Environmental and territorial conflict : a groundbreaking research area. Approaches to the Catalonian case

The proliferation of environmental and territorial conflicts that has been observed in Catalonia for over a decade is of interest to academicians, governmental authorities and social agents alike. However, there is no established body of theory and practice that defines, analyzes or develops specific proposals to resolve such conflicts. This article aims to compile and synthesize what is being done at the analytical and social level in relation to these phenomena and to detect the most common approaches. To this end, we review the literature of three areas of research: the widely studied field of social conflict, the field of environmental conflict and the literature that looks at land-use conflicts. Our results highlight some of the methodological challenges facing this field of study and issues that can be developed in the future.