Territorial transformation
Introduction
Territorialization is the process of domination (political-economic) or appropriation (symbolic-cultural) of a space, carried out by a human group.[1] It is immaterial, but it is present when there is a recognition of belonging to the territory by a human being, that is, when he or she identifies with the territory. And it is from territoriality that territorialized social identities are understood and the phenomena of roots, attachment, socio-territorial belonging, mobility..., international migrations and globalization are adequately framed.[2].
In this sense, there is no territory in itself, one can only speak of Territory if it is possible to identify the human group that corresponds to it and produced it. Therefore, territory is understood as the product of a process[3] launched to achieve territorial appropriation by any human group and incorporating different dimensions, whether political, economic, social, historical or cultural.
This territorialization implies a link between the subject, community or social group with its land; and like all links, it is dynamic and is in constant generation, regeneration, transformation and disappearance.[4] Consequently, there is also a Deterritorialization and reterritorialization.[1].
Levels of Territorialization
The territorialization process has three levels:
Types of Territorialization
Jérôme Monnet, a professor-researcher in Geography and Territorial Planning at the University Institute of France, proposes classifying the different modes of production of the territory, that is, of territorialization, as aereolar (constituting areas) and reticular (constituting networks).
Aereolar.
This is achieved when the relationship to space (or territoriality) is considered only in the form of a relationship of the geographical actor to an “areolar” extension (an adjective constructed from “area”). It is a territoriality that is based on the Euclidean geometry of the surface and is manifested in geographical reality through the canonical forms of (private) property and the modern Western Nation-State. Areolar territorialization is then characterized by the definition of the territory as a continuous surface: it is, for example, the territoriality resulting from and regulated by law, whether it is property rights (of land) or political-administrative law that defines the areas of sovereignty and competence of an authority (at all levels). Another example is the territoriality valued by peasant societies rooted in their lands.[6].