The Mid-Mountain Regions and their People

The mid-mountain regions either face a lack of development or are overdeveloped.

Generally speaking, these areas, situated halfway up the slope at the bottom of a mountain range, were hinterlands to large industrial cities forming a cultural and economic entity referred to as a district. The industrial decline, the relocation of production activities as well as the massive development of leisure and sports activities, have induced various stages of development that coexist, ranging from:

• A state of close to complete population drain to a state of intensive sub-urbanisation
• A " localised " attitude to the nuisance of all-out development.

In many cases left behind, the mid-mountain or prized mid-mountain areas have to cope with unacceptable conditions.

There are three situations of reference which this Symposium seeks to address:

• Is it possible to determine the various stages of development that should only be cleared once being fully aware of the predictable side effects and consequences inferred by the development?
• Are there indications available to detect and anticipate the stages mentioned above?
• Can we control and manage development through pre-determined, limited stages?

As far as ethical and intellectual preoccupations are concerned, town and country planners as well as developers usually focus on studies and providing financial assistance for deprived areas similarly to the plans and schemes used in international cooperation for developing countries. The following key questions can be raised:

• Can we verify the hypothesis by which the overdeveloped mid-mountain districts are weakened by the nuisance and side effects generated by their hyper activity?
• Should we consider policies involving a mutual and complementary exchange of specific information between and within these mid-mountain districts to obtain general development?
• On a European scale including the European Union and the European continent, are we able to create targeted programmes to establish a policy for the mid-mountain districts?