A vision for Finhaut

Things can change also herePrice Valais CHF 5.00 / Rhone-Alpes EUR 5.00

Process

Step by stepSequences of temporary events as tools to foster the valley’s economy and people’s connection

Spaces

Slow colonizationThe events promoting the reuse of abandoned spaces in the valley and involving them in a continuous adaptation process.

Connecting

PARTICIPATION OR INVOLVEMENT?Process

TOOLS AND SIMULATIONSConsequences

A CONTINUOUS PROCESS

INTERVIEW

Lionel TerrayRead the explorer speaking about brave new alpine people

Vision

Open endingProposing a process that could continously follow and leaves the possibility for unexpected results. Giving the control to the population

Participatory design

Active researchParticipatory processes, crowd mapping, char-rette to connect and involve the different re-alities of the valley in a long-term process of sustainability

23 33

A V I S I ON FOR T H E V A LLEY

We believe in a stronger, active and shared idea of

community. Nothing could happen without radical changes.

13

Elop 7 Alpine MutationsThis is a project from group Terray, we never look back, but only towards a better idea of future. We are:

Alessandro Betta_ItalyAglaè Bindi_FranceTheresa Fitz_GermanyJuan Orjuela_ColombiaFederico Sanchez_Mexico

Priorities

Since 2014

07

14

22

48

56

Tools and Proposals

Connecting

Timeline

Consequences

58“Conclusions”

Editorial This magazine is the irst step of our proposal to reinforce the connections between the people inside and outside the valley to the place itself.

A magazine.

I

t is not only words written on paper

t is much more than this.

A magazine is a source of informations about what’s happening.

A magazine as a mean to make people aware of the potentialities of their valley

Amagazine as a tool to connect different realities of the region and to start to present

events together

Amagazine as a way to involve young people in realizing something for the commu-

nity, in being sparkles of new initiatives

A magazine as something different, as a common project for the inhabitants to link

them together

Finhaut 2050. Modeled by changesElop 7

White Border Magazine • Issue 001

f

Finhaut 2050. Modeled by changes TERRAY

FestiValais special issue

7

What are the priorities for a valley like this?When we approached a context like this, we im-mediately understood that the main priorities were related to the spirit more than to the physicality of the territory. Changes have to be driven by the community and not left only to external forces.

What an alpine valley needs? What are the meanings of sustainability, development or mutations in the alpine context?

There is the need for imagin-ing new ways for developing the harsh and nonetheless beautiful landscape and cul-ture found in the Alps.This project is searching for a vision that could deeply transform the way of relat-ing ourselves to this territory. That’s why a great impor-tance has to be given to the process to reach the inal goal.This one should not be imposed in people’s mind but needs to be developed with the participation of locals, and people who care enough about the land.What we are going to do is to provide a set of tools [a DIY toolbox] to progressively reach a more resilient and sustainable com-munity.

The Alps, more than a territoryLionel Terray

Grenoble 1921. He is one of our favourite “conquerors

of the useless”, inspiration for trying to reach goals

apparently impossible.



f

Concrete

outputs

01 - 2015

05 - 2015

Starting the

PARTICIPATORY process by me-eting the po-pulation of the valley and sharing the visions for future development

Mhotel used as space for meetings and gatherings of village population

03 - 2015

Establishment

of ASSOCIATION called “panopticon” in order to collect ide-as and launch the “festivals process”

Social

outputs

Assess PRIORITIES

Defining the two main topics on which we needed to work. Understanding the need to involve population in the process to have a better environment



9

ONT FLEURI hotel used as space for meetings and gatherings of village population

Establishment

“panopticon”

as and launch the “festivals

2017 - 2020

Along the trail system a series of

PAVILLIONS are built to host the events and the trekkers visiting the valley

06 - 2016

The association proposes and realises the

first cycle of

FESTIVALS in Finhaut

2016 - 2018

Establishing a net of

TRAILS themed on the topics of the festi-vals.

2020 - 2030

The sequence of the festi-vals leads to

a PROGRESSIVE

APPROPRIATION of the Mont Fleuri hotel that beco-mes the focal point of the valley

2020

The mentali-ty of the pe-ople starts to be open to changes and the valley is known for its dynamic envi-ronment

09 - 2015

Releasing an

APPLICATION for mobile phones to improve the connection between po-pulation and to collect ideas



f

How to assess priorities? Team TerreyCollective of experts in different disciplines, they contributed to tackle the problem with a strong cross-disciplinary approach to this interesting although dificult topic

Image 01. A colorful explosion of creativity, the new center

for the valley

When we irst approached ELOP project and the valley of Finhaut it was not clear in our minds where this experience would lead us. But after the irst contacts we understood that we were dealing with extremely proliic material if we considered the richness of the environment and, why not?, the richness of people. What was missing according to us was a stronger connection between the different actors in

the valley and the capacity to collect ideas about the mountains. That’s why our irst steps were concentrated on the creation of a stronger network of active people. Thinking of physical interventions immedi-ately made us go for a progressive appro-priation of the spaces inside and outside the vil-lages. Our strategy was to include changes in the essence of these interventions: at irst,



11

Basically we based our work on the idea that a pro-cess is more important than a project. Even if the situation appeared to be ixed and hardly changeable, what was important was the need to take into account the capability of people to react to the process itself.From those assumptions we started imagining a progressive strategy that would have to have a deeper and deeper effect on the valley and especially on its population. Our irst step was to set up an association to help introducing new ideas and develop people’s mentality.

Secondly, we proposed to organize different events around the valley, which would allow us to use the spaces in a more or less permanent way. Our third step was to imagine the creation of a “panoptikon”as a building that would show what is happening in the valley by its transformations, subtrac-tions or additions. We choose an abandoned hotel as a symbol of rebirth.



f

MAXIME.

The valley has proven that here

it is possible to make things

happen, even though it is dif-

icult as people usually refuse

the idea that they can exploit

their projects also in the valley

without leaving for bigger cities.

CAMILLE.

We don’t actually need proper

tourists here... We need more

people willing to come and able

to appreciate what the valley

can offer, people able to bring

something to the valley. More

than just

touching and leaving.

What to ask?

Questions

1. Que voulez-vous pour l´avenir de Finhaut?

2. Que ne voudriez-vous pas que Finhaut devienne?

3. Quel rêve avez-vouz pour Finhaut?

4. Quelle type de Festival voudriez-vous dans votre region?

1. What would you like for the future of Finhaut?

2. What would you not like Finhaut to become?

3. Which dream do you have for Finhaut?

4. Which type of Festival would you like in this region?

1. M.

1. There is the need for more cultural activities and more anima-

tion; we don’t need simple tourists, but more travellers. Expe-

cially young people.

2. We need to avoid to make it a ghost village, a village where

people only sleep between working days.

3. I really want a village that could work and sustain on its own;

whereeverybody has a duty and organize itself.

4. The most suitable festival for Finhaut could be mountaineer-

ing, also related to well-being [like food or cooking, meditation].

ApproachIn the beginning of the process we started by getting

in touch with the local people living in Finhaut to try to

understand their visions, their dreams and wishes, in or-

der not to impose a project but to make it come directly

from the physical and social environment of the valley.



13

2. G.pa & G.ma

1. We would like a Modern Finhaut, where car are parked un-

derground and the swimming pool it has been renovated. This

means also more people around in a more livable space.

