Projects and Effects: The past, present and future of the Island of Nueva Tabarca (Alicante, Spain)

Abstract

Nueva Tabarca island is significant for the fields of Geography and Territorial Planning due to the changes that have occurred in its urban and social fabric and terrestrial and marine environment over the last three hundred years. Its most remarkable aspect has been the manner in which imposed urban projects have modified its form and function. From the construction of a planned utopian city to the tourist boom and urban speculation of the late 20th Century, the island has been a testing ground in which residents have had to adapt to the changing conditions, reflecting successive trends in the region economic development.