What is it about?
Despite its ecological significance and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve status, the Gerês-Xurés Transboundary Biosphere Reserve (GX), spanning the border region between northern Portugal and southern Galicia (Spain), faces increasing socio-environmental challenges. However, existing research rarely addresses the interdependences of the social and physical spaces in peripheral regions of protected natural areas. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's concept of social space, this study analyses the spatial distribution and classification of objectified capital footprints in the GX region. The analysis is based on the most recent available data on road networks, nocturnal luminosity, building density, and carbon monoxide emissions (2022–2024), including a longitudinal series for nocturnal radiance (2014–2024). By spatially mapping these variables and integrating spatial quantitative methodologies with ethnographic fieldwork, the study identifies distinct spatial clusters characterized by varying degrees of connectivity, industrialization, and urbanization. The results underscore significant socio-environmental asymmetries and highlight the value of integrating sociological and spatial analyses to link air pollution emissions in physical spaces with competitive dynamics in social spaces. Although currently situated on the periphery of major capital-intensive zones, the GX region is increasingly impacted by tourism-related pressures in some areas, emphasizing the need to reinforce established policy responses.
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Why is it important?
This research is important because it reveals how peripheral protected areas like the Gerês-Xurés Biosphere Reserve are shaped by unequal spatial distributions of capital and pollution. By integrating sociological and geospatial approaches, the study exposes overlooked socio-environmental asymmetries and highlights the urgent need for policy responses that account for the interdependence of social and physical space.
Perspectives
The article adopts a relational spatial perspective grounded in Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of social space. It conceptualises physical infrastructures—such as roads, buildings, night-time luminosity, and carbon monoxide emissions—as manifestations of objectified capital. By employing geospatial analysis (PCA and mixed clustering) alongside ethnographic fieldwork, the study maps the distribution of these capital footprints across the Gerês-Xurés Biosphere Reserve and its surrounding regions.
raimundo elias gomez
Universidade do Porto
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Spatial distribution and classification of objectified capital in the Gerês-Xurés Transboundary Biosphere Reserve, Frontiers in Environmental Economics, May 2025, Frontiers,
DOI: 10.3389/frevc.2025.1463694.
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