2. We hope youth will not leave leaving a dead village.

3. Clearly there is the need for more hotels and more chalets.

4. The only suitable festival for the valley has to be related to

mountaineering .

3. E.1. More tourism. Because otherwise it’s a dead place

2. I’m scared this will become an abandoned place

3. I hope for more kids living there

4. Of course, mountaineering

4. F. S.1. People, more people have to know nd come to the valley

2. I’m afraid that without new people this will become a closed

place

3. Youth are the ones that bring life and ideas, they need more

spaces; and we need better accomodations for sport and

leisure

4. Festivals should be focused on environnement and I think

music could be a good way to attract people

5. Mr. A.1. The village doesnìt have to grow, it has to stay like this

2. It has not to become a village like Verbier

3. It’s a very little thing; to have a new covered swimming-pool

4. Mountaineering

6. Elaine1. The irst thing is to keep the train active to get more trans-

ports, doctors, hair dresser, hotels, sport accommodations

and a spa place. We need to think international and open an

international school (with proximity of Chamonix and Martigny

there could be people around all the time)

2. I would not answer to this

3. Nature and forests are the best parts of this place, we need

to keep them beautiful, support the agriculture and the rural

aspect of the area.

4. More art and food culture I think

7. Maxime - Ancienne Président du Commune1. That this beautiful village carries on improving in a sustain-

able way. A better quality of life and a way for the youth and

young families to feel home and to stay around.

2. A village where people sleep, or a place where entreprises

come to exploit the village, get the money and leave.

3. Somedy living in all the houses, a lively school and dynamic,

welcoming shops. Renovations of excisting accommodations.

4. Art – Ininitudes proves that Arts can belong in Finhaut

8. O.1. We don’t want to loose anymore the young generations

2. I’m really afraid by Finhaut as an empty village

3. The most important thing is to develop the well being as an

unique caracter for the valley

4. Imagine to combine Art with Mountains, the ArtPinisme!



f

PAULO FREIRE.

There is no such thing as a

neutral education process.

Education can become the

‘practice of freedom’, the

means by which men and

women deal critically with real-

ity and discover how to

participate in the transformation

of their world.

KURT LEWIN.

“Action research is a com-

parative research on conditions

and effects of forms of social

research leading to social

action” that uses “a spiral of

steps, each one composed by

a circle of planning, action, and

fact-inding about the results”.

DID YOU KNOW?

Participatory Design is a design approach where all stakeholders

are actively involved in the processes and procedures of design.

Traditional design processes commonly include the paying client

and consultants within or related to the profession; in participa-

tory design, the users and even the wider public are also recog-

nized as stakeholders and are brought into the process as well.

The extent of their involvement differs across projects and can

range from merely informing these groups of people in a one-

way process, to sharing or delegating roles and responsibilities

in partnership with the local communities. The main ob-

jective is often to ensure that the end product or outcome

of the design process meets the actual needs of this wid-

er group of stakeholders, but there are many other rea-

sons for adopting a more participatory approach as well:

• Peoplehavetherighttoparticipation.

• Designershaveasocialresponsibilitytopeople.

• Everyoneisanexpertatsomething.

• Participationcreatesownershipoftheoutcome.

What Participative Design is not?

Participative Design is a method not an orientation.

Participation is not about abrogating responsibility or escaping

accountability as designers.

People typically expect designers to provide good advice and

make sound decisions, but, as architect Lucien Kroll once said,

“I do not want to decide alone”.

Image 02. Lucien Kroll - MèMè

Leuven 1970-1972

ConnectingIf you want to actively involve people in preserving their

own environment irst you need to reduce the isola-

tion and the lack of communications between the dif-

ferent stakeholders around the valley. And you need

also to actively involve the population in the process

of improving the place; avoiding to consider them as

users and not as producers of their own landscape.



15

Participatory Design - A brief how to

Stages

· First Approach

· Discovery Process

· Prototyping

· Consolidation and Evaluation

Strategies for spaces

· Customized

· Appropriated

· Re-adapted

· Structures

· Start Medium

· Linker spaces

· Drift spaces

· Intentional

· Unintentional

How to Evaluate Participatory Design

1st Criteria· Work Quality for workers

· Relection and mutual agreement

· Codetermination.

2nd Criteria· Collaborative Development

· Agreement and Representing Mechanisms

· Common Objectives

3rd Criteria· Repetitive Processes

1. First Approach

Gathering information of the place: the designers should visit

the place making a detailed review of the general technical state

of the project. All possible information are necessary: not only

the ones related to the physical aspects, but also to social or

economical aspects.

Information of the customer: meeting the community to go over

details about the project, the people and links project/people.

information and resources: construction material.

2. Discovery Process

The participants use various techniques to understand and prior-

itize the organization at work and imagine the future workplace.

A work group is formed with different actors for planning the

development of the project.

· Observations

· Interviews

· Rules

· Visits

· Tool Exploration

· Workshops

· Games

· Meetings

3. Prototyping

Participants give shape to the ideas imagined in stage 2.

Different techniques are used to shape the project: from models

to drawings, from photos to collages and sketches.

4. Consolidation and Evaluation

Based on the last stage, the team develops different proposals

in order to reach the possible solutions. These proposals are

discussed and evaluated until the inal project is deined.

This stage process is not always developed in a linear se-

quence. Some stages are developed among others and not all

of them require the same amount of time and energy.



f

Strategies for appropriating the spaces Typologies of spaces

· CustomizedIt is mostly characterized by the changes given to a space

depending on the desired activity.

· AproppriatedOriginally created for other purposes, these unconventional

spaces change and take shape for the user.

· Re-adaptedThese are also appropriated spaces, which have been

remodelled for the users beneit

Typologies of structures

· ConsolidatorsThese structures are built to be appropriated: bases are given

to users who can built around them or adapt the space the way

they desire.

· LinkersThey look for connecting big spaces and and are a point of

reference inside bigger structures. They are also special places

that in some way invite users to socialize and share different

activities.

Typologies of drifts · Unintentional

A change in the architecture that surprises you and gives a new

perspective of the project that was not expected. This can be

produced by the different behaviours of users, materials,

environment, etc. Its not always a good result.

· IntentionalYou intentionally create a process that will create an uninten-

tional development in the architecture.

How to Evaluate Participatory Design

Work Quality according to workersWorkers control their own work organization, tools and pro-

cesses. There is a relection and mutual agreement between

users and designers. Both use the different techniques of 2nd

stage to be reassessing continuously the research and syn-

chronizing the different ideas.

We can speak of codetermination when users and design-

ers determine together the main criteria to assess; in this way

nobody appropriates the project to himself.

Collaborative DevelopmentAlways use the right mechanism of participation is not a “listen-

ing tour” where designers listen the users problems and then

resolve them. It is a mechanism where they participate in ev-

erything, interacting and verifying that the main problem is being

resolved correctly until the end.

We introduce agreements and representing mechanisms.

In most cases, not everybody can be involved in participatory

design. In this case they must be represented. These agents

should be able to establish disagreements or agreements.

