorre, we see a slight growth at the end of the fifties because of the construction of an electrical power plant. That caused an increase of immigrant population. In Spite of this increase, in those decades important emigration took place without recovery. Since 240
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140 Boldís Jussà Boldís Sobirà Boldissos
120
Població
100 80 60 40 20
1885 1890 1895 1900 1905 1910 1915 1920 1925 1930 1935 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
0
Any
Figure 4.
Population evolution of Boldís Sobirà and Boldís Jussà during the twentieth century. Sources: Centre d’Estudis Demogràfics statistics base, Sudrià i Andre, F.X. (2003) and Ajuntament de Lladorre.
the mid 1990s a small increase has occurred. According to Sudrià (2003), in 1997, in winter, only 9 people stayed with 4 open houses in both towns. Nowadays, in winter too, 10–15 people stayed in Boldís Jussà and 10 people stayed in Boldís Sobirà. The population evolution cannot be understood without knowledge of the socioeconomic development. When we speak of Cardós Valley we are referring to an agricultural and Livestock traditional area. The use of large areas and high grasslands were combined with subsistence agriculture. Other activities like forestry have been important for this area. The high number of sawmills located in the valley show the tradition of exploiting forest resources for construction. On the other hand, the wood was transformed to charcoal through the charcoal kilns that exist in this area. Nowadays some place names in the area record this old activity. This charcoal and wood were the fuel for domestic use but were important for traditional industry too. The forge had an important economic part during the seventeenth and eighteenth century and it was a big transforming agent for the landscape. The Lladorre forge used iron from the iron mines located in the neighbouring valley of Vallferrera and the water of Lladorre River. The need for fuel of this type of industry was the reason for large tree felling in Lladorre area and in both of the neighbouring valleys, Cardós valley and Vallfarrera. The hydroelectric power industry arrived in Cardós valley in the end of 1950s and the first half of the 1960s. Initially, this arrival supposed an improvement in the accessibility and it opened the door to the market economy. Principally, employment increased due to the construction of hydroelectric and communication infrastructure. As a result, the population went up in the top valley villages (Tavascan and Lladorre). Boldissos, away from the area of constructions and without good connections, remained far from the demographic increase. To sum up, the hydroelectric power industry wasn’t a real driving force for economic development in the area. Far from ending the depopulation process, the halt of construction works intensified the emigration progress. Nowadays the tertiary sector is the alternative for economic development in the area. There are several tourist facilities like hotels, a small ski station, museum, camp sites. . . This snow tourism is complemented by the traditional hiking and new nature tourism in summer. In spite of this, tourist development has not meant big housing developments like in some Pyrenean areas. This fact implies the conservation of the traditional landscape, a landscape that is today disappearing, but is one of the principal elements for this new economy. 242
3 FARMING TRADITION The extensive grasslands in the plains of Boldís are considered some of the most important of the Cardós valley. Stockbreeding is an activity that has stood out in this zone for ages, due to the existence of vast upper forest pastures. This economic specialization of the area has been powerful and persistent through history. Still today, in the midst of the sector crisis, this farming tradition is perceptible, far from the tertiarization and urbanization of neighbouring villages. In the first half part of last century, stockbreeding was still the driving force for economy and society of this area. After the decrease of 20s and 30s, the number of heads of cattle stabilized after the Civil War due to draft horse breeding. This type of animal was used for farming. Nonetheless, this was halted by the arrival of the tractor in the 60s. Faced by this crisis, milk production was considered the solution. The restructuring this proposed caused a significant territorial and landscape change. The grain fields were changed to hay fields to feed stable cows. However, the agro breeding Pyrenees system remained outside primary sector capitalization and industrialization. At the same time, other Catalan areas were transforming theirs primary economies. All of this involved the loss of competence for the activities that defined the culture and the society of these mountain areas. Management and exploitation of the pasture area, as well as forestry exploitation, has been carried out in these zones following a communal system. In other words, village neighbours take charge of the property and of its utilization. Nowadays, this traditional communal use is classified in several property structures. The Boldís communal acquired public and municipal titles. This fact allowed this area to escape the disentitlement of the nineteenth century. The supra-forest pastures there are today defined as ‘Communal of Public Utility’ (C.U.P.). The Plans de Boldís are found in the C.U.P 165, named after as Plana Riberals. The villages that enjoy its exploitation are both of Boldíssos. The propriety is very often a fundamental element to understand the management. In this case, shared propriety is a distinctive element that we have to bear in mind if we want to understand the uses and occupation process of this area. In spite of the municipal property, there is a superior level administrative control. The Departament de Medi Ambient i Habitatge of Catalan Government have the duty to control the management of this area: heads of cattle, forestry use, new uses, etc. According to Violant i Simorra (2001), there are two traditional stockbreeding systems for exploitation these communal areas. On one hand, the village neighbours have the right to graze their cattle in their communal area. However, all the livestock had to be grouped together and create a communal flock. A shepherd, or more than one cared all the animals. This communal management is today impoverished. Each owner takes care of their animals, going to the grasslands one at a time, for a time. However, in villages that have more grasslands than they need, renting of mountain areas to foreign flocks takes place. Renting is a way to take advantage of village resources. The foreign flocks usually came from the same valley or from the plain lands located at a maximum of hundreds of kilometres. Seen like this, we have to view the transhumant context to understand the management of these lands. The management of these lands can be explained by transhumant movements or, in other words, by seasonal migration of livestock. The occupation area is limited by time. Livestock remains for three or four months in the mountain area. The tradition says that the animals climb up to the communal area on Saint Joan day (24 June) and go down Saint Miguel (29 September). This fact depends mostly on meteorology as well as on the requirements of the animal species, communal rules and the cattle market dates. During this period the animals only went down for specific occasions, for example in case of disease or for farming works (Bas 1993). The supra forestall grasslands are an alimentary resource for livestock that can be obtained at a very low cost. Moreover, this use does not compete with other crops, a decisive motive for the cattle development in this subsistence economy system. In the other hand, if the grass is not thinned out it is lost. 243
However, these abundant and cheap grasslands are available only for a limited time. They can be used, at the most, for five months to year. Animal subsistence for the rest of the year is usually quite difficult in mountain areas. The surplus accumulation in summer and the imbalance between grassland and grain fields are biggest elements that determine Pyrenees livestock.
4 HISTORIC USE OF COMMUNAL GRASSLANDS As we have mentioned earlier, the crisis of the traditional model had negative effects on primary activities, such as in the case of livestock breeding. In order to have numeric data concerning this fact, historical archives of the zone have been used. Those archives have allowed us to have data ranging from 1890 until now. Like this, we can see the how has been the grazing area occupation and the pressure that he has supported. It was hoped to obtain more historical data due to the area’s border location and because of its communal exploitation. Unfortunately, even though the number of documents that we found is numerous, data appears very fragmented and concentrated in different periods. On the other hand, we must be careful with the validity of some fiscal data. Besides, the different territorial coverage (municipal district, village, communal, etc.) is one of the most important problems for knowing the amount of livestock which grazed the zone. We have used three types of historical documents: the livestock register, livestock traffic books, and communal exploitation plans. Livestock register (Registros de Ganaderia) are documents that show us an exhaustive stockbreeding control. They are the monitoring mechanism for the village’s animals. Every house has one page where the people note down all the additions and removals from the animal records. As a result, we know how many animals are in every house at each moment of the year and what species they are. The livestock census (Recuentos de Ganaderia) is a census,
Village livestock Year 1958
2006
Figure 5.
