Context

ADAPTING ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE & LANDSCAPE

“Depopulation of rural areas is an increasing and urgent phenomenon, affecting many European regions and becoming a major challenge” (ESPON Report in Shrinking Rural Regions, 2017) Many rural areas are currently suffering the effects of population decline. Local communities in these areas need to face the socio-economic challenges which are associated to this phenomenon: limited accessibility and access to services; population ageing; lack of economic activity, among others. These effects are often intensified in mountain territories, which due to harder climate conditions and limited accessibility, make life conditions more difficult for their inhabitants. One of the direct visible consequences of the decrease of activity is the generation of redundant spaces which remain empty without function, not being able to be adapted. When this phenomenon reaches its limit implies the abandonment of entire villages and territories. In the region of Aragón, at Spanish Central Pyrenees, there are more than 300 documented cases of empty and ruined villages, most of which were depopulated between the decades of 1960 and 1970. In most of the cases, the economy of these settlements was based on subsistence agriculture, and they were located at very remote and inaccessible places, generating very hard life conditions for their inhabitants. The adaptation of these territories at that time implied a huge investment for the government, who instead promoted development policies in main industrial centres, pushing a big part of mountain communities to migrate to the main cities and developed areas. But there are many other cases in which the exodus of the inhabitants was provoked by man-made interventions in landscape, such as the flood of valleys for the creation of reservoirs, or the massive reforestation projects, for which the central government acquired and evicted large areas. Parallel to these processes linked to industrialization and development of cities, which generated a big migrating movement towards them that is still ongoing, there has been an increasing interest from urban dwellers about rural areas through the growth of tourism. In many rural areas, such as the Pyrenees, it has become the main economic activity, replacing agriculture, and improving life standards of local communities. However, negative effects of tourism can also be already perceived at certain places. At the same time, the development of technology and improvement of infrastructures and mobility enables new ways of working which are creating new possibilities for local inhabitants. The traditional cultural landscapes, which are the result of the interaction of human activities and nature in their adaptation process are in continuous evolution, and the characteristic local landscape, bounded to the traditional society which created it is rapidly transforming, as it also disappears. It is therefore assumed that this local cultural landscape, which is highly appreciated by visitors and local inhabitants will no longer exist. Local communities feel closely attached to these places, and are aware of the value which these cultural landscapes have, both as a functional space, but also due to the interest of external visitors in them. Many local groups get involved around their landscapes and material/immaterial heritage. However, these places need to adapt to spatial/functional conditions which can enhance life of local inhabitants. It is therefore a delicate balance which must be investigated: identifying the local values while exploring strategies which enable their adaptation. This transformation is an ongoing process and makes this issue a very actual and necessary debate, on how to face these challenges, and think the role of these territories towards the future.

INTRODUCTION

Territorial axonometry of Ara Valley and location of the village of Jánovas. © Galán I. 2021