Dinámica de los regadíos tradicionales en Castilla y León: el caso del Canal del Duero

Abstract

Dynamics of the traditional irrigated lands in Castilla y León: the case of the Canal del Duero. Despite not having the superficial relevance or having raised the interest -in terms of studies and assessments- that have achieved in other regions of the Iberian Peninsula, the historical, traditional, or concessional irrigated lands of the Duero present a remarkable singularity. With medieval roots many of them, the remains of their infrastructures, of their hydraulic elements and of their land plots, -in sum, the heritage of their territorial model-, have survived to the present, with a variable dynamic that moves between the abandonment and the functional reintegration. In the latter case, the "re-functioning" passed by their adaptation to the new and productivist dynamics, or their cornering as redoubts of "hobby farming" in external fringes of the villages. Other parts, however, remain in spaces characterized by conflicts and tensions raised by the competing land uses, such as we can see in the urban environments, more dynamic. The irrigated area generated around the Canal del Duero is illustrative of this latter tendency.