Canarias Azul. Promoción y preservación del patrimonio litoral, material e inmaterial.

PROJECT REFERENCE : ProID2020010010

DURATION : 01/01/2020 - 09/30/2022

REALIZATION ENTITY : University of Las Palmas de Gran & nbsp; Canaria

ENTITY / ES FINANCIADORA / S : Canary Islands Agency for Research, Innovation and Information Society (ACIISI)

PRINCIPAL RESEARCHER : Sergio Solbes Ferri

PROJECT MEMBERS :

  • Daniel Castillo Hidalgo (ULPGC, IATEXT)

  • María Nayra Rodríguez & nbsp; Rodríguez & nbsp; (ULPGC, IATEXT)

  • Antonio Ramón Ojeda (ULPGC, IATEXT)

SUMMARY :

In the history of the last centuries, the Canary Islands have traditionally been constituted as a territory of enormous strategic importance for the economic and political activity developed both in the European, American or African space. The integration of the archipelago in the different stages of globalization and economic globalization have essentially occurred through its coastline. Over the centuries, this process has contributed to the generation of abundant material and intangible cultural heritage, which has been preserved or has disappeared, but of which documentary testimonies are preserved.

The material cultural heritage inherited from these times refers essentially to fortifications and defensive coastal structures, but also to all kinds of infrastructures (warehouses, docks, lighthouses), as well as port machinery, and others heritage elements linked to the coastline. The immaterial element makes an implicit reference to the use given by the populations of the past of these elements, as well as to the historical processes of interest developed in enclaves of the Canarian coast. The fusion of both realities constitutes a recommendable option for the promotion of certain activities related to tourism of a cultural nature, generating added value. The reality of the visible footprint of the coastal heritage, regardless of its state of conservation, is perceptible to local citizens or to any tourist visiting the islands. The possibilities of increasing the visibility and thus the preservation and community-type development of this heritage is indisputable. This project is located within a policy of cultural action that is being developed throughout the European continent, with the aim, on the one hand, of making known and preserving the coastal heritage and, on the other, of promoting growth and development. linked to the blue economy and the Digital Humanities.

This project aims to develop a database that allows the implementation of a free computer application for the general public, offering complete, pertinent, rigorous and attractive information on tangible and intangible heritage elements linked to the coastline of the island of Gran Canaria, and endorsed by the quality seal of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
and specifically, the Institute for Textual Analysis and Applications (IATEXT). As it is a pilot project in the design, creation and start-up of a prototype, it has been decided to limit the research tasks to the insular area of ​​Gran Canaria, observing and evaluating its potential for extension to the rest of the islands of the archipelago, and even its diffusion nationally and internationally. The development of the database and the design of the computer tool allow its subsequent transfer to other regional areas.