Choosing the future of Canarian terraces: from urban orchard to agricultural park, Canary Islands, Spain

Abstract

The objective of this work is to know the current situation of two terraced farms, recovered for their active conservation, based on the proposal of the European Pilot project of Urban Guiniguada. Afetr 15 years of its completion, it is analyzed the management of the public institutions involved in their restoration and rehabilitation. They are two landscape units with presenceof terraces located in two landscapes units with presence of terraces located in two emblematic enclaves of the Guiniguada basin (Gran Canaria, Canary Islands). In both cases they were classified with high quality values for their conservation by their high patrimonial value (natural, historical and cultural) and recommended for their use, since they were in the process of being abandoned. Its location in urban environment means that the conservation problems deriving from its agricultural abandonment (acelerated erosion processes) are accompanied by the impacts caused by the urbanization process, the construction of road infraestructures, the neighbourhood with slums and the undue agrarian occupation. The historical value of both spaces is analyzed, besides their recent transformation and it relates their multifunctional character with the sustainability of their current uses: urban gradens, school gardens and agricultural park. Particular attention is paid to the good social projection of these uses (social sustainability) and it es concluded that issues related to governance are those that cause many of the problems of management off these spaces.