The Douro landscape heritage (NE Portugal): modernity and tradition in times of change

Pina Helena Mesquita ()
Additional contact information
Pina Helena Mesquita: Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

Miscellanea Geographica. Regional Studies on Development, 2018, vol. 22, issue 2, 81-89

Abstract: As a consequence of its long history of more than 250 years, the Douro Demarcated Region (NE Portugal) boasts a distinct cultural landscape typified by terraces filled with the regional variety of grapevine – it is a region where famous wines are produced, in particular Port wine. Nevertheless, especially after the 1980s, the need to cover labour shortages and increase productivity led to a gradual change in the landscape, and today the traditional terraces are mixed with new types of vineyards, such as the “vinha ao alto” (vertical vines) and “vinha em patamares” (vines on terraces). Against this backdrop, and with a view to preserving the landscape in a sustainable and multifunctional way, UNESCO awarded the region the “Evolving Living Landscape, World Heritage” award. In this article we combine extensive documentary research with productive field work in order to question the relationship between the need to preserve an exceptional, cultural landscape and the need for regional sustainability in this World Heritage site.

Keywords: cultural landscape; Douro Demarcated Region; World Heritage; preservation; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.2478/mgrsd-2018-0018 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vrs:mgrsod:v:22:y:2018:i:2:p:81-89:n:7

DOI: 10.2478/mgrsd-2018-0018

Access Statistics for this article

Miscellanea Geographica. Regional Studies on Development is currently edited by Maciej Jędrusik

More articles in Miscellanea Geographica. Regional Studies on Development from Sciendo
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().