Spatial Analysis Model for the Evaluation of the Territorial Adequacy of the Urban Process in Coastal Areas

Coastal spaces are shaped by human activity. Approaching their urban spaces allows us to analyse the concepts of structure, growth, and management. Highlighting the problems associated with these concepts can lead to intensive scientific analysis and provide solid research methods. This paper focuses on the study of how the process of territorial occupation takes place and the urban forms it generates on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. It is based on the consideration that the process of territorial occupation is deficient in its territorial adequacy. To analyse this, a methodology is proposed that addresses processes of analysis at different scales: dynamics of changes in land use, the study of the morphologies of urban development with spatial analysis tools, and the adaptation of urban processes to the characteristics of the spaces that support them with multi-criteria evaluation techniques and GIS (Geographical Information Systems). The results are specified in five degrees of suitability of the occupation of the territory. Two conclusions can be observed: first, urban planning gives rise to forms of occupation that follow a similar pattern in the twenty areas studied, and second, the suitability of the urban process is not governed by planning based on precepts of suitability and environmental logic but by a weakness of the adapted planning methods.