La planificación territorial como estrategia para hacer frente a la atonía poblacional: el ejemplo de Asturias / Territorial planning as a strategy to face demographic challenge: the example of Asturias

Abstract

Territorial planning as a strategy to face demographic challenge: the example of Asturias. The Principality of Asturias is undergoing a consolidated population atony process, characterised by the decrease in population and the ageing of the demographic structure, which also has significant internal territorial differences, with some areas showing a certain dynamism versus large areas showing a very negative evolution and a particularly high proportion of elderly population. To address this situation, the Plan Demográfico del Principado de Asturias, 2017-2027 was designed. In its preparation, a methodology developed by the Territory Observatory of the University of Oviedo was applied, based on the territorial development guidelines that the European Union has been developing since the late 1990s and up to the present. In this way, a strategic planning with a territorial perspective was obtained from a comprehensive and flexible vision to face the challenges arising from the demographic challenge. The article analyses the process of preparing the document as a whole and, especially, the Intervention Strategy, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of the first years of application of the document.