Franche-Comté Region
Our Regional council is in charge of aspects in Education (high school), apprenticeship, lifelong learning, economic development, regional transports, environnement, spatial planning...
In contrary to other countries, Regional Councils in France don't make laws, they implement them. They carry out programmes, activities, but the competences have been given by the State.
Our Region, located in the East of France, is composed of 4 départements (another administrative level). It shares 230km of its frontiers with Switzerland
Budget for 2004: 344.8 million €
(main incomes: money transfer from the State, main expenditure: transport and education)
Direction de l'Aménagement du territoire
Spatial planning department
2 services in the department:
Workpackage 7: urban environment
Not responsible for the WP
There are 3 administrative levels in the region : (see map)
The State transferred these competences to each level. Each of the local authorities is independant but they work together in programmes, projects for a general development.
(Examples: what part is covered by mountains, what are the types of mountain (high, medium, low), which is the quota of the population living in mountain areas, what is the role of the mountain areas in the regional economy, etc.)
They are low and medium mountains and the highest point is at 1495m, the "crêt Pela" (see map)
61% of the municipalities have a population density lower than 35 inh/km² (which is the average density for rural areas in France)
Forests cover 43.6% of the territory and in 2001 the agricultural sector represented 3% of the sectorial added value.
Mountains in our region are populated, agriculture, industries (esp. Microtechnics) "green" tourism represent the majour assets and dynamics of this area.
(Examples: size, hierarchy, demographic and economic changes, main social and economic problems)
There are 1786 municipalities in the region.14 urban areas have more than 10 000 inh. Besançon, with 118 000 inh is the regional capital. (see map)
The region is less populated than the other French regions (total population : 1,117 million inh.) and 8 municipalities out of ten have less than 500 inh. The average population density is 69 inh/km² whereas the French one is 109 inh./km².
Since the 90s' the population growth has been concentrated on the central area of the region.
Urban organisation : There is one major city with 20,000inh. (Pontarlier), 2 intermediary poles (Morez and St Claude) and many small towns and villages situated along the axis.
They are located near the Swiss frontier and along the main road axis.
Thanks to the swiss intermediary centres, the mountains offer to its inhabitants a large range of equipments. Healthcare services have developped whereas handcraft, building and retailing are less present than 20 years ago.
In the Jura mountains, activities, jobs and the population have remained at the same level or have progressed these last years. Its own characteristics as well as its geographic environment give assets to this mountain. There are 19 craft companies for 1 000 in the South Jura, in the Doubs this proportion is even higher.
Regional agricultural productions are the basis of a food-processing industry. Franche-Comté is a region with a major milk and cheese production.
There is also a major timber industry because the region is at the 2nd rank as far as the afforestation rate is concerned. Around 700 companies work in the forestry field.
(Examples: symbolic values attached to the mountains, level of attractiveness for residential and/or leisure time activities, level of repulsiveness, differences among community and social groups. Please comment your replies!)
The regional attractiveness lies upon the mountains and the countryside in particular as far as tourism is concerned. This is due to the so-called nature activities and the choice of a quality environment. Furthermore the quality of the environment and landscapes constitutes a cultural and identity dimension in the region.
(Is there a specific legislation concerning mountain areas? E.g. national, regional, other levels. What are the main points? Please indicate also the references and dates. Besides legal instruments, is there a specific partner's political approach vis-à-vis the mountains? What are the objectives? What are differences with other areas/regions?)
The French law : "loi montagne" 09/01/1985 (JO 10/01/1985): development and protection of mountains, created a national council for the development, planning and protection of mountains
Common programmes of development within specific organisations –Conférence Transjurassienne, commissariat de massif). These are local projects.