Number
Foreign livestock
Equine
Cattle
Sheep and goats
Equine
Cattle
Heads
37
39
101
Sheep and goats 568
745
Total
13
URM
35
37
71
162
Heads
10
37
100
147
URM
9
35
13
57
Number of animals that grazed in Boldís Communal. 1400 URM Caps
Unitats de bestiar
1200 1000 800 600 400 200
1895 1900 1905 1910 1915 1920 1925 1930 1935 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
0
Any
Figure 6. Village livestock evolution during the twentieth century.
244
at a given point in time, of all the stockbreeding that is in the village. The information appears distributed by houses and species. Livestock traffic books (Guías para la circlacion de Ganados) show all the inter municipal movements of livestock. Consequently, these documents allow the knowledge of the animals that come and go from Lladorre. Finally, the communal exploitation plans (Planes de aprovechamiento forestal) are the annual use requests that village completes for its communal land. The request must be approved by Departament d’Agricultura, Alimentació i Acció Rural of Generalitat de Catalunya and by the state government in the past. The resulting dates are expressed through the number of animals and through the URM (Senior Livestock unit).The URM are the result of the following conversion: 1 URM = 1 cow = 8 sheep = 8 equines. Numerical data found has been useful for observing trends and for confirming the farming crisis through the twentieth century. In Figure 5 we observe that transhumant livestock and the village landscape have suffered an important decrease. The grassland use has been reduced by 35% and the number of animals is at present 20% of the total in 1958. In Figure 6 we observe the evolution of the village livestock village during the last century. The graph is very clear and shows the steep decrease of livestock in the area. Likewise is shows graphically the pressure on resources and the type of exploitation are very different in the 20’s and the 90’s. Has the landscape of the Boldís commune changed at the same level as the livestock? 5 GIS AS A TOOL FOR ASSESSING THE LANDSCAPE CHANGE Until now we have seen how use has changed through time. Through GIS we try to see how these changes in use have induced modifications in the landscape of the high areas during this last century. The digitalizing work included all the plans of the de Boldís area over 1900 m a.s.l. The lowest border was located at 2000 m a.s.l because around 1900–2000 m is the altitudinal strip where some studies have drawn the usual upper agriculture line in South Pyrenees. However, the work area (945.2 ha) is wide enough to see different terrain characteristics: sunstroke (shady/sunny side), slope, land use, etc. This analysis is possible due to the existence of valuable geographical and historical documents like the aerial photographs carried out by United States of America in 1956–57. This period is a time of important changes in Pyrenean territories. The 2003 aerial photographs were done by the Institut Cartografic de Catalunya. Both documents allow us to work on a detailed scale. The 1956–57 photographs had been georeferenced by GRAMP (Mountain Areas and Landscape Research Group) because of various different scientific-technical projects. This was done by the MiraMon program, a cartographic information system program used during the cartographic process. The present aerial photographs conversion to orthophotomap were done by CREAF (Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Application). The territorial digitalization involves territorial delimitation with different continuous categories. With the aim of describing the landscape evolution in the grassland area we have chosen four digitalization categories: dense forest (>30%), clear forest (<30%), thicket, and others. This last category includes grasslands and meadows, rocky areas, nude areas and water (lakes and rivers). Isolated trees have been considered as punctual elements but they haven’t been given a continuous category. 5.1 Results As a result of this process, we obtained two maps with the vegetation landscape information for both of periods. The differences are clear. The quantitative dates confirm the first impression. In 1956–57 we have a characteristic alpine grassland area. The forest only represented 13% and for the most part it is clear forest. In 2003, the other categories do not reach 30%. Shrubs colonized the grassland area and the forest covers considerably increase. The changes are clear but how they have been produced? To start with, we see how biomass has been broadened in the upper forest zones. However, far from a simple altitudinal ascent of the upper forest limit, biomass has spread following different 245
Figure 7.
categories
(Ha)
dense forest clear forest thicket others Total
49,6 76,8 195,4 623,4 945,2
1956 %
(Ha)
5,2 8,1 20,7 66 100
87,7 132,1 281,4 444 945,2
2003 % 9,3 14 29,8 47 100
Extensions of every digitalization category on 1956–57 and on 2003.
2003
1956
dense forest
clear forest
thicket
others
dense forest
84,5
39,1
3,3
1,5
clear forest
9,3
51,1
20,7
7,7
thicket
5,1
7,4
68,2
22,5
others
1,1
2,4
7,9
68,4
Total (%)
100
100
100
100
Figure 8.
Category changes.
Figure 9.
Digitalization of the upper forest limit and shrubs.
strategies. The following figure shows the woodland and shrubby limits as well as the isolated individuals trees in the Estanilles i Conques sector, in the south slope of Plans de Boldís. The discontinuous line (points and lines) indicates the ridge, which shows altitudes of 2300–2400. In the first picture we can see the digitalization of the limit for the year 1956–57, which has been later superimposed to the orthophotomap of year 2003. We can already see some clear differences between both pictures. Regarding the shrubby mass, basically dominated by Genista balansae, we see how it has a very evident positive progression. The Genista balansae area grows generally occupying high pasture areas. With respect to the woodland vegetation (composed exclusively by Pinus uncinata), it increases its area in two different ways. 246
In first place, we see how the big forest masses spread colonising new spaces horizontally. This is the case of the forest from the lower part of the image. Its advance goes from the shady side to the suntrap, until reaching pasture areas. The altitudinal ascent takes place as well, but it is more moderate and it is like a densification of the upper forest zone. In second place, we observe for the period corresponding to 1956–57 there were isolated trees that have become more compact and consolidated tree areas. As well, small groups have increased their perimeter. This process can be seen in zones closer to the ridge. Thus, we can say that, even though an altitudinal ascension exists, what best describes the phenomenon is the densification of the area near by the upper limit forest. Obviously, the slowness of the re-colonization process is related to environmental conditions and the fact that these conditions difficult the seeds dispersion, among other: gravity, dominant wind in the climax space, the poverty of the ground and the low presence of fauna (as a vector of dispersion).
