1248 | 152 | Alpine protected areas and landscape disneyfication: a critical perspective | Mosè Cometta
In the Alpine region, the creation of nature parks is often promoted with the intention of protecting the rural landscape, which is the result of a close interaction between human activities and nature. The creation of protected areas, however, is not always accepted by the local population. Drawing on two rejected proposals to establish a second national park in Switzerland, this paper seeks to interpret landscape protection initiatives in the light of the concepts of the right to the city and extended urbanisation._x000D_
Resistance to landscape protection can be understood as an attempt on the part of Alpine communities to maintain a certain autonomy in their way of life. Indeed, in the eyes of its detractors, the creation of a park responds to the tourist interests of urban dwellers and not to those of local community residents. This raises two fundamental questions:_x000D_
– the scale of reference on which the territory is managed (and the power relations that arise from this): protecting a territory implies depriving local communities of a certain autonomy, in the name of the common good on a larger scale;_x000D_
– protecting a landscape implies preventing activities that could transform it. However, this means privileging contemporary form over function – thus changing the connection between local communities and the territory that had originally created this very landscape._x000D_
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The relationship of an increasingly urbanised society with natural landscapes risks – both by virtue of the crucial role these landscapes play in identity construction and because of the economic weight of tourism – falling into a simple disneyfication of traditional rural landscapes. This prospect frightens several Alpine communities, who do not want to lose their right to live independently on their territory, thus raising a political issue that makes it more difficult to find effective ways to protect biodiversity._x000D_
Mosè Cometta
Università della Svizzera Italiana, Institute of Urban and Landscape Studies
ID Abstract: 152