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Geography and touristic marketing: A study of the names of new settlements (housing developments) on the Mediterranean coast north of Barcelona (Maresme District, Catalonia, Spain)
Joan TORT-DONADA
1. Introduction The phenomenon of the Spanish urbanización (housing development), which forms the basis of this onomastic study, presents a number of highly particular characteristics. It represents a settlement type of relatively new creation, with a marked collective character, the gradual diffusion of which throughout Spain has been closely related to the evolution in this country’s urban development in the modern era. The urbanizaciones have appeared primarily in those regions that have enjoyed the highest rates of growth and change, particularly over the last fifty years, as a result of the rapid development experienced by the tourist sector and the heavy demand for new homes and residences (Barba & Mercadé 2006: 86–89; Tort 2002b: 479–480). If we refer to these new settlements as being “highly particular” it is because, unlike most settlements in Spain (cities, towns, villages, neighbourhoods, places, etc.), these new housing developments are of a markedly distinct typology, with a predominance of horizontal, single-family homes. The place names they have been given are usually as new as the newly designated urban realities that they have become. More often than not, these names are chosen arbitrarily with no obvious connection with the toponymic tradition of the place. So, rather than being toponyms in the strict sense of the word, these names can be considered as mere commercial denominations. Yet, we should stress that at times these names have become deeply rooted within the population that uses them, and they have an importance that runs much deeper than is usually the case with commercial denominations. From a methodological perspective, the urbanización presents a number of difficulties regarding its characterization as an adminis- 444 JOAN TORT -DONADA trative entity, and as an officially recognised settlement. These difficulties are a consequence of the lack of any clearly defined urban planning regulations at the time of their appearance (which was concentrated, principally, between the years 1960 and 1980). Against this backdrop, certain circumstances favoured the proliferation of these settlements in many municipalities: a) the great demand for housing (especially of a seasonal nature which in Spain is known as the segunda residencia or second home or residence); b) the interest of private landowners in making large areas of rural land available for sale in small plots, taking advantage of favourable market circum- stances, and c) the inhibited nature of many town halls (and other public authorities) when it came to implementing effective policies to oversee and control the urban planning legislation in their respective territorial jurisdictions. However, this conceptual difficulty should not impede this study in any way. The reason being very simple: independent of any concerns regarding their administrative status, and the variety of forms that they can adopt, the urbanizaciones are today an undeniable physical reality and, as such, they have always been designated with a name – a toponym – which serves to identify them. In other words: although this study of place names is, because of the circumstances outlined above, of considerable complexity, an onomastic analysis is nevertheless perfectly feasible. It is necessary, moreover, given that it might provide a better understanding of the great transformations that rural and urban geography in Spain has undergone in the last half century.
2. The geographical framework: the district of El Maresme In this article we study the names of urbanizaciones in a highly repre- sentative section of the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula. Specifically, the study examines the coastal strip located to the north of Barcelona, which neighbours the city itself; a strip that covers an area, roughly, 40 km long and 10 km wide. The geographical area cor- responds to that of the district of El Maresme – a territory in which we have identified (Tort & Morera 1988) a total of 240 urbanizaciones, which represents a third of all those built along the Catalan coast (where, in a 1999 study, a total of 766 urbanizaciones were recorded). The area we propose studying here – because it lies in the area of TOURISTIC MARKETING: NAMES OF NEW SETTLEMENTS 445
Fig. 1. Map of Maresme
immediate influence of the city of Barcelona, and because it has undergone major tourist and urban developments – is one of the best examples, in both Catalonia and Spain, of the manifestation of these new settlement types (Barba & Mercadé 2006; Puchades 1978). The district of the Maresme is one of the 41 divisions or comarcas, of su-pra-municipal cha-racter, making up the internal admi-nistration of Cata-lonia. Located, as mentioned, to the north of the city of Barcelona and lying within its metropolitan area, it com- prises thirty municipalities and its capital is the city of Mataró. While territorially it might be considered small (398.90 km², while the mean area of the Catalan comarcas is 780 km²), it is, in terms of its demography, the fourth largest by number of inhabitants in Catalonia. According to 2008 figures (Idescat 2009), its population reaches 420,521 inhabitants; which represents a density of 1,054.20 inhab/km² 446 JOAN TORT-DONADA
(compared to Catalonia’s mean of 230 inhab/km²). We should also stress the rate of growth experienced by the district over the last 60 years, rising from just 104,062 inhabitants in 1950, which represents a four-fold in-crease. Logically, this growth has led to major territorial and urban transformations. In this context, therefore, it is not difficult to under-stand the great importance that has been acquired by the new settlements from one end of the comarca to the other; undoubtedly, the Maresme is a true paradigm of the urbanisation process in contempo- rary Catalonia (Rosés 1989: 359–362).