6 PEDOANTHRACOLOGY: THE CONFIRMATION OF THE ANTHROPIC ORIGINS OF THE CURRENT UPPER FOREST LIMIT After obtaining the contemporary knowledge of supra forest areas management we then found it necessary to obtain a longer term picture. It was considered necessary to try to obtain continuous information since prehistory until now. In order to know the pastoral use of the research area and its landscape evolution, we turn to paleobotanic sources and a specific discipline: the pedoanthracology. This discipline allows ligneous paleovegetation reconstruction from charcoals found in soil. By using charcoals, the moment when a forest was burned can be determined by means of radiocarbon dating, as well as the type of vegetation which burnt. It has been decided to use pedoanthracology, from a geographic approach, with the aim of getting to know how forest and grassland has been managed. In short, this discipline offers a long-term knowledge of how our area has been managed by using fire. Fire was the first potent weapon that society used with the aim of modifying the environment. This was used by the first farmers and shepherds in order to obtain agricultural and livestock land. Consequently, fire has been a key element of territorial and ecosystem modifications. For this reason, fire has usually been a scientific research element through different disciplines and in different world locations. Firstly, charcoal is set up and an important element for the study of the history of the use of fire by society. Archaeological science starts to see the charcoal potential in this area. In the nineteenth century Fliche started to identify charcoal and recognized the anthropological intervention in the vegetation dynamic (Thinon 1992, Bal 2006). During the 60s and 70s the observational techniques improved and botanists became the most interested scientists in charcoal identification. During the 90s anthracology continued to be interested in pale vegetation reconstruction. A good example of this is the study of charcoal kilns (Davasse 2000, Pèlachs 2004). However, it was the edaphologists who were aware of the charcoal soil value to explain ancient events. In 1978, Thinon confirmed the almost omnipresence of charcoal in Mediterranean soils and their value for the study of ancient wood vegetation (Bal 2006). In the same year he started to use the name of ‘pedoantracology’ (pedo = soil and anthrax = charcoal). In 1992, Thinon established the bases of this new discipline that Carcaillet, Talon and others have improved. The first applications were located in Alps area and all of them had a common research aim: the upper forest line. There were few exceptions to this thematic research. In 2006 Bal (2006) produced changes in the objectives and research in their work. Nowadays, pedoanthracolgy takes a geographical orientation. Bal focussed the research on the anthropology of the Pyrenean area. Pedoanthracolgy contributed giving information about burned paleovegetations as a result of agricultural activities. Knowledge of the operation and location of these activities on 247
the mountain space was the goal. Consequently, forest and grassland were analyzed and agricultural soils too. In this research, pedoanthracology allows us to understand the environmental geohistory through the paleo sources. This knowledge permits the observation of anthropological processes in the high Pyrenean Mountain and the development of these activities. Like other paleobotanic disciplines pedoanthracology show us uses like this have meant important changes for these territories. Likewise, pedoanthracology permits us to learn the evolution of the upper forest line. In our latitude, we understand this line as the border between the grasslands and the forest or between the livestock area and the forestry area. Pedoantracology application to Plans de Boldís will allow us to know when and where pasture zones were broadened. 6.1 Fire and grasslands As mentioned earlier, in our latitudes fire is a key element for obtaining a new pasture area. Moreover, fire permits the execution of maintenance and the increase in fertility of the area. These practices belong to ancient local knowledge of these Pyrenean livestock areas. In Boldís grasslands an acid substrate that generates poor and little evolved soil. The research area is founded in the oromediterranean region. All this, in addition to the high insulation that the area received, permits the extensive Genista Balansae thicket that exists in the area. In this environment, grass is a subproduct. Intensive use by livestock allows the maintenance of the grasslands. However, the natural vegetation dynamic generates spaces colonized by shrubs. Nowadays in some Pyrenean areas people still use fire as a management element of pasture areas. In spite of that, the techniques for fire use have changed after the crisis of the traditional system. When we interviewed the people of Boldís, the old people did not remember the use neither had they seen fire used in the grassland and surroundings. However, they said that fire had been used in Lleret area ten or twenty years ago. Lleret is neighbouring village located on the other side of Lladorre River. This decrease in fire use can be directly linked with the livestock pressure decrease in the area. 6.2 Methodology In the research, the methodology of pedoanthracolgy has been based on the protocols that have been detailed by Thinon and Bal. In brief, we divide the process in five basic steps: soil sample, extraction, identification, dating and interpretation. The location of the sample points depend on the research goals. In the first part of this research, tree extraction points were done. The points were located forming an altitudinal transect through the pasture area. Points were located between 200 m and 200 m a.s.l. This interval covers part of the territory between Boldís Sobirà village and Montarenyo de Boldís Peak. Glacial erosion has generated a steep slope with lakes culminating in a big plain. The slope is a suntrap where there isn’t tree vegetation. Ancient agricultural areas and subalpine meadows link with supraforestal grasslands. Nowadays, there is no real subalpine steep vegetation. The first extraction point was located at 294 m a.s.l. near Conques hut. The second point was located near Estanilles lake at 247 m a.s.l. The last and highest point, 291 m a.s.l. was located over the peneplain of Montarenyo area (Fig. 3). The soil extraction was produced via an excavation of a deep pit down to the rocky substrate. Thereupon, we collected 5 kg to 10 kg of soil for defined level. Every defined level measured 10 cm. For every profile we described, in the field, the horizons, the depth, colours, structure, bioturbation phenomena and others soil characteristics. Soil samples were air-dried before starting with the charcoal extraction. Firstly, charcoal was extracted from soil by flotation. Dry charcoal floats with other organic material when we put the soil in water. All this material is recollected by a 0.4 mm sieve. The rest of the material was sieved using four meshes (5 mm, 2 m, 0.8 mm and 0.4 mm). Finally, we manually sorted under a microscope to separate charcoal fragments from other soil components. 248
Soil sampling
Flotation and sieving Charcoal extraction
Microscope observation Identification
AMS dating
INTERPRETATION
Figure 10.
Pedoanthracolgy process diagram.
Next, charcoal fragments are identified through an episcope microscope (50×, 100×, 200× and 500×). Charcoal characteristics are observed on the fractured wood surface. A fracture is made so as to observe a transversal section, and when possible, a tangential and longitudinal. We identified 56 charcoal fragments, 30 fragments from the second sample point (2247 m a.s.l.) and 26 from the first sample point. The results were clear. We found a small variety of species with only two taxons: Genista balansae and Pinus sylvestris-uncinata. The species distribution was very clear too. While in first sample point we only find two charcoals fragments (7%), in the second sample point 26 charcoals fragments belong to Pinus sylvestris-uncinata. The proportion is totally adverse. The charcoal dating is fundamental to learn about the chronological sequence of the analyzed events. We used the AMS (Accelerator mass spectrometry) 14 C measurement because of the small size of isolated charcoals. The date was calibrated by Beta Analytic Inc. laboratory through INTCALO4 program. Two charcoal fragments from the first sample point (2094 m a.s.l) were dated. As we noted earlier, one of the goals of this study is the evolution of the upper tree line. Thus, we choose a Pinus sylvestris-mugo for one dating. We considered different arguments for the choice of the second piece. The deepest Genista balansae charcoal fragment was chosen. We considered this charcoal as an indicator of burning practices to keep the pasture area. This species is considered a colonizing shrub when the pine forest is burned in the area. The results were clear and they offer a temporal distance to each other of more than 4000 years. The Genista balansae charcoal take us around 3300 BC, the end of Neolithic, while Pinus Sylvestris-Uncinata belongs to 880 AD, the beginning of medieval Catalan edge. Consequently, we have information about two historic periods but both of them are of importance when we want to explain the evolution of the landscape in this area. The shrub charcoal indicates the burning of this area at the end of Neolithic, a period of socioeconomic and landscape changes. According to the pollen analysis carried out in the neighbouring valley of Vallfarrera (Pèlachs 2004), this is a period when we found the first hard anthropological perturbation. The pollen analysis shows us a general decrease of wood taxons. At the same time, herbaceous species like Artemisia sp were increased with some kind of shrubs like Juniperus sp. An incipient agriculture is confirmed in the bottom of the valley too. Fire, as a tool for this transformation is confirmed through the carbonized residues that have been found in the sedimentary testimony. Consequently, we are talking about deforestation in order to obtain new pasture areas. All this process is observed by other pollen prospecting in Pyrenean areas. Regarding the climatology, the charcoal belongs to the beginning of an med-arid 249
