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2008

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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/164958

The New Pyrenees. Contemporary conflicts around patrimony, resources and urbanization

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https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1556-5823.2008.00009.x

Abstract

In the last twenty years the Pyrenean social landscape has experienced a significant change associated with shifts on the uses of its natural resources. Communities previously characterized by their high rates of depopulation are now in a process of relative demographic recovery. This change is associated to a shift from primary economic activities such as ranching, timber extraction or agriculture to an economic model based on leisure and services. In other words, the current Pyrenees are not dominated by agro-ranching practices. Nowadays the range is increasingly occupied by economic and social initiatives devoted to foster tourism and to cover the needs of visitors. In Spain this change has connected areas of the periphery of the countryside with its urban markets. It has moved the area from a set of marginal and unprofitable economic activities to a highly profitable market based on seasonal tourism and territorial speculation. The economic and symbolic reconstruction of the mountains from pastures into ski runs, for instance, has revealed all their economic potential in this globalized era of ours. This paper is focused in the Pallars Sobirà, a Western district of the Catalan Pyrenees. It explores the consequences of this reconfiguration of the natural resources of an area. Nature becomes patrimony: it is either protected through conservation policies designed by the state, or exploited by local or external corporations. In any case, these recent changes are having significant impacts on settlement patterns, community identity, and public policies.

Subject

Ordenació del paisatge, Demografia, Desenvolupament rural, Gestió de recursos naturals, Pallars Sobirà (Catalunya), Pirineus

Subject (English)

Landscaping industry, Demography, Rural development, Management of natural resources, Pallars Sobirà (Catalonia), Pyrenees

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Articles publicats en revistes (Antropologia Social)

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VACCARO, Ismael and BELTRAN, Oriol. The New Pyrenees. Contemporary conflicts around patrimony, resources and urbanization. Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Europe. 2008. Vol. 8, num. 2, pags. 4-15. ISSN 1535-5632. [consulted: 9 of August of 2026]. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/164958

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