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Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Bildungswissenschaften 44 (2022) 2, S. 250-263, La plateforme Géoscola est née de la nécessité de disposer d’un outil efficace pour le pilotage et l’aide à la décision de l’école publique du Canton du Valais. Sa création est le fruit d’une approche entre Sciences de l’éducation et Géographie. L’information sur le fonctionnement du système éducatif se construit à partir des subdivisions administratives scolaires avec une perspective territoriale, grâce à l’adaptation du géoportail "Géoclip Air", conçu pour et utilisé par les instituts géostatistiques. Cet article rend compte de l’aventure technique et humaine qu’a représenté ce projet. Il analyse également le processus ainsi initié avec différents acteurs institutionnels qui rend essentielle la priseen compte d’implications et d’exigences administratives, politiques et éthiques sensibles. (DIPF/Orig.), The Géoscola platform grew out of the need to have an effective tool for steering and helping decision-making in the public school system in the Canton of Valais. Its creation results of an approach between educational sciences and geography. Information on the structure of the school system is based on the nomenclature of educational subdivisions with a territorial perspective. This was achieved with the adaptation of “Géoclip Air”, a geoportal designed and used primarily by statistical institutes. This article reports on the technical and human adventure this project represented. It also analyses the process thus initiated, in collaboration with various institutional actors, which makes it essential to consider sensitive administrative, political and ethical implications and requirements. (DIPF/Orig.)

This article describes how a cartographic solution, originally implemented to circumvent copyright issues, has revealed collateral advantages, notably its capacity to efficiently convey cartographic message, its adaptability for web mapping and its diffusion potential.

In order to improve the relevance, efficiency and effectiveness of the policy making and implementation process regarding functional urban areas and other functional regions, it is essential to have data, indicators and analysis tools that can help to better understand the drivers for growth and inclusive social development in these areas across Europe. By now significant data gaps exist to be able to understand their contribution to polycentric and balanced territorial development. This project will fill the existing data gaps, complement the work of Eurostat, OECD and DG Joint Research Center in this field and will facilitate policy debates at various levels, for instance within Urban Agenda for the EU Partnership on Sustainable Use of Land.

This Atlas contains detailed descriptions of 13 European examples of soft territorial cooperation areas. The selection of cases presented makes no claim to comprehensiveness nor (statistical) representativeness. Cases were selected out of a multitude of identified examples with a view on fitting the project's definition of soft territorial cooperation. Soft territorial cooperation areas were defined as initiatives that define the sectoral scope and geographical boundaries in an ‘open' or ‘fuzzy' way, based on a notion of ‘community of intent' as a voluntary collaboration open to public and private actors who decide to jointly address territory-specific opportunities and challenges. Their other main characteristics are: • a medium to long term integrative perspective (i.e. not limited to the implementation of a single project); • seeking to enhance the capacities of involved players, making them actors of their own development; • renewing relations between institutional levels, sectors of activity and types of actors (e.g. NGOs, private companies, local and regional authorities, agencies…). The soft territorial cooperation areas presented in this Atlas show variations of these characteristics and “openness” in how they define their cooperation area, partnership, thematic scope, type of interventions and governance structure. The way in which case study descriptions are structured shall allow the reader to quickly capture case study characteristics, make cross-connections between the different cases and draw his/ her own conclusions from the presented material. The project team's findings and conclusions can be found in the main project report.

This handbook builds on the lessons distilled from 24 case studies on soft territorial cooperation in different parts of Europe that were undertaken in the scope of the ESPON ACTAREA project on “Thinking and planning in areas of territorial cooperation”. Case studies focused on analysing and characterising soft territorial cooperation areas regarding - the strategic purpose they pursue; - approaches to region-building they take; - organisational structures they have set up and resources they draw on; - strategies to motivate actors to participate and overcome barriers to cooperation they have developed; and - the policy frameworks and strategies under which they have been create.

Combining diverse material gathered from the analysis of the Swiss policy context and the exploration of the 12 Swiss AAs, this separate report is aimed at providing a comprehensive view on the Swiss experience with soft territorial cooperation. Chapter 2 introduces the policy context relevant for the analysis of the Swiss AAs. Chapter 3 presents the different supra-regional collaborations taking place on Action Area level, framing them in their territorial context, and proposes an analytical grid to analysing them. Chapter 4 synthetises results obtained from the analysis of the 12 Swiss AAs, classifying them based on their maturity of cooperation and summarises policy options as expressed by field actors. Chapter 5 is set up as an Atlas, offering in-depth presentation of the 12 Swiss AAs.

