M-Christine Fourny.

• 1) Updates on the framework concerning the problematic

• 2) SCC contribution to the final report

M-Christine Fourny.

What are small towns specifities ?what is their importance in territorial development ?

….In a postfordist économic development model

1) updates on the framework concerning the problematic

Our questions :

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• Role within spatial and settlement development

• A socio-cultural role and

• Specific quality of life : culture, environment, leisure, initiative potentiel,

• Role in urban hierarchies

Small cities vitality is a condition of a sustainable development

Small towns development is of main importance because of their

M-Christine Fourny.

What strategies for the future ?

• Strengthening the relationships between towns and their hinterlands

• Developing network and supply functions simultaneously

(Perlik and Messerli, 2004)

• Strengthening the relationships between towns and their hinterlands

• Developing network and supply functions simultaneously

(Perlik and Messerli, 2004)

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Alpcity objectives

• To consolidate the role of the small city in its territory

• To increase its attractivity (culture, identity, way of life)

To reinforce all sorts of links (symbolic as economic) with mountains

• To increase selfgovernment capacities (to count on its own forces)

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• To identify small cities potentiel to implement a sustainable development

   How can small cities be « laboratories for territorial innovation »

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will discuss the problems according to regional situations and experiments

A second part of the framework

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• Is mountain situation a handicap?

• Is there (urban) life out of metropolitan areas ?

Isolation/metropolisation

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Figure 2: évolution de la population entre 1990 et 1999

-20,0

-15,0

-10,0

-5,0

0,0

5,0

10,0

15,0

Some regional surveys or studies can to be used, as in Rhone-Alps, a study about small towns functions and dynamics :

Population growth between 1990 et 1999

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• The growth is directly linked to the distance.

• Correlation: The municipalities most far away from the most important roads are also those with a negative evolution between 1990 - 1999

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Distance en minutes à la commune la plus fréquentée

010203040506070

Distance to the most frequented municipality (mn)

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• The distance is compensated by an important mobility

• But mobility involves a loss of dynamism :

Small cities where mobility is lowest are also those which have a base in public or private services

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Economic studies in Milano’s area

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La métropole milanaise « pompe » les ressources des petites villes

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Differences in regional policies

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We’ll use the synthesis made by many regions :

Piemont for instance :

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Structure of the towns within the region

• Torino is still the 4th major town in Italy but has lost population constantly during the last years, mainly in favour of the Province (de-urbanisation), but also to other part of the country. The town is undergoing a de-industrialisation process.

• Regione Piemonte has a very high number of municipalities (1.206 of 8.101 in the whole of Italy).

• Many are small: Piemonte hosts 18% of the municipalities in Italy with < 5.000 pop.

M-Christine Fourny.

Social image of the mountains within the

region• Given the variety of mountains and spread of the area covered, there are very different areas and perceptions linked with.

• Many Piedmontese have a good knowledge of the regional mountains, they may still hold their family home, and spend weekend and holidays there.

• Quite some people exercise some form of trekking or alpine sport.

• There are lots of organisations connected with a leisure and environmental view of the mountains.

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• However, the Alps are mainly perceived as a run-down, old-age people and unconfortable place to live in, with not much of an economic and social life.

• Even if people are very attached, there is still a sense of the mountain as a “world of the defeated” (from the title of a book).

• This is particularly true in the southern part (a few valleys of the Province of Cuneo) and in the northern part. The lack of good accessibility in some valleys reinforce this sense of exclusion.

M-Christine Fourny.

Policies for the mountain

• National level• Regional level

• Legge regionale 2 luglio 1999, n. 16. – Testo unico sulle leggi di montagna (Incorpored law text on the mountain legislation)

• Legge regionale 19/2003 – Changes to the Law 2 luglio 1999, n. 16

• ...

M-Christine Fourny.

2) SCC contribution to the report

• Our preoccupation :

To evaluate if Alpcity is able to answer our hypothesis : • To promote innovation in sustainable development• To enhance functionnal and territorial situation • To increase attractiveness• To enhance quality of life ?

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A methodologic problem :

• To have possibilities of comparison to go further than particular cases

• To evaluate the procedure (and not the stakeholders !) mainly through methods and

effects of transnational co-operation

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Our point of view about the issues :

• Best Practises,

• Guidelines

An other chapter will be about

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A first level of evaluation

   A grid of comparison

• with four topics • and five variables

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Four themes :

• Participatory process• Network• Possibilities to have a long term effect• Sustainability principles

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• Innovation : what is new, experimental and interesting

• Difficulties and strategies for overcoming them

• Contributions to endogeneous development

• Contribution to strengthen territorial anchoring : culture, identity, specificity