Land use changes in Costa de Caparica and Albufeira (Portugal): an input to coastal management

• Autor(a) principal: Almeida,Diana
• Data de Publicação: 2012
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1646-88722012000300001
• topic: tourism; urbanization; public/private space; coastal management

Artificial areas in coastal zones have grown in the last decades in Portugal mainly due to urbanization, leisure and tourism practices. The paper aims to identify changes in urban and tourism occupation in Costa de Caparica and Albufeira’s parishes by discussing public and private space uses with regard to coastal management tools. The main transformations from 1991 to 2001 in those coastal areas are related to changes of number of residents, buildings and tourist establishments, which has contributed to space reconfiguration and land use change. The findings show that Costa de Caparica has a greater representation of isolated travels associated with leisure on the coast, while Albufeira as a destination has been marked by conflicts involving public space use and the availability of natural resources. Morevoer, the application of the 500 meter strip planning exercise from the Portuguese Coastal Plan proved that the enforcement of measures and actions towards an equitable public space use can be done in a smaller scale (local). Managing and monitoring second home landscapes, beach concession licenses and resort private beach appropriation can be accomplished within the coastal strip planning strategy.