Repetitive Processes· Continuous Participation

· Stage review

· Reasoned Relection

Possibles work groups

· Production Work

· Recycling Materials

· Community and the Valley

· Workshops and Conferences

· Administration

· Sponsors

· Engineeringing

· Architecture and Design

· Logistics

· Communication and Media



17

Finhaut 2050. Modeled by changes


four com

mon futu

re



19

elop7.blogspot.ch



four com

mon futu

re



21

elop7.blogspot.ch



f

How to react to the imputs? Team Terrey

Collective of experts in different disciplines, they contributed to tackle the problem with a strong cross-disciplinary approach to this interesting although dificult topic

Image 03. The logo of the new association created to boost

ideas and creativity of the people of the valley

As a conclusion, we understood that one of the main problems was the lack of unity and communication within the community. The people are willing to work for a better future but they are divided. They are also scared of becoming a Phantom village, which they already are in our opinion. We all started with the same intuition, therefore we decided to ask a question about festivals organized by a new Association, and every-

body showed enthusiasm about the idea.After receiving such positive feedbacks from our counterparts we started the work to organize and set up the process leading to the realization of a series of festivals. Our wish: bringing new life to a valley just by introducing special events related to all pos-sible topics.



23

An Association will be created in order to involve and connect different kind of people to make them work as a team and to further experience and develop the best for the future of the region.

The association will be responsible for developing dif-ferent events every “two years” to promote education, communication and technology progress.They will also lead different workshops, and more important, their headquarters will be the main meeting place for the Participatory Round Table where most of the decisions will be taken.

The Association has to work for helping changing the mentality of the people by introducing constantly new ideas and inputs to discuss with the community.

The Association will be based inside the Mont-Fleuri hotel; as a symbolic example of a renewal of Finhaut, now illed with possibilities. The Mont-Fleuri hotel will be slowly appropriated and transformed by the association by organizing events and festivals also inside it.

Image 04. One of the meeting of the population inside the

Mont Fleuri hotel



f

PENDLE’S ATOM. Pendle’s Panopticon, ‘Atom’,

rests on the hillside above

Wycoller village in Wycoller

Country Park. Constructed in

ferro-cement with a surface

coating of metal-based paint, it

is both a striking contemporary

viewing point and shelter from

which to enjoy Pendle’s glorious

scenery.

FUN PALACE. Whether characterised as a

giant toy or as a building-sized

transformable machine, the

project’s interest resides in its

radical reliance on structure

and technology, its exempliica-

tion of notions of time-based

and anticipatory architecture.

The ultimate goal was a

building capable of change

in response to the wishes of

users.

WHAT IS?

A ‘Panopticon’ in Modernity

Usually a panopticon is a circular building with a central point

which allows to observe everything that happens around.

A well-known example for a panopticon is la Bibliothèque

Nationale de France in Paris.

Could you imagine Finhaut as the centre of something? Some-

thing bigger than a single building?

Maybe the centre of the valley?

The concept of ‘A panopticon in modernity’ in the valley of Tri-

ent is to allow a person to experience all what happens in the

valley with a focus on Finhaut.

Although it is physically impossible to have a total overview

over the mountains, the centre - situated in Finhaut - will afford

the users to overcome this by intensive collaboration of the

inhabitants. The population is invited to use the principal of

Participatory Design in the ‘Panopticon’ association and the

highly interactive crowdsourcing-app.

The goal of the association is to emphasise the richness of the

region by the organisation of events and festivals.

The ‘Panopticon’ starts and ends the festivals in Finhaut and

makes the outputs visible in a resume building. The resume

building and the head ofice of the association improves Fin-

hauts’ important role as the centre of the metaphoric panopti-

con.

The association develops circles around the centre that are

worth to visit. The project aims to use existing trails and sights

to show the physical outputs of the annual festivals. These

outputs are also presented in multifunctional pavilions placed

along the circles of the panopticon. Moreover the association

provides a crowdsourcing-app to involve as much people as

possible in the development.

The challenge is, to use the special features in the festivals to

bring visitors as well as inhabitants closer to nature and to each

other.

The system based on participatory design will capture users

and visitors in virtual and real networks

of creativity, development and broad sustainability.

The nameChoosing such a particular reference for our project

could be seen as provocation as it immediately recalls

bad memories and images. But we think that there is

the need to go beyond the irst impressions we have,

exactly like when we speak about the valley. For us Pan-

opticon assumes a completely different meaning as a

symbolic space that shows in the same moment all the

possibilities happening in the valley thanks to the people.



25



f

The trails, irst steps of the “festival strategy” Team Terrey

Collective of experts in different disciplines, they contributed to tackle the problem with a strong cross-disciplinary approach to this interesting although dificult topic

Image 05. The net of the different trails and their topics with

the position of the pavillions

The idea is to organize a series of trails around the valley implementing the existent net of small roads and trails and by giving to each one a deined theme. After the irst contacts with the population we propose that the main themes to be followed in this net will be art [ArTrail], environment [Environmen-Trail] and sport [SporTrail]. The three paths are interconnected and punctuated with a

series of pavilions hosting the most diverse functions: from little exhibition spaces to little shelters for artists in resi-dence or for trekkers rest.Those net represents the irst step of a more wide strategy to transform the valley by overlapping different events and their lega-cies. In this way we would bring progressive transformations inside a people-lead process of development.



27

The pavilions around Finhaut are multifunctional places that are

very worth to visit. Especially from spring to autumn they wel-

come quest from different countries and with a various amount

of reasons to come there.

Hikers appreciate the silence of the mountains and to be close

to the nature. The pavilions are attractive resting points for hik-

ers doing day trips or are important stations of the regular

mountaineering festivals of Finhaut. Following the aim of the

festival, the most important requirements of the pavilions are:

Ecological design

Auto-suficient electricity and

a multifunctional design of the inside pace

The pavilions are a new part of the touristic infrastructure of the

valley. They have to fulill needs for mountaineering activities as

well as for art exhibitions and small concerts, that are part of

the regular art festivals with different main topics.

The third aim of the festival concept – together with moun-

taineering and art – is the improvement of the environmental

awareness of tourists and the society in general. The pavilions

can be used as small lecture halls or as nature labs. In addition

they are good examples for energy eficiency and ecological

building methods.

One of the aims on the construction side is to use as much

natural and local materials as possible. The pavilions are built

without concrete, steel and other very energy intensive materi-

als that are not close to the sense of sustainability. The second

technical goal in the pavilions’ design is, that they only need

a very small amount of electricity to fulill the users’ needs.

Walls or windows integrate solar panels meet the requirements

for light for art exhibitions and small live concerts during the

festivals.

ArTrailsWhat if we call many young artists to spread out their work around the paths? Walking here will be no more only a matter of health habits, but also a gift for the mind.



f

Art can be a powerful temporary

element to activate the unused

spaces of the valley. With

outdoor exhibitions, art is to

everyone’s reach and has the

potentiality to enrich the landscape and

add an extra layer to this experience of

exploring the place. Site-speciic artworks

can create a path along the valley that will

connect the most important spots through

this open air museum enriched every year

with new masterpieces.



29



four com

mon futu

re

SustainablicityLocal decentrated energy production for a new model of community, an advertising and a model for all mountain communities.



31

elop7.blogspot.ch

Hydrowind Combining power sources for a more sustainable energy production. Finhaut research center announces a new method.