Photo 1. Different housing developments or urbanizaciones in a typical forest landscape of the Maresme district, municipality of Argentona
In addition to these general characteristics, the territory has a highly varied physical and landscape geography. The marked coastal nature of the comarca, reflected in the name given to the district, Maresme, “wetlands” or “close to the sea” (Coromines 1989-1999, V: 194-195), is responsible in more than one way for this variety: on the one hand, its mild and humid climate has played a key role in allowing the formation of soils that are ideal for agriculture and forestry, while on the other hand the presence of beaches all along the seafront has permitted the notable development of tourism over the last five decades. To these physical characteristics we should add the antiquity of the human colonisation of these lands. The Maresme, because it is TOURISTIC MARKETING: NAMES OF NEW SETTLEMENTS 447 highly accessible by both land and sea, and as it occupies a strategic point in Catalan territory, boasting good soils and abundant water supplies, has been settled by man since the earliest times. In this respect, it is probably one of the Catalan territories with the greatest degree of humanization. Thus, its landscapes, the result of a great variety of physical factors as well as others that are well grounded in history and which have developed over a long period of time, can be considered representative of what has come to be known as the Mediterranean mosaic: a landscape type based on a variety of patterns and human uses, and which can be recognized by its essential features throughout the shores of the Mediterranean (Llobet 1987: 326–327).
Photo 2. A general view over the “central core” of the municipality of Argentona
3. The names of the urbanizaciones of El Maresme 3.1. General considerations The toponymy of any region in the world tends to reflect its most significant geographical features and the societies that live there (Tort 2006: 79–84). This behaviour, moreover, is neither static nor unchang- ing, but rather it adapts constantly to the changes and transformations that the territory undergoes. This principle, applicable to toponymy in general, is also, we believe, pertinent to specific types of toponyms: for example, to the names of urbanizaciones. We argue, in this sense, 448 JOAN TORT-DONADA and we have had the opportunity to discuss this in depth on various occasions, that these names, despite their being extremely hetero- geneous and, frequently, owing their origins to commercial interests, likewise tend to reflect many aspects of the territory and the society with which they are associated. There is no reason why the case that concerns us here, the comarca of the Maresme and the names of its 240 urbanizaciones, should be any exception. Before proceeding to conduct our analysis, and in order to gain a better understanding of the problems we shall be dealing with, it should be noted that the Maresme has, within its thirty municipalities, and according to the official data (Generalitat de Catalunya 1989 and 2003), a total of 363 centres of population (known also, in Spain, as “entidades colectivas de población” – collective population entities). Of these, a total of 240, are urbanizaciones (Tort & Morera 1988); that is, a very large number, equivalent to two thirds of the total (66.10% to be precise). The remaining 123 are centres of population in the more traditional sense: that is, according to their respective administrative categorisation, cities, towns, villages, neighbourhoods, hamlets and places. This situation is important; not only because it
Photo 3. A steep street of an urbanización on a mountain slope. On the right, the street occupying the original stream- bed that descends through the slope TOURISTIC MARKETING: NAMES OF NEW SETTLEMENTS 449 highlights the urban and territorial transformation undergone by the comarca, and the disproportionate representation of the “new” population settlements in relation to the “old” settlement types, but also because it reveals the great speed of this transformation; it should not be forgotten, and this is worth stressing, that most of the new settlements have appeared over the last fifty years.
3.2. The toponymy of the urbanizaciones: from a traditional to a commercial nomenclature The main feature revealed from an analysis of the names of the 240 urbanizaciones that make up our study is the joint presence, within this set of names, of a traditional toponymic type (which is the case in 68% of the instances) and a toponymy that we classify as being of a commercial nature (affecting the remaining 32%).1 In fact, this calculation is actually based on a total of 278 names (and not, as we have said, of 240 urbanizaciones); the difference lies in the fact that, in some cases, settlements bear more than one name, while elsewhere, some urbanizaciones for a variety of reasons have not yet been recognised by the town halls of the municipalities in which they are located. Given the onomastic orientation of our study, we preferred to include all the names that we have recorded in this study, independent of the administrative situation of each urbanización. The 278 names are included, grouped by municipality, in the appendix to this study. The onomastic analysis proper is limited to the 89 commercial toponyms identified in our study, and we will leave the detailed study of the 189 names (68% of the total, as indicated above) that we consider as being traditional toponyms for another occasion. However, we begin by identifying the main distinguishing features of both types of toponym.
3.2.1. Traditional toponyms: general features In general, the toponymic model classified here as traditional and applied to the urbanizaciones does not differ from the typology of names used for population centres of a much more ancient origin (we observed the same behaviour in a large-scale analysis in Tort 2002a).
1 See in the appendix of the article the specific distinction, in each case, between “traditional names” and “commercial names”. 450 JOAN TORT-DONADA
The typical referents of these names allude to a range of territorial elements: the physical geography in some cases, and the human geography in others. In particular, and within this latter category, a particular relevance (given their great number) is acquired by com- pound toponyms whose structure begins with the particle Can or Cal (Cal Gras, Can Bergai, Can Figueres, etc.). This is a very typical nominative structure in Catalan toponymy, as a generic way of re- ferring to houses or individual dwellings located, in general, in the rural environment. In Catalonia, this particle is the equivalent in English to the designation “House/Farm of …”.2 Among the urbani- zaciones of the Maresme we have counted 60 cases of toponyms of this type; to these we should add five or six more, formed with the particle Mas, which has a similar meaning.
