Industrial Geography and Economic Policy in Spain

Industrial Areas in Spain

Spain has strong regional imbalances, aggravated by the tendency of the most dynamic sectors to locate in the more advanced regions.

Developed Industrial Regions

These are the central areas of the metropolitan regions of Madrid, Barcelona, and Bilbao. Their recent evolution has been marked by the collapse or conversion of mature industries and industrial revitalization, due to the introduction of high-tech sectors attracted by the advantages of their centrality.

This has fostered a growing tertiary sector of industry, as evidenced by the emergence of industrial and business parks, in which office tasks exceed actual manufacturing. These include management, design, research, marketing, and after-sales services.

Expanding Industrial Zones

These result from the diffusion of industrial trends or the development of endogenous industrialization. One can distinguish several types:

• The metropolitan crowns: Industrial parks and technology parks.
• Peri-urban slots.
• Industrial development axes: Ebro Valley, Mediterranean Coast, Madrid environment, and other secondary axes.
• Rural areas: Rural areas of the Meseta, the high valley of the Ebro, and the Guadalquivir.

Declining Industrial Axes

Located on the Cantabrian coast and isolated nuclei such as Ferrol, Cádiz Bay, Puertollano, and Ponferrada. The causes of decline are their specialization in mature sectors, an unskilled market with strong labor conflicts, serious environmental degradation, and incorporation into the EU, which has affected them negatively.

The consequences of this situation have been de-industrialization, population decline, loss of competitiveness, falling profits, and heavy debt. However, some areas, such as the Basque Country, have staged examples of revitalization.

Induced and Low Industrialization

The areas of induced industrialization are in Aragon, Castilla y León, and Andalusia (specifically Zaragoza, Valladolid, Burgos, Huelva, and Seville).

The areas of low industrialization are Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, the Balearic Islands, and the Canary Islands. Faced with these four areas is the industrial desert.

Spanish Industrial Policy

• Increasing external openness.
• Reduction of state intervention in industry.
• Privatization of public enterprises.
• Acceleration of industrial conversion.
• Increased expenditure on R&D (Research and Development).
• Improving research infrastructure.
• Industrial Development Policy: Regional Incentives Law.
• Micro-planning.
• Regional Development Agencies and Local Development Agencies.