Image 06. Finhaut’s research centre about the experiments

in combining small size wind and hydro power plants in the

alpine environmentt

Mont FleuriThe proposal is to take over the Mont Fleuri hotel step by step in a long term process by progres-sively inserting different functions in it. The modiications will be subtle at irst, and then more radical. The shape of the abandoned hotel would represent the collection of all the transformations happening around the valley. From just meeting place for the community to an “alpine theatre” and indoor climbing wall Mont Fleuri hotel is the centre of our strategy.



f



33

We propose to seize the Old abandoned Mont Fleuri Hotel, which is a great option to place the Association. For a start, this place has enough space to develop our ideas, is located in a strategic point of the town and has a great green space around.

The appropriation of the hotel will take place in differ-ent phases and it will follow a progressive logic in order not to introduce too sudden changes to the environ-ment of the village.

In the beginning the Mont Fleuri hotel will just host the

meetings of the association members and between the population; with the possibility to have a space for cooking and eating together.

With the evolution of the process, the building could be transformed into an attraction point able to be known also outside the valley.



f



35



f



37



f



39



f



41



f



43



four com

mon futu

re

A [haut]BlocClimbing walls on existing buildings, the ultimate climbing experience that crosses styles, levels and capacities of the brave athletes.



45

elop7.blogspot.ch

The last edition of A Bloc festival, winner Adam Ondra.

The festival has also been the occasion for deep

discussions about the fuure for mountain sports.



four com

mon futu

re

FestenvironmentSmall environment dedicated festival will be organized all around the valley with the participation of scientists and researchers. Festivals will involve people in practical workshops and experiments.



47

elop7.blogspot.ch

Hotel Mont Fleuri in Finhaut transformed for

the occasion in an ecological greenhouse to

cultivate local products.

Participatory calendar A detailed organization of the participatory and festival process to explain next years’ possible evolution of the community of Finhaut



f



49



f

Concrete

outputs

01 - 2015

05 - 2015

Starting the

PARTICIPATORY process by me-eting the po-pulation of the valley and sharing the visions for future development

Mhotel used as space for meetings and gatherings of village population

03 - 2015

Establishment

of ASSOCIATION called “panopticon” in order to collect ide-as and launch the “festivals process”

Social

outputs

Assess PRIORITIES

Defining the two main topics on which we needed to work. Understanding the need to involve population in the process to have a better environment



51

ONT FLEURI hotel used as space for meetings and gatherings of village population

Establishment

“panopticon”

as and launch the “festivals

2017 - 2020

Along the trail system a series of

PAVILLIONS are built to host the events and the trekkers visiting the valley

06 - 2016

The association proposes and realises the

first cycle of

FESTIVALS in Finhaut

2016 - 2018

Establishing a net of

TRAILS themed on the topics of the festi-vals.

2020 - 2030

The sequence of the festi-vals leads to

a PROGRESSIVE

APPROPRIATION of the Mont Fleuri hotel that beco-mes the focal point of the valley

2020

The mentali-ty of the pe-ople starts to be open to changes and the valley is known for its dynamic envi-ronment

09 - 2015

Releasing an

APPLICATION for mobile phones to improve the connection between po-pulation and to collect ideas



f

2015 January February March April May June July

Stages 1st 2nd

Meetings First Meeting Con-

necting

Fixing the Round Table

- Groups

Final 1st Stage Final 2nd Stage

Finhaut

Events

A-Bloc - La Paray Festival

Valais events Witches Downhill Race,

Bellalp/Blatten

Tschäggättä parade

in Blatten and carnival

procession in Wiler,

Lötschental

Horn Sledge Race and

Verbier Xtreme

Music F

Verbier F

International

Festival,

Other Festival du Film “VISA-

GES”- Martigny

12è Festival Gospel Air,

à Martigny

Le Festival des Films

du Présent, Martigny,

Journées des Cinq

Continents-Martigny


Stages 2nd 3rd 4th 1st

Meetings Final 2nd Stage Final 3rd Stage Result Analysis Result Analysis Start P

Finhaut

Events

1st Mountaneering

Festival


Bellalp/Blatten




Lötschental


Verbier Xtreme

Music F

Verbier F

International

Festival,



53

August September October November December

3rd 4th 2nd

Final 2nd Stage Final 3rd Stage Result Analysis

Music Festival Ernen,

erbier Festival and

International Alphorn

estival, Nendaz

Combat des Reines, Apricot Festival-Sa-

xon, Swiss Food Festival-Zermatt, Folklore

Festival-Zermatt, Alpine Music Festival on

Triftalp-Saas Grund, Chüefladefäscht (Cow

Pie Fest)-Riederalp

Combat des Reines, Wii-Grill Fäscht -

Wine and Barbecue Fest-Vispterminen,

VINEA, Wine Tasting Fair in Sierre, Zer-

matt Festival, Shepard Festival-Zermatt,

Swiss Wrestling, Sheep Procession

Gemmi, Leukerbad and Alphorn Festival

on Gornergrat-Zermatt, Air Show,

Breitling-Sion (every 4 years), Désalpes

de la Fouly and Sembrancher-Verbier,

Pfyfoltru-Weinfest Week, Varen

Combat des Reines


2nd 3rd

Start Point Final 1st Stage Final 2nd Stage


erbier Festival and


estival, Nendaz





Pie Fest)-Riederalp











Combat des Reines



f


Stages 4th 2nd 3rd 4th 1st

Meetings Result Analysis Final 2nd Stage Final 3rd Stage Result Analysis

Finhaut

Events

1st Environmental Festival


Bellalp/Blatten




Lötschental


Verbier Xtreme

Eidgenössisches Jodel-

fest in Brig-Glis (every

three years)

Music F

Verbier F

International

Festival,

Other



Meetings Result Analysis Final 2nd Stage Final 3rd Stage

Finhaut

Events

1st Art Festival


Bellalp/Blatten




Lötschental


Verbier Xtreme

Music F

Verbier F

International

Festival,



55


2nd 3rd

Final 1st Stage Final 2nd Stage Final 3rd

Stage


erbier Festival and


estival, Nendaz





Pie Fest)-Riederalp











Combat des Reines


2nd

Final 1st Stage


erbier Festival and


estival, Nendaz





Pie Fest)-Riederalp











Combat des Reines



f


Stages 2nd 3rd 4th

Meetings Final 2nd Stage Final 3rd Stage Result

Finhaut

Events


Bellalp/Blatten




Lötschental


Verbier Xtreme

Music F

Verbier F

International

Festival,

Other



Meetings Result Analysis Result Analysis Final 2nd Stage Final 3rd Stage Result Analysis

Finhaut

Events

2nd mountaineering

festival


Bellalp/Blatten




Lötschental


Verbier Xtreme

Eidgenössisches Jodel-

fest in Brig-Glis (every

three years)

Music F

Verbier F

International

Festival,



57


2nd 3rd

Result Analysis Result Analysis Final 2nd Stage Final 3rd

Stage


erbier Festival and


estival, Nendaz





Pie Fest)-Riederalp











Combat des Reines


2nd

Final 1st Stage Final 2nd

Stage


erbier Festival and


estival, Nendaz





Pie Fest)-Riederalp











Combat des Reines

How to put together what

happens?Festivals, conferences, workshops and the realization of the trail net together with the pavillions and the appropriation of Mont Fleuri hotel are processes will take time to occur. So there is the need for design-ing a tool that could continuously involve people in proposing and discussing new ideas and changes for the valley.



f



59

The app has a very important role in our project as it is one of the main connecting tools to involve everyone in an active process of con-

stant dialogue. The main objective of the Finhaut App is to reinforce the process of participatory design as well as widening the range of crowd sourcing outside the town. In this app you will ind basic information about the village, a guide to the new events and its appropriated spaces, the App will also feature a QR - Code scan which will be direct you to our website where all the ideas will be collected and analysed carefully. Another huge feature of the app is to inform and connect with people all around the world.

