Gregorio Canales Martínez

Los espacios periurbanos en el área de Alicante-Elche (España)

Los procesos de periurbanizacion en Alicante y Elche se iniciaron con los anos 1960 y desde entonces han mantenido una expansion continua y acelerada; estan basados en la industrializacion y el desarrollo terciario locales, sobre los que ha confluido una importante edificacion turistico-residencial en la franja costera. Se distinguen tres tipologias de periurbanizacion segun morfologias edificatorias y de usos: 1) turistico-residencial en la franja costera, para propietarios locales y foraneos: 2) con viviendas unifamiliares en los espacios no costeros, para propietarios locales; en su mayor parte esta periurbanizacion ha ocupado suelos agricolas arbolados; 3) ejes industriales y terciarios sobre las carreteras principales que parten de las ciudades.

La funcionalidad urbana de la ciudad de Orihuela. Una capitalidad histórica en retroceso

Desde mediados del siglo XIX, la ciudad de Orihuela ha ido perdiendo progresivamente la funcion de capitalidad de la comarca del Bajo Segura. El presente estudio analiza las funciones que Orihuela desempena en la actualidad y pone en evidencia que unicamente conserva un cierto prestigio historico mas que la atraccion de un centro economico. Proceso que tiene su causa fundamentalmente en el desarrollo de otros nucleos comarcales. Asimismo, se pone de manifiesto la distribucion interna de las funciones urbanas y su localizacion, asi como el proceso de desplazamiento que en el caso de las actividades economicas se ha producido hacia el mas reciente ensanche urbano.

LA HUERTA DEL BAJO SEGURA (ALICANTE), UN PATRIMONIO CULTURAL EN PELIGRO. REFLEXIONES SOBRE UN PROYECTO MUSEOLÓGICO INTEGRAL

Degradation process that fertile region of Bajo Segura (Alicante) has suffered at last decades has had as a fundamental consequence the loss, irreparable i...

Nuevos regadíos en el secano del Bajo Segura: el modelo referencial de San Onofre-Torremendo (1953-1992)

La entrada en funcionamiento de los pantanos del Cenajo y Camarilla en 1957 y 1960, respectivamente, incremento los volumenes regulados en la Cuenca del Segura en 233 Hm3/ano. El aumento del volumen embalsado garantizaba la ampliacion del regadio, que se realizo segun determina el Decreto Orden Ministerial de 1953. La repercusion en el Bajo Segura, objeto de analisis de esta investigacion, se valora en la transformacion inicial de 3.500 Ha elevadas a 14.000 por los aportes de redotacion del trasvase Tajo-Segura. El ejemplo de la Comunidad de Regantes de San Onofre- Torremendo es el modelo referencial que explica el paso de una extension concedida de 321 Ha casi 2.000 Ha de regadio, con la consiguiente mejora economica y social de su poblacion.

La desintegración del patrimonio señorial en un estado valenciano: el marquesado de Elche

En los apellidos y titulos de los sucesivos titulares del marquesado de Elche queda entretejida la historia de los reinos peninsulares. Sobrepasada en importancia economica por la quiebra de la Casa de Osuna, la ruina de la de Altamira-Astorga cuenta tambien entre las principales sufridas por la gran nobleza espanola en el transcurso del siglo XIX. Dicha bancarrota comporto la extincion de la propiedad de raigambre senorial en el marquesado de Elche, uno de los mayores senorios valencianos. A diferencia de la gran mayoria de estados valencianos, el dominio directo no genera en el marquesado de Elche la partida mas cuantiosa de ingresos, superada tanto con la participacion en diezmos como por las regalias. Las rentas totales, necesariamente crecidas, no deben enmascarar su condicion de senorio relativamente poco productivo a mediados del XVIII; de ello es responsable, ademas de la abundancia de tierras francas, la carencia en las parcelas enfiteuticas de particion de frutos.

La actuación del Instituto Nacional de Colonización en el municipio de Hellín (Albacete)

During the mid-50’s in the present century, the State declares the Irrigation Canal of Hellin, in the province of Albacete, of high national interest for agricultural colonization. A grant of flows of 1.000 l/s from the river Mundo, as well as from the extraction of hypogeum waters, was awarded for the starting of irrigation. This way, they intended to palliate the economic crisis that the Hellin municipality was going through, as a result of the collapse of the traditional textile industry related to the exploitation of esparto. From that moment onwards an important transformation of the space starts through the distribution of 1.755 hectares among some two hundred farmers, who group themselves in three new-built rural towns, namely: Nava de Campana, Mingogil and Canada de Agra. The development and details of this colonizing task are dealt with in this monographic study.

