Natural territories, cultural territories

Tensions and conflicting challenges surrounding French high Alpine real estate since the nineteenth century

Abstract

Since the development of high Alpine valleys as tourist destinations in the nineteenth century, first for the urban elite and then, in the twentieth century, for a new leisure society, not only have their territories become visible but they have also become objectified as real and symbolic appropriations. The remaining public lands, now serving as playgrounds for tourists (partly emigrated natives who take up a secondary residence), cause tensions with complex
antagonisms such as: tourist practices and pastoral customs, individual and common property, reforested lands assigned to the prevention of natural risks since the 1960s, and protected areas. This study uses contemporary practical examples from the Dauphiné Alps (situated in the departments of Isère and Hautes Alpes) to approach and understand the situation and to evaluate what is at stake. However, it will be necessary to root this reflection in the progressive construction of the contradictory functions assigned to these common lands since the end of the nineteenth century.