period that extends to 5.00 cal Bp to 4200 cal BP (Jalut et al. 2.000). Due to this, the combination of climatic and societal aspects is necessary again, to explain vegetal landscape changes. The second charcoal takes us to 9th century, four millennia after the first charcoal. In this case we are speaking about tree charcoal fragments. This fact, united to the large quantity of pine charcoals found at the sample point, permit us to refer to an ancient forested area. Again we refer to pollen analysis with the aim of explaining the general context of the period. We refer to a period of radical landscape changes at the threshold of a new human perturbation. There were not modifications in all the vegetation altitudinal steps. Vallferrera analyses located the actual landscape base in this period. The reason is not the temporal proximity of the changes. In this period a group of landscape dynamics without return started. One of the paradigms of this change is the upper forest line evolution. The deforestation involved the near disappearance of the principal arboreal formations. Grasslands colonized the subalpine area. As a result, we obtained a livestock landscape. A reliable transhumant system started to operate at this time. The big Catalan monastery organized the big livestock movement between the plain and Pyrenees. Agriculture reached historic maximums in the valley bottoms and low mountain areas. Again, a hydro regimen change in the Mediterranean area provoked a period of climatic aridity (1350–750 cal BP). To sum up, we can say that two charcoal fragments found in the first period of this research, describe two key moments of human action in the Pyrenean landscape. On one hand, we have the first human action with a notable intensity. On the other hand, we have, with the last, the important intervention that put part of the basis of our present landscape. 7 CONCLUSIONS In short, we can say that nowadays a change is produced in the millennial landscape of these upper forest areas. Due to the physical conditions, this change is produced in a slower way but the trend is clear. The effects on the landscape and the biodiversity are evident. The forest upper line is an element of the mountain landscape that in many areas in our latitudes has an anthropogenic origin. Possibly because of the difficulty of access, quite far from the main population centres, upper forest areas are commonly perceived like virgin landscapes. However, it is well demonstrated that these areas are the result of human action during millennia. But today the crisis of the traditional system has lead to abandonment and changes in land use that put at risk the rural landscape as we know it nowadays. Protection policies addressed at these spaces must understand and consider this reality. The maintenance and promotion of primary activities should be one of the main planks of protected area management in order to assure landscape and biodiversity protection. With regard to the subjective values that the society concedes to this type of landscape, a second phase of this study is to include the research on perception of the local population as well as of foreigner’s perception, since they are consumers of these spaces. This will allow us to make a complete analysis of the landscape of these areas and to know which values we search. The final aim is to give tools to the Natural Park managers to support uses and actions planning and understand the ecohistory of this region, because it is a main point to know the reasons of naturbanization. REFERENCES Aldomà, I. et al. 2004. La transformació del territori i del paisatge de l’Alt Pirineu. Medi, territori i història. Les transformacions territorials en el món rural català occidental: 139–164. Lleida: Pagès editors. Bal, M.C. 2006. Constructions et dynamiques des espaces et des terrasses agro-pastoraux en zone intermédiaire des Pyrénées du Néolithique à nos tours (Cerdagne, Pays Basque et Pays de Sault). Approche archéoenvironementale par la pédoanthracologie. PhD Thesis. Département de Géographie et Aménagement, Université ToulouseII-Le Mirail. Bal, M.C. 2005. Prepositions méthodologiques pou l’étude des flux agro-sylvo-pastoraux en montagne pyrénéenne. Évaluation qualitative et quantitative des résidus d’incendies à partir des analices pèdoanthracologiques. Anthropozoologica 40(1): 81–93.
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Barrachina, M. 2007. La transformació del paisatge ramader: el cas de la Vall Fosca (Pallars Jussà 1967/572004). Research report. Department of Geography. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Bas Casas, J. 1993. Les pastures supraforestals a la Vall Ferrera i la Vall de Cardós (Pallars Sobirà). Valoració de la capacitat ramadera de les pastures de Lladorre. Final Degree Project. Escola Tècnica Superior d’Enginyeria Agrària de Lleida. Carcaillet, C. & Thinon, M. 1996. Pedoanthracological contribution to the study of the evolution of the upper tree line in the Maurienne valley (North French Alps): methodology and preliminary data. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 91: 399–416. Carcaillet, C. 1998. A spatially precise study of Holocene fire history, climate and human impact within the Maurienne valley, North French Alps. Journal of Ecology 86: 384–396. Davasse, B. 2000. Forêts, charbonniers et paysans dans les Pyrénées de l’est, du Moyen âge à nos jurs. Une approche géographique de l’histoire de l’environnement. Toulouse: GEODE-UMR 5602/CNRS. Fillat, F. et al. 1984. Els pasturatges. Funcionalisme i aprofitament dels ecosistemes pastorals. Quaderns d’ecologia aplicada 7. Barcelona: Servei de Medi Ambient de la Diputació de Barcelona. Jalut, G. et al. 2000. Holocene climatic changes in the Western Mediterranean, from south-east France to south-east Spain. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 160: 255–290. Lo Pi Negre i Marugan, C.M. 2003. Els bens comunals i la gestió del territori al Pirineu Català. Minutes of the seminar: “Que en farem dels comunals?” (Sort, May 2002). Barcelona: Departament de Medi Ambient de la Generalitat de Catalunya. Montserrat Recorder, P. 2002. Importancia gestora y social del pastoralismo. Archivos de zootecnia 50(192): 496. Pèlachs, A. 2004. Deu mil anys de geohistòria ambiental al Pirineu Central català. Aplicació de tècniques paleogeogràfiques per a l’estudi del territori i el paisatge a la Coma de Burg i a la Vallferrera. PhD Thesi. Department of Geography. Autonomous University of Barcelona. Thinon, M. 1992. L’analyse pédoanthracologique: aspects méthodologiques et applications. PhD Thesis. Université Paul Cézanne, Aix-Marseille. Marseille. Violant i Simorra, R. (Edition Ignasi Ros I Fontana) 2001. La vida Pastoral al Pallars. Biblioteca Ramon Violant I Simorra. Garsineu Edicions. Tremp.
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Naturbanization: New identities and processes for rural-natural areas – Prados (ed) © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-49000-9
Nature in urban areas: Ecological processes and environmental quality in cities J. Santiago Department of Geography, History and Philosophy, University of Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain
ABSTRACT: The objective of this paper is to analyse the role of nature in urban areas. The presence of nature in cities is mainly reduced to urban open spaces. From an ecological point of view, parks, gardens and other green areas can be understood as urban ecosystems, which support different ecological processes. These processes are the source of a wide range of ecosystem services, which contribute to improve urban environmental quality standards in the city. The paper reviews the theoretical and methodological basis of study of this ecological functionality of open spaces, and tries to discern potential complementarities and synergies between urban ecology and the naturbanization theory.
