“Altitudinal Gentrification” and “Social Descent in the Valley” through the Lens of Housing Access in the French Alps
The phenomena of tourist gentrification, the processes of metropolisation, and the amenity migration identified in the Alps invite us to examine the power dynamics in high-altitude tourist valleys through a geographical approach. Are there spatial segregations between permanent residents, seasonal w...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
| Published: |
Institut de Géographie Alpine
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Revue de Géographie Alpine |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/rga/13553 |
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| Summary: | The phenomena of tourist gentrification, the processes of metropolisation, and the amenity migration identified in the Alps invite us to examine the power dynamics in high-altitude tourist valleys through a geographical approach. Are there spatial segregations between permanent residents, seasonal workers, and second-home owners within tourist municipalities or in the valleys? The perspective offered by the quantitative and qualitative data collected in two Phd researches—one focusing on residential trajectories in the high Alpine valleys (2019) and the other on the resort municipalities (2024)—highlights a mechanism of valley’ social descender in the past decade, specifically a movement of permanent residents downstream or elsewhere in the valleys. Tourist accommodation (second homes, the pied-à-terre of valley-born residents, seasonal housing) creates a highly competitive real estate market at high altitudes, where land value appreciation can generate residential mobility, leading to social restructuring in the valleys. The study of power relations helps to understand how interactions between actors who live in and shape the development of the mountains might contribute to altitude-based gentrification and provoke valley’ social descender in the valley. The interplay between stakeholders oscilliate between, on one hand, support for a growth coalition based on profit, upgrading, and rent-seeking, and, on the other hand, efforts to preserve year-round local living standards that includes all social groups. |
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| ISSN: | 0035-1121 1760-7426 |