Photo 4. A characteristic agrarian landscape in the Maresme district
3.2.2. Commercial toponyms: main categories considered Generally speaking, all the names of the urbanizaciones might be considered “commercial toponyms”, to the extent that they allude to settlements that were created for what was precisely a commercial
2 After the particle Can or Cal the specific part of the toponym is written. This is usually a personal name, though it does not usually coincide with the name of the present owner. TOURISTIC MARKETING: NAMES OF NEW SETTLEMENTS 451 purpose (the selling of plots of land or houses, to customers who, eventually, would become users or residents). More specifically, we have limited our analysis to those 89 toponyms whose formal characteristics, as names in their own right, are commercial, that is, new denominations with no connection to the earlier toponymy of the place, generally of artificial and/or arbitrary construction, and aimed primarily at “attracting” potential customers and buyers. In conducting this analysis, we have structured these names in six main categories on the basis of their specific characteristics: names with anthroponymic contents, urban allegories, geographical meta- phors, names alluding to anecdotal or banal elements, artificially formed toponyms and, finally, memorial toponyms.
3.3. Analysis of commercial toponyms 3.3.1. Names with anthroponymic contents Among all the names analysed, we have identified 14 toponyms formed around an anthroponymic core. These are very simple toponyms (one, or very occasionally, two names), generally made up of a surname (most typically that of the initial owner of the lands or of the promoter of the urbanización). Gaggioli and Gaietana in Alella; Rifé in Caldes d’Estrac; Maria Rossell, Humedas, Humet and Xiviller in Premià de Dalt; Marc Pastor in Sant Pol de Mar are all examples of this type. Moreover, in La Parcel·lació Illas (Santa Susana), the surname (Illas) identifies a type of urban planning operation (in Catalan, parcel·lació; “parcelling”, or division into plots) that led to the development of the urbanización. Finally, a more complicated case is provided by that of Ibars Meia: an urbanización in the municipality of Alella which extends also into the municipalities of El Masnou and Teià. Interestingly, in the latter two municipalities, the official spelling is somewhat different: Ivars Meià (despite the fact that the name refers to the same physical development, shared between the three munici- palities).3
3 In Spain, many surnames have different variants (giving rise to considerable confu- sion in their official uses). The reasons for these anomalies are, on the one hand, the historical diversity of languages in Spain: Castilian Spanish, Catalan, Basque, Gali- cian (diversity, however, not recognized by the State until the 1978 Constitution); and, on the other hand, the late introduction of a compulsory civil register (end of the 19th century). 452 JOAN TORT-DONADA
3.3.2. Urban allegories A further 14 names correspond to a category that is not easily defined, but which makes some allusion to what we have called “urban allegories”. In these cases we are dealing with toponyms which, in our point of view, seek to idealise aspects of the new settlements: that is, highlighting certain “urban qualities”, aimed at convincing potential house buyers of the intrinsic value of the urbanización. The first of these qualities is the new – nou/nova (as well as “recent” or “dif- ferent”) – character of the settlement: for example, in Nova Alella (Alella) and in Montaltnou (Sant Vicenç de Montalt). Elsewhere, the allusion is to a supposed “quality” of the residential park or garden city: Alella Parc in Alella; Arenys Residencial in Arenys de Munt; Residencial Sant Pere in Premià de Dalt; Crist Parc and Turak Parc in Cabrils; La Ciutat Jardí in Palafolls and in Santa Susanna; Montalt Parc in Sant Vicenç de Montalt; and Àgora Parc in Tordera. One case stands out here, namely Niàgara Parc (Tordera), where two allusions converge in a double allegory: an allusion to the “residential quality” (as an ideal), and another allusion, in this case metaphorical, to an “exotic geography” (from the point of view of the place in question) namely the Niagara Falls. Finally, one of the names, Les Vil·les, in Arenys de Mar, seems to allude to an idealised dwelling: the “vil·la” being the name which in Catalonia, at the beginning of the tourist boom, was given to the country house in which people spent their holidays (Enciclopèdia Catalana 1983: 1.639). In each of these cases, we consider the urban allegories to have a clear and unequivocal advertising nature. 3.3.3. Geographical metaphors Thirty-one names correspond to this largest group, which represents almost 35% of the total. Here, we refer to a “geographical metaphor” because we understand that the key mechanism in the formation of the toponym is a metaphor with fundamentally geographical content. In other words, via the name an attempt has been made to suggest or represent to the “receiver” (here again, in principle, a potential house buyer) a given quality of the geographical space, or place, where the urbanización in question is located. In most cases, the metaphorical allusion refers to a characteristic that is intimately connected with the physical structure of the territory studied (that is, the comarca of the Maresme): its predominantly TOURISTIC MARKETING: NAMES OF NEW SETTLEMENTS 453 mountainous nature, which means that many of the urbanizaciones (that, in most municipalities, occupy the peripheral and marginal zones of the traditional population centres and tend to be built in the highest and steepest parts of the municipal territory) are able to enjoy remarkable panoramic views. Hence, the direct allusion to “visual” qualities is constant: Bellavista in Arenys de Munt and in Sant Pol de Mar; Bellesguard in El Masnou and in Sant Vicenç de Montalt; Bellaguarda in Sant Pol de Mar; La Cornisa in Mataró and in Sant Andreu de Llavaneres; El Mirador in Òrrius and Sant Andreu de Llavaneres; Bonavista, Vistalegre and El Mirador de Sant Pere in Premià de Dalt; Vistamar in Sant Cebrià de Vallalta; Gran Vista in Teià.
