Enhancing the Territorial Heritage of Declining Rural Areas in Spain: Towards Integrating Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approaches

Ángel Raúl Ruiz Pulpón and María del Carmen Cañizares Ruiz
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Ángel Raúl Ruiz Pulpón: Department of Geography and Land Use Planning, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain
María del Carmen Cañizares Ruiz: Department of Geography and Land Use Planning, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain

Land, 2020, vol. 9, issue 7, 1-25

Abstract: The population of a considerable number of rural areas in the interior of Spain is in decline. Faced with this problem, various institutions are launching initiatives to enhance the territorial heritage (natural and cultural) of these areas and, starting with a minimum of economic diversification, help to reverse these depopulation processes and promote local development overall. Two specific initiatives are analysed here: the Almadén Mining Park and the Molina-Alto Tajo District Geopark, both of which are located in central-southern Spain and have been officially recognised by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites. These two examples allow us to demonstrate, as our main objective, the today importance of territorial revival processes that were initiated by institutions (top-down approach) and then backed up by increasing participation by the local communities (bottom-up approach), encouraged by, among other factors, rural development programmes. In this regard, two aspects are important: the need for an interrelationship between the two approaches in terms of collaborative governance, in order to minimise the current processes of depopulation and territorial dislocation; and the use of the potential synergy between the resources in these two districts to ensure the viability of the initiatives and provide visitors with a high-quality experience.

Keywords: territorial heritage; rural areas in decline; rural enhancement; top-down approach; bottom-up approach; collaborative governance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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