Rural Depopulation and Revaluation of Heritage Resources. Preliminary Analyssis in Campo de Montiel (Castilla-La Mancha, Spain)

A large part of the rural municipalities of inland Spain are suffering significant depopulation problems. The Campo de Montiel region, located in the south of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), is a clear example of these kind of phenomena. The limited capacity of economic activities to energize and fix the population, especially traditional agricultural structures, motivates the gradual abandonment and landscape transformation of these spaces and leads to the disappearance of customs and material elements that are an expression of a unique heritage. The main objective of this paper is to make a first approach to heritage resources that, suitably revalued, can promote not only territorial competitiveness, but also the implementation of sustainable territorial development strategies. The methodology is based on the tools of demographic analysis and on an exhaustive field research that provides a first catalogue of groups of heritage resources. The results show the existence of numerous resources that are already recognized and protected, along with other members of a forgotten, unrecognized and unprotected heritage.