Landscape and urban quality in consolidated tourist areas in Alicante coastline

Abstract

In the middle of 20th century the attractiveness of the coast of Alicante favoured the development of touristic activity along the province. Initially, back when the tourists lived with sailors and fisherman, the area wouldn’t qualify as holiday destination, but afterwards Alicante coastline has become an important tourist attraction which has led to a significant urban growth. Many different kind of tourism-related buildings for both Residential and Seasonal use, were developed without taking into account the major impact they would produce in many ways. This paper serves two purposes: first to examine the influences tourism has had on today’s landscape of the Alicante coastline, and second, to review the level of quality that different consolidated tourist areas have achieved over the last decades. In order to carry out the assessment, three different tourist cities: Denia, Benidorm and Torrevieja will be analyzed based on their urban quality, landscape and territorial transformation.