The landscape of agricultural terraces in mountainous areas in the region of Valencia (eastern Spain): the construction and decline of a cultural heritage

El paisaje de terrazas de cultivo se ha convertido en uno de los elementos patrimoniales con mayor identificación en el mundo rural mediterráneo. A pesar de ello, los estudios todavía son reducidos debido, entre otros aspectos, a la dificultad de datación de estas estructuras que, técnicamente, tienen un carácter básicamente atemporal. Su importancia en el paisaje diversifica las posibles perspectivas de análisis, pero desde un punto de vista geográfico de tipo integral se pueden relacionar las variables ambientales y las variables sociales en su formación y también en su desaparición, ligada al abandono de las actividades tradicionales del mundo rural. En un estudio aplicado a las montañas del País Valenciano, se pretende contribuir al conocimiento sobre la formación y la dinámica de los paisajes estructurados por las terrazas desde la edad moderna hasta la actualidad. Finalmente, se reflexionará sobre su valoración actual desde un punto de vista social, sus potencialidades y las posibilidades de conservación en un contexto desfavorable, marcado por los cambios económicos producidos en los espacios rurales dentro de una de las regiones más turísticas del mediterráneo.The terraced fields of farming land have become one of the heritage assets with greater identification in the Mediterranean rural area. Despite this, it must be noted that research is still reduced mainly by the difficulty of tracing back the exact date of creating these structures whose characteristics are described as being timeless. Their importance in the landscape diversifies the possible analytical perspectives; but from a typically integral geographic standpoint, the contribution of social and environmental variables can be set against their formation as well as their disappearance in relation with abandonment of traditional activities in rural areas. In an applied research study on the mountains of Valencia, the transformations of these fields are analyzed as part of the development of rural societies which have used and transformed them in the Middle Ages and as a result of contemporary agricultural and social changes. These constructions, which reached their splendor in the nineteenth century, experienced a rapid evolution in the twentieth century. This research aims to contribute to understanding the formation and dynamic landscapes structured by terraces so far. Finally, their current assessment from a social point of view and their potentialities and opportunities for conservation in an unfavorable context marked by economic changes brought to rural areas located in one of the most touristic places of the Mediterranean are indicated.This paper has been prepared as part of the research project “Agricultural landscapes. Systematization, analysis and typification of the landscapes formed by man's agricultural activities in Spain” (SEJ2006-15331-C02-02/GEOG), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and directed by Dr Joan Tort