1 INTRODUCTION From an ecological point of view, the concept of urban open space can be defined as the part of the urban land-use mosaic where nature emerges within the almost completely artificial environment of the city. This perspective not only considers parks and gardens, but also waste grounds, urban wetlands or cultivated areas within the limits of a metropolitan area, as components of the urban open space system. All of these areas function as a network of urban ecosystems that can provide a wide variety of ecological services. Considering this ecological functionality of open spaces, it’s possible to design proper planning strategies that can benefit the conservation of the ecological processes through the urban/metropolitan landscape, and thus help improve urban environmental quality standards. Numerous studies show evidence that urban ecosystems can play an important role in a wide range of environmental processes like the absorption of CO2 and other air pollutants, the regulation of urban micro-climate, the reduction of the hydrologic impacts due to urbanization, or the conservation of biodiversity in urban areas. They also provide interesting opportunities for environmental education and other activities related to the contact with nature. The impact of these environmental functions has only a relative significance at a global scale, but a great importance at a local scale. Cities represent the habitat of the 50% of the human population worldwide, so the improvement of urban environmental quality is nowadays an unavoidable challenge. Our understanding of urban ecosystems has increased notably in the past decades, but there is still an important gap between scientific knowledge on this subject and its implementation in urban planning practice. In addition to this, the complexity of the urban environment results in a wide diversity of analytic approaches and, consequently, the lack of an integrated perspective of study. There is a need for planning-oriented analytic tools which implement a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to the study of urban ecosystems. In this paper we will review the theoretical basis of the study of urban ecological processes; next we will describe some of the most relevant urban ecological services and the current methodological approaches to their study; and finally we will consider the potential synergy between urban ecology and the study of naturbanization processes, as opposite but in many ways complementary issues. 253
2 AN ECOLOGICAL APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF URBAN AREAS From the perspective of urban ecology, a city can be understood as a ‘living system’, which maintains a strong ecological connection with its surrounding environment. This is not a completely new idea: there are noticeable precedents of this environmental/ecological approach to urbanism (Howard, Geddes, Mumford, etc.), and since the second half of the 19th century there have been many attempts to articulate a harmonious relationship between city and the surrounding countryside through more or less ecologically-sound urban planning models (Howard’s Garden cities, Steiner’s Greenbelts, Le Corbusier’s Cité radieuse, etc.). New perspectives of study have been appearing, especially since the seventies, with highlights like the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Program, which gave way to the first attempts to study cities as ecological systems. An increasing interest on this topic has been experienced since the successful emergence of the sustainability paradigm in the late eighties. Nowadays, it is possible to recognize two main approaches to urban ecology: the first one considers the city as a metabolic system; the second one understands the city as an ecological landscape mosaic. The metabolic approach considers the city as a whole ecosystem, which can be studied in terms of energy and matter balances in the same way that natural ecosystems are (Bettini 1998). Economic and anthropogenic activities are sustained by a complex network of fluxes of energy and matter that flow through the urban system. We can easily recognize the most common input flows as water, food and energy; in general, output flows comprise urban solid waste, residual water and air pollutant emissions. The magnitude and nature of these flows represent at last instance the main impacts of urban development on the environment. Although urban auto-sufficiency (no input/output flows) is evidently a utopian scheme – some authors consider that urban sustainability is just an oxymoron – a better understanding of the urban ecological balance can provide useful information in order to establish strategies oriented to reduce the impacts associated with urban metabolism, reducing consumption of natural resources and minimizing emissions and residual products produced by urban activity. On the other hand, cities can be understood as complex ecological landscapes, where urban green spaces function as isolated habitat patches within a matrix constituted by built areas, roads and sealed surfaces. This perspective considers explicitly the presence of a natural component in the urban landscape. Even more, some authors consider that cities only differ from natural landscapes in the degree of human influence (Sukopp & Werner 1991). That influence results in a set of properties or characteristics that can be recognized in most of urban landscapes worldwide (Sukopp & Werner 1991, Salvo & García-Verdugo 1993): – high heterogeneity and fragmentation – isolation of habitat patches and high dependence on connectivity between urban biotopes and peri-urban natural/rural areas – alteration of pre-existent environmental conditions: human direct impacts (litter, plant damage, noise), air and water pollution, changes in temperature, etc. – high presence of invasive and alien species, adapted to specific urban environmental conditions in detriment of native species. Introduction of exotic species by city inhabitants, especially with an ornamental finality – medium to high level of biodiversity (high number of species in comparison with surrounding landscape) – landscape and biotic homogenization Thus, it is possible for urban ecologists to apply the same theoretical and methodological approaches that are used in the study of natural ecosystems (Terradas 2001), especially those tools focused in the processes and conditions mentioned above as characteristic of the urban environment, e.g. island biogeography, landscape ecology models (matrix-patch-corridor), etc. There’s a common conclusion that can be obtained from the two mentioned approaches to the study of urban ecology: the ecology of a city cannot be separated from the ecology of the rural and 254
natural areas that surround it (Bettini 1998). There’s a need for a global, integrated approach that overcomes the rigid and artificial delimitation between the city and the surrounding countryside. It is important not to consider the two of them as different and isolated systems, but as a single and complex unitary system, where natural and anthropogenic processes coexist and interact. In this way, it seems more convenient to work with gradients than with rigid limits and homogeneous spatial or geographic units. The presence of natural elements within the urban tissue provides a higher environmental quality to city inhabitants; in this sense, it’s a relevant issue for environmental policies and strategies to promote this urban nature through proper, more ecologically-sound planning. But at the same time, cities expand through the surrounding countryside, sometimes threatening high quality natural areas and damaging important natural resources that should be preserved from urbanization. These two issues seem to be two faces of the same problem: the difficult articulation between the inevitable process of urban growth and the necessary protection of valuable rural and natural areas.
3 URBAN ECOSYSTEM SERVICES AND URBAN GREEN AREAS In order to understand the contribution of urban nature to the environmental quality standards of a city, it seems useful to refer to a widely spread and highly accepted concept such as “ecosystem service” (Daily 1997). Ecosystem services can be defined as “ecological processes that produce, directly or indirectly, goods and services from which humans benefit. These may be as apparent as the production of fertile soils, forests, and fish, or as invisible (to many) as the global maintenance of an atmospheric gas balance amicable to humans and other land-dwelling creatures” (Limburg & Folke 1999). Many of these ecosystem services, especially those in the second group, are not adequately taken into account by market dynamics. Most of them are not properly quantified and valued in comparison with economic services and manufactured products. As a consequence, ecosystem services frequently obtain a clearly insufficient weight in public policies and decision processes. It is obvious that cities depend on the provision of specific ecosystem services that are not originated in the urban environment. Some of these services have an eminently global scale, e.g. CO2 absorption by forests; in other cases ecosystem services are transferred from their source to the urban environment, e.g. natural transportation of gases through the atmosphere or anthropogenic transportation of natural products and energy (Bolund & Hunhammar 1999). On the other hand, we can recognize some ecological processes that take place in the urban environment, like climate regulation through urban vegetation evapotranspiration, or hydrological regulation through natural, pervious surfaces; these kinds of processes provide a direct benefit to urban inhabitants, and so they can be considered ecosystem services at local scale. There’s an evident link between these local ecological processes and services, and urban green space. As mentioned before, from an ecological point of view urban open spaces can be considered as a net of ecosystems that contribute to maintaining environmental processes and functions in a highly artificial context. In consequence, we must analyse open space from a wide, functional point of view, independent from usual parameters as the type of public use or the regime of property of these areas. Starting from this basis, we have to consider the potential environmental functionality of urban wetlands, not-managed wastelands dominated by invasive species, private and public gardens and parks, street trees and even golf courses. As can be seen in Table 1, urban ecosystem services can be provided simultaneously by different types of open spaces. Although the contribution of one single green area or street tree can be almost negligible, aggregated service values for the whole city can represent an inestimable contribution to urban environmental quality. Consequently, it is necessary to adopt a wide scale perspective for the analysis of environmental functionality of urban open spaces. In the following sections we present a brief review of some of the most relevant urban ecosystem services, specifically those that can be of application in almost every urban and metropolitan area worldwide. 255
Table 1.
