A socioecological approach to territorial systems in mediterranean environments

Through a socioecological approach we intend to apply to territorial systems a similar interpretation to those currently used in ecosystem’s management. Therefore, we will try to consider a territorial unit as a human ecosystem, being an interaction of natural and social dynamics. The persistence of general problems in spatial planning, particularly in the Algarve region, prompted the search for a more integrated approach, which relies on understanding the structural elements and subsystems tailored, in this case, to the specific characteristics of Mediterranean spatial contexts, where water assumes a preponderant role. Thus, the watersystem and his structuring effect will be the reference that outlines the main prospects for the territory. There will be a theoretical exploration trying to articulate ecological concepts extended to social systems, setting up an evaluation matrix for territorial systems, which constitutes one of the tools in a proposed methodological model for assessing such systems and subsystems. The appliance of the proposed model, or its combination with other alike –‘self-organizing holarchic open systems’, ‘resilience analysis’ or ‘vulnerability assessment’–, can design alternative views in regional spatial planning and frame lines of research over several areas with an evident territorial incidence.