Photo 5. The shore of the Maresme consists mainly of long beaches, and this has been one of the reasons for the development of tourism, especially in the last 50 years. In the photograph, the main beach of Calella
Similarly, another very frequently occurring geographical metaphor in the toponymy analysed is that which refers to certain physical elements of the environment (those that are, in short, most likely to “seduce” the buyer): the sea (mar), the mountain (muntanya), the coast (costa), the sun (sol), the sky (cel), the woods (bosc), the water (aigua) and the air (aire) – understood as the fresh open air –, as the main qualities: Mar i Muntanya in Alella; El Turó del Mar in Montgat; Maricel in El Masnou; Cumbremar in Mataró; Mar i Costa in Pala- 454 JOAN TORT-DONADA folls; Montessol and Pinemar in Pineda de Mar; Verdamar [verda, eng. ‘green’] in Santa Susanna; Solaire in Teià; La Font de Montnegre [font, eng. ‘spring’] in Sant Iscle de Vallalta, and Blanesmar and Terrabrava in Tordera. At times, some of the toponyms combine two metaphors (one alluding to the panoramic views and another to a physical feature): this is the case of Solaire, in Teià. Finally, within this same group there occur a number of paradoxical cases: the name of Valldeneu in Cabrils, literally “valley of snow”, may be considered nonsensical in a region with a Mediterranean climate, virtually at sea level, where snowfalls and the presence of snow are quite anomalous and exceptional occurrences. A similar case is that of Montseny, in El Masnou; here the paradox lies in the allusion to a well-known mountain situated in the centre of Catalonia, but a long way from our region and not even visible from it; undoubtedly, here the adopted name seeks to take advantage (in a clearly misleading manner) of the prestige that this mountain enjoys among the residents of Barcelona and Catalans in general. And finally, one name in Catalonia evokes a truly exotic geography: Califòrnia, in El Masnou; a name which is comparable to that of the other urbanización which we analysed above (section 3.3.2.): Niàgara Parc, in Tordera.
3.3.4. Allusions to the anecdotal and banal The 13 names that we include in this category take as their reference anecdotal or banal elements. Often these elements appear to have been selected at random, since it is difficult to see any link with a given geographical place or area. Some of these names allude to animals or plants, as in Les Carolines, Cinc-roses or L’Estrella [eng. ‘star’] in Arenys de Mar; Els Esquirols [eng. ‘squirrels’] and Els Llimoners [eng. ‘lemon-trees’] in Cabrils; Trèvol [eng. ‘clover’] in Premià de Dalt; Onze Pins [eng. ‘eleven pines’] in Sant Andreu de Llavaneres; Les Mimoses in Tordera and in Cabrils (a name that is repeated in two different urbanizaciones). In one case, the allusion is to a mineral – specifically to a precious stone: L’Esmeralda [eng. ‘emerald’] in Dosrius. Finally, in three cases there is an expressed reference to the idea of ‘solace’; that is, to what the dictionary defines as “consolation, pleasure, relaxation, relief from work”: El Paradís and Les Delícies [eng. ‘delights’] in Teià, and L’Esplai (literally, “the place of recrea- tion”) in Tordera. TOURISTIC MARKETING: NAMES OF NEW SETTLEMENTS 455
Photo 6. Tourist signalisation at the main entrance to Pineda de Mar
3.3.5. Artificial toponyms We also found twelve names that are clearly artificial creations. At times, the created name is a form that seeks to strengthen, in any possible way, the allusion to characteristic elements of the geography of the place, such as the sea (mar) and the mountains (muntanya): Montmar and Portimar in Arenys; Vallmar [eng. ‘the valley of the sea’] in Premià de Dalt. Elsewhere, one of the artificial names is a local toponym: Apartarenys, in Arenys de Mar; Urbapol and Superpol, in Sant Pol de Mar; and even, in line with this last example, Supermaresme, a urbanización that lies in the adjacent municipalities of Sant Andreu de Llavaneres and Sant Vicenç de Montalt. A further two instances of artificially created names, Montessol [eng., in literal translation, ‘mountain-sun’] and Pinemar [‘pine-sea’], in Pineda de Mar, were mentioned above when discussing geographical metaphors. In the case of Cabrils Dos, in Cabrils, the name has been formed with the simple addition of the number two (dos); while, in Quilòmetre Tres, in Calella, the name is a simple roadmap location [‘km 3’]. Finally, in Inursa (Premià de Dalt), the name is an acronym of initials; a typical strategy in the creation of commercial names, but which among the names of the urbanizaciones studied here was the only example. 456 JOAN TORT-DONADA
3.3.6. Memorial toponyms Finally, in this section we include the five remaining cases, corre- sponding to names that represent either some kind of “homage” to a given person, or an honorific mention. We include in this group the case of Salvador Espriu, a famous Catalan writer with close ties to the Maresme whose name has been given to an urbanización in Cabrils. There are as well names that allude to royalty or members of the aristocracy, such as El Passeig del Marquès de Casa Riera [marquès, ‘marquis’] in Sant Vicenç de Montalt; La Virreina [virreina, ‘vice- queen’] in Tiana; and the Els Comtes d’Urgell [comtes, ‘earls’] and Reina Elisenda [reina, ‘queen’] in Vilassar de Dalt.