Consolidación de dominios en las Pías Fundaciones del Cardenal Belluga (Bajo Segura)

This article analyses the decline and desintegration of the Pias Fundaciones founded by Cardenal Belluga in the Bajo Segura during the first half of the Eighteenth Century. Due to his huge influence, the Prelate obtained through several grants a surface of about 40.000 «tahullas» (4.472 hectares) of marshlands, wich were drained and most of them established by census emphyteuticus. A series of valuable studies have analysed the life and works of Belluga, yet and investigation of the dilapidation of the Pias Fundaciones by the desamortization dispositions has hardly taken place. A Royal Order on the 25th of September 1798 reduced the heritage, and the Act of the 1st of May 1855 declared in selling condition the heritage still existing, however the consolidation of domains was carried out protected by the slightly know Act of 11th of March 1859. Through the Contaduria de Hipotecas (Mortages Accounts Departament) it has been possible to document this process. Another subject of consideration is the cuestion raised in the township of Dolores when, by sentence of the High Court, the lands of Majada Vieja were returned to the Casa de Rafal.

Aproximación a la evolución reciente de la gran propiedad agrícola en el Bajo Segura: el caso de Orihuela

The municipality of Orihuela has a huge extension of land, most of it unirrigated. This is the reason why the study analyses the recent evolution of these large properties from the decade of the forties onwards. These country estates of the Bajo Segura have experimented in the last decades changes of great significance, on one hand, the dry lands have been transformed into irrigated ones with the waters of the Trasvase Tajo-Segura; on the other hand, and due to the fact that they are close to the coast, some of them are now turistic urbanizations. Therefore, we now find a speculative use of the land based on a fertile agriculture and on a turistic development. One use does not exclude the other and in some properties both of them are combined.

Los Baños de Mula (Murcia): un entorno rural en declive. Propuestas patrimoniales y didácticas

El entorno rural de Los Banos, pedania del municipio de Mula (Region de Murcia) presenta un claro declive demografico y economico. Uno de los principales factores de este proceso reside en la escasa actualizacion del uso de sus aguas termales, dispuestas tradicionalmente en paradores y casas de banos de forma independiente. Sin embargo, la singularidad patrimonial de su arquitectura urbana e hidraulica, los recursos arqueologicos y naturales que circundan el area, ademas de la importancia actual del turismo de salud, son aspectos a tener en cuenta en la promocion y desarrollo de este territorio. En este trabajo se proponen una serie de actuaciones que podrian mejorar notablemente la situacion social y economica de este paraje tan atractivo y unico.

Poly-nuclear urban system, landscape identity and economic development: The Vega Baja of the Segura River (Alicante) case study

The territory that comprises the Vega Baja of the Segura River (Alicante province) has experienced a drastic change in terms of land occupancy and settlement growth patterns in the last twenty-five years evidenced by the introduction of new economic activities. Agricultural land use has been declining and in its place tourism related businesses have flourished. New emerging patterns of urban settlements, driven by changing economic factors have been highlighted. This process has significantly impacted the landscape and how the local population relates to their living environment. The Vega Baja plane of the Segura River developed from the expansion of its functional network systems –water canals (irrigation and drainage), routes (pathways), and enclaves (settlements)– which enabled the occupation and colonization of extensive areas of marshy land from the ninth century. The territorial organization of this study’s area developed over the course of eleven centuries and remained relatively stable until after 1986, when agriculture lost its primacy and followed by an intense rural exodus (García-Mayor & Canales Martínez, 2017). Consequently, over the course of the last twenty years specific changes in land management policies have Abstract. The geographical area of this study -the Vega Baja alluvial plainis characterized by its intensively irrigated agricultural pattern. It is one of the last remaining Huerta European landscapes identified in the Dobris Report and dates back to the ninth-century. Since the 1990s, the introduction of new land uses has modified the configuration patterns of otherwise stable traditional settlements. The exceptionally rapid pace of this process has had a significant impact on the landscape, the environment, and on how the local population relates to their surroundings. Moreover, in the last twenty-five years, the local economy has undergone restructuring, producing a mind-shift among local communities and resulting in a meaningful loss of crop production surface to make way for town-planning developments. The preservation of the Huerta’s landscape identity requires a comprehensive and integrated reference framework to ensure sustainable development which is a goal advanced by this work. To this end, four key categories -Landscape, Agriculture, Habitat and Tourismare defined and analyzed over three separate time periods that reflect the evolution of the territory. The aim of this paper is to provide an analytical territorial framework that can inform and guide future decision making —in the context of sustainable economic development— that should embrace a comprehensive approach to Huerta landscape identity values.