Visions, actions and policies towards sustainable development on the coast. An insight into the touristic and territorial planning instruments of Andalusia and the Balearic Islands cases

Abstract

Spain, France and Italy represent the countries with the highest housing stock of second homes built on the Mediterranean coast. The presence of this phenomenon on the coast has been justified by the shadow of a tourist activity that has not been able to keep the strong development pressures, social imbalances that arise between permanent residents and floating population, and the illegality of the phenomenon uncontrolled by government. The main objective of this paper is to introduce new inputs for designing the tourism planning through visions, actions and policies, in order to rethinking a more sustainable development in the Spanish coast. To do this, we have studied some of the urban and territorial plans in two coastal regions that have a high rate of second home in the coast (Andalusia and the Balearic Islands). The methodology is based on three lines of research: (a) field work and collection of cartographic and descriptive material for each case study; (b) interviews to experts from different professional disciplines; (c) and identification of the current policies about sustainability management for getting the governing of the coast. The main contribution of the research is based on a wide reading of two territorial plans on the Spanish coast to determine actions and public policies in urban, social and economic spheres.