Abstract
The Galapagos Islands are known to have inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. It is also one of the most studied areas in the world for its natural phenomena. Recently, however, the Galapagos Islands are gaining attention due to its built environment and the impact it is making in one of the most delicate natural ecosystems in the world. A directive of the Galapagos National Park has divided the land use of the archipelago into rural, urban, and protected areas. Rural and urban areas are considered inhabitable areas and represent only 3% of the total land surface. This chapter presents the context and background against which the remaining chapters will discuss particular aspects of natural and urban systems.
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Notes
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“Urban areas are the zones with the highest concentration of built structures where most human activities take place, collection and distribution centers of people and products, but also areas with the biggest amount of changes in the environment due to constructions, introduced species and contamination. Rural areas are zones devoted to farmland activities such as agriculture and cattle, generally located in the elevated areas of the inhabited islands, but also clearly associated with the environmental effects derived from farmland.” Dirección del Parque Nacional Galapagos (2014).
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López Andrade, J.E., Quiroga Ferri, D. (2019). The Galapagos Urban Context. In: Kvan, T., Karakiewicz, J. (eds) Urban Galapagos. Social and Ecological Interactions in the Galapagos Islands. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99534-2_2
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