Guex Delphine

My researches deal with regional development. Inspired by mountain territories, I try to consider the stakes of the postindustrial society to suggest a model of regional development. Indeed, mountain territories and the Alps in particular present an emblematic profile of these stakes which currently concerns all regions. Regional development in the postindustrial context depends on:

• Consumers' attraction (Not only leisure tourists in holidays, but the whole consumers potential: phenomena of residence, commuters, avoidance of local consumers  leaks, health, studies, etc.);

• The traditional craft and industrial export. As in other regions, production costs must be competitive. When it is not the case - as in Switzerland for example because of a structurally strong Franc for decades - an added value must be created to allow the preservation of these activities on-the-spot;

In the case of traditional exports as in consumers attraction, regions have to "stage on" in order to arouse the interest of local and external actors. The latter may value the territory, economically speaking, by spending on the spot or to by buying import goods. Staging is both concrete on the territory (infrastructure, environmental quality, landscape…) and symbolic or immaterial (local culture, communication…).

A "sectorial" reading of regional development does no longer bring sufficient answers to the economic, social and environmental stakes which currently arise. The proposed territorial approach allows considering the coordination of various activities within a territory, actors' interactions, contributing all in a complex and interdependent way to the preservation and to the development of the territorial value

Université de Neuchâtel (Groupe de Recherche en Economie Territoriale), Université de Lausanne (Institut de Géographie et Durabilité)