It is fundamental that the valley will not rely on

a single energy source in the next years; there

is the need for a more diffuse and smaller

scale network of productive sites to improve

the environment and local community. Energy

production elements could also become tourist

attractions.

Federico SanchezEngineer

Community Work and Sense

of Place:

Case Analysis in Finhaut



f



61

Community Work and Sense of Place: Case Analysis in Finhaut.

Introduction:Elop is a learning and teaching platform for students and academics of different nation-alities and disciplines. It focuses on several places which are subject to challenges, and proposes projects to answer those chal-lenges. It follows a trans-disciplinary design process in order to achieve a collaborative work, therefore allowing a wider range of so-lutions to any problem brought to the teams.

Elop*7 is based in Finhaut, in the Trient val-ley in the Swiss Alps, near the French and Italian borders. According to the Elop book-let, it is a small village composed of about 400 inhabitants, equidistantly positioned between the cities of Chamonix (France) and Martigny (Switzerland). It was historically a holiday destination at the start of the Twen-tieth Century, especially for the British, who were seeking the pure and fresh air of the countryside. Back then, the main mountain activity was hiking, and Finhaut suffered with the development and generalisation of sports such as skiing or mountain biking. Its loca-tion was really interesting at the time as it is positioned in a valley that is easily accessible (a train track was built linking it to Chamonix in 1908), and it proposes paths in all direc-tions to explore the surrounding mountains. It is also very close to the Mont-Blanc and tourists could easily cross the border to admire the view with the assurance of being back the same day. When Mountaineering and mountain

sports started to become popular, tourism in the Alps changed: it was no longer a pas-sive tourism coming to enjoy the landscapes and the beauty of the place, but a tourism of actions, attracted by the various challenges offered by the area. Cities and villages had to adapt to the situation and to propose new leisure activities to their visitors. Finhaut did not follow this development, maybe due to a lack of spontaneity, but also because of the disadvantage of its situation. The village has been built on the face of a mountain, and is too hilly and narrow to welcome a skiing centre or any extended accommodation. Its accessibility, which is very good in summer, becomes problematic when winter comes, and it is not rare that people get stuck in the village by the snow for a couple of days. It means that for tourists it gets impossible to go up to the ski tracks or down to the main towns. Thus, little by little, the nine-teen hotels of Finhaut emptied themselves and the place got forgotten. Towns and cities who had gained their reputation from winter sports also started to develop sum-mer activities and monopolised the tourism economy. Chamonix, for example, is still one of the most famous destination in the Alps. In the most recent years, Finhaut and its region also suffered of the price competition with France and Italy. Switzerland is a rich country but is also really expensive com-pared to the rest of Europe. This combination of elements re-duced the popularity of Finhaut and more generally of the region Valais. It became a peaceful countryside place, lost in the middle of more interactive and lively spaces, still tranquil and beautiful, but not a central



f

attraction anymore. The main noticeable result of these changes is probably its slow depopulation still seen today. In the second half of the Twentieth Century, the valley of Trient acquired a fresh economical boost with the construction of dams for electricity production. There are three of them around Finhaut: the Barbarine dam, the Vieil Emosson dam and the Emos-son dam. These buildings required hiring people for their construction but also their maintenance, and had an important impact on the proile of the region. The conse-quences of this impact are still visible today, as the renovation of the Barbarine dam started in 2011. It is necessary to observe that even though this renovation created employment in the region, it is temporary, and unfortunately most of the workers have only moved here from East European coun-tries for the duration of the job and are not planning on staying in the area afterwards. However, this renovation still offers a really positive economical aspect to the region. The private company working on the site is indeed using Finhaut and ive other communes’ water, which means that they re-ceive money from it. Thus, Finhaut’s “budget rose from 3.5 million to 35 million francs.” (ELOP booklet.). Even though the electricity is not going to be provided to the people of the region (it is going to be used for train companies), they will still be able to beneit from it. The problem Finhaut is willing to solve at the moment is actually directly linked to this money that has been given to them. According to the Mayor, the community

has been trying to decide on how to use it, but have been facing dificulties to agree on anything, as it is hard to compromise between individual and communal interests. Moreover, this plan for the money will be spread over the next hundred years, and more of it is meant to be delivered in the future. The investment therefore needs to be long term and the conception of such a project requires vision and some risk-taking. The commune of Finhaut has asked Elop*7 to help them in inding solutions for their future. Elop created eight teams of ive students in order to work on different proj-ects and solutions, and they were tasked with looking at problems such as; What personal and professional im-pact can the Elop project have on its partici-pants? What are the advantages of the use of transdisciplinary and transnational teams? How accurate can be a project created by people from outside the community be? Could Elop projects be a threat to Finhaut’s identity? What is the responsibility of an Elop member towards the other members? Towards the community? Is a hundred year vision concrete enough to be relevant to Finhaut’s problem? This paper will discuss the solution considered by one of the Elop teams, Team Terray. The team working process is a good example on how an Elop team can provide work. Their irst assessment is that the problem of tourism is Finhaut is mainly due to a negative image that the community has of the word, and also to a lack of connection between the inhabitants. As a result of this, their irst intervention would be a festival,



63

which is a way of interaction with the local community as well as an opening to the outside world. Their vision is therefore not deinitive but is meant to be built throughout the process with the participation of Fin-haut’s community. In a second time, this essay will discuss the accuracy of the use of transdiscplinary and transnational teams. This system has several impacts within the teams, as the participants need to consider new ways to work and to appreciate the different inputs that can be brought by his co-workers. On a personal level, this working platform requires a strong sense of adaptation and facilitation. It also allows connections with people from a dif-ferent backgrounds and with different skills, which opens new perspectives and can help to improve the general point of view. Elop system therefore works on three different levels: the person, the team, and the entire group.Finally, this essay will propose a critical approach to the Elop process. Elop, being an innovative and creative platform, raises several technical, moral and cultural ques-tions. First of all it opens the relection on place identity: is Finhaut struggling to ind solutions for itself because of a lack of iden-tity? What role is played by the landscape, resources and people who are inherent to the place and its representation? There is also a psychological aspect that needs to be considered by the Elop members. How can any changes happen in a place if the inhabit-ants of this place are not open to changes? Why would people suddenly change their habits and behaviours? In behavioural sci-ence, this area of research is called Nudge Theory. And as a inal point, this essay will

explore the moral characteristics inducted by Elop: as a member of Elop, what have I been asked for? Why has Elop been chosen to solve this problem, how can a group of strangers propose solutions for a place from where they do not belong? Team Terray.

