Abstract
The border is framed as a political/administrative element, as a space of contact of cultures and geographies, as a line of separation and permeability, generator of mobilities of different scales. During the last decades, the Iberian border has experienced depopulation dynamics and socio-economic reorganisations that have transformed the ways of working, the models of social organisation, occupation, and land use. In this context of growing mobility, tourism has become an important activity for the border due to its ability to generate employment and foster economic and social development. The mobilization of natural and cultural resources assumes significance in the valorization of these spaces, in line with the current policies of cross-border cooperation promoted by the EU and the efforts of the two Iberian countries. The border between central Portugal and Spain is taken as a study object, highlighting the existing dynamics and forms of cooperation, given the heritage values, capable of generating new attractions and functions in the oldest European border.
TopThe Border: A Complex, Symbolic And Challenging Construction
The term “border” establishes the legal line of division between states, indicating their differentiation, a space in which cultures and policies generate tensions, in a dynamic relationship that requires its own measures and logics of governance. They represent fields of forces that oscillate between cooperation and conflict and draw a geographical space with distinct social and cultural values, according to their administrative and functional attributes, with a dynamic that recreates itself, generating, depending on the moment, different permeabilities, flows and socioeconomic relations by their communities. The perceptions of the past, associated with the constraints and barriers that these spaces signified, nowadays reveal a growing relationship, whether by means of the approximations generated, or by the expansion and improvement of physical and technological communications, or even by existing cooperation policies and programmes, as can be seen on the Iberian border.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Border Tourism: Tourism activities developed around the border, by the citizens of the colliding countries or international travelers, promoting the border as a visiting destination and tourist experience in view of its natural and cultural heritage.
Cross-Border Cooperation: Cooperation promoted by border communities is a form of international cooperation, generating relationships of support, proximity, and common benefits, and building networks of economic and social stimulation, as well as resilience.
Schengen Mobility: Mobility provided by the creation of a space without borders, improving the circulation of citizens and their integration.
Cultural Hybridity: Reflect processes of exchange, sharing and representation of cultural traditions and practices that, originally from one country, are assimilated and integrated in other regions, promoting acculturations and hybridisms.
Context Costs: Operational costs as a result of different economic and administrative policies of the border territories, barriers resulting from past development strategies, cultural differences, and resistance to cooperation.