Alpcity

Local endogenous development
and urban regeneration of small alpine towns

Summary:



SAINT-MAURICE

Form 1 - Partner’s introduction


Name of the partner

Municipalité de Saint-Maurice (Municipality of Saint-Maurice)

Institutional role of the partner

St-Maurice is one of the pilot cases

Name of the sector in charge of managing AlpCity

Dicastčre Economie & Tourisme (Department Economy & Tourism)

NM-P2 Saint-Maurice



Role of the sector within the partner's administrative structure

Responsible for all what concerns Economy & Tourism in the municipality


Partner's expected benefits from the participation to AlpCity
  • Exchange of experiences.
  • Learning from other cases.

Indicate the WPs (5-8) in which the partner will undertake local case-projects (and if the partner is WP responsible)

WP6 economic development.


Organisational expectations from the participation to one or more specific WP5-8 (case-projects)

A real coordination for each WP 5-8 is needed. Exchanges via e-mail and phone + specific discussion during the PSG meetings should permit this coordination.


Expectations from the work of AlpCity Scientific Steering activities

Already mentioned in the SSC guidelines (draft).


Form 2 - Description of the concerned territory (geographic and/or institutional areas)


Administrative areas within the region

St-Maurice www.st-maurice.ch is a municipality; it is the smaller administrative level existing in Switzerland. A Swiss municipality has various competencies, for instance regarding economic development, tourism, culture, water management, etc. This task are generally managed in coordination with the 2 other levels of the Swiss federalism (cantonal and national levels).


Brief description of the mountain character within the whole partner's territory

The whole territory of Saint-Maurice can be considered as mountainous; the town is located in the Swiss Rhône plain (400 m. of altitude).


Structure of the towns within the region

Saint-Maurice is located in the canton of Valais (South of Switzerland); surface 718 ha; 3800 inhabitants.

Number of inhabitants in the canton of Valais: 280'000 (approximately the half one century ago); surface: about 5000 ha www.vs.ch.


Names of the case-projects (described in Form 3) and all administrative area/s involved

Name of the case project: Future & Tourism Saint-Maurice

Administrative area involved: Department Economy & Tourism of the municipality of St-Maurice


Number of inhabitants in these areas

St-Maurice = 3800 inhabitants (almost no demographic changes for the last 30 years).


Specific issues on the structure of the towns in these mountain areas

Not relevant for St-Maurice which is a municipality


Economic profile of these towns (regional functions and external functions

Traditional employers such as the army or the Swiss railway company have suppressed a lot of jobs this last decade and the municipality want to attract small and middle enterprises and to develop tourist activities.

St-Maurice is also playing the role of "centre" for the surrounding villages


Social image of the mountains within the region

The whole canton of Valais (region) is in the mountains; the Valais identity is relatively homogenous and the mountainous culture is an important part of this identity and is positively connoted.


Policies for the mountain

There are different national legislations concerning directly or indirectly the mountains areas in Switzerland (regional policy, tourism policy, transports policy, agriculture policy, etc.). One of these legislations is specifically dedicated to the mountains areas (Loi sur l'aide aux investissements dans les régions de montagne).
These legislations should help the mountain regions to be competitive in comparison to the urban centres. At the moment there is a political discussion regarding the need to adapt theses legislations (in a context of financial problems for the Swiss government)




e-mail: alpcity@regione.piemonte.it