Team Terray is composed by two students in engineering, two students in architecture and one student in Creative Studies. The two engineers are German (Theresa) and Mexican (Federico), the architects are Columbian (Juan) and Ital-ian (Alessandro) and the Media Student is French (Aglaé). The way this team is working is similar to the way the rest of the teams are working. All of them have different methods to address the project but, as W. & J. West state, “when looking over at the range of methods available, it is possible to conclude that most tend to follow a similar process of application: assessment, planning of the goals, implementation, termination, evaluation and review. This process, how-ever, tends to disguise their differences in practice.” (2006:52). When the problem of Finhaut was presented to the team their irst thoughts were directed towards the inhabit-ants of the village, and subsequently the inhabitants of the entire region. They tried to reduce the issue by analysing the main actors that could be included in the project and the part that they could or could not play in it. After studying the proile of activity and the number of companies and associa-tions in the region, and interviewing locals about their hopes and fears about Finhaut’s future, the team came to two conclusions:



f

the companies, associations and the people had communication problems as well as a lack of connection. They are working sepa-rately, and the people do not necessarily have a clear idea of what they are creating. On the other hand, everybody has the same fears for the future: the feeling that Finhaut and the all region are going to become a ghost area, or if not completely deserted, only inhabited by people who would be working far away and coming home only to sleep, not contributing to any regional activities. The irst idea resulting from these two conclusions was that the only chance to counter this bleak vision was to convince the main actors of the region to connect to-gether in order to build a project themselves. Team Terray therefore decided to create an Association open to all the current local companies, which would have the sole aim of making the region more interactive and lively.

Thus, team Terray is working on a process more than on a product. “In a literal sense development ‘process’ means concern with the ‘progress’ or ‘course’ of a project.” (D. Mosse, J. Farrington and A. Rew 1998:4). Their working progress is as important to them as their inal product, as creating an Association is applying a working process within a group of people. The irst steps taken in their work progress would be the irst steps taken by the Association once it is created: ice-breaking exercises, learn-ing how to get to know each other, learning to work together and deining a common plan of attack. The idea of it is to implant changes from inside the community, in a slow process which would be accepted by

the inhabitants. Instead of developing mass tourism or taking over the creation of a new building in the village, team Terray believes that social connections is an open door to economical and social development in the region.

They had to face a challenge: when asked what they did not want in their future, some people from Finhaut answered “no tourism” (Orjuela, J. 2014.), but when asked what they wanted most they answered “more visitors”. The dificulty here is to deine the term “visitors” and to actually differentiate it from “tourists”. In many ways, they are the same: they come only for a limited time, in most cases they are not from the place they are visiting and their impact on the economy is irregular but beneicial for the time of their visit. They need the same type of accom-modations (hotels, chalets) and often are coming for a particular purpose. Team Terray thought that the analyses of this purpose would be the best way to deine the differ-ence between both. “Some have argued that rural tourism is inherently contradictory be-cause mature tourism development involve a process of urbanization (Cohen, 1984). Noronha (in Cohen, 1984) alleged that when tourism is fully developed, it becomes institutionalized, resulting in the host of com-munity’s loss of control over the industry and its share of the beneits.” (L. C. Harrison and W. Husbands, 1996:279). Mountain tour-ists appreciate the use of mountain resorts where they can socialise after a day of sky-ing or hiking. However, it was made clear by the people of Finhaut that they did not want to allow their village to become another Alpin Resort. “A further characteristic applicable to



65

many tourist-host encounters is an apparent lack of knowledge, understanding or sensi-tivity on the part of tourists to local culture and custom in tourism destination areas.” (R. Sharpley, 1994:167). The problem for Finhaut is to ind a solution to develop a kind of “soft tourism”, that respects the region and that is not necessarily related to a leisure tourism. The organisation of a festival as a irst intervention in the region was partly resolv-ing this problem. People attend a festival for cultural reasons, because the theme deined interests them. If festival organisers take the place in consideration when choos-ing a theme then the festival-goers will be in a respectful state of mind towards this place when they get there. “All festivals and special events occur because one person or a group of people believe that holding an event will fulil some need in a community, region, organisation or company.” (McDon-nell, I., Allen, J. & O’Toole, W., 1999:60). There is already a festival in Finhaut, which began only a couple of years ago and which takes place on only one day. Obviously the impact of such an event remains minimal but it is the proof that Team Terray is not alone in thinking that it is what the village needs to face its problem of non-development. McDonnell, Allen & O’Toole quote Hall and Getz earlier in their book to remind us that “all events have a direct social and cultural impact on their participants, and sometimes on their wider host communities […].” A festival always gives an economical boost to a region (as long as it is successful). The numbers of visitors in the region is more important which suggest that the hosting

community needs to develop its hotels and restaurants, the building companies can be solicited to improve the accommodations, suppliers in food and drink increase their activity. In addition to the economical impact a festival in Finhaut could have an important social impact. The little community of the village needs a symbol that would show the link between the inhabitants: such an event could prove that they agreed on how to develop Finhaut and that they are working towards the same future.The Elop project is therefore working in the service of a community, but it is also a way for the participant students to develop their own skills and to learn from other people skills.

Learning from Disciplines, Working with Nationalities.When compared to the other teams of the Elop project, Team Terray has a particular proile. Most of the participant to the projects are engineers or architects, and Terray is the only team that welcomes a Creative Student. The group therefore beneits from an artistic input that might not be as obvious in the eight other groups. This factor had an instant inluence on their functioning as their ice-breaking exercises were based on theatre techniques.

While other teams were already working hard and inding ideas on how to improve Finhaut, the members of Terray were having quite a unique experience. Using a rehearsal technique of immersion theatre inspired by Yoga, they were trying to feel what a Fin-haut inhabitant would feel in a catastrophic



f

situation. This was in preparation to a pre-sentation happening the next day, and in the process they agreed on using the very same technique of immersion for this one. Of the ive members of the group, two students had already done theatre as a hobby, one had studied it and two had never really performed in their lives. Then, the aim of the performance was not to reach a very high standard but to give a simple representation of the team’s way to work. It also allowed them to create strong bonds amongst them, as they had to rehearse together. This is often a way to unify a group and to learn to know each other. When one has a limited time to build something with other people that will be looked at and judged by an audi-ence, they cannot be shy or supericial, they have got to go into the heart of their work all together for it to be successful. Nijstad, B. notices “ive stages of group development: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning.” (2009:26). “Norming” and “performing” which consist in “agree[ing] on group’s goals” and “achieving the group’s task”, are melted in only one step when it comes to theatre, as it is when working on achieving the task that performers deine their goals. Indeed, a performer needs to start rehearsing to be able to give an inten-tion to his character. Team Terray therefore worked on a project that helped them to deine their goals: using participatory design to make of Finhaut an interactive place.

This use of theatre is similar to what Petra Kuppers call Community Performance. “I understand community performance to be work that facilitates creative expres-sion of a diverse group of people, for aims

of self expression and political changes.” (2007:3) and further: “Equally importantly, in my deinition, community performance rests in process rather than product: in the act of working together, allowing different voices, bodies and experiences to emerge.” (2007:4). Thus, Terray’s team process mentioned in part one is a direct result of this ice-breaking theatre technique used at the creation of the team. Each member was involved on an equal level from the start and the creative input allowed them to deine the essence of their project with the idea of Par-ticipatory Design. The link between the latest and Community Theatre is obvious: “Every community performance practitioner has to deine for her or himself what ‘changing the world’ means, what ‘connection’ means and what ‘community’ means for them.” (Kup-pers, 2007:8). Even before they concretely started to work on their project, team Terray had unconsciously already involved Finhaut’s community in their work.

