La Vega de Granada: De un espacio agrario en crisis a un complejo paisaje cultural

RESUMEN: La Vega de Granada es un paisaje agrario multifuncional con una potente dimensión cultural y colectiva. Este artículo tiene como objetivo señalar cómo, en las últimas décadas, este ámbito agrario de antaño notable unidad paisajística, ha devenido en una compleja aglomeración caracterizada por una gran discontinuidad y fraccionamiento del territorio. Para ello, se caracterizan los principales valores patrimoniales de la Vega (ríos, acequias, caminos, secaderos ) y cómo las manifestaciones culturales de todas las épocas han refl ejado dichos valores. Los resultados apuntan a que, frente a la descoordinación administrativa, los movimientos sociales están liderando una protección y puesta en valor de la Vega. ABSTRACT: La Vega is located in the heart of Granada province, occupying the depression formed by the River Genil and its tributaries, with a vast fl ood plain that slopes gently to the west. It is part of the Intrabaetic Depression and is bordered to the north by a series of mountain ranges belonging to the Cordillera Subbética system and to the south by the Sierra de Almijara and Sierra de Tejeda mountain ranges in the Cordillera Penibética system. To the east, shaping the headlands of the depression, we fi nd the Sierra Arana and Sierra Nevada, and to the west the Sierra Gorda, making way for the River Genil as it fl ows towards Loja. This article has been written on the back of fi eldwork carried out by the author when drawing up the Vega de Granada Special Plan. The author conducted 30 interviews between May and November of 2011 with various entities representing the Vega de Granada area: farmers, farming associations, irrigation associations, the University of Granada, business associations, local councils, political parties and citizen platforms such as Salvemos la Vega. In addition to the information obtained through these interviews, extensive work was conducted previously to compile sources on this issue. The result of these interviews and fi eldwork is refl ected in this article, which seeks mainly to offer synchronic and diachronic analysis raising the question of whether there is still time to conserve and revalue the agrarian heritage of La Vega de Granada. To do this, the key patrimonial and landscape values are identifi ed (water channels, paths, poplar groves, agrarian and industrial architecture, rivers and streams, agricultural customs, etc.). The River Genil, the backbone of La Vega, fl ows from east to west in a complex river system that not only favoured the historic development of farming activity but also plays a fundamental role in the ecological balance of this area. In addition to the invaluable river system there is also a system designed and created to capture and harness water resources, both surface and subterranean, with a complex and intricate network of hydraulic connections. It encompasses systems to capture water, such as dams and wells, infrastructures to distribute water, such as channels and dividers, and associated constructions such as mills, troughs, fountains and cisterns; giving La Vega some of its hallmark features. As in other historically populated territories, La Vega de Granada became intensely populated in the age of Muslim domination as irrigation techniques were perfected. The agricultural plots were adapted to the uneven terrain, creating an irregular layout of plots supplied by a large complex network of water channels. This model of territorial occupation still exists today. There was a dense network of rural paths and drovers roads linking different areas of La Vega, forming a complex grid. However, the integration of new transport infrastructures has not taken into account the peculiarities of La Vegas landscape. The impact of these infrastructures, particularly the roads, has been devastating as they break up the territory, marginalise the network of rural paths, foster real estate speculation for second homes and divide and sever the relationship between the population and La Vega, situating urban nuclei with their backs to it. The road network is still incomplete, badly organised and poorly signposted, mixing agricultural traffi c with conventional traffi c and without meeting the mobility demands of citizens commuting to the city for work purposes, or of farmers moving around with agricultural machinery using the once rural paths. The area immediately surrounding the city of Granada has been radically affected by this process, with tension decreasing the further we move away from the city. This space close to Granada has seen a progressive occupation of the land for non-agricultural uses (treatment plants, scrap metal plants, shopping centres), as well as multiple land parcelling responding to speculative real estate interests. Territorial impact is not only caused by the number of new residential properties built, but because the model of urbanisation has changed from vertical to horizontal, in the form of single-occupancy houses that require greater land availability. Poor local coordination means that the actions taken by all local councils in La Vega, in addition to the unilateral actions of the regional or state government, lead to the progressive decline of agricultural land. As if taking bites out of the territory, each Local Council is managing its own space in La Vega in the absence of a supramunicipal capacity to work in conjunction with one another, or to organise planning and management so as to encompass and coordinate the different interests. In order to maintain its traditional agrarian landscape, La Vega must implement modern competitive agriculture. It must be reorganised on the basis of cooperatives encompassing large numbers of owners, as well as through differentiation, opting for organic farming, local farming, and joint commercialisation in different channels. These measures would seem to be inevitable in terms of offering alternatives to the competition faced from other thriving agricultures that are more fl exible and innovative, such as the polytunnel crop farming seen in the neighbouring province of Almería. Particular mention should be made of the tobacco drying structures and the beetroot factories, which are another hallmark feature of La Vega. These drying structures come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but most commonly they are long single-storey constructions with high ceilings and perforations that facilitate ventilation and the drying of tobacco leaves. Although there are still examples of brick buildings that are of great patrimonial value, such as El Cortijo del Alitaje in Pinos Puente and El Cortijo del Rector in Granada, the drying structures seen today represent an informal, functional and casual architecture, almost the product or chance and necessity, built to respond to growing demand starting in the 1950s when tobacco crops underwent strong growth in La Vega. These humble architectures, almost DIY jobs, use leftover materials and waste, timber, woodchip or bricks and manage to create elements with their own unique personality. The appearance of beetroot in La Vega in the early 20th Century, on the other hand, left a major mark on the landscape, with the installation of large-scale factories. The chimney stacks and distilling towers of these factories, of which there were up to 13, located around the railway tracks, stand out against the fl at landscape of La Vega. Following the crisis in the beetroot industry in the 1930s, the majority of these factories were abandoned and ended up disappearing; others are still standing, such as the ones in San Isidro and La Inmaculada del Genil in Granada, La Vega in Atarfe and San Pascual in Pinos Puente, exponents of a hugely symbolic industrial heritage, which have now been converted to house other business activities or services. The values and landscapes that have shaped this peri-urban agricultural landscape, which is highly symbolic yet where tensions run high, have been amply refl ected by cultural manifestations through the ages, from Al Jatib to Federico García Lorca. The cathartic presence of Federico García Lorca, born and killed in La Vega de Granada, refl ects the powerful bond between landscape and culture, art and emotions: I belong to the heart of La Vega, wrote Federico García Lorca. Throughout the literary oeuvre of the universal poet and playwright we see brushstrokes of a landscape fi lled with poplar groves, water channels, paths, farmers, joy and sorrow, threats and hopes The hispanist Ian Gibson assures that the work of Lorca would not be the same without the references to the landscape that underscore his entire literary corpus. The article shows that La Vega de Granada moves in a constant duality of threats and hopes. Although it is possible to recognise the landscape of La Vega as an important element in the collective memory of the granadinos, it is impossible to disentangle it from the continual threats that urban development is infl icting upon the territory. We might conclude that there is still time. The article sets out a series of proposals that are being cautiously promoted by public administrations. The Regional Government of Andalucía is putting the fi nishing touches on a Special Organisation Plan for La Vega de Granada which should see the light of day soon and which, unlike previous plans, with little or no application, must be an instrument that fosters territorial protection and the revaluing of La Vega. However, without a doubt, citizen platforms such as Salvemos la Vega are working energetically as the greatest defenders and promoters of La Vega, through proposals such as ensuring it is declared a cultural asset (BIC status), Heritage Area, or the steps being taken with international organisations such as UNESCO, as well as activities and projects to revitalise the economy of La Vega.