Ordenación urbanística de los municipios litorales

Abstract

As Spain is a nation with almost eight thousand lineal kilometres of coastline on which the greater part of the population is located and concentrated, the importance of development planning of by municipalities located on this narrow and peculiar strip of our territory is obvious. The Introduction to the Coast Act 22/1988 already stated that of the 7,880 kilometres of coast, 24% of which is beaches, the public ownership of land was calculated at that time at some 13,560 hectares. The said Introduction reminded us that our coastline suffered a heavy increase in population and a consequent intensification of tourist, agricultural, industrial, transport, and fishing, etc., uses which have come about over the years and continue today due to population movements from the hinterland to the coastal areas. With the aforementioned we not only wish to highlight the importance of a study of the problems generated by the development planning of the coastal municipalities but also to point out from the start one of the most serious problems that affect such planning which is no other than the concurrence of numerous opposing interests: development of tourism, development of dry land, national defence, environmental protection and a lengthy list of others, which are not only opposing interests on many occasions but rather their protection rests in the hands of divers administrations – State, Regional and Local Administrative bodies. This concurrence of jurisdictions amounts to one of the lines of my thesis which will endeavour to show how, as of today, it continues to be the biggest problem that threatens and entangles a correct development planning of the coast...