Urban-Tourism Spaces on the Coast: Transformations, Challenges and Globalisation in Uncertain Scenarios

Abstract

The variety of activities related to tourism generates differentiated transformation processes in cities, in the rural world and in coastal spaces. Of all the territorial mutations generated by tourism, those occurring in coastal areas are particularly interesting as these are fragile and complex environments which have suffered the greatest territorial transformations. The importance and significance of the changes taking place in them are directly related to the effects of the urbanisation and occupation of the land, due to tourism real estate development. As a result, the coastal areas are often scenarios of landscape degradation and pollution, social segregation, saturation or infrastructure deficit, among other effects.

Based on the uniqueness of the urban-tourist spaces of the coast, this article will offer a description of the most representative transformation processes in the tourist areas of the Spanish Mediterranean, as an example that can be extrapolated to other spaces. The mechanisms that have made it possible and which have given rise to the different models and implementation sequences will be analysed. Then, the effects related to the urbanisation process will be addressed in order to identify common development patterns, enabling a global diagnosis to be made. Finally, some of the future trends and challenges that will be faced by the coastal urbanised spaces will be examined.