Issues for rehabilitation of constructions and sites in mining landscapes

Abstract

The frantic pace of technological development in all the fields of production, agricultural. forestry, industrial and mining, as well as in the area of regional and urban planning, infrastructures, tourism, leisure, etc., are promoting acceleration without control in the transformation of landscape. On the other hand, the growing concern for the environment and the conservation of its resources has provoked the search for alternatives to non-renewable energy resources. At the same time it has generated the appearance of numerous zones characterized by the abandonment of their traditional activity, and consequently depopulation of the area. The most immediate consequence is a landscape alteration proportional to the size of the abandoned activity, indirectly associated with a setback in the regional development. And when that activity is mining, consequences receive an exceptional dimension. Within the framework of the research project subsidized by the Ministry of Education and Science in Spain "Model of sustainable construction for the rehabilitation and protection of environmentally degraded or fragile zones: the Mining Valley of Laciana", it is tried to develop a model for constructions and existing infrastructures and their surroundings, from sustainability criteria. Mining activity was the main source of income in the region of Laciana (León, Spain) for its economy between 1950 and 1980, and it has left its fingerprints and scars in the Laciana landscape, as derelicted buildings and infrastructures. Through a text selection, an exhaustive revision has been made, analyzing all the aspects considered on the basis of performances and interventions on landscapes marked by mining activities or generically, as it is described in many of the bibliographical references consulted, of industrial type. The present work tries to reflect the state-of-the-art, exposing the followed criteria and the solutions adopted in the past so that they become recommendations in future management performances in the built landscape.