Morfogénesis del valle de Sant Miquel de Campmajor

A series of circumstances which converge in a little valley in the province of Girona, result in a peculiar type of morphogenetic evolution and a quite singular mechanical instability of its buttons. Very recent tectonic movements as well as dissolution phenomena of its subsoil due to pressurized underground water have played an important role in the morphogenesis. Such conditions have resulted in a fast morphological evolution which a progressive lowering of the valley floor as well as peculiar morphological features which favour the existence of numerous pits caused by sudden collapses distributed in altitude and time

Estudi sobre l'habitatge a la demarcació de Girona: habitatges principals, segones residències i apartaments turístics

Aquesta tesi doctoral estudia diferents aspectes sobre els habitatges a la província de Girona, combinant l'anàlisi sobre l'evolució històrica dels habitatges, el fenomen de les segones residències i el mercat d'apartaments turístics. El paper de la població és el principal motor del creixement dels habitatges durant el segle XX. Tot i així, durant la segona meitat, el pes dels habitatges secundaris en zones turístiques com Costa Brava i municipis de muntanya han tingut el seu paper significatiu. Altres factors determinants en els darrers anys han estat la immigració i la disminució del tamany de les llars. Les segones residències a Girona s'ubiquen en gran part a la Costa Brava (al voltant del 75% del total a la província). S'observa un fenomen d'expansió en forma de "taca d'oli" des de la Costa Brava cap a l'interior i des de la Cerdanya cap a zones més orientals. Dins el mercat d'apartaments turístics, una sèrie de regressions hedòniques han posat de manifest les variables que més influeixen sobre el preu final del lloguer de l'habitatge turístic com el nombre d'habitacions, el tipus d'allotjament, la distància sobre la platja, el municipi d'ubicació i la temporada turística. Respecte als hotels (el mateix exercici) com a bé substitutiu destaquen les mateixes variables excepte la piscina (menys valorat) i el pàrking (més valorat).

Desarrollo de un modelo de formación del valor inmobiliario en áreas de crecimiento suburbano. Aplicación a la comarca de la Vega Baja del Segura en el litoral alicantino