This guidance document aims at summarizing the global strategy followed by the ESPON 2020 MapKits project for creating the ESPON MapKits : (1) Enlarging mapping possibilities and support the growing availability of data in a European perspective. (2) Focus on uses and quality. (3) Promote the dissemination of open source information. The last part (4) describes the data sources used to create the layers included in ESPON MapKits.

ESPON ACTAREA has analysed 24 examples of ‘soft territorial cooperation areas' across Europe, taking as a starting point Swiss efforts to promote thinking and planning in so-called ‘Action Areas' (AAs), i.e. new forms of soft governance spaces with fuzzy, flexible boundaries that span across national and regional administrative boundaries and link urban and rural development policies. It has identified good practices and developed tools to describe and develop cooperation across Europe, considering both individual cooperation instances and cooperation frameworks put in place primarily by national authorities. Soft territorial cooperation areas are instances of territorial governance. They bring together actors concerned by a set of territorial challenges and opportunities and who are prepared to elaborate and implement strategies to address them jointly. Their sectoral scope and geographical boundaries are generally defined in an ‘open' or ‘fuzzy' way. When choosing case studies, the project focused on initiatives with the following characteristics: • a medium to long term integrative perspective (i.e. are not limited to the implementation of a single project); • an ambition to enhance the capacities of involved players, making them actors of their own development; • a determination to renew relations between institutional levels, sectors of activity and types of actors (e.g. NGOs, private companies, local and regional authorities, agencies…). Soft territorial cooperation instances can also be approached as ‘communities of intent'. The existence of such a ‘community' is the output of a cooperation process. However, it only emerges if a convergence of interest between involved actors can be achieved. Proponents of soft territorial cooperation are therefore typically actors that manage to identify potential such ‘communities' and to facilitate the process leading to their emergence. This require concrete competencies in fields such as process design and workshop facilitation, combined with intimate knowledge of local and regional contexts (‘Fingerspitzengefühl').

International audience; L’innovation en montagne peut être un sentier escarpé, mal balisé et semé d’embûches. C’est le cas du Val d’Hérens, dans le canton du Valais (Suisse), dont le projet de PNR a été rejeté par votation populaire fin 2011 malgré ses différents potentiels et ressources patrimoniales. Depuis, le Val d’Hérens peine à se remettre de cet échec et des divisions profondes qu’il a révélées ou suscitées. L’innovation territoriale (Giraut, 2009; Corneloup, 2009; Fourny, 2014) est resituée ici dans une trajectoire au fil de laquelle des enjeux régionaux sont explicitement débattus: recomposition territoriale, choix de développement, mode de distinction. Il se dessine aussi des enjeux implicites qui semblent peser lourdement sur le processus: les modes de gouvernance corsetés dans les jeux d’acteurs locaux, l’identification difficile d’un commun, ou la spécificité montagnarde d’une des vallées latérales. Cette analyse s’appuie sur un projet de recherche en cours du Programme Fonds National Suisse de la recherche « Didactique du paysage. Mutualisation des expériences et perspectives didactiques à propos des controverses paysagères ».

The approach adopted by the Swiss canton of Valais to develop a place brand – the attribution of an overall quality relating to the characteristics, excellence and originality of a place and to a group of products and services – appears exemplary in that it has been instrumental in developing tourism and agricultural production, and promoting industry. The canton, which enjoys a reputation as a tourist destination (several renowned resorts) and is part of a well-known and distinctive river basin (the upper Rhone), comprises, however, a variety of motivations and interest groups at smaller scales relating to the different mountain massifs and valleys. In such a context, it is both the image and reputation of the canton as a whole that constitute the main resource, a situation that is, however, not without risk when the canton finds itself in a awkward position in relation to the new metropolitan values (in the Swiss context) of political ecology on the question of landscape and second homes.

The ESPON Monitoring Report presents territorial evidence on the progress Europe has made towards the orientations of the Territorial Agenda 2020. It also explores how the recent development trends may have contributed to the achievement of Europe 2020 objectives. Each chapter focuses of territorial trends for one of each of the six policy priorities of the Territorial Agenda 2020, and starts with a short section on the interpretation of the policy priority. Hereafter, the latest related territorial evidence is presented, in order to support the understanding of to what degree Europe is progressing towards the policy orientation in question. A range of maps and figures illustrate the text and, when relevant, territorial trends and developments are discussed in different time perspectives, e.g. before and after the current crisis. The final section of each chapter sums up the territorial observations in light of the policy priorities addressed. An executive summary is presented before the six individual chapters, including highlights in short of the publication to support an easy uptake by policy makers of key messages presented.

