Cartografía, arquitectura y paisaje de los pueblos de colonización españoles del siglo XX. Registro y reconstrucción gráfica del territorio agrario en la provincia de Granada. El caso de El Chaparral (1956-1978)

Résumé

The research featured in this doctoral thesis aims to establish a comprehensive view of colonisation, showcasing it from the perspective of landscape and focusing on the different aspects which made it up: the major hydraulic work, the irrigation networks, drainage systems and service roads, the allotment of land, crops and topographical transformations associated with these and, finally, colonisation villages. Architecture was the final step in the process of the design and execution of planning, subject to and conditioned by the rest of the agricultural and infrastructural operations on different scales. Identifying the key points which determined the location, implementation and characteristics of the nuclei inhabited by colonisers is therefore vital to understanding the nature of the intervention. Several researchers have provided major general contributions aiming to understand colonisation, taking into consideration its territorial scale and interdisciplinary approach (Alagón Laste, 2013; Álvaro Tordesillas, 2010a; Calzada Pérez, 2007a; Centellas Soler et al., 2009; Liceras Ruiz, 1988; Monclús Fraga & Oyón Bañales, 1983). However, there are few studies and little bibliography on the transformation of the land intervened resulting from colonisation. In addition, neither the transfers from the initial to the resulting state of the landscape in such a unique major project nor the relationship established between the new settlements and pre-existing elements are recorded. Bearing in mind that it is impossible to separate the new settlements from their physical context it is of great interest to study and examine the territorial and landscape dimension of these interventions which transformed the territory and its elements on different scales, from the geographical and physical scale of the orography of the soil and relief, to that of architecture, infrastructures and agriculture. This view of colonisation is in keeping with the propositions of the territorial and interdisciplinary plan which shaped it. This echoes the early studies and publications on the INC’s agricultural reform where agriculture and infrastructures were prominently featured in the debate, which shortly afterwards focused almost exclusively on the architecture of colonisation villages. In the early stages, these studies by anthropologists, architects, economists, agricultural engineers, and sociologists constituted an extraordinary work structure for different disciplines, an approach suited to the complexity dictated by a project of these characteristics (Giménez Romero & Sánchez Pérez-Moneo, 1994; Mangas Navas & Barciela López, 1990; Monclús Fraga & Oyón Bañales, 1988; Villanueva Paredes & Leal Maldonado, 1991). Interestingly, what over time has become an urban planning and architectural issue was originally subject to an interdisciplinary approach with extensive participation from agricultural engineers, who played a key role in research and dissemination and were largely responsible for colonisation. This research examines Spanish domestic agricultural colonisation in the 20th century and the place occupied by the architecture of the colonisation villages as the culmination of a territorial project conditioned by aspects relating to the agriculture and engineering of the territory. The work shows how the implementation, form and organisation of colonisation villages was, in many cases and in varying degrees, a response to certain territorial actions in relation to the pre-existing elements. It also proposes to reconstruct the process of this project, comparing the landscapes before and after colonisation. The period of study proposed covers the two states of the territory, twenty years apart, from the 1950s when most colonisation plans were put into action, to the 1970s when the colonisation policy came to an end. In order to carry out this analysis of two states of the same territory the work has focused for the most part on cartographic recording of different scales of the elements which make up the cultural heritage of these agricultural landscapes in order to reconstruct the landscapes, both before and after colonisation. It has recognised that only graphic records and research accurately depict the level of transformation of the landscapes and their influence in residential settlements and their architecture. This doctoral thesis studies some of the agricultural landscapes of colonisation through cartography in order to provide a graphic reconstruction of the territory intervened and to identify the elements that remained and those transformed by the project for the agricultural landscape. The work —developed from archive documentation on colonisation, orthophotographs and historic aerial photographs, fieldwork, and accounts from settlers and descendants— fills a gap in the research on colonisation from the territorial perspective of the landscape project and the integration of the architectural project within it. An innovative methodology is proposed for the comprehensive recording of the territory and the reconstruction of the two particular states of the landscape relevant to this research: its original condition and the state resulting from the INC colonisation. The process of stages designed is based on the superimposition of cartographies relating to these two states and organised by information layer: major hydraulic work, irrigation network, drainage systems and service roads, agricultural allotment, crops and associated topographical transformations, and architecture. Based on the different aspects of the agricultural transformation, it is possible to identify the relationships between the different information layers and the transfers observed between both states of the landscape through the cartographic superimposition of