However, theatre is not the miracle solution to group work and communication problems. By no means is Terray a better team than the others: they also have their dysfunctions. These have been made more obvious as soon as the team departed Finhaut and had to start working online. Agreeing on meeting times, respecting the length of meeting and being all present in an online meeting is still a challenge for the team, who is slowly trying to overcome it. In order to do so, the mem-bers of the team have to acquire some skills in facilitation. According to Christine Hogan, “facilitation is concerned with encouraging open dialogue among individuals with differ-ent perspectives so that diverse assumptions



67

and options might be explored.” (2002:10). Coming from ive different countries and ive different background, it is necessary to un-derstand within the group that some habits that one would have could be perceived as disrespectful for another. For example Latin people (French or Italians) engage in a con-versation differently than a German person would do: cutting someone’s sentence is not a sign of rudeness but a sign of commitment to the conversation. On another hand it is also important that as well as the nationali-ties, the disciplines of each member of the group must be taken into account. In a sci-entiic article written by a group of students who all participated in a transdisciplinary project they evaluate that on one side, if one member’s discipline is not represented well, his role will progressively become “periph-eral” or even nonexistent. However, on the other side, if the students are working to closely it can alter the innovating side of the project. “Thus, a major challenge facing future transdisciplinary research initiatives is to achieve an appropriate balance between diversity and debate among investigators on the one hand, and intellectual integration and social support on the other.” (Stokols, D., Harvey, R., Gress, J., Fuqua, J., Phillips, K.; 2004.). Each voice counts, but none of them are more important than the others. On a wider level the transdisciplinary teams of the Elop project are helped by the fact that they are multiple. Each team regularly has to report its work to the other ones, which allows a deeper relection. Instead of the incidental relection that happens when members are communicating within their teams, the feedback and the ideas given by the other teams help to have a critical point

of view on the provided work.

Thus, Elop is a productive personal and group experience. However Finhaut project raises other questions on an intellectual, moral and theoretical level.

Place, People, Identity.When Elop students started working on the Finhaut project, one of the irst problems that was raised was the one of ‘identity’. They were invited to think about this term in rela-tion to the people living in the valley as well as to the place itself. Of course, ‘identity is not a problematic only for Finhaut, it could be relevant to any other places, but different aspect of the project makes it particularly interesting to look at.

Elop students cannot start a project without considering the inhabitants of the valley. One could think it is not as problematic as it seems, and that it is easy understand-ing their sense of community and identity. However it is not that simple when all of the factors come into consideration. If it is granted that nationality deines one’s identity, then Switzerland would not have a common identity: there are three oficial languages in the country, with three different national aspirations (German, Italian and French). Thus, Finhaut and Valais’s inhabitants would be considered as French. But this cannot be accurate when the differences between one side of the border and the other are high-lighted: the accent, the religious practice, the currency... However there are similarities be-tween them, as there are similarities with the Italians living on the other face of the moun-tain. Could it be then that the identity could



f

be found in the landscape of the mountain? But as stated by Tim Cressel, on his deini-tion of landscape: “it combine[s] a a focus on the material topography of a portion of land (that which can be seen) with the notion of vision (the way it is seen). Landscape is an intensively visual idea. In most deinitions of landscape the viewer is outside of it. This is the primary way in which it differs from place. Places are very much something to be inside of.” (2004:10). Thus, the identity of the people could not be deined by their landscape because they are not part of it, but only its witnesses. Nevertheless, it would be also inaccurate to deine people’s identity by the area they live in. The place has its own, proper, independent identity, which is different to the one of the people, even if they can relate to each other. Harvey argues that one of the problems when it comes to relection about place identity and com-munity is “a persistent identiication of place with ‘community’. Yet this is a misidentiica-tion. On the one hand, communities can exist without being in the same place […]. On the other hand, the instances of placing housing single ‘communities’ in the sense of coherent social groups are probably -and I would argue, have for long been- quite rare.” (quoted in Cressel, 2004:68). In this way, Finhaut is more than a place composed by people and the people from Finhaut are a lot more complex than only in-habitants of this place. This is the problem of ‘identity’ in general: there is not one unique and precise deinition of it, but a composition of different elements and factors that togeth-er are its deinition. It is necessary to em-brace this idea to provide a work relevant to a place and a community: there is no guide

that can be read which would give a perfect deinition of who or what they are. Their identity can only be understood if time is spent amongst them. Only through patience, observation and communication might it be possible to get a sense of it. Another thing that needs to be taken into consideration is that identity can also change with time, fol-lowing evolution and civilisation changes, so it is never something to be taken for granted.

A way to understand a community’s iden-tity can be to work with them. Team Terray overcame this by using the theory of “Par-ticipatory Design”. Initially an architectural concept, the Participatory Design has been mainly developed by Alejandro Aravena, Jan Lim and Mizah Rahman. On their oficial website the designers and architects cre-ators of this concept have deined Participa-tory Design as “a design approach where all stakeholders are actively involved in the processes and procedures of design.” (Lim & Rahman, 2014). The principle is therefore to work with the community to consider all the solutions that can be found together. In behavioural psychology, this technique is close to the idea of ‘Nudge’, which is a theory that proposes that even though all human beings make their own choices it is possible to softly guide them. R. Thaler and C. Sunstein justify the concept by stating that “the false assumption is that almost all people, almost all of the time, make choices that are in their best interest or at the very least are better than the choices that would be made by someone else” (2008:9) Nudge: improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness. Yale University Press. Thus, it is possible -and rather likely- that the people of



69

Finhaut appear reluctant to any project that could be proposed to them. It would be then necessary to prove to them that our idea is also theirs and to involve them from the start of the project to the end.

However, convincing people that they are working towards the same goal and for their interests would not be accurate if the Elop students did not deine their own interests in the irst place. The situation of Finhaut raises a moral question: why Elop? Why would students from all over the world would be eficient to offer a future to a place they had never heard of only six months ago. This method in some ways can be seen as really patronising. It recalls the very criticised methods of Western charities imposing themselves to the Third World imagining they have a solution to ‘bring them happiness’. But this is not what Elop is about, and this needs to always be remembered by its par-ticipants. The interests of Finhaut’s inhabit-ants will always be priority before theirs. Nevertheless, the Students still have lessons to learn from their projects. In the case of Bangor University the Elop project Alpine Mutations is really interesting because it is a case study that is practicable in North Wales. Tourism in North Wales has always been problematic, due to local, economical and accommodation reasons. It remains an incredibly beautiful country full of touristic resources, but unfortunately stuck behind its actual potential. One of the main similari-ties between Valais and North Wales is the inhabitants’ desire to keep the beauty and the serenity of their territories. Special events can then be the answer for both places. An accurate example on how such solu-

tions have an important beneicial impact can be found somewhere else in the United Kingdom. In summer 2014, the county of Yorkshire was welcoming the Tour de France Grand Départ. In his paper “Tourism”, Gary Verity reveals that “Public opinion and awareness of Yorkshire has rocketed since the Grand Départ -more than 1/3 of the UK population had their opinions on Yorkshire positively changed thanks to the event, with ¼ of the country now wanting to visit the county, according to the Research Bods Study” (2014:9). North Wales already has a couple of events of this kind that are re-ally popular, such as Menai Bridge Seafood Festival which started in 2013 bringing over 10,000 people into the little village. This is only a start though, and the example of Finhaut can be a springboard to help North Wales develop their touristic economy.

