Urban intervention on the coastline of Catalunya. A new understanding of tourism

Abstract

This article presents a brief summary of the relationship between tourism, urban law and municipal planning in Spain. It sets out the arguments which led to a change of model in a new era of tourism, although other forms of tourism have not yet replaced Fordist mass tourism, which remains hegemonic. Furthermore, it exposes several cases which illustrate how territorial planning helped review and amend some harmful provisions for the rampant urbanization of the Catalan coast. This attitude points to a qualitative change of mature vacation spots. These cases are preceded by a presentation of an unusual counter-proposal for the protection of the coastline of Tarragona, carried out at the beginning of the 1980s.