Les deux Chambres ayant accepté la motion Maissen (11.3927) intitulée « Stratégie de la Confédération pour les régions de montagne et les espaces ruraux », le Conseil fédéral est chargé d'élaborer une stratégie cohérente de développement des régions de montagne et des espaces ruraux de la Suisse. L'élaboration de cette stratégie a été confiée au Secrétariat d'Etat à l'économie (SECO), qui a mis sur pied un groupe tripartite et a préparé, suite à sept ateliers réalisé en collaboration avec un groupe d'experts de l'UNIGE et UNIBE, un rapport ad hoc. Ce rapport formule les objectifs stratégiques à atteindre et l'orientation à donner aux activités de la Confédération en ce qui concerne les régions de montagne et les espaces ruraux.

The stronger political focus on a territorial dimension in policy highlights the need to create a European Territorial Monitoring System (ETMS) that on a regular basis can provide and promote territorial information and evidence to main target groups on key trends in European regions, specific type of territories, metropolitan regions, cities and towns in relation to the policy aims and priorities of European policy orientations and objectives. This ESPON project is aimed at providing a practical and operational European Territorial Monitoring System (ETMS), which builds mainly on existing statistical information, data and tools developed (database, mapping tools) within the ESPON Programme, and which can be the base for a continued monitoring of European territorial trends.

Input paper for the Swiss strategy for development of mountain regions and rural areas. The focus is on the European context and the identification of innovative approaches to regional development.

Dans le cadre de la révision de la stratégie nationale suisse pour les régions de montagne et les espaces ruraux, l'Université de Genève a, en collaboration avec l'Université de Berne, identifié une série de « bonnes pratiques » européennes dont cette stratégie pourrait s'inspirer. Ces exemples montrent que la priorité est de donner aux acteurs locaux et régionaux les moyens d'identifier leurs ressources potentielles, leurs objectifs de développement et des stratégies réalistes pour les atteindre.

La démarche valaisanne de branding territorial – attribution d'une qualité globale liée aux caractéristiques, à l'excellence et à l'originalité du territoire et à un ensemble de productions et de services – apparaît comme exemplaire dans la mesure où elle décloisonne tourisme, production agricole et promotion industrielle. Le cadre cantonal qui bénéficie d'une réputation touristique (un ensemble de stations réputées) et du référent à un bassin versant fluvial (celui de la partie amont du Rhône) bien individualisé occulte les échelles locales et les logiques de massif ou de vallées. Dans un tel contexte, c'est l'image et la notoriété du canton qui constituent la ressource principale, et cela ne va pas sans risque lorsque ce canton se retrouve en porte-à-faux vis-à-vis des nouvelles valeurs métropolitaines (dans le contexte suisse) de l'écologie politique sur la question du paysage et des résidences secondaires.

This input paper provides a theoretical basis for the development of the design of a federal strategy for mountain and rural areas in Switzerland. The paper reviews common attributes of mountain and rural areas as well as theoretical models for fostering economic development in these types of regions. Insights from this review are applied to an in-depth investigation of four types of regions: periurban regions, pe-ripheral regions, alpine tourism centers and small and medium-sized towns. A qualitative system-dynamics model, the so-called NEXUS-model, is used to illustrate defining features, challenges, opportunities and threats for each type of region. In addition, a set of selected levers for the implementation of prosperity-oriented policies as well as the most appropriate development models and measures are identified.

