Urban sprawl and its effects on water demand: A case study of Alicante, Spain

Since the mid-1990s, there has been a significant increase in the urban-residential land area of the provincial coastline of Alicante, Spain. This residential growth has mostly affected municipalities that first saw the arrival of tourism in the 1960s and 1970s but also affects new territories, primarily those slightly set back from the coastline. The aim of this paper is to highlight the consequences of changes in the urbanised land area over time and space on land resources and, indirectly, the relation between new urban typologies and water demand. To this end, this process will be analysed with a focus on such factors as the intensity of the process, the type of urban development and spatial differences in the rate of construction. The methodology used studies the urbanised land area by means of photogrammetric restitution of land uses in 1956, 1978 and 2013 and the development of cartography according to the dominant types of urban development. This data source will be complemented with statistical information pertaining to housing and water consumption.The results presented in this article are part of three research studies. The first, entitled “Recent urbanisation processes and sustainable water management: an exploration of relationships in the Mediterranean Coast of the Iberian Peninsula (1991–2008)”, was funded by the Spanish Inter-ministerial Commission for Science and Technology (CICYT) as part of its 2009 Funding Programme for Non-oriented Basic Research Projects. The second, “Urbanisation and water metabolism in the coast of Alicante: Analysis of trends for the 2000-2010 period” was funded by the Spanish MINECO under grant number CSO2012-36997-C02-02. The third is part of a PhD research grant funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education