Urban ecosystem services.∗ Open spaces and green features
Ecosystem services
Street trees
Lawns, parks and urban forests
Hydrological regulation Air quality improvement Urban climate regulation Biodiversity conservation Cultural and recreational values
x x x x
X X X X X
∗ Modified
Cultivated areas
Wetlands
Streams and rivers, lakes, sea
x x x x x
x x x x x
x x x
from Bolund & Hunhammar (1999).
3.1 Hydrology The substitution of natural land cover for artificial, impervious surfaces derived from urban development causes a deep alteration of the hydrological cycle, especially during and after rainfall. This is basically a consequence of two factors: the reduction of rainfall interception by plants due to the loss of vegetation cover, and the reduction of soil infiltration due to soil sealing and loss of pervious surfaces. This results in a notorious increase in the magnitude and velocity of storm runoff, causing higher peak flows, reduced time to peak flow, increased runoff volume, and diminished base flow. All of these impacts compromise stream habitat quality. As urban land use stabilises the watershed, the increase of impervious surface and low sediment production results in incised stream channels and lowered water tables in the riparian zone (Faulkner 2004). Impervious surfaces also serve as a transport system that channels pollutants produced by intensive land use directly into drainage networks and aquatic resources as storm runoff (Arnold & Gibbons 1996). Pollutants include pathogens (disease-causing micro-organisms), nutrients, toxic contaminants and debris. This process is frequently referred to as non-point source pollution (NPS pollution), and constitutes a major threat to stream water quality. Urban ecosystems contribute to increasing the percentage of previous surface in the urban fabric, counteracting the mentioned impacts by favouring natural infiltration and reducing storm runoff. This functionality is provided both by public and private green zones, and can be strengthened by the incorporation of water reservoirs that can also have a recreational value (Hough 1998). Integrating wetlands in urban development areas can also contribute to preserve the natural hydrologic cycle, as well as the benefits to conservation of the remarkable biodiversity usually associated to these areas. Finally, the role of vegetation in the improvement of stream water quality and sewage treatment has to be considered as another potential environmental functionality of urban nature. Urban wetlands can provide this service, through the processing of potential water pollutants as nitrate, phosphorous, metal compounds and others (Hough 1998). Several studies have shown that forested and cultivated areas can be used as land treatment systems to renovate secondary treated waste water for direct recharge to the groundwater table (Sopper 1990); these ‘living filters’ can act simultaneously as greenbelts for recreational activities, with no risk to the human health or the environment. The potential use of Municipal Sewage sludge for the creation of artificial wetlands has also been suggested (Sawhill & Ferguson 1998). 3.2 Air quality Urban vegetation can contribute to improving air quality in two ways: by direct reduction of pollutants from the air, and by avoiding their emission. In direct reduction, trees and shrubs absorb gaseous pollutants like sulphur dioxide (SO2 ), nitrogen dioxide (NO2 ), and ozone (O3 ) through 256
leaf stomata; they also dissolve water-soluble pollutants onto moist leaf surfaces, and intercept particulate matters in the air. On the other hand, tree canopies can reduce the air temperature through direct shading and evapotranspiration; this situation results in a reduction of air pollutants emissions related to the process of generating energy for cooling and heating purposes (Yang et al. 2005). The role of urban ecosystems in reducing atmospheric carbon levels has been widely studied. Urban vegetation directly sequester and accumulate atmospheric carbon in the process of their growth through photosynthesis; as has been mentioned, it also decreases building cooling demand by shading and evapotranspiration, and heating demand by wind speed reduction, thereby reducing Carbon emissions associated with fossil fuel use. In addition to this, urban soils store organic Carbon from litter fall, until it is returned to the atmosphere by decomposition (Jo 2001). The magnitude of this ecological service is shown by the results of studies carried out in different cities worldwide. For example, urban forests in the United States store about 700 million metric tons of carbon, but the amount of carbon used to sustain this vegetation remains unknown. Although carbon storage in urban trees nationally is only a fraction (4.4%) of the carbon stored by trees in U.S. non-urban forest ecosystems, the relatively high secondary effects of reducing carbon emissions gives urban trees a greater per-tree effect on reducing greenhouse gas concentrations than non-urban trees (Nowak 2002). The amount of carbon stored in an urban forest, which can take many years to accumulate, can be considered not very relevant in comparison with the amount of Carbon emitted by urban transport and residential and industrial sectors. However, there is potential to increase benefits by selecting, locating, and managing trees with their potential for energy conservation in mind (McPherson et al. 1997). In this sense, urban green space planning and management could be one of more time-saving and cost-effective ways to slow climate change, as compared to the development of alternative energy sources (Jo 2001). Urban vegetation also contributes to the improvement of air quality through the absorption of other air pollutants like SO2 , NO2 and O3 . In Beijing, annual absorption rates for several compounds have been calculated as follow: 772.0 tons PM10 /year; 256.4 tons O3 /year; 132.3 tons NO2 /year; and 100.7 tons SO2 /year (Yang et al. 2005). Also, reduced air temperature can lower the activity of chemical reactions, which produce secondary air pollutants in urban areas (Yang et al. 2005). Another potential environmental function of urban vegetation is the use of certain species as bio-indicators, both as reaction indicators and accumulative indicators for long-term air quality monitoring. 3.3 Urban climate Local climate and even weather are affected by the city. For example, in studies of US cities the difference between urban climate and the surrounding countryside conditions has been quantified as follow: temperature is 0.7◦ C higher measured as the annual mean, solar radiation is reduced by up to 20%, and wind speed is lowered by 10–30% (Haughton & Hunter 1994, cited by Bolund & Hunhammar 1999). This phenomenon, widely known as the urban heat island effect, is the result of the combination of a large amount of heat absorbing surfaces with a high level of energy use (Bolund & Hunhammar, 1999). Urban vegetation can help reduce the heat island effect by two means: the evapotranspiration process and the shade effect over heat absorbing urban surfaces. On the first case, 0.4 ha of grassland can lose 10.800 l of water per day (Hough, 1998); a single tree can transpire about 450 l of water per day, consuming 1000 MJ of heat energy to drive the evaporation process (Bolund & Hunhammar, 1999); the energy consumed this way wouldn’t then be available to increase air temperature. The impact of one single tree in urban microclimate regulation is limited, but the aggregated effect of wide forested areas can be very relevant at a local scale, potentially affecting neighbouring urban areas through advection processes (McPherson, 1994). On the other hand, the shade effect over buildings and artificial surfaces can have a noticeable incidence in the global temperature of a city. The effectiveness of this process depends strongly on a proper planting design and an adequate selection of tree species. The location and selection 257
