La dispersión urbana de los residentes europeos en el territorio almeriense

Land use associated with European residents on the Spanish coast has usually fallen within the concept of Residential Tourism. The different disciplines which have researched into this topic, namely Sociology, Geography, Economy or Urban Studies, have highlighted the negative impact of uncontrolled land consumption associated to this phenomenon. Almeria receives a vast number of residents closely linked to tourism from the EU15, only surpassed by the international sun and beach destination of Malaga. The aim of this research is to describe the phenomenon in this region and to move towards its characterization, with a view to prevent potential negative impact on Almeria’s territory and landscape. In terms of methodology, information has been gathered from official sources, mainly from the Institute of Statistics and Cartography of Andalusia and CORINE Land Cover inventories. With this study we identify the areas selected by European residents in Almeria and outline its main features, taking into consideration the high impact of this topic over the landscape and the territorial structure.