Escenarios de innovación y desarrollo en el suroeste peninsularEl marco territorial de Alqueva

Abstract

This doctoral thesis aims to analyse, understand and explain the new scenarios of Innovation and Development in the Territorial Framework of the Southwest Peninsular - Alqueva, in different and diverse areas, resulting from the materialization of the Multipurpose Alqueva Project (EFMA). Alqueva is one of the largest artificial lakes in Europe with its 250 km2 of water body and 35 km2 in Spanish territory, which had a direct impact on 20 municipalities in Alentejo and 4 on the Spanish side. It has created opportunities for development and better cross-border cooperation for these border territories, around a new resource, the Alqueva Lake, which with its 1,160 km transformed several villages on both sides of the border into riverside villages. Twenty-eight years after the creation in 1995 of the Alqueva Development and infrastructure company (EDIA), a Portuguese public company with the mission and responsibility to perform, manage and operate the EFMA, this research aims to observe the different socioeconomic, infrastructural and demographic changes that have taken place. These infrastructural and demographic changes have taken place in the area of influence of the EFMA and are investigated in this thesis. Within the framework of this work, the different areas, opportunities and challenges of crossborder cooperation around the Alqueva territory are also addressed in relation to some indicators. An analysis was also carried out in relation to the region of Extremadura, and the municipalities bordering the Alqueva Lake on the Spanish side, namely Vila Nueva del Fresno, Alconchel, Cheles and Olivenza. Nowadays, there are indicators available which allow us to evaluate the impact of the entreprise on various economic sectors and also on the transformations that have occurred in the use and occupation of the land over this period of time. It is also possible to measure whether significant socio-economic alterations have resulted in the territory and to check in what extent they correspond to the aims initially planned that led to the political decision to concretise this enterprise. Different sources have been used to obtain qualitative and quantitative information, and different statistical techniques have been applied in this research, such as univariate, bivariate and multivariate analyses, as well as a SWOT analysis. The changes in land use and occupation resulting from the introduction of some 130,000 ha of irrigated land, reflected in the consequent transition from rainfed to irrigated crops, have been also analysed. It has also been assessed whether the emerging dynamics resulting from the "EFMA" and the possibility of taking on new territorial embodiments that have made it possible to induce territorial change and sustainability in low-density areas, such as "Alqueva", and thus contribute to the reinvention and development of the rural world. The doctoral thesis is organised into eight chapters and several sections. The overall table of contents, tables and figures includes a brief introduction, followed by a brief explanation of the personal and professional motivations that have led to the preparation of this doctoral thesis. This is followed by Chapter I on the state of the art, which reviews the different research on the subject under study. Chapter II sets out the research objectives and the starting hypotheses. In the third chapter, the theoretical framework deals with the key concepts and theories for understanding the project. Chapter IV presents the methodology employed and the work plan, with references to the sources and methods used. Chapter V presents the results of the research, with a descriptive analysis, an analysis of land occupation and use, and an analysis based on the statistical methods applied. Finally, conclusions are drawn.