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In 2019, Zolgensma, a gene therapy for patients suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), became famous for being 'the most expensive drug ever'. Its high price was justified by 'the value' that the drug will bring to patients and society, illustrating a rationale that has come to be known as value-based pricing. This paper builds on the literature in valuation studies and economic sociology, and on the debates that the case of Zolgensma triggered in France, to provide a conceptual and empirical analysis of a value-based formulation of prices. We argue that formulating prices out of value produces an orientation towards the future which has epistemic and political consequences. We analyse Zolgensma's value-based price as a composite of narratives and calculations that operates as a regulatory tool, a contractual arrangement, and an object of expertise. In these different settings, its distinctive temporality questions the commensurability of estimated benefits and desirable futures, the treatment of uncertainty, and the relevance of past costs and future value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Better understanding the pathways through which future socioeconomic changes might influence land use and land cover changes (LULCCs) is a crucial step in accurately assessing the resilience of societies to mountain hazards. Participatory foresight involving local stakeholders may help building fine-scale LULCC scenarios that are consistent with the likely evolution of mountain communities. This paper develops a methodology that combines participatory approaches in downscaling socioeconomic scenarios with LULCC modelling to assess future changes in mountain hazards, applied to a case study located in the French Pyrenees. Four spatially explicit local scenarios are built each including a narrative, two future land cover maps up to 2040 and 2100, and a set of quantified LULCC. Scenarios are then used to identify areas likely to encounter land cover changes (deforestation, reforestation, and encroachment) prone to affect gravitational hazards. In order to demonstrate their interest for decision-making, future land cover maps are used as input to a landslide hazard assessment model. Results highlight that reforestation will continue to be a major trend in all scenarios and confirm that the approach improves the accuracy of landslide hazard computations. This validates the interest of developing fine-scale LULCC models that account for the local knowledge of stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this action research project is to (re)define and (re)get to know the material trachyandesite. A magmatic rock that has contributed to the identity of the Massif Central region, through the construction of towns since the 15th century, its exploitation has accelerated with industrial growth. Its presence grew and its uses spread throughout France. If this stone confers a specific and visual identity, it is today one of the components of the built heritage of a French region, at one with the landscape because it is at its heart. Understanding the materiality of this stone and its many characteristics is a key factor in the restoration of old buildings. Could knowledge of the qualities of trachyandesite (refractory stone, high pyroscopic resistance) as a local, low-carbon-emission material enhance the value of constructions and/or restorations that could be described as geosourced? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although imagining the future is a key skill requirement in education for sustainable development (ESD), it is rarely taught. The French Education Ministry recently included the future in its ESD circulars and geography curriculum. We therefore developed an innovative framework for thinking about the future, featuring several different learning tools. This paper describes how schoolchildren aged 8–12 years imagined the future of the area where they live in an interdisciplinary context (Human‐Environment Observatory) in the course of a 3-year experiment. Our framework allowed them to work on different dimensions of the future and imagine several possible futures. We discuss the need for pupils to handle complexity and uncertainty when working with the future. The ability to project themselves into the future enables pupils/citizens to make sound choices and to form opinions by comparing their own views with those of others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To be rightly implemented, an environmental policy ought to set an institutional framework (goals, rules and instruments) which incents decentralised actors to adopt the appropriate range of technologies. In the household waste management policy, the development of valorisation techniques (and particularly recycling) must be supported by convenient instruments and incentives. The paper analyses the problems encountered with the French household waste policy to ensure the takeoff of recycling techniques. At the moment, a rather under-proportionedinstitutional setting leads to favour the adoption of incineration with energy recovery at the expenses of recycling. This tends to create a structural bias in favour of incineration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]