The tourism-residential phenomenon and irregular land occupation: The case of the middle valley of the Almanzora river

Abstract

Since the beginning of the century the Mediterranean coast has experienced an intense urban development, mainly driven by northern European migrants with habits closely linked to tourism who decide to establish their residence in areas with a warmer climate. Although there are abundant works focused on the study of these mobilities in coastal tourist settings, the territorial transformation triggered in inland rural areas has not been covered with the same attention so far. Through a quantitative empirical approach, based on data obtained from official statistical and cartographic sources, we analyse the settlements that have arisen in the middle valley of the Almanzora river, a unique rural setting of British residents which has experienced exponential growth of irregular land occupation in recent years. This work uncovers two clear models of occupation: the scattered settlements included within the pre-existing agricultural plots and the secondary urban developments that have proliferated in environments of low agricultural productivity. Finally, this study concludes that the regularization of these settlements poses significant challenges both at the legal and planning levels and shows that the profitability of agriculture is a mitigating element of the tourist-residential phenomenon.