I Conference “Imperfect landscapes: Unoccupied developable land on the Mediterranean coast”.
Friday, November 25th, 2022
From 11:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Projection room of the ETS of Architecture UPV
In recent years we have experienced an intense process of urbanization in Europe that has been particularly intense in the Mediterranean regions. The Valencian Community, and especially the strip that makes up its coastline, is a good example of this activity increased with the coexistence of thousands of tourists who visit us every year or who take up residence on these coasts.
The real estate bubble forged in the so-called “prodigious decade” (1997-2007) left as a reference historical data of economic growth linked to the real estate sector. But this situation of unlimited growth, which took the form of a ‘virtuous’ speculative real estate cycle, came to a screeching halt in 2007, with the bursting of the real estate bubble. After the urbanizing tsunami, the consequences have been disastrous in many cases. It might seem that the pace of this machine of territorial transformation was fueled by a demographic demand also growing while waiting for the occupation of the new “pieces” of city. Paradoxically, the opposite will be the case. Another new “empty Spain” is located on the coastline with no development prospects. An important volume of unfinished and idle territories, a “sleeping urbanism” formed by unoccupied territory are its signs of identity.
This conference aims to share the various recent studies and reflections that address what we have called “Imperfect Landscapes” establishing a comparison between what happened in Valencia, Murcia and Andalusia.