Les processus d'urbanisation touristique sur la Costa Brava

Tourism appeared on the Costa Brava during the early Thirties but its systematic development was boosted only after 1955. It consists in two main markets : the international one, with individual visits or properties and the vast masses manipulated by tour operators, and the regional market of the Barcelona bourgeoisie looking for holiday accomodations. This created a large speculation on land, and the whole regional economy is dominated, nowadays by tourism. Unfortunately this radical change was not planned at the region's level and it wastes a lot of space and ressources. It is stressed that the touristic compounds individually prepared in this area could accomodate half a million people, i.e. more than the provincial population of Gerona. The analysis is afterwards processed at a larger scale and demonstrates that such touristic compounds are an expression of urban principles but that they don't create consistent towns.