Environmental movements shaping the landscape in Genoa and Girona: From reactive to regenerative local mobilizations?

Abstract

This paper discusses the results of the “SavingScapes” research project that examined the role and relevance of civil society in landscape and heritage conservation, comparing Girona in Spain and Genoa in Italy. These two sub-regional areas are both on the Western Mediterranean coast. Tourism and international trade are the main drivers of development. Landscape is an important asset. In both areas, strong and constant transformative pressures and deeply rooted place attachment clash in the form of environmental protest movements or ‘social mobilizations’. Nevertheless, there are significant differences in the approaches and results of these mobilizations in the two areas. In order to assess the impact of these mobilizations on local planning and projects, the study has developed an outcome-based taxonomy with seven different categories, ranging from defeat (= no relevant impacts occurred) to sustainable plan/policy prefiguration (= cases in which mobilizations have led to the emergence of an alternative project). This taxonomy has then been applied to seven territorial conflicts in both case studies. Research shows that the impact of mobilizations may not be immediately significant in either region (always taking into account the differences between them). However, these movements have led to the development of novel approaches of dealing with the changing context and have emerged as co-partners in the process of constructing social and local identity.