Landscapes, Water Policy and the Evolution of Discourses on Hydropower in Spain

Abstract

The paper explores the institutional and social processes through which river and hydropower landscapes have emerged in Spanish water policy. It examines the relation between different types of policies and attitudes towards landscape, energy, water, environment and land use in the production of Spanish landscapes. The article presents examples at both national and regional levels to explain that the institutional emergence of the river landscape in Spain has been closely related to the democratization and decentralization of Spanish politics and water policy and to the increasing prominence of environmental concerns.