A review on cultural landscape approach as a base for regeneration strategies on rural condition: Gran Canaria Island

Abstract

The rural territory presents nowadays a complex situation with serial difficulties for the development of the traditional activities (agriculture, stockbreeding, etc). This leads to a decline of these environments, with consequences at very diverse levels. But in a particular way it is influencing in the abandonment of the settlements and in the deterioration of its tangible and untangible heritage. Thus, there is a need for planning tools that promote the sustainable development of the Rural Territory. The aim is to preserve the endogenous potential of these areas providing reactivation strategies that encourage the local development in its physical, social and cultural dimension. The case of Gran Canaria depicts how the Cultural Routes can configure an efficient tool for this. In this way, the touristic potential of these rural environments is not incompatible with the preservation of their heritage values. And the interpretation of the landscape and its memory can be a clue in this sense.