the maps for each period. The comparison highlights the similarities and differences, showing the level of transformation in each layer of themed information and based on the elements maintained, altered, missing and incorporated and their role in the territorial, agricultural and architectural project. This research proposes to approach colonisation from the perspective of landscape using a methodology applicable on a national scale which makes it possible to understand the village settlements and —in many cases— their architectural determinations. Although the work offers an approach to examine the transformation of the Spanish colonisation landscapes, the study focuses on the colonisation of the province of Granada. The river basin, determined by the mountains and natural resources of the territory and not by political borders, was established as the basic work unit for the colonising intervention of the INC. The province of Granada has the peculiarity of being the only one found in two of the main Spanish river basins, presenting a very different relationship with water. The Guadalquivir basin follows the course of the river Guadalquivir across Andalucía from east to west and from the mountains of Sierra de Cazorla to the Atlantic Ocean while the southern Mediterranean basin, linked to the Mediterranean coast, complements the water resources of certain rivers with water from torrents and seasonal ravines. Although other areas of the country have previously been studied by different authors this research is the first monographic study in this area. As this doctoral thesis was conducted in the nearby University of Granada it was possible to establish a direct continued relationship with the territory, facilitating fieldwork and contact with the villages and agricultural landscapes. The three irrigable areas on which the intervention focused —two in the Guadalquivir basin and one in the southern Mediterranean basin— are presented, paying special attention to the stretches of landscape transformed around each of the twelve new colonisation villages built. The cartographic research methodology developed was applied to a specific case study, the colonisation village of El Chaparral. This was designed in 1957, built from 1960 and inaugurated in 1964 and was linked to the basin of the river Cubillas in Granada. This village and landscape display the fundamental aspects which were part of the Spanish domestic agricultural colonisation strategy, enabling an examination and detailed reflection on the consequent transformation in the agricultural territory and the transfers occurring between landscapes. Given that the multi-scale colonisation followed a procedure and parameters set out by the INC to unify planning and execution, ignoring the clear territorial differences, this research and the methodology developed can be extrapolated to other case studies in the rest of colonised Spanish landscapes. agricultural landscape linked to the colonisation village of El Chaparral in Granada shows the scope of the intervention and the operations for the development of this new agricultural activity. The lines of research opened by the conclusions of this study confirm that only the multi-scale analysis and the assessment of transformations of the landscape can determine the extent and importance of the colonisation. Three of these conclusions are worth noting: 1. The actions carried out by the National Institute for Colonisation were largely driven by the relationships with pre-existing elements and the adaptation to the agricultural context and the infrastructures involved in the transfer of elements from the pre-colonisation landscape. 2. The research methodology proposed and the results obtained after its application to the case study of El Chaparral reconcile the architecture and urban planning of colonisation villages with the landscape in which they were found. The research clearly shows the different scales on which the project was carried out, from territorial to domestic, establishing a graphic register by information layer, relating to the different aspects converging in the colonisation process which had incorporated the work of civil engineers, agricultural engineers, mountain engineers and architects. 3. The study through cartographic research has made it possible to reconstruct the landscape prior to colonisation and that resulting from it in order to identify the levels of involvement of the colonisation with the landscape. The superimposition and comparative analysis of cartographies of both states and periods helps to identify the transfer and level of transformation of the elements which are part of the agricultural territories where the National Institute for Colonisation intervened. Although the study methodology in this research is applied to the case of El Chaparral, it is expected to be extendable to the rest of instances of colonisation in Spain. It will also become a reference guide for the study of agricultural soil which could form part of a historiography of its elements, assessing the relationship between architecture and landscape. This doctoral thesis opens future lines of research on agricultural colonisation and provides a work methodology to identify the elements of the landscape in order to establish its heritage value, while verifying ecodesign, adaptability and the consequences of colonisation for the environment, issues which had not been addressed until now. At a time of reconnection with nature and policies for territorial restructuring promoted by the European Union to tackle rural depopulation, the proposals of colonisation still stand. They are also a point of reference of interest which could act as a starting point for reflection on future agricultural developments and habitability in the globalised society in which we live, on proximity agricultural production models, and on how to undertake multi-disciplinary, integrated and sustainable ecological planning, recognising landscape as a cultural element.