Opinions on the Orchard of the Lower Segura River: A Changing Space under Great Human Pressure

Abstract

What makes the Lower Segura River (southeast of Spain) unique is the existence of a densely populated and entropized territory around a smallholder agricultural activity that for centuries has shaped the so-called “Segura Orchard.” In recent years, there has been widespread occupation due to the construction of secondary residences, which has clearly changed the rural appearance, sometimes creating an image more typical of disorderly residential urbanization than of an inhabited agricultural territory. The objective of this paper is to determine the attitude and position of the resident population regarding the situation and future prospects that are envisioned for this area. In this paper, we have conducted a personal and open interview as a technique to collect the information. If we are not capable of generating sustainable socio-economic activity, we will not be able to preserve, protect and transcend what we still know as an orchard. This spatial structure is undoubtedly singular and complex, and after a process of loss of identity and alteration of traditional uses, it requires an intervention that tends to organize it and protect the important territorial heritage that it still preserves.