Negative impacts of abandoned urbanisation projects in the Spanish coast and its regulation in the Law

Abstract

Rapid economic growth in Spain has been strongly linked to the building sector, with special emphasis in construction of residential complexes and hotels in coastal areas. The current economic slowdown has resulted in the disruption of much of the urbanisation process within the coastal fringes. This is not a new phenomena, the same problem has occurred during the late 1970s in Spain when the global recession caused by energy crisis also impacted urbanization projects. This paper examines the negative consequences and impacts generated by abandoned urbanisation processes which are leaving buildings (residential and tourist resorts) and infrastructure idle in different stretches of the Spanish coasts. To identify negative impacts of abandoned buildings a compilation of cases study from 70 ́s and present are presented, in conjunction with a study on the evolution of the legal framework surrounding land policies in Spain from the 1940 ́s. Two kind of impacts were identified: those of socio-economic nature (i.e. loss of jobs, loss of value of the area, marginalisation of population and transfer of cost between private and public sector) and those of environmental nature (i.e. visual impact, landscape modification, erosion, loss of biodiversity and pollution). Finally, a comparison is made based on the current situation with similar cases occurred during the 70’s, with special regard to the evolution of Land Laws. The analysis shows that Spanish Law has evolved positively in terms of social responsibility; nevertheless, environmental responsibility does not yet cover these cases satisfactorily.