4. Final reflections As specific examples of commercial names, the place names given to these urbanizaciones can be considered a type of denomination that lies half-way between toponyms, understood as geographical proper nouns, and what might be considered more strictly as trade names (in a similar sense, Tort 2002a: 409–410). This said, however, they do exercise the role of toponyms: that is, names that identify in an individual sense given human realities of the region. They are also names that serve, or which have served for a time (above all in the initial building phases), an obvious commercial function: because these names will have been used to persuade potentially interested parties of the advantages and the qualities of living (be it temporally or permanently) in one of these new settlements. Our study has helped highlight that the geographical region chosen for our purpose, the comarca of the Maresme, is highly repre- sentative (at least on a western Mediterranean scale) of the impact of the spread of the urbanizaciones in coastal areas of great tourist attraction. From a territorial perspective, this can be seen in terms of the transformation that the urbanizaciones represent to the traditional settlement model (recall that the new urban developments account for two-thirds of all population settlements in the comarca; that is, 240 out of a total of 363). From an onomastic perspective, this can be seen in terms of the emergence of new names (in origin commercially motivated), which coexist in practice with many traditional names. This has given rise to a problem of competition (or conflict) between TOURISTIC MARKETING: NAMES OF NEW SETTLEMENTS 457 the two, which in our area of study has been resolved in favour of the latter: we have seen that, of all the names given to urbanizaciones, 68% maintain features of the “traditional toponymy”, while only 32% can be clearly classified as “commercial toponyms”. In summary, our present conclusions do not differ in essence from the results of our two similar analyses, carried out at the level of the Catalan coastal fringe (Tort 2002a) and at the level of the district of Baix Penedès – a metropolitan comarca located south of Barcelona (Tort 2002b). Several interesting features emerge from the analysis undertaken here of the 89 names of a commercial character. First, the pre- dominance of names that seek to highlight certain geographical qualities of the environment; albeit, highly generic qualities from the semantic point of view (the “sea”, the “mountains”, the “air”, the “panoramic views”, etc.), and highly skewed when viewed from the broader territorial perspective, to the extent that they ignore almost completely the details of the geography and the traditional toponymy present at the local scale. In fact, metaphors are, as we have seen, the most frequent means adopted in the idealization of those values that are exploited to seduce potential buyers. Apart from this type of nomenclature, the toponyms of artificial creation and those that we have classified as being merely “anecdotal” or “banal” constitute in our opinion interesting examples (at the territorial scale) of fairly typical mechanisms for creating certain types of commercial names. On the other hand, the “urban allegories”, a fairly logical set of names in a territory such as El Maresme, whose traditional settlement pattern has been deeply affected, appear as a naming system that reflects, albeit indirectly, an idealization of the reality that is very typical of the language of advertising (or simple publicity). Finally, both the memorial toponyms and the toponyms with anthroponymic contents are examples, as we see it, of a relatively straightforward way of solving the naming problem: that is, resorting to simple forms devoid of any great significance.
458 JOAN TORT-DONADA
5. References
Barba, J. & Mercadé, M. 2006. Les urbanitzacions a la província de Barcelona. Localització i característiques dels sistemes de baixa densitat residencial. [Housing developments in the Barcelona pro- vince. Location and characteristics of low density residential systems]. Barcelona: Diputació de Barcelona. Coromines, J. 1989-1999. Onomasticon Cataloniae. 8 vol. Barcelona: Curial Edicions – Caixa de Pensions. Enciclopèdia Catalana. 1983. Diccionari de la llengua catalana. [Dictionary of the catalan language]. Barcelona: Fundació Enciclopèdia Catalana. Generalitat de Catalunya. 1989. Ordre de 20 de desembre de 1988, per la qual es fa pública la llista dels noms oficials dels municipis de Catalunya, de les seves unitats de població i de les entitats municipals descentralitzades. [Catalan Government Decree on official names of municipalities and other administrative districts]. Diari Oficial de la Generalitat de Catalunya 1101, 02.02.1989. Generalitat de Catalunya. 2003. Nomenclàtor oficial de toponímia major de Catalunya. [Oficial Gazetteer of Major Catalan Topo- nymy]. Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya – Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Idescat (Institut d’Estadística de Catalunya). 2009. Base de dades de municipis i comarques. [Statistical databases on municipalities and other districts]. Internet:
coast]. In: Ana Boullón (ed.), Actas do XX Congreso Internacional de Ciencias Onomásticas. Santiago 1999, 401–414. A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua Galega. Tort, Joan. 2002b. Algunas notas sobre la urbanización contem- poránea del medio rural en Cataluña. [Some reflections on contemporary urbanization of rural areas in Catalonia]. In: Actas del XI Coloquio de Geografía Rural. Los espacios rurales entre el hoy y el mañana, 479–487. Santander: Universidad de Cantabria – Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles. Tort, Joan. 2006. Els noms de lloc i el territori: la toponímia des de la geografia. [Land and place names: the Toponymy from the point of view of Geography]. In: Elvis Mallorquí [et al.], Toponímia, paisatge i cultura. Els noms de lloc des de la lingüística, la geografia i la història, 69–99. Girona: Universitat de Girona – Documenta Universitaria. Tort, J., Morera, E. 1988. Estudi de les unitats de població dels municipis de Catalunya. [Study on population units of the municipalities of Catalonia]. Barcelona: Diputació de Barcelona (mimeographed).