The research evaluates the way a Swiss mountain canton (Valais) can overcome contemporary territorial challenges of regionalization, according to its particular historical and structural settings. Thematic context links the renewed global issues to the strategies of regional development.Globalization is first considered from its territorial effects on Europe and Switzerland. Those effects are resumed by Swiss geographers under the concept of “metropolisation” that affects development's factors. Polarization of both, social forces and production's capacities renews and reinforces socio-economic disparities. This happens not only at national scale between the centre and the periphery, but also within peripheral systems. Political answer to the renewed territorial issues impacts on public policies, particularly on those dealing with regional aspects. Nowadays, local political level tries to merge with the renewed scale of economical decision's capacity, as well as the renewed territorial practices of their citizen. This leads to a rising complexity of regional thematic, particularly for the concerned cantons. It is henceforth their duty to implement regional strategies according to the new regional policy.The synthesis of all those reflections allows setting up a vision of what could be the regional architecture and governance of the Valais in a near future. The approach is not only necessary at this time of changes, but also innovative. Indeed the last reflection of this kind in Valais is about thirty years old, as old as the ex-regional policy., Cette recherche évalue comment un canton suisse de montagne, le Valais et ses conditions structurelles spécifiques, peut relever les défis territoriaux actuels. Le contexte thématique relie les stratégies de développement régional aux conditions-cadres renouvelées et imposées par la globalisation.La globalisation est d'abord appréhendée par ses effets territoriaux au niveau du continent, puis du pays où elle se traduit par une dynamique de métropolisation. Cette polarisation des acteurs sociaux et des facteurs de production renouvelle et renforce les disparités socio-économiques, à la fois entre le centre et la périphérie du pays ainsi qu'au sein même des systèmes périphériques.La réaction politique se traduit par la redéfinition des mécanismes de péréquation et de solidarité territoriale selon une volonté affichée de rupture. La sphère politique locale tentant de renouer aux échelles du pouvoir de décision économique et des pratiques territoriales de leurs citoyens, la problématique régionale se complexifie. Dans ce contexte, c'est l'échelon cantonal qui, avec la nouvelle politique régionale, devient l'interface et l'élément moteur d'une stratégie économique territorialisée, articulant le local et le global. L'ensemble de ces réflexions développées dans le travail permet une vision prospective des modalités de gouvernance du territoire dans le cadre valaisan, en regard aux objectifs de la nouvelle politique régionale. L'approche semble pertinente et la démarche novatrice. En effet, les dernières études approfondies de ce type remontent, en Valais, à une trentaine d'années, lors de la mise en place du système régional révisé actuellement.

Regions with specific territorial features have received increasing attention in recent years, most notably in article 174 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and the Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion. These key policy documents identify certain territories – cross-border, island, mountain, Outermost and sparsely populated regions – in two ways: as having particular challenges, and as having particular assets, many of benefit to Europe as a whole. Two other types of such ‘geographic specificities' have also been recognised: coastal areas and inner peripheries. While there have been a number of studies of groups of these areas, or individual types of territories (e.g., coasts, mountains) at the European scale, GEOSPECS is the first comprehensive study of all of these particular types of territories.

Input paper for the Swiss strategy for development of mountain regions and rural areas. It identifies the main challenges for mountain and rural regions from a European perspective. It complements these insights with an analysis of particular challenges for mountain and rural regions in Switzer-land. The paper proposes the following six overarching challenges: 1) Global competition, innovation pressures and structural changes in the economy of mountain and rural areas; 2) Increasing social and cultural heterogeneity; 3) Sustainability of physical and social infrastructure investments; 4) Changing framework conditions for the exploitation of environmental goods and serves and the impacts of climate change; 5) Increasing physical and functional interdependence of rural and urban areas; 6) Increasing institutional complexity for coordinating sectoral policies.

Territorial specificities are mostly described as geographic, i.e. sparsely populated, insular, border, and mountainous regions, and generally result in economic and social performance levels around or below European averages. However, other territorial specificities are also found in Europe, in which the socio-economic characteristics prevail above the geographic ones. These specificities include ‘areas affected by industrial transition', as mentioned in article 174 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union among ‘the regions concerned that should be paid particular attention'. Some countries and regions have identified these peripheral areas ‘out of the socio-economic loop' as ‘Inner Peripheries' (IP). No policy documents at European level address these explicitly, illustrating that the concept of IP as such is new in the European policy arena.

Cet article est issu d'un projet de recherche sur l'avenir des écoles des régions alpines dans le cadre des transformations socio-économiques contemporaines. L'originalité réside dans le fait que les porteurs du projet, des pédagogues, aient fait appel à la géographie avec un objectif double: se donner un référentiel théorique – le territoire – et comprendre comment les transformations socio-économiques affectent les Alpes. Se différencient-elles entre les régions étudiées? A l'intérieur de celles-ci? De quelle façon vont-elles peser sur l'organisation de l'école? Il convient donc de situer cet article en relation aux autres publications de ce numéro thématique qui, explorant les transformations sociologiques, institutionnelles ou politiques, forment un tout cohérent

Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Bildungswissenschaften 34 (2012) 2, S. 233-259, Cet article est issu d’un projet de recherche sur l’avenir des écoles des régions alpines dans le cadre des transformations socio-économiques contemporaines. L’originalité réside dans le fait que les porteurs du projet, des pédagogues, aient fait appel à la géographie avec un objectif double: se donner un référentiel théorique – le territoire – et comprendre comment les transformations socio-économiques affectent les Alpes. Se différencient-elles entre les régions étudiées? A l’intérieur de celles-ci? De quelle façon vont-elles peser sur l’organisation de l’école? Il convient donc de situer cet article en relation aux autres publications de ce numéro thématique qui, explorant les transformations sociologiques, institutionnelles ou politiques, forment un tout cohérent. (DIPF/Orig.), Der Beitrag ist Ergebnis einer Mitwirkung in einem Forschungsprojekt über die Zukunft von Schulen des alpinen Raums im Kontext aktueller sozio-ökonomischer Veränderungen. Die Besonderheit besteht darin, dass die Träger des Projektes aus dem erziehungswissenschaftlichen Sektor stammen und mit dem Einbezug eines Geographen in ihr Projekt eine doppelte Zielsetzung verfolgten: Gefragt war mit dem Konzept des Territoriums ein anschlussfähiger theoretischer Bezugsrahmen, und die sozio-ökonomischen Veränderungen sollten in ihrem Einfluss auf den alpinen Raum analysiert werden. Gibt es Unterschiede zwischen den im Projekt untersuchten Regionen bzw. innerhalb der einzelnen Regionen? Auf welche Weise wirkt sich dies auf die Organisation der Schule aus? Der vorliegende Beitrag muss deshalb in Beziehung zu den anderen Artikeln dieser Schwerpunktnummer gesehen werden, in der sich soziologische, institutionelle, politische wie pädagogisch-didaktische Perspektiven zu einem kohärenten Ganzen ergänzen. (DIPF/Orig.)

Évaluation intermédiaire du programme de coopération transfrontalière (INTERREG 2007-2013) entre la France et la Suisse.

Avec une perspective dialectique – le territoire comme formation socio-spatiale - cette contribution commence par mettre en perspective les transformations résultant de la globalisation qui influencent le contexte d'étude, le Valais. Elle permet d'esquisser les conditions-cadres renouvelées au sein desquelles prend place la problématique. L'objectif suivant consiste à décrire les transformations qu'ont subies les systèmes naturel, démographique et économique. Les processus observés allant dans le sens d'une régionalisation d'amplitude croissante des pratiques territoriales et des problématiques socio- économiques, il convient enfin de s'intéresser aux effets de ces transformations sur les éléments de nature politico-idéologiques. Une relecture historique de la politique régionale permet de souligner un changement de paradigme au sein de l'action publique qui accompagne, en son temps et de façon assez opportune, l'évolution des besoins liés à la régionalisation.

Main areas of analysis: - Identification of the particular territorial specificities that the territories under investigation (mountain, island and sparsely populated and peripheral areas) are subject to. - Analysis of the chain of causalities between these territorial specificities and the constraints and opportunities they lead to in terms of facilitating economic and social development. - Identification of the comparative advantages of these regions by emphasising their specific development opportunities, i.e. not shared with other types of territories. - Investigation of the temporal change linked to the impacts of current macro-trends on these territories, highlighting their degree of vulnerability to external factors. - Identification of the key levers available for future policy actions aiming to take full advantage of the specific potentials of the concerned territories and counterbalancing social and economic trends that could hamper or block development.

L'article montre, en théorie et en pratique, la nécessité d'embrasser les questions territoriales d'une façon multiscalaire et interdisciplinaire. Théoriquement, une conception dialectique du territoire - entre une nature matérielle et idéelle - permet de saisir au plus près la globalité de l'objet. Le modèle proposé permet également de mettre en évidence les interrelations entre les divers sous-systèmes qui composent le territoire et, donc, la nécessité du recours à de multiples échelles d'observation et à l'ensemble des diverses disciplines concernées. L'étude du cas de la régionalisation des structures du tourisme valaisan au moyen de ce référentiel théorique vient conforter son bien fondé. Il serait difficile en effet de comprendre le mouvement de régionalisation actuellement engagé par les acteurs touristiques valaisans sans mettre en évidence les transformations qui ont modifié, à diverses échelles, les conditions-cadres. De la même façon, il serait réducteur de vouloir se limiter à une approche sectorielle.

The creation of regional natural parks offers the possibility of improving the economic situation of peripheral regions. However, the use of ecologically sensitive zones for tourism also presents economic, environmental and social problems. The concept of carrying capacity is often presented as a useful approach for determining the intensity of tourism development that can be supported by a region. Our objective thus consisted in the operationalisation of this concept by defining a certain number of indicators to measure different types of carrying capacity. However, the confrontation with the practical realities of the regional natural park Pfyn-Finges in Switzerland made us realise that what we intended to do was more a stylistic exercise than a setup of a management tool adapted to the needs of the park managers. We thus conclude that even though the concept of carrying capacity may have a high heuristic value, its practical value is rather limited.

Scientific evidences upon which is based the main report