Polígonos. Revista de Geografía

Socio-spatial impact of cultural tourism in world heritage cities

2025-12-12T09:04:00+00:00

This article analyzes the impact of cultural tourism on the urban and local development of Salamanca, addressing its economic, sociocultural and territorial dimensions. The research adopts a mixed-method approach that combines quantitative analysis, based on official statistics on population, tourism and urban development, with a qualitative perspective supported by an extensive literature review and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders from the tourism sector and the local community. The results indicate that, although tourism has consolidated Salamanca as a leading cultural destination and contributed to economic growth, job creation and diversification of the cultural offer, it has also generated adverse effects on the urban and social fabric. Among the most significant impacts are the gentrification of the historic center, increased pressure on the housing market, the displacement of local residents and the declining quality of life for certain groups, particulary young people and students. Tourism overcrowding, coupled with the limited integration between urban and heritage planning, has strained the city’s carrying capacity and jeopardized the long-term sustainability of the current model. The study highlights the need to advance towards a more balanced management model that aligns urban planning with social and environmental sustainability, civic participation and the implementation of Smart Tourism tools. Overall, this research contributes to the ongoing debate on the sustainability of heritage destinations, proposing a transition towards an intelligent tourism model that ensures the hability, resilience and preservation of Salamanca’s cultural heritage.

Strategies for addressing the demographic challenge

2025-12-12T09:32:03+00:00

Depopulation is one of the main territorial challenges facing Spain in the 21st century, especially in those regions of the interior of the peninsula with marked rurality, demographic ageing and persistent structural imbalances. In this context, several autonomous communities have developed specific strategies to address the demographic challenge, with different regulatory, technical and territorial approaches. This article provides a comparative analysis of the cases of Andalucía, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, and Extremadura, based on their respective regional strategies approved or in the process of being developed between 2021 and 2025. The research is based on an exhaustive documentary analysis of regional strategic frameworks, complemented by institutional sources, territorial diagnoses and operational data, and is structured around five key dimensions: regulatory framework, demographic and territorial diagnosis, strategic axes, governance mechanisms, and evaluation and monitoring systems. The analysis reveals significant contrasts between the regional models: Castilla-La Mancha is the most standardised and comprehensive example, with a pioneering regional law and a detailed and operational strategy; Castilla y León, on the other hand, is in a preliminary phase, with an ambitious conceptual approach but without a consolidated programme. Andalucía and Extremadura present innovative proposals with varying degrees of institutionalisation, standing out in areas such as labour mobility, the silver economy and territorial prioritisation. The article concludes by pointing out the need to strengthen multilevel governance, consolidate effective evaluation systems, and ensure sustained funding to enable the transition from planning to action. It also identifies good practices and useful lessons to guide future public policies in response to demographic decline from a comparative and territorial perspective.

Marmaray y el patrimonio cultural y natural de Estambul

2025-12-12T09:45:58+00:00

This article analyzes the Marmaray railway project, one of Turkey’s most significant and complex infrastructures, which connects the European and Asian sides of Istanbul through a system of tunnels—both underground and immersed—beneath the Bosphorus Strait. From a situated perspective, it examines its development as a space of convergence between engineering, landscape, and heritage, addressing its technical, environmental, and cultural dimensions. The study explores the geological, structural, and urban factors that shaped its design and implementation, as well as the strategies adopted to mitigate impacts on the natural environment and on archaeological and built heritage. The methodology combines a literature review with the first author’s direct observation of the works, drawing on her professional experience in project coordination and in managing the interaction between infrastructure and heritage. The article also reflects on the effects of metropolitan growth and the regulatory frameworks for landscape protection in a territory characterized by the coexistence of historical and ecological values. Overall, the study proposes understanding Marmaray as a laboratory for balancing development, technology, and memory, and as a paradigmatic example of sustainability applied to contemporary large metropolitan areas.

Revitalization of the industrial landscape as a cultural construction of the urban territory

2025-12-12T10:01:11+00:00

This article analyzes the revitalization of urban industrial landscapes in three Colombian cities (Bogotá, Medellín, and Barranquilla) from a critical geographical perspective that articulates both the technical and symbolic dimensions of territory. Through a mixed-methods approach combining spatial analysis, qualitative interpretation, and comparative reading, the study examines three industrial enclaves undergoing urban transformation: the Puente Aranda industrial zone (Bogotá), the Gran Manzana Simesa Partial Plan (Medellín), and the Partial Plan for Barranquillita, La Loma, and Barlovento (Barranquilla). The study highlights that urban renewal processes, even when supported by formal planning instruments such as partial plans or strategic actions, often tend to render invisible the working-class memory, symbolic appropriations, and collective meanings of place. In contrast, the research identifies community-led forms of resignification that challenge institutional logic, particularly in contexts where planning has been weak or absent. The findings reveal three distinct configurations of revitalization in Bogotá, Medellín, and Barranquilla. The discussion argues that the revitalization of industrial landscapes cannot be reduced to a mere urban planning operation, but must be understood as a cultural construction of the urban territory, where disputes over memory, use, and meaning of space intersect. The article concludes with a proposal to integrate heritage-based approaches and the right to place into urban planning policies.

Mobility and travel in the ancient world

2025-12-12T10:11:15+00:00

The article analyzes mobility in the ancient world (migrations, trade, travel, pilgrimage routes, military expeditions) as a key geographical category for understanding territorial and cultural dynamics. From a didactic approach, it is proposed to integrate the study of these practices in the geography classroom, favouring spatial, temporal and citizenship competencies. This study seeks to promote the development of spatial and temporal thinking in primary school students, connecting historical content in a transversal way with competencies of the Geography and History curriculum

En recuerdo del primer director de la revista Polígonos, Antonio T. Reguera Rodríguez

2025-12-12T10:37:15+00:00

José María Redondo Vega. 2025. Geomorfología de León. Ejemplos significativos y formas de relieve. Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de León, León, 377 pp. ISBN: 979-13-87583-22-4. DL LE 430-2025

2025-12-12T10:23:14+00:00

Marta del Riego. 2025. Cordillera. AdN Editorial Grupo Anaya, Palencia, 416 pp. ISBN: 978-84-10138-68-1 DL. M 24617-2024

2025-12-12T10:30:57+00:00

Valor de la mediana de la renta de los hogares

2025-12-12T10:42:28+00:00