Acknowledgements Sincere thanks are due to Iain Kenneth Robinson for his linguistic assistance and to Daniel Mast for his advice in the final version of the text. Thanks, too, to Gerlinde Kepler and Andrea Lira. This paper has been prepared as part of the research entitled Los paisajes de la agricultura en España. Paisajes mediterráneos y canarios, funded by the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Research Project SEJ2006- 15331-C02-02).
Joan Tort-Donada Departament de Geografia Física i Anàlisi Regional Universitat de Barcelona c/ Montalegre, 6 E-08001 Barcelona, Spain [email protected] 460 JOAN TORT-DONADA
Appendix: The names of the new housing developments in the 30 municipalities of Maresme District (north coast of Barcelona)
ALELLA (Total settlements: 21; new housing developments: 20) Alella Parc4 – Barri Canonge – Cal Vell – Can Magarola – Can Sors – Can Teixidor – Comafosca – Creu de Pedra, la – Gaggioli – Gaietana – Ibars Meia5 – Mar i Muntanya – Mas Coll, el – Nova Alella – Serota, la – Solaia – Soleia – Solell, el – Vallbona – Verge de la Mercè ARENYS DE MAR (Total settlements: 13; new housing developments: 12) Apartarenys – Carolines, les – Cinc-roses – Cònsol, el – Estrella, l’ – Maltemps,el – Montmar – Portimar – Portinyol, el – Victòria, la – Vilaplana – Vil·les, les ARENYS DE MUNT (Total settlements: 15; new housing developments: 9) Aiguaviva – Arenys Residencial – Bellavista – Can Segrera – Collsacreu – La Creueta – Mas Gabana, el – Rial Pasqual, el – Tres Turons, els ARGENTONA (Total settlements: 17; new housing developments: 7) Can Cabot – Can Ferreters – Can Raimí – Can Vilardell – Dalipà – Les Ginesteres CABRERA DE MAR (Total settlements: 5; new housing developments: 0) CABRILS (Total settlements: 35; new housing developments: 34) Cabrils Dos – Cal Gras – Can Bergai – Can Borges – Can Cabot – Can Cucut – Can Toldrà – Crist Parc – Eixample, l’ – Esparregueres, les – Esquirols, els – Galvanya, la – Garrofers de Dalt, els – Garrofers de Baix, els – Gleva, la – Llimoners, els – Llobera, la – Marges, els – Mimoses, les – Montcabrer – Peretons, els – Roures, els – Salvador Espriu – Santa Elena – Sant Crist, el – Sant Crist Vell, el – Sant Cristòfol – Sant Jordi – Sant Sebastià – Serra, la – Sòl de la Ponça, el – Turak Park – Valldeneu – Vinya,la CALDES D’ESTRAC (Total settlements: 5; new housing developments: 4) Cònsol, el – Rifé – Sant Pere Abanto – Torre Nova, la CALELLA (Total settlements: 5; new housing developments: 4) Can Carreras – Quilòmetre Tres – Sant Quirze – Valldenguli CANET DE MAR (Total settlements: 1; new housing developments: 0) DOSRIUS (Total settlements: 20; new housing developments: 10) Can Brugueràs – Can Canyamars – Can Figueres – Can Massuet del Far6 – Can Vallma- jor – Can Valls – Castell, el – Costes d’en Guinard, les – Gavarra, la – Sobre Can Geimir MALGRAT DE MAR (Total settlements: 5; new housing developments: 0) MASNOU, EL (Total settlements: 6; new housing developments: 5)7 Bellesguard – Can Teixidor – Califòrnia – Ivars Meià8 – Santa Madrona MATARÓ (Total settlements: 9; new housing developments: 5) Can Bruguera-La Cornisa9 – Can Quirze – Can Vilardell – Fornenca, la10 – Sureres, les
4 In italics, the names that we have specifically considered as commercial names (CN). 5 This housing development affects also two other municipalities, El Masnou and Teià, where it is identified with the name Ivars Meià. 6 Here the traditional name (TN), Can Massuet del Far, has recently substituted the prior one, L’Esmeralda (CN). 7 In fact, we have identified in this municipality three other housing developments, Maricel, Montseny and Umbert, officially not recognized. 8 This housing development also affects two other municipalities, Alella (where the official orthographic form is Ibars Meia) and Teià. 9 La Cornisa, CN that coexists with the TN, Can Bruguera. 10 The TN, La Fornenca, has substituted the prior one, Cumbremar (CN). TOURISTIC MARKETING: NAMES OF NEW SETTLEMENTS 461
