More villas and more barriers: gentrification and the enclosure of rural land in Majorca

Abstract

[eng] Tourism and real estate speculation as significant modes of capital accumulation have compromised traditional rural land use. The landscapes of the Balearic Islands, of which Majorca is studied, have undergone urban sprawl and a trend toward enclosure as wealthy people have bought properties and sought to privatize their space. Enclosure has provoked social conflicts when landowners have restricted public access to traditional footpaths and recreational areas. Gentrification, a term once applied only to cities, can now be expanded to include several processes at work in the rural parts of the Balearics.