Mark Stucklin
Spanish coast gets it in the neck
I read in the Spanish daily ‘El Pais’ that Spain’s once beautiful coastline – arguably the country’s main tourist asset – disappeared under cement at the fastest rate ever during the credit-fuelled property boom of recent years, now turned to bust.
Building paradise in Valencia
According to ‘El Pais’, new data from satellite images reveals that built up land within 2 kilometres of the coast increased by a national average of 22% during the 5-year period 2000 – 2005, double the average rate of the previous period analysed (1987 – 2000).
Now, an increase in built up land is not necessarily a bad thing if it is well-planned, creates sustainable communities, adds long-term value, and strikes a reasonable balance between economic development and the environment.
Tragically, much of the residential construction on the Spanish coast during the boom years was a very bad thing. Out of control, driven by speculation, and greased by corruption, it almost seemed to want to make the Spanish coast as unattractive as possible. Much of the increase in built up land came at a terrible price, though some developers, speculators, and politicians did very well out of it.
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Valencia takes the biscuit
The province of Valencia, in the Valencian Community, did the most damage to its coast, increasing the built area by a whopping 54% in just 5 years, followed by Huelva (Costa de la Luz, Andalucia), up 48%, and Alicante (Costa Blanca, Valencian Community), up 37%.
In just 6 years of construction fever the Valencian Community covered 11% of the land within 2 kilometres of its coast in cement, much of it given to unattractive and unsustainable new development.
The Valencian Region may take the biscuit when it comes to sacrificing the natural environment of its coastline to a speculative construction boom, but it is not alone. In the same period 9% of Malaga’s coastline was cemented over, and 7% of Catalonia’s.
Tasteful construction on the Costa del Sol
A real turn-off
From what I can tell, many people who visit Spain these days take one look at what the town planners have allowed to happen to the coast and shake their heads in despair (many foreigners, however, are as guilty as anyone for buying into the speculative boom that did so much damage).
Drunk on cement
According to Juan Manuel Barragán, a professor and specialist in Coastal land management at the University of Cadiz, Spain has squandered one of its most valuable resources. “The country got drunk on cement,” says Barragán, quoted in El Pais. “When we look back in a few years time and see what we did to the coast during the real estate boom we will realise how stupid it was. A few people made a fortune at the expense of our common heritage.”
“The coast has lost value,” continues Barragán. “Quality tourism isn’t after cement, which it can find in Düsseldorf, it’s after protected beaches, of which there are fewer and fewer.”
Guilty secret
What about the people who run the show, the bureaucrats and politicians? What do they think about the mess they have presided over? There is a clue as to what they think in the way the local and national tourist boards advertise Spain and its regions.
Take Andalucia’s TV advert (Andalucia te quiere – Andalucia loves you). Lots of shots of beautiful scenery on the coast and inland, but no sign whatsoever of all those new developments and building sites . But what, pray tell, is the main impression anyone visiting Andalucia today will get? Land at Malaga airport and take the road west to Marbella and all you see is mindless, out of control, new development, plus some creepy estate agents advertising bill boards.
They authorities know that it is ugly and unattractive, that tourists don’t want it. That’s why you won’t see it in their promotional material. They know they have done wrong. It’s like their dirty little secret, which they try to hide even though its disfiguring impact is colossal.