Public Right and Private Interest in Selected Recreation Initiatives in Rural Spain: A Sociogeographical Perspective

Abstract

This paper examines new recreation initiatives in depopulated rural areas in Spain, and the resulting public right conflicts. It uses a social and cultural perspective on the geography of the initiatives, focusing on the differing responses from community and non-community actors. Three initiatives were chosen from a depopulated rural region of northern Spain. The paper suggests a different approach to the debates on space, the public right and communal goods, and the community.

Key Words:

• Public right
• recreational initiatives
• rural restructuring
• rural areas
• social geography
• Spain