Una de las principales líneas de investigación de la economía urbana es el comportamiento del mercado inmobiliario y sus relaciones con la estructura territorial. Dentro de este contexto, la reflexión sobre el significado del valor urbano, y abordar su variabilidad, constituye un tema de especial importancia, dada la relevancia que ha supuesto y supone la actividad inmobiliaria en España. El presente estudio ha planteado como principal objetivo la identificación de aquellos factores, ligados a la localización que explican la formación del valor inmobiliario y justifican su variabilidad. Definir este proceso precisa de una evaluación a escala territorial estableciendo aquellos factores de carácter socioeconómico, medioambiental y urbanístico que estructuran el desarrollo urbano, condicionan la demanda de inmuebles y, por tanto, los procesos de formación de su valor. El análisis se centra en valores inmobiliarios residenciales localizados en áreas litorales donde la presión del sector turístico ha impulsado un amplio. Para ello, el ámbito territorial seleccionado como objeto de estudio se sitúa en la costa mediterránea española, al sur de la provincia de Alicante, la comarca de la Vega Baja del Segura. La zona, con una amplia diversidad ecológica y paisajística, ha mantenido históricamente una clara distinción entre espacio urbano y espacio rural. Esta dicotomía ha cambiado drásticamente en las últimas décadas, experimentándose un fuerte crecimiento demográfico y económico ligado a los sectores turístico e inmobiliario, aspectos que han tenido un claro reflejo en los valores inmobiliarios. Este desarrollo de la comarca es un claro ejemplo de la política expansionista de los mercados de suelo que ha tenido lugar en la costa española en las dos últimas décadas y que derivado en la regeneración de un amplio tejido suburbano. El conocimiento del marco territorial ha posibilitado realizar un análisis de variabilidad espacial mediante un tratamiento masivo de datos, así como un análisis econométrico que determina los factores que se valoran positivamente y negativamente por el potencial comprador. Estas relaciones permiten establecer diferentes estructuras matemáticas basadas en los modelos de precios hedónicos, que permiten identificar rasgos diferenciales en los ámbitos económico, social y espacial y su incidencia en el valor inmobiliario. También se ha sistematizado un proceso de valoración territorial a través del análisis del concepto de vulnerabilidad estructural, entendido como una situación de fragilidad debida a circunstancias tanto sociales como económicas, tanto actual como de tendencia en el futuro. Actualmente, esta estructura de demanda de segunda residencia y servicios ha mostrado su fragilidad y ha bloqueado el desarrollo económico de la zona al caer drásticamente la inversión en el sector inmobiliario por la crisis global de la deuda. El proceso se ha agravado al existir un tejido industrial marginal al que no se ha derivado inversiones importantes y un abandono progresivo de las explotaciones agropecuarias. El modelo turístico no sería en sí mismo la causa del bloqueo del desarrollo económico comarcal, sino la forma en que se ha implantado en la Costa Blanca, con un consumo del territorio basado en el corto plazo, poco respetuoso con aspectos paisajísticos y medioambientales, y sin una organización territorial global. Se observa cómo la vinculación entre índices de vulnerabilidad y valor inmobiliario no es especialmente significativa, lo que denota que las tendencias futuras de fragilidad no han sido incorporadas a la hora de establecer los precios de venta del producto inmobiliario analizado. El valor muestra una clara dependencia del sistema de asentamiento y conservación de las áreas medioambientales y un claro reconocimiento de tipologías propias del medio rural aunque vinculadas al sector turístico. En la actualidad, el continuo descenso de la demanda turística ha provocado una clara modificación en la estructura poblacional y económica. Al incorporar estas modificaciones a los modelos especificados podemos comprobar un verdadero desmoronamiento de los valores. Es posible que el remanente de vivienda construida actualmente vaya dirigido a un potencial comprador que se encuentra en retroceso y que se vincula a unos rasgos territoriales ya no existentes. Encontrar soluciones adaptables a la oferta existente, implica la viabilidad de renovación del sistema poblacional o modificaciones a nivel económico. La búsqueda de respuestas a estas cuestiones señala la necesidad de recanalizar el desarrollo, sin obviar la potencialidad del ámbito. SUMMARY One of the main lines of research regarding the urban economy focuses on the behavior of the real estate market and its relationship to territorial structure. Within this context, one of the most important themes involves considering the significance of urban property value and dealing with its variability, particularly given the significant role of the real estate market in Spain, both in the past and present. The main objective of this study is to identify those factors linked to location, which explain the formation of property values and justify their variability. Defining this process requires carrying out an evaluation on a territorial scale, establishing the socioeconomic, environmental and urban planning factors that constitute urban development and influence the demand for housing, thereby defining the processes by which their value is established. The analysis targets residential real estate values in coastal areas where pressure from the tourism industry has prompted large-scale transformations. Therefore, the focal point of this study is an area known as Vega Baja del Segura, which is located on the Spanish Mediterranean coast in southern Alicante (province). Characterized by its scenic and ecological diversity, this area has historically maintained a clear distinction between urban and rural spaces. This dichotomy has drastically changed in past decades due to the large increase in population attributed to the tourism and real estate markets – factors which have had a direct effect on property values. The development of this area provides a clear example of the expansionary policies which have affected the housing market on the coast of Spain during the past two decades, resulting in a large increase in suburban development. Understanding the territorial framework has made it possible to carry out a spatial variability analysis through massive data processing, as well as an econometric analysis that determines the factors that are evaluated positively and negatively by potential buyers. These relationships enable us to establish different mathematical systems based on hedonic pricing models that facilitate the identification of differential features in the economic, social and spatial spheres, and their impact on property values. Additionally, a process for land valuation was established through an analysis of the concept of structural vulnerability, which is understood to be a fragile situation resulting from either social or economic circumstances. Currently, this demand structure for second homes and services has demonstrated its fragility and has inhibited the area’s economic development as a result of the drastic fall in investment in the real estate market, due to the global debt crisis. This process has been worsened by the existence of a marginal industrial base into which no important investments have been channeled, combined with the progressive abandonment of agricultural and fishing operations. In and of itself, the tourism model did not inhibit the area’s economic development, rather it is the result of the manner in which it was implemented on the Costa Brava, with a land consumption based on the short-term, lacking respect for landscape and environmental aspects and without a comprehensive organization of the territory. It is clear that the link between vulnerability indexes and property values is not particularly significant, thereby indicating that future fragility trends have not been incorporated into the problem in terms of establishing the sale prices of the analyzed real estate product in question. Urban property values are clearly dependent on the system of development and environmental conservation, as well as on a clear recognition of the typologies that characterize rural areas, even those linked to the tourism industry. Today, the continued drop in tourism demand has provoked an obvious modification in the populational and economic structures. By incorporating these changes into the specified models, we can confirm a real collapse in values. It’s possible that the surplus of already-built homes is currently being marketed to a potential buyer who is in recession and linked to certain territorial characteristics that no longer exist. Finding solutions that can be adapted to the existing offer implies the viability of renewing the population system or carrying out modifications on an economic level. The search for answers to these questions suggests the need to reform the development model, without leaving out an area’s potentiality.

