Granada is one of the top three rapidly sprawling regions in Spain, along with Madrid and Victoria (Morollon et al., 2014). One of the compelling factors of urban expansion is the growing networks of Motorways connecting Granada urban centre with its surrounding regions.
Granada’s urban areas are expanding towards the northwest and southwest peri-urban, dominated by development of residential areas and road infrastructures. Meanwhile the mountainous landscapes serve as a constraint for urban expansion to the east.
The economic sectors of the peri-urban are dominated by agriculture and tourism. Most of the peri-urban agriculture are located in the southwest peri-urban, while the south relies on coastal tourism. Meanwhile, some of the peri-urban villages are experiencing economic depression with insufficient water supplies.
One of the problems to look at in the future is the agricultural sectors. With its role as a main economic sector for the southwest peri-urban and a provider of local foods, these faring parcels are threatened by imminent rural-urban transformation as the peri-urban population continues to grow alongside the declining population density in the urban centres.
Climate issues
0.4 °C / decade winter temp increase, 0.7 °C / decade summer temp increase (A2 scenario). Increased frequency of days with extreme maximum temperatures.
Reduction in rainfall in Andalucía region over latter half of C. 20th.
Longer flowering season. Spread of parasite species to new territories, greater incidence frequency of pine caterpillars in Scots pine in Andalusian forests.
Recession of cork oak. Recession of shrub lands. Bird, mammal, and reptile biodiversity loss.
Decrease in soil organic carbon. Water erosion across almost half of soils.
Heavy winter rains have historically caused hundreds of embankment failures on key roads in the Andalucía region. Historic Andalucía landslips have been caused by rainfall greater than historic 100 year maxima at 30% of monitoring sites.
Reduction in maize yield, increase in rain-fed spring wheat yield.
Logging, alterations of slope drainage increase hill side infrastructure failure due to slope / embankment failures.
Alhambra forest diversification increases forest resilience to climate change. Bird populations around Granada are relatively diverse and resilient in a review of nine European cities.
Recession of cork oak, affects local economy and agriculture. Andalusian Tourism is a large industry concentrated in July, August, and September.
Increased pollen count, many trees experiencing longer flowering periods, this has already caused increased incidence of allergies, this trend will potentially increase in future.
Governance issues
Lack of communication among neighbouring authorities where planning is often in silos. This particular issue has made difficult in planning the peri-urban, especially in the management of green belt. This needs a more robust regional framework to ensure the connectivity of green belt areas. On the other hand, the concept of Bioregion is not fully engaged in the process of planning, which involve also controlling and managing the process of rural-urban transformation. With this problem, the future of Spain’s green belt in particular, or the peri-urban areas in general are heading towards jeopardy.
General context: The economic system is very vulnerable here, as in many others cities in Spain. Lack of entrepreneurship, telework without developing, inequality, precariousness, and lack of diversity in terms of economic sectors. There is an excess of tourism, construction and the service sectors Increasingly vulnerable, since there is a loss of adaptive capacity, there is no proposal of solutions in terms of centralities and / or locations of land uses. Non-existent support from regional or local governance (very weak). Corruption?