MONTGAT (Total settlements: 11; new housing developments: 3) Can Siurana – Turó del Mar, el – Vilares, les ÒRRIUS (Total settlements: 6; new housing developments: 1) Mirador, el PALAFOLLS (Total settlements: 19; new housing developments: 5) Ciutat Jardí, la – Mar i Costa – Mas Carbó – Mas Reixac, el – Tronc Vell, el PINEDA DE MAR (Total settlements: 11; new housing developments: 6) Can Carreres – Can Cornet – Can Morer – Montessol – Pinemar – Santa Anna PREMIÀ DE DALT (Total settlements: 36; new housing developments: 22)11 Barri del Castell – Barri de Muntanya – Bonavista – Cadira del Bisbe, la – Can Balet – Can Botei – Can Figueres – Can Moles – Can Soberano – Caritat, la – Collet de la Cisa, la – Floresta, la – Forn, el – Infern, l’12 – Maria Rossell – Marimon – Mas Riera, el – Mi- rador de Sant Pere, el – Puig de Pedra, el – Santa Anna – Cisa, la – Terra Alta – Trèvol SANT ANDREU DE LLAVANERES (Total settlm.: 20; new housing developments: 13)13 L’Ametllereda – Bellaire – Canafort – Ca n’Amat – Can Mates – Cornisa, la – Molí de Vent, el – Onze Pins – Puntó, el – Roca de la Nau, la – Rocaferrera – Supermaresme-La Ferrera14 – Verge de Lurdes SANTA SUSANNA (Total settlements: 10; new housing developments: 9) Alta Maresma – Can Batlle – Can Gelat – Can Raters – Can Torrent – Ciutat Jardí, la – Parcel·lació Illas, la – Vall, la – Verdamar SANT CEBRIÀ DE VALLALTA (Total settl.: 6; new housing developments: 4) Can Domènec – Can Puig15 – Castellar d’Índies – Can Palau SANT ISCLE DE VALLALTA (Total settl.: 3; new housing developments: 2) Can Ginebre – Font de Montnegre, la16 SANT POL DE MAR (Total settlements: 16; new housing developments: 11) Bellaguarda – Bellavista – Can Balmanya – Can Pi – Can Pou – Can Villar – Farell, el17 – Marc Pastor – Marina – Roques Blanques, les – Urbapol18 SANT VICENÇ DE MONTALT (Total settl.: 20; new housing developments: 19) Bellesguard – Les Bilbenyes – Can Boada – Can Pi – Can Ripoll – Comadebò – La Cor- tesa – La Ferrera – Milans del Bosc – Montaltnou – Montalt Parc – Passeig del – Marquès de Casa Riera, el – Pedró, el – Plana d’en Manent, la – Riera de Caldetes, la – Rocar, el – Santa Maria del Balís – Supermaresme-La Ferrera19 – Tres Torres, les
11 We have identified in this municipality nine other housing developments: Can Molina, Humedas, Humet, Maria Rossell, Mora, Vallmar, Vilaplana (also named Residencial Sant Pere) , Vistalegre and Xiviller, officially not recognized. 12 In minority contexts the CN is used; Inursa. 13 We have identified in this municipality four other housing developments: Can Morera, Can Rabassa, el Mirador and El Pla de Marc, officially not recognized. 14 Supermaresme, the CN that coexists with the TN, La Ferrera. This housing development affects also the municipality of Sant Vicenç de Montalt. 15 The TN, Can Puig, coexists with Vistamar (CN). 16 Here the CN, La Font de Montnegre, has substituted the TN, La Casanova de Malponç. 17 The TN, El Farell, coexists with the CN, El Farell Parc. 18 Urbapol, a CN, coexists with another CN, Superpol. The TN, El Serrat del Mas, affects only a part of the whole of the housing development. 19 This housing development affects also the municipality of Sant Andreu de Llavaneres. See footnote 14. 462 JOAN TORT-DONADA
TEIÀ (Total settlements: 18; new housing developments: 15) Assumpció, les – Delícies, les – Gran Vista – Ivars Meià20 – Molassa, la21 – Muntanya, la – Nogueres, les – Paradís, el – Rials – Sant Berger – Santa Fe – Vallmora – Vall- vallida22 – La Vinya TIANA (Total settlements: 4; new housing developments: 2) Mas Ram, el – Virreina, la TORDERA (Total settlements: 24; new housing developments: 18) Àgora Parc – Blanes Mar – Cal Capità – Can Camps – Can Domènec – Can Nadal – Can Soler – Castellar d’Índies – Esplai, l’ – Ferreres, les – Mas Móra, el – Mas Reixac, el – Mimoses, les – Niàgara Parc – Roca-rossa – Sant Llop – Terrabrava – Tordera Parc VILASSAR DE DALT (Total settlements: 1; new housing developments: 0)23 VILASSAR DE MAR (Total settlements: 1; new housing developments: 0)
20 This housing development also affects two other municipalities, Alella (where the official orthographic form is Ibars Meia) and El Masnou. 21 The TN, La Molassa, coexists with the CN, Solaire. 22 In fact, this housing development spreads over two physically different sectors, identified as Vallvallida-El Castell and Vallvallida-El Pont. 23 Although the local council recognizes only one official and unique settlement, we have identified eight housing developments located in different sectors of the municipality: La Cisa, Els Comtes d’Urgell, La Granja, Les Oliveres, La Quintana, Reina Elisenda, Sant Sebastià and Santa Maria. TOURISTIC MARKETING: NAMES OF NEW SETTLEMENTS 463