of street trees can be optimized to maximize the shade effect during the peak demand for air conditioning. In a review of studies that measured temperature reductions, it was reported that vegetation consistently lowered wall surface temperatures by about seventeen Celsius degrees and reduced air conditioning costs by 25 to 80 per cent (McPherson 1994). Other estimations suggest that landscape vegetation around individual buildings can provide heating savings from 5 to 15% by reducing wind speed in winter, and cooling savings from 10 to 50 % by providing shade in summer (McPherson 1995). Nevertheless, the efficiency of this ecological service depends strongly on the specific climatic conditions of each region and city, so planting design and planning must be carefully adapted to them. 3.4 Biodiversity The urbanization process entails a radical alteration of the ecological structure and dynamics of a landscape, with a consequent modification of the pre-existent biosphere. The two principal factors in this transformation are landscape fragmentation, which results in a complex mosaic of heterogeneous land uses, and the development of multiple vectors of disturbance associated with human activities that affect local flora and fauna. The combination of these two factors turn the city into a new ecological environment, with a characteristic species composition and a wide range of specific habitats; consequently, urban biodiversity differs significantly from the flora and fauna associated with the biogeographical context of the city (Breuste 2004). It seems necessary to develop environmental strategies aimed at strengthening native flora and fauna in the urban environment, in order to counterpoint or prevent biotic homogenization, and to defend local and regional biodiversity from impacts caused by urban growth. Another function of native biodiversity in urban areas is its contribution to create a sense of place, in opposition to the progressive uniformity of urbanized landscapes (Maurer 2000). Green areas play a basic role in the conservation of urban biodiversity. In this sense, Sukopp and Werner (1991) emphasise the importance of traditional green zones like parks and gardens, but also remark the role of waste grounds and other open areas not directly related to recreational uses. In these areas, as a result of a total lack of management or human intervention, spontaneous succession processes take place and contribute to configure a typical urban rural biosphere. Comparative studies show that these areas support a higher level of diversity than parks and managed spaces, and demonstrate that the degree of use, the control and the management of a green area are usually more relevant issues than location, age or size in relation to flora and fauna configuration (Sukopp & Werner 1991). Transitional open spaces located in the urban periphery also deserve a special attention, due to their specific characteristics. They present lower environmental stress levels than city core green areas, combine species typical of both urban and rural habitats, and provide connectivity between inner city biotopes and external ecosystems. In addition to human presence and management, there are other key factors that have influence in the species richness and composition of urban green areas: location, especially in relation to the rural-urban gradient; spatial configuration, mainly due to the incidence of the edge effect on habitat configuration; and size, especially in relation to the SLOSS problem. All of these factors have to be taken into account in order to carry out a proper urban green system planning oriented to biodiversity conservation. However, conservation strategies must not consider the increase of global species diversity as their only objective; on the other hand, there’s a necessity to determine which species (e.g. native, threatened species) deserve more attention in order to fulfil their habitat requirements (Godefroid & Koedam 2003). Thus, it is not possible to design a universal model valid for all urban areas; on the contrary, urban conservation strategies should be adapted to the specific conditions of each city. 3.5 Public use and environmental education Social functionality of urban areas is widely recognized and has been studied much more frequently than the rest of environmental functions previously reviewed. Urban green areas provide noticeable 258
benefits to city inhabitants, as they act as a source of psychological well-being and relaxation; at the same time, they constitute ideal places for recreation and for sport activities, and can promote social integration and sense of community among citizens (Balram & Dragicevic 2005). Despite its intangible and immaterial nature, this group of social services are more appreciated by people than material benefits (Chiesura 2004), including those derived from green areas partly or mainly oriented to an economic finality, e.g. many urban and peri-urban forests (Tarrant & Cordel 2002, Tyrväinen 2001). It has to be remarked that in many ways the social and psychological benefits of urban green is strongly linked to the presence of vegetation, or more accurately, to the sense of nature that this urban vegetation generates. Contact with nature seems to be a basic human need (Chiesura 2004), which can be fulfilled in such an artificial environment as the city through the presence of parks and gardens; in these places, people find feelings and values traditionally linked to nature like beauty, quietness, sense of freedom and break from the stress associated to routine city life. Psychological and spiritual benefits derived from green zones can contribute significantly to improving citizens’ well-being, which is a key factor in urban sustainability (Chiesura 2004). In order to satisfy these emotional requirements, it’s important to improve our knowledge on people preferences and perceptions about nature. City inhabitants’attitude to urban nature and to the presence of a certain sense of wildness in urban open spaces depends strongly on each cultural and geographical context. Nevertheless, it is possible to suggest the hypothesis that western societies are progressively more concerned on the value of nature per se, with independence of its direct and material utility to human beings. This tendency can be associated with recent trends and concepts like “biocentrism” or “new biophilia”, and can be attributed to the advent of a post-industrial (or post-material) society (Tarrant & Cordel 2002). It seems logical that this new perception on nature values can be translated to the practice of planning and design of urban green systems; we must search for innovative perspectives for urban design that explore new possibilities of contact and interaction with nature and consider the emotional experiences derived from it, in contrast with the traditional ornamental, formalistic approach to the design of parks. The introduction of a higher degree of wildness and a stronger sense of nature in urban open spaces can also provide excellent opportunities for new activities associated with public use, like environmental education. The development of educative programs in a natural or semi-natural environment within the city, the possibility for city inhabitants to experience nature cycles and seasonal changes, the opportunities for citizens to improve their knowledge on native flora and fauna species, etc. are some potential strategies that can efficiently promote people’s environmental awareness. As mentioned before, the conservation of indigenous vegetation formations in the urban tissue (e.g. integrating remnant forests or wetlands in urban development processes) and the recreation of native habitats in new open spaces can also contribute to avoid urban landscape homogenisation and strengthen citizen identification with their own living environment.