‘La familia ya no es lo que era’: intercultural lesbian relationships in contemporary Spanish cinema

Este artículo considera el papel variable de las mujeres con respecto a la institución del matrimonio y al entorno familiar a través de la representación cinematográfica de relaciones interculturales y de lesbianas. Sostiene que ese tipo de relación constituye un ejemplo de la visibilidad emergente de formas familiares alternativas al modelo heteronormativo. Tomando en cuenta las dimensiones lingüísticas, temporales, y espaciales de estas relaciones, analiza tres películas: Costa Brava: Family Album, A mi madre le gustan las mujeres y Room in Rome. En resumen, el artículo cuestiona la posición del deseo intercultural lésbico dentro de las representaciones cinematográficas de la familia contemporánea en España.

Adaptación del sector turístico al cambio climático en España. La importancia de las acciones a escala local y en empresas turísticas

El 5º Informe del IPCC (Panel Intergubernamental de Cambio Climático, 2014) señala que el turismo será una de las actividades económicas que mayores efectos negativos experimentará en las próximas décadas debido al calentamiento térmico del planeta. En España, el turismo es una fuente principal de ingresos y de creación de puestos de trabajo en su economía. De ahí que sea necesaria la puesta en marcha de medidas de adaptación a la nueva realidad climática que, en nuestro país, va a suponer cambios en el confort climático de los destinos e incremento de extremos atmosféricos. Frente a los planes de adaptación al cambio climático en la actividad turística, elaborados por los gobiernos estatal y regional, que apenas se han desarrollado en España, la escala local muestra interesantes ejemplos de acciones de adaptación al cambio climático, desarrolladas tanto por los municipios (energía, transporte, vivienda, planificación urbanística) como por la propia empresa turística (hoteles, campings, apartamentos). Medidas de ahorro de agua y luz, fomento del transporte público y de las energías limpias, creación de zonas verdes urbanas y adaptación a los extremos atmosféricos destacan como acciones de mitigación del cambio climático en los destinos turísticos principales de nuestro país.

Disponibilidad del recurso hídrico en la microcuenca del río Bermúdez. Región central de Costa Rica.

La microcuenca del río Bermúdez es parte de la principal zona de explotación hídrica en la región Central de Costa Rica, razón por la cual se realiza un diagnóstico de la disponibilidad del recurso hídrico en esta microcuenca donde se identifican las áreas con mayor problemática de disponibilidad de este recurso. Para ello se calculó un balance hídrico mensual, según uso del suelo, unidad geomorfológica y zona climática. Con base en este balance se determinó y clasificó la disponibilidad del recurso, identificando en la microcuenca solamente tres categorías: alta, media y moderada. No existen áreas de baja disponibilidad de recurso hídrico lo que demuestra que la oferta es suficiente, sin embargo, existe una presión importante sobre el recurso hídrico pues más de la mitad del área de la microcuenca se encuentra con una disponibilidad moderada.

Monitoramento ambiental da costa do Rio Grande do Norte com base em sensoriamento remoto e geodésia de precisão

This paper presents models of parameters of Sea Surface Layer (SSL), such as chlorophyll-a, sea surface temperature (SST), Primary Productivity (PP) and Total Suspended Matter (TSM) for the region adjacent to the continental shelf of Rio Grande do Norte (RN), Brazil. Concentrations of these parameters measured in situ were compared in time quasi-synchronous with images AQUA-MODIS between the years 2003 to 2011. Determination coefficients between samples in situ and bands reflectance sensor AQUA-MODIS were representative. From that, concentrations of SSL parameters were acquired for the continental shelf of the RN (eastern and northern) analyzing the geographic distribution of variation of these parameters between the years 2009-2012. Geographical and seasonal variations mainly influenced by global climate phenomena such as El Niño and La Niña, were found through the analysis of AQUA-MODIS images by Principal Components Analysis (PCA). Images show qualitatively the variance and availability of TSM in the regions, as well as their relationship with coastal erosion hotspots, monitored along the coast of the RN. In one of the areas identified as being of limited availability of TSM, we developed a methodology for assessment and evaluation of Digital Elevation Models (DEM) of beach surfaces (emerged and submerged sections) from the integration of topographic and bathymetric data measured in situ and accurately georeferenced compatible to studies of geomorphology and coastal dynamics of short duration. The methodology consisted of surveys with GNSS positioning operated in cinematic relative mode involved in topographic and bathymetric executed in relation to the stations of the geodetic network of the study area, which provided geodetic link to the Brazilian Geodetic System (GBS), univocal , fixed, and relatively stable over time. In this study Ponta Negra Beach, Natal / RN, was identified as a region with low variance and availability of MPS in the region off, as characterized by intense human occupation and intense coastal erosion in recent decades, which presents potential of the proposed methodology for accuracy and productivity, and the progress achieved in relation to the classical methods of surveying beach profiles

