Este artículo pretende contribuir al conocimiento de los impactos producidos por la crisis en el proceso de desarrollo territorial de Andalucía, centrando la atención en los efectos que está generando en las ciudades que conforman su sistema urbano.
Dado que las fuentes estadísticas disponibles sólo ofrecen datos a escala municipal, se recogen los referidos a los municipios considerados urbanos (> 10.000 habitantes). Los indicadores utilizados, tanto económicos como sociales y ambientales, resultan significativos y contribuyen a mostrar las alteraciones producidas por la crisis en el modelo territorial, así como su distinta incidencia en las ciudades que lo componen. Abstract:
There has been an ongoing deep crisis since the negative effects of
financial deregulation linked to the so-called real estate or property
bubble began to be felt at the end of the first decade of this
century. Despite the crisis originally being regarded as financial, it quickly
spread to the rest of the economy. Continuous and quickening changes have seen
the seriousness and complexity of the crisis grow and develop to the point that
it has become systemic, as it affects institutions, policies and even moral and
ethical values, and also global in scale, as it is impacting on the whole
planet, albeit affecting different areas in different ways and to different
degrees.
In this last respect, it is of special interest to see what spatial changes are resulting from the crisis, and, therefore, the ways that it is affecting the processes of spatial development. As is known, this conceptual category refers to the development model that can make economic competitiveness compatible with social well-being, environmental sustainability and the moderation of internal imbalances, which represents a goal that typifies a large part of people’s collective aspirations. Spatial development should also be considered from two angles: it should be evenly distributed over a given area and, in turn, be based on the conditions that make each of the different parts of this area special in their own way; in other words, it should promote spatial cohesion whilst respecting regional diversity (Zoido, 2001; Zoido-Caravaca, 2006; Pita-Pedregal, 2011).
It is a sufficiently tested fact that valorising resources is at the essence of spatial development processes; and whilst in a global world like today’s many of the traditional economic resources have become unprecedentedly mobile, other heritage assets are firmly rooted, in spatial terms, which gives them a special added value. The existence of balanced urban systems is a major spatial resource from this point-of-view, with a dense network of small- and medium-size towns and cities which form the roots and branches of the region and can contribute to propagating development processes throughout it (Berry, 1972; Haggett, 1988, etc.).
It should therefore come of no surprise that this type of urban system, and more especially, the small- and medium-size towns and cities that make it up, have taken on a more significant role, not only in the field of the scientific literature (Camagni-Salone, 1993; Laborie-Renard, 1998; Bellet-Llop coords, 2000, 2004; Capel, 2003, etc.), but also in institutional discourse. A good example of this can be found in some of the documents produced by the European Union: The European Spatial Development Perspective (1999), Study Programme on European Spatial Planning (2000), Reports on Economic and Social Cohesion (2004).
However, along with the foregoing, it should not be forgotten that these are places that can be especially illustrative in an analysis of the spatial impacts of the crisis, as they not only concentrate the population, companies, institutions, knowledge and innovations that contribute to dynamising the economy during periods of growth, but they are also the places that are most negatively affected in times of recession. It is no surprise, then, that emphasis has been put on the crisis’ urban roots (Harvey, 2012 b; Méndez, 2013a and c).
In this general reference context, the aim of this article is to contribute to the knowledge of the impacts that the crisis has had on spatial development in Andalusia, with attention also placed on the different effects that this is having on the towns and cities that make up the regional urban system. The reference dates used for this are 2006, 2009 and 2012, which enables differentiation between what occurred between 2006 and 2012, this being the last year for which generalised information is available on the municipal level. Reference periods are also used: 2006 -2009, as the first phase when the crisis was developing, and 2009- 2012, which can be considered the second stage, coinciding with the first austerity measures. Bearing in mind that available statistical sources provide data on the municipal scale, the source for municipalities that are considered as urban has been chosen, i.e., municipalities that have a population exceeding 10,000 inhabitants.
Economic, social and environmental indicators have to be used to achieve the goal that has been set, as they shed the greatest light on the effects that the crisis has had on the Andalusian spatial model and its different impacts on the towns and cities in the region. Given the limitations of a study such as that proposed here, it has been necessary to choose the indicators considered to be most significant from all those available.
Of those directly linked to the way that the economy works, those analysed are the evolution of electricity consumption for industrial (commercial) use and the number of jobs. The latter is a baseline indicator for observing the behaviour of the economy and is especially important in a region like Andalusia, which is characterised by the traditional inability of its economy to generate a sufficient amount of employment. Bearing this in mind, the need to analyse the impact of the crisis on unemployment becomes evident. This is an indicator that can be considered not only economic, but also social, as it has a very direct effect on the social inequalities that, as is well-known, are emerging as the main problem in our societies (OECD, 2014; Oxfam-Intermón, 2014).
Meanwhile, the evolution of electricity consumption for household use helps to demonstrate the changes that the crisis is imposing on people’s ways of life and consumer behaviour. Three other indicators directly linked to the provision of such basic social services as education, health and social welfare also demonstrate the undesired social effects of the crisis: the number of pupils per teacher, the ratio between hospital beds/1000 inhabitants and the number of places in healthcare centres.
Information on the environment is much more limited on the municipal scale. Nevertheless, there is some information available that is especially interesting for spatial development processes: land surface that has been built on and changed, which is directly linked to the creation of the real estate bubble.
Despite the inevitable limitations of a study such as this, it has been possible to draw some conclusions about the changes that have been experienced in the region’s spatial development and the way that the towns and cities that make it up behave. It has been demonstrated that the effect of the crisis on the spatial development of urban spaces is closely linked to their economic (legacy economic structures, predominant activities, the capacity to generate employment, etc.) and spatial characteristics (the area in which they are located, natural and infrastructure resources that they possess, etc.).
In short, there seems to be absolutely no doubt that an analysis of the crisis’ spatial impacts is necessary for understanding the changes that have been produced in spatial dynamics, and that deepening knowledge of the various ways that the crisis is affecting urban areas can help regionally-differentiated measures and strategies to be proposed. Classification-JEL: R1 Keywords: Crisis, Desarrollo territorial, Andalucía, Territorial development, Andalusia Pages: 47-82 Volume: 2 Year: 2014 File-URL: http://www.revistaestudiosregionales.com/documentos/articulos/pdf-articulo-2439.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf Handle: RePEc:rer:articu:v:2:y:2014:p:47-82