4 METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF URBAN ECOLOGICAL PROCESSES AND SERVICES A multidimensional, complex issue as the ecology of the urban environment has logically been analysed from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives. Each environmental function of urban open spaces has been studied specifically by a particular discipline, e.g. climate regulation and air quality services have been studied applying atmospheric physics models, while urban biodiversity has been studied mainly by urban botanists and zoologists, and public use and perceptive issues have been tackled by social sciences and psychology experts. All of these contributions are inestimable to increase our knowledge of the urban environment, but the fragmentary nature of these studies and analysis represents a serious difficulty when we try to integrate and apply their results to concrete planning acts and public policies. The lack of a unitary approach, and the practical handicaps derived from it, ask for new integrated, multidisciplinary perspectives to face the complexity of urban ecology. 259
In this sense, one of the most essential challenges at present is finding a functional nexus between the different processes involved in urban environmental dynamics. The review of a wide number of studies on this topic suggests that the spatial dimension of urban ecological processes could act as a common basis for an integrated analysis. For example, Whitford et al. (2001) propose a set of spatial indicators to evaluate the ecological performance of urban areas, including specific indicators for the analysis of urban surface temperature, urban storm runoff, Carbon absorption by urban tree cover, and connectivity between urban green areas. The input data needed for the application of these indicators consist mainly in spatial information that can be easily obtained from land use and land cover cartography. Other existing models and indicators, such as Leaf Area Index (proposed by the URGE Project, 2004) or Green Plot Ratio (Ong 2003), which can be considered as measures of urban green potential capacity to absorb air pollutants and regulate urban microclimate, or NPS pollution models (Badhuri et al. 2001), also depend highly on land use and vegetation cover data. Therefore, one of the first steps on the environmental analysis of a city or a metropolitan area should be the elaboration of a highly detailed, ecological cartography of the area of study. In the past decades there have been remarkable advances in the ecological mapping of urbanised environments, and many cities and metropolitan areas worldwide have developed high quality ecological maps (Burriel et al. 1998, Freeman & Buck 2003, Pedersen et al. 2004, Marull & Mallarach 2005). One of the most important factors that have to be taken into account in the process of ecological mapping and subsequent application of spatial indicators is the working scale. Traditional urbanism has frequently adopted municipal and administrative limits as the only criterion to delimit the area of study and planning. As mentioned before, from an ecological point of view, the administrative limits do not usually fit the natural scale and dimension of urban and metropolitan ecological processes. For example, urban biodiversity is strongly linked to peri-urban flora and fauna, and even maintain functional links with external, distant natural and rural areas; thus, a landscape scale of analysis is needed. In the case of hydrologic processes, storm runoff and NPS pollution models have to be applied at a river basin scale, in order to analyse urbanization impact in the whole basin hydrological dynamics. Other processes, like air pollutant absorption and microclimate regulation, can be studied at a medium-high scale, ranging from street scale studies (e.g. for energy saving in buildings) to city or higher scale (e.g. delimiting urban morphological zones that comprise the whole continuous urban fabric in a metropolitan region). In conclusion, a multi-scale approach, in which spatial data and indicators are designed and adapted to match the specific scale of each natural process studied, is a basic prerequisite to obtain valid, useful results for their subsequent application to urban planning. Finally, it is necessary to insist on the existing gap between academic, scientific advances produced in this field in recent decades, and the current practice of urban and metropolitan planning. In addition to all of the considerations suggested above, the search for new planning-oriented methodological tools, easy to implement by city planners (as, for example, GIS based tools), and flexible enough to adapt to the fast urban and metropolitan dynamics, is a necessary effort nowadays, in order to overcome this problematic gap between theory and practice.
5 NATURBANIZATION VERSUS NATURE IN URBAN AREAS: COMPLEMENTARITIES AND OPPORTUNITIES Are naturbanization and urban ecology opposite issues? Or can they be considered two faces of the same question? As has been mentioned in previous sections, the ecology of a city is not independent from the ecology of the natural areas that surround it. In many ways, city and countryside are part of a complex, unitary system where ecological and anthropogenic processes take part and interact with each other. In a natural–rural–urban gradient, naturbanization and urban ecology perspectives would be placed on the two opposite extremes, the first one focused on the influence of urban development in high quality natural context, e.g. national and natural parks and reserves; and the second focused on the influence of nature in an urban context, highly transformed by human action. 260
It is necessary to explore the possible complementarities between these two points of view, in order to find potential synergies and opportunities for scientific research. On a first analysis, we can discern some common topics that are included in both perspectives. Some ecological impacts of urban development on natural protected areas are also studied by urban ecology. The effect of urbanization processes on biodiversity is one of the clearest examples of this. Naturbanization implies an increase of anthropogenic pressure on local flora and fauna through different vectors, such as land consumption, high quality habitat loss, recreational use impacts like noise, litter or plant damage (Lynn & Brown 2003), construction of roads and other infrastructures that act as barriers for the movement of animal species, etc. The processes are similar to those in urban growth areas, the intensity of human intervention being the main difference between the two cases. Thus, it is possible to apply similar methodological approaches to those mentioned before for the analysis of urban biodiversity at a metropolitan scale, specially those tools related to landscape ecology. Another issue that can be faced adopting a similar perspective is the impact caused by naturbanization on the hydrologic conditions of natural areas. Cited indicators like impervious cover percentage and runoff or NPS pollution models can be applied in natural parks and protected areas to analyse the consequences of urbanization. As in the previous case, the driving forces here are basically the same in a natural and in an urban context, with the only – but relevant – difference of the intensity of human activity. Apart from the mentioned methodological issues, it’s possible to find another basic connection between urban environmental problematic and city-rural areas migration process. People’s necessity of contact with nature (Chiesura 2004), in addition to urban life usual troubles like stress, noise, pollution, discomfort and diminished environmental conditions, could be easily recognized as the main driving forces of naturbanization. As previously mentioned, many of these problems constitute some of the principal motivations for city inhabitants to go to public open spaces in their spare time. This general perception of urban nature as a source of well-being can also be demonstrated through housing-market analysis; many studies show that natural values, e.g. landscape quality or proximity to a green area, significantly increase willingness to pay among potential buyers (Geoghegan et al. 1997, Geoghegan 2002, Bengochea 2003). Starting from this basis, it is possible to raise some questions around our current model of urban development, both in cities and in natural protected areas. Do city park users and naturbanites share the same perceptions, values and attitudes in relation to nature? Is it possible to satisfy people’s need of contact with nature by just increasing the naturalness of urban open spaces, or do we have to accept naturbanization as an unavoidable consequence of modern city life? Could the improvement of urban environmental quality though urban ecological services act as a counterpoint to naturbanization processes? Is it possible to apply urban ecology criteria to new urban developments in rural and natural areas? Further research is needed to answer these questions but, at first glance, the confluence between urban ecology principles and naturbanization theory seems an interesting starting point for a deeper reflection.
6 CONCLUSIONS As has been demonstrated, urban open spaces play an important environmental role in cities, providing an interesting ecological functionality and permitting city inhabitant’s direct contact with nature. In this sense, the introduction of a higher degree of naturalness in urban landscapes can be seen as a key factor in the achievement of urban sustainability objectives. However, more research is needed on this topic, in order to optimise urban ecosystems services and take full advantage of the environmental potential of green zones. In this sense, the development of innovative, multidisciplinary and planning-oriented tools for the analysis of urban ecology is one of the most urgent challenges. On the other hand, the potential connection between urban ecology and naturbanization theory has been discussed. It seems clear that there are common challenges on both of these topics, 261
especially in relation to the methodological approach to the study of some environmental impacts derived from urbanization. Social perception issues, especially city inhabitants’ requirements and attitudes in relation to nature, also seem to play a key role in both urban ecology and naturbanization processes. As has been suggested, an increase of urban landscape naturalness could act as an interesting measure to alleviate urbanization pressure over rural and natural protected areas. In this case, further research is also needed to explore in depth this potential synergy.
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Naturbanization: New identities and processes for rural-natural areas – Prados (ed) © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-49000-9
Author Index
Barrachina, M. 167 Barral, M.A. 185 Barros, F. 45 Campagna, M. 93 Cunill, R. 239 Czerny, M. 29
Lecka, I. 29 Lourenço, J.M. 45 Manakos, I. 205 Mendizábal, E. 225
Dłu˙zewska, A. 125 Doctor, A.M. 109
Pallares-Barbera, M. 75 Pallarès-Blanch, M. 143 Prados, M.J. 3, 11 Pelachs, A. 225, 239
Ivanov, E.D. 205
Quental, N. 45
265
Santiago, J. 253 Serra, A. 225 Serra, J.M. 225 Soriano, J.M. 225, 239 Tulla, A.F. 75 van der Knaap, W. 205 Vera, A. 75 Wujek, M. 29
