Turisme, illeïtat i urbanització a les Illes Balears (1956-2006)

Abstract

Since the mid-twentieth century, the Balearic Islands have experienced significant changes as a result of their incorporation into the global economy as a mass tourism destination. The urban expansion has been one of the major changes of the Balearics since the mid-fifties, whereas the archipelago’s urban cover in 2006 was five times larger than in 1956. This thesis has been focused on the study of the physical transformations of the Balearic space, as a result of urbanization during this period. Islandness, which is a function linked to the insular fact, and tourism have been two key factors that have conditioned the process of urbanization at the archipelago. The insular nature of the Balearic Islands is its main differential feature, for this reason we have tried to deepen into the notion of islandness. Current literature on island studies prioritizes the use of this concept to address all types of studies, instead of insularity, due to the negative connotations of the second. The term islandness, used in the context of human geography, includes both positive and negative connotations, which relates with openness the first and enclosurement the second. This research focuses on the analysis of how the opening and closuring forces have shaped urbanization. It is impossible to understand the phenomenon of the Balearic urbanization detached from tourism. The rapid growth of the tourism industry in the last 50 years, internationally, has had as main consequence on the evolution of urban areas highly dependent on tourism. This thesis attempts to give a joint response to explain how the two factors have conditioned urban development. This work is based on a solid statistical and cartographic basis, providing facts, figures and models that help to explain the phenomena. This work also presents a comparison between the different islands of the archipelago and it compares the islands of the Balearic archipelago with other island and coastal mainland regions. Finally, I have deployed a wide range of Techniques of Spatial Analysis (GIS, Digital Cartography, Statistical Techniques, etc.) in order to characterize and demonstrate these processes, being the use of such techniques one of the major contributions of this thesis. In conclusion, on the one hand, islandness, understood as a disconnection from the mainland and also in terms of the small size of the islands, has conditioned the lower degree of urbanization of the Balearic coast in comparison to the continental Mediterranean nearby regions. Furthermore, larger islands, such as Mallorca, and better communicated with the outside, such as Mallorca or Ibiza, have also reached higher degrees of urbanization than those smaller, like Formentera, or worse connected, like Menorca or Formentera. On the other hand, the island condition has been an attraction factor for the tourist industry. Generally, islands are important tourist destinations and the Balearic Islands are one of the main tourist spots of the Mediterranean. Tourism requires spaces of production and accordingly tourism has boosted urbanization. New territorial models have been developed with the advance of tourism at every island, which are dominated by coastal urbanization and metropolitan areas. However, every island has particular characteristics which depend on previous spatial patterns and processes and different rhythms of urban transformation.