Tendencias espacio-temporales en las capturas accidentales de tortuga boba (Caretta caretta) en la costa catalana entre los años 2000 y 2009

Se describen las tendencias en las capturas accidentales de tortuga boba (Caretta caretta) a lo largo de la costa catalana (Mediterráneo occidental) a partir de los datos del Centro de Recuperación de Animales Marinos de Cataluña. En Girona, la provincia más septentrional y base de la fracción mayor de la flota pesquera de Cataluña, es donde se produce un mayor número de capturas accidentales de esta especie. La mayoría de estas capturas se dan en los meses de verano, coincidiendo con el mayor esfuerzo pesquero del año. La gran mayoría de los individuos son capturados vivos, siendo el palangre el aparejo que provoca más de la mitad de las capturas incidentales en esta región. ABSTRACT: Trends in the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) captured along the Catalonian coasts (Western Mediterranean) are described using data collected by the Marine Animal Rescue Centre of Catalonia. Girona, the most northerly province and base of the greater fraction of the fishing fleet of Catalonia, is the area where the greater part of loggerhead turtle was captured, particularly during the summer, coinciding with the higher fishing effort season. The majority of individuals were caught alive, and the longline appeared to be the fishing gear that causes more than half of the incidental captures in this region

CARACTERIZACIÓN GEOMORFOLÓGICA, AMENAZAS NATURALES Y RESTRICCIONES DE USO DE LA TIERRA EN ESPARZA, COSTA RICA: UN ENFOQUE DE ORDENAMIENTO TERRITORIAL PARA EL PLAN REGULADOR DEL CANTÓN

Resumen: Este artículo constituye parte del diagnóstico físico-ambiental que se redactó como uno de  los componentes del Plan Regulador de Esparza.   Mediante el acopio de informes  técnicos, mapas  temáticos,  fotos  aéreas  y  trabajo de  campo,  se  caracteriza,geológica  y  geomorfológicamente  el  sector.    En  este  último  apartado  se  identifican veintiséis geoformas   que   son objeto de un cuidadoso análisis para identificar no solo los  tipos de amenazas naturales que hacen vulnerable cada uno de esos territorios, sino que se formulan restricciones de uso y propuestas de uso apropiado.  Abstract: This article  is a part of a physic environmental diagnosis that was composed as  a  section  of  Esparza  Urban  Planning.  In  order  to  characterize  geological  and geomorphological aspects,  it  was  necessary  to  use  technical  reports, thematic  maps, aerial photographs and  fieldwork. As a part of a geomorphologic  research we  identify twenty six landforms. Each one of them has not only a technical name but also a kind of natural  hazard.  At  the  same  time  we  analyze  their  vulnerability  and  propose  use restrictions and made recommendations  about their suitability. 

Cross culture comparison of tax morale and tax compliance : evidence from Costa Rica and Switzerland

This paper analyzes the effects of internal and external social norms on tax morale and tax compliance behavior. Field data and data derived from laboratory experiments are used to examine tax morale and tax compliance behavior in Costa Rica and Switzerland. The results indicate that internal and external social norms have a significant effect on tax morale and tax compliance.