Summary: Geography and touristic marketing: A study of the names of new settlements (housing developments) on the Mediterranean coast north of Barcelona (Maresme District, Catalonia, Spain) This article seeks to analyse the names of a type of recent settlements (appear- ing in the second half of the twentieth century) in an area of great tourist value along the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula: the region known as El Maresme, located barely twenty kilometres north of Barcelona. These new settlements (sometimes as important in extension or population as the tradi- tional villages or districts) are defined by Spanish planning laws as urbaniza- ciones (a special kind of housing developments). They were created to meet an eminently commercial need (the sale of plots of land for the building of detached houses or apartment buildings), and have had a major impact on the geography of certain areas of Spain. Specifically, in the area of our study (El Maresme: 398.90 km², 30 municipalities and 420,521 inhabitants in 2008), we have identified 240 urbanizaciones, most of them created in the period 1960– 1980. This study takes as its point of reference the current official names of these settlements, and raises the following issues for discussion: a) the different types of new toponyms that have emerged; b) the retention, disappearance, or adaptation of the traditional toponyms in the new place names; c) the problem of the artificiality of the new names and their compatibility with traditional naming strategies, and d) the evaluation of the importance of this type of nomenclature in the context of commercial names.
Résumé: Géographie et marketing touristique: Un étude sur les noms des nouveaux ‘unités d’urbanisation’ dans le litoral mediterranée au nord de Barcelona (pays du Maresme, Catalogne, Espagne) Cet étude cherche à analyser les noms des ‘unités d’urbanisation’ récemment surgi (lors de la seconde moitié du XXème siècle) dans une petite région touristique au nord de la cité de Barcelone, le pays du Maresme, placée au long du littoral nord-orientale de la Péninsule Ibérique. Ces ‘unités d’urbanisation’ (des fois déjà arrivées à taille des villages originaux), définies par la législation urbanistique espagnole comme urbanizaciones, ont été construits, la plupart d’eux, entre 1960 et 1980, et montrent ses effets (souvent problématiques) sur tout le littoral espagnol. Dans la région – ou, mieux, pays – du Maresme (398,90 km², 30 municipalités et 420.521 habitants le 2008) nous avons identifié 240 de ces unités. Cet étude se réfère aux noms officiaux actuels des urbanizaciones, et ce sont les aspects suivants qui constituent des instigations au discours: a) la toponymie diverse qui a surgi; b) la permanence, la disparition et l’adaptation des noms traditionnels dans ces agglomérations nouvelles; c) les problèmes qui s’ensuivent de la dénomination artificielle et la comptabilité de ce nom avec la dénomination traditionnelle; et d) l’analyse de l’importance des dénominations analysées dans le contexte des noms commerciaux.
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Zusammenfassung: Geographie und Tourismus-Marketing: Eine Studie über die Toponymie neu erbauter Wohnsiedlungen an Barcelonas nördli- cher Küste (Bezirk El Maresme/Katalonien, Spanien) Ziel dieser Studie ist eine Analyse der Benennung neuer Wohnsiedlungen, die in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts gebaut wurden und die sich in einer touristisch hochwertigen Region an der Mittelmeerküste der iberischen Halbin- sel befinden. Die Region heißt El Maresme und befindet sich etwa 20 km nörd- lich von Barcelona. Diese Wohnsiedlungen werden laut spanischen Stadtpla- nungsgesetzen als urbanización definiert. Der Bau dieser Niederlassungen ba- siert auf rein wirtschaftlichen Motiven (Verkauf der Grundstücke an Immobili- enfirmen zur Errichtung von Einfamilienhäusern und Wohnblöcken) und hat Auswirkungen auf das gesamte spanische Küstengebiet. Vor allem im Untersu- chungsgebiet dieser Studie (El Maresme, mit einer Größe von 398,9 km², 30 Gemeinden und 420.521 Einwohnern – 2008), konnten 240 urbanizaciones, von denen eine große Anzahl im Zeitraum 1960 bis 1980 errichtet wurde, be- stimmt werden. Der Fokus dieser Studie liegt auf einer Analyse der offiziellen Siedlungsnamen dieser Niederlassungen unter Berücksichtigung folgender As- pekte: a) die verschiedenen neu entstandenen Toponyme; b) das Bestehen, das Verschwinden und die Adaptierung von traditionellen Ortsnamen in diesen neu- en Wohngegenden; c) die aus der „künstlichen“ Namensgebung resultierenden Probleme und die Vereinbarkeit mit der traditionellen Namensgebung, und d) die Analyse der Bedeutung der untersuchten Wohnsiedlungsnamen für die Wer- bung und die Vermarktung.