The making of Spain's coastal paradises through tourism, people, power, and design.
Spain's celebrated tourist coastlines were not simply discovered or developed; they were socially and culturally constructed. Building Paradise examines how these landscapes were produced through architecture, planning, cultural representations, and everyday practices. Rather than treating coastal destinations as mere sites of leisure, this volume explores them as gendered spaces where social roles, family life, work, and personal freedom were continually negotiated.
Focusing on popular destinations such as Mallorca, the Costa Brava, Benidorm and the Costa Blanca, this book reveals how Spain's Mediterranean coast was transformed throughout the twentieth century. Through studies of tourist architecture, urban planning, films, literary imaginaries, and leisure practices, it demonstrates how the making of these coastal paradises was inseparable from the construction of gender relations.
Bringing together perspectives from history, architecture, cultural studies, and gender analysis, Building Paradise highlights the often overlooked contributions of women entrepreneurs, hospitality workers, peasant women, local residents, and female architects in shaping Mediterranean tourist spaces. By placing gender, power, and agency at the centre of tourism history, the volume offers a fresh understanding of the transformation of coastal landscapes and everyday life, and its lasting impact on modern Spain.