El paisaje y la organización del espacio rural: Una lectura desde el patrimonio construido en la comarca guipuzcoana de Debabarrena

Abstract

Given that present territorial structures result from lengthy historical building processes,many of which leaving an indelible mark on exinting patrimony, it is possible to identify thedynamics employed throughout history for developing current landscapes and the internal organisationof rural areas by using geographical information gleaned from cultural patrimonystudies as a basic tool. This information tells us of various changes in power over the centuries,of coexistence on mountains and in valleys and of the work done by different social agents indeveloping the territory, allowing us to understand the reason behind the current distribution ofrural areas and their types of landscape. To provide the study with some consistency it has beennecessary to scale it down, limited in this case to the Guipuzcoa district of Debabarrena, although doubtlessly many of the processes described here can be readily extrapolated to mostof the Atlantic Basque Country.