La modernización entre cafetales : San José, Costa Rica, 1880-1930

This work examines the urban modernization of San José, Costa Rica, between 1880 and 1930, using a cultural approach to trace the emergence of the bourgeois city in a small Central American capital, within the context of order and progress. As proposed by Henri Lefebvre, Manuel Castells and Edward Soja, space is given its rightful place as protagonist. The city, subject of this study, is explored as a seat of social power and as the embodiment of a cultural transformation that took shape in that space, a transformation spearheaded by the dominant social group, the Liberal elite. An analysis of the product built environment allows us to understand why the city grew in a determined manner: how the urban space became organized and how its infrastructure and services distributed. Although the emphasis is on the Liberal heyday from 1880-1930, this study also examines the history of the city since its origins in the late colonial period through its consolidation as a capital during the independent era, in order to characterize the nineteenth century colonial city that prevailed up to 1890 s. A diverse array of primary sources including official acts, memoirs, newspaper sources, maps and plans, photographs, and travelogues are used to study the initial phase of San Jose s urban growth. The investigation places the first period of modern urban growth at the turn of the nineteenth century within the prevailing ideological and political context of Positivism and Liberalism. The ideas of the city s elite regarding progress were translated into and reflected in the physical transformation of the city and in the social construction of space. Not only the transformations but also the limits and contradictions of the process of urban change are examined. At the same time, the reorganization of the city s physical space and the beginnings of the ensanche are studied. Hygiene as an engine of urban renovation is explored by studying the period s new public infrastructure (including pipelines, sewer systems, and the use of asphalt pavement) as part of the Saneamiento of San José. The modernization of public space is analyzed through a study of the first parks, boulevards and monuments and the emergence of a new urban culture prominently displayed in these green spaces. Parks and boulevards were new public and secular places of power within the modern city, used by the elite to display and educate the urban population into the new civic and secular traditions. The study goes on to explore the idealized image of the modern city through an analysis of European and North American travelogues and photography. The new esthetic of theatrical-spectacular representation of the modern city constructed a visual guide of how to understand and come to know the city. A partial and selective image of generalized urban change presented only the bourgeois facade and excluded everything that challenged the idea of progress. The enduring patterns of spatial and symbolic exclusion built into Costa Rica s capital city at the dawn of the twentieth century shed important light on the long-term political social and cultural processes that have created the troubled urban landscapes of contemporary Latin America.

The Liminality of Cosmopolitanism from the Global South – Transnational Activists in Costa Rica between Colonial Legacies and Decolonial Attitudes

The Master’s thesis examines whether and how decolonial cosmopolitanism is empirically traceable in the attitudes and practices of Costa Rican activists working in transnational advocacy organizations. Decolonial cosmopolitanism is defined as a form of cosmopolitanism from below that aims to propose ways of imagining – and putting into practice – a truly globe-encompassing civic community not based on relations of domination but on horizontal dialogue. This concept has been developed by and shares its basic presumptions with the theory on coloniality that the modernity/coloniality/decoloniality research group is putting forward. It is analyzed whether and how the workings of coloniality as underlying ontological assumption of decolonial cosmopolitanism and broadly subsumable under the three logics of race, capitalism, and knowledge, are traceable in intermediate postcolonial transnational advocacy in Costa Rica. The method of analysis chosen to approach these questions is content analysis, which is used for the analysis of qualitative semi-structured in-depth interviews with Costa Rican activists working in advocacy organizations with transnational ties. Costa Rica was chosen as it – while unquestionably a Latin American postcolonial country and thus within the geo-political context in which the concept was developed – introduces a complex setting of socio-cultural and political factors that put the explanatory potential of the concept to the test. The research group applies the term ‘coloniality’ to describe how the social, political, economic, and epistemic relations developed during the colonization of the Americas order global relations and sustain Western domination still today through what is called the logic of coloniality. It also takes these processes as point of departure for imagining how counter-hegemonic contestations can be achieved through the linking of local struggles to a global community that is based on pluriversality. The issues that have been chosen as most relevant expressions of the logic of coloniality in the context of Costa Rican transnational advocacy and that are thus empirically scrutinized are national identity as ‘white’ exceptional nation with gender equality (racism), the neoliberalization of advocacy in the Global South (capitalism), and finally Eurocentrism, but also transnational civil society networks as first step in decolonizing civic activism (epistemic domination). The findings of this thesis show that the various ways in which activists adopt practices and outlooks stemming from the center in order to empower themselves and their constituencies, but also how their particular geo-political position affects their work, cannot be reduced to one single logic of coloniality. Nonetheless, the aspects of race, gender, capitalism and epistemic hegemony do undeniably affect activist cosmopolitan attitudes and transnational practices. While the premisses on which the concept of decolonial cosmopolitanism is based suffer from some analytical drawbacks, its importance is seen in its ability to take as point of departure the concrete spaces in which situated social relations develop. It thus allows for perceiving the increasing interconnectedness between different levels of social and political organizing as contributing to cosmopolitan visions combining local situatedness with global community as normative horizon that have not only influenced academic debate, but also political projects.