The impact of growing trans-mountain mobilities
Résumé
Traffic flows have little in common in the Western Alps and the tropical Central Andes, However the rhythm of circulation increase, the stress produced by the recent construction of new infrastructures (accelerated in the Andes since the 1990's), the growing concentration of traffic justify bringing together such different worlds in a parallel analysis. Mobilities are here considered as much more than a moving capacity. They are defined as a social relation to movement: transportation therefore appears as only one aspect of mobility analysis. A special emphasis is put on the link between mobilities and mountains because of a complex relation between the existence of an old interaction (mountains are mobile worlds) and new mobility patterns derived from the growing importance of transit traffic. Through this interaction, we question societies' adaptations to the globalised world and the sustainibility of their choices. The paper first settles on the recent changes of mobility patterns in mountain areas, insisting on the context of these evolutions (i.e. the opening of borders in an exchange economy favourable to the growth of international freight traffic). After reviewing the adaptation of the transport infrastructures offer in terms, it considers the traffic regulation frame in both the Andean and the Alpine contexts. This crossed analysis allows us to offer an interpretation of the mountain populations' self-consciousness as perceived through the adaptation of their mobility patterns. By evidencing their vulnerability, we also illustrate the difficulties in the implementation of sustainable principles in contexts where they have not been re-appropriated.
Domaines
Géographie
Origine :
Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)
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