Conclusion.Thus, Elop*7 Alpines Mutation raises a lot of questions which were not necessarily obvious from the start. On the irst level, it is highly educative because it explores dif-ferent aspects of group working and group process. It is a relective activity, where each person is invited to learn from other people, each group from other groups. On the second level, the transdisciplinary facet of it contains an inestimable innovative potential: there is not one frame of thinking for a given problem, but multiple, which all merge together give an unexpected answer. Finally, the project is an intense human experience which requires its participants to show diplomacy and carefulness towards the related people. It would be indeed a faux-pas to consider Finhaut’s problem as a personal



f

challenge to solve without organising it with the involvement of its inhabitants. Finhaut is a place which deserves being considered just like any other place, which should be respected as somebody’s home. At a time when globalisation can be a source of fear and has a negative connotation, because it is seen as a threat to local devel-opment, cultures and economy, in a world when individuals are worried about not get-ting any recognition and respect, it is impor-tant to remind people that working together, whatever our background and origins, is always innovative and beneicial.



71

Bibliography

Allen, J., McDonnell, I., & O’Toole, W., 1999. Festival and Special Event Management. Milton: National Library of Australia.

Cresswell, T., 2004. Place: A Short Introduc-tion. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Fuqua, J., Gress, J., Harvey, R., Phil-lips, K., & Stokols, D., In Vivo Studies of Transdisciplinary Scientiic Collaboration, American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Feb 2005, pp 202-213. Available from: http://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797%2804%2900296-X/abstract [Ac-cessed 08/01/2015).

Farrington, J., Mosse, D., and Rew, A., 1998. Development as Process: Concepts and Methods for Working with Complexity, New-York: Routledge.

Harrison, L., & Husbands, W., 1996. Prac-ticing Responsible Tourism: International Case Studies in Tourism Planning, Policy and Development. New-York: Wiley.

Hogan, C., 2002. Understanding Facilita-tion: Theories and Principles, London: Kogan Page Limited.

Kuppers, P., 2007. Community Performance: An Introduction. London: Routledge.

Lim, J., & Rahman, M., 2014. Participate in Design. [Online] Available from: http://participateindesign.org/ [Accessed the 9/01/2015].

Nijstad, B. A., 2009. Group Performance, Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.

Orjuela, J., 2014. Team Terray Survey to People of Finhaut. Unpublished.

Sharpley, R., 1994. Tourism, Tourists & Society. Huntingdon: ELM Publications.

Thaler, R. & Sunstein, C., 2008. Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness. Yale University Press.

Uknown, 2014. Elop Booklet. Unpublished.

Verity, G., 2014. Yorkshire Grand Départ, Tourism, The Journal of The Tourism Indus-try. Autumn 2014. p.9.

West, J., and West., W., 2006. Social Work Process and Practice. Approaches, Knowl-edge and Skills, New-York: Palgrave Macmil-lan.

ELOP process:

Team Terray statements



f

PROJECT REPORT – STATEMENTS

THERESA FITZ

1st – PHYSICAL KICK-OFFIn general I know what is meant by sustain-ability. It’s the challenge to ind a good bal-ance between society, nature and economy. My studies – environmental engineering – are very focused on the nature part. Sus-tainable buildings, modern sanitary systems, waste treatment and eco-friendly energy production. I realized that these aren’t the main chal-lenges in Finhaut and that I’ve to leave my normal working ields and attitudes behind. It was hard work to deine the needs of the local society independent from the things I normally do at university. It’s not necessary to have a biogas station in a village with 400 inhabitants or to think about a transportation system if there are already roads and a train.During the week in Finhaut all team mem-bers came to the conclusion, that social re-lationships and an eco-friendly economy are more important to bring forward the region. 2nd – WORK IN PROGRESS – 1st REVIEWBack home working on the project had be-come more complicated. Different schedules and a lot more other subjects at university made it hard to work as fast as in Finhaut. We slowed down and had some very bad organized VCs. All of us had some new and more concrete ideas for the project, but they were very separated from each other and not very

clear to all team members and to the audi-ence. Finally we weren’t able to present our ideas precisely in the irst review.

3rd – WORK IN PROGRESS – 2nd REVIEWFor me it was really important to analyse what went wrong in the irst part of our col-laboration process and until the 2nd review.In conclusion we organised ourselves better. We prepared agenda points for our meet-ings, agreed on a ix meeting time and gave concrete homework for the next meeting. Therefore google drive documents became very important for our collaboration. This tool offered the possibility to comment the work of the others and to read the hints of all team members without a discussion in an extra meeting.

4th – FINAL OF THE PROJECTThe work of the last weeks was a success in my eyes. Just some days before the inal presentation we are well prepared and nearly inished with the project.It was a great experience.



73



f

Juan Orjuela

From the beginning we tried to understand clearly which was the main goal and prob-lems that are facing the valley, so we could begin with a proper transformation sensible to the different demands.

The main goal we conceived was to encour-age the progress of the valley in all aspects as possible. Therefore we agreed to have always present two main priorities, the envi-ronment and the people.

Connecting the people and low impact pro-posals, these were fundamental aspects for developing our project.

On the other hand my team is extremely transdisciplinary. As a way to understand each other we agreed we had to think out of our professions in order to get on a common language and develop a project with a differ-ent vision - the people’s vision. This made our work a lot easier.Therefore we decided to introduce Participa-tory Design as an axis of development.

Our problem was that we were not so clear how on how to make this understandable and how to make a project out of it. We had some wrong interpretations of our project in the different reviews.

We always thought that our team was strong when we worked together, but after we separated, the progress became a lot slower and disorganized. After all it is dificult to keep the discipline when you are so far away

and with your life going on.

After one review we understood one of he main problems was to be more eficient in our meetings and work as a team. We improved a lot by making an agenda and leaving clear tasks for everyone at the end of the meetings.

In my opinion, may be it was not the result expected by Elop but it is also a valid ap-proach, which aimed directly for our main goal. I think I´m lucky to participate in this team and I’m proud of the persistence of everyone to defend our ideas.

PROJECT REPORT – STATEMENTS

THERESA FITZ

1st – PHYSICAL KICK-OFFIn general I know what is meant by sustain-ability. It’s the challenge to ind a good bal-ance between society, nature and economy. My studies – environmental engineering – are very focused on the nature part. Sus-tainable buildings, modern sanitary systems, waste treatment and eco-friendly energy production. I realized that these aren’t the main chal-lenges in Finhaut and that I’ve to leave my normal working ields and attitudes behind. It was hard work to deine the needs of the local society independent from the things I normally do at university. It’s not necessary to have a biogas station in a village with 400 inhabitants or to think about a transportation system if there are already roads and a train.During the week in Finhaut all team mem-bers came to the conclusion, that social re-lationships and an eco-friendly economy are more important to bring forward the region. 2nd – WORK IN PROGRESS – 1st REVIEWBack home working on the project had be-come more complicated. Different schedules and a lot more other subjects at university made it hard to work as fast as in Finhaut. We slowed down and had some very bad organized VCs. All of us had some new and more concrete ideas for the project, but they were very separated from each other and not very

clear to all team members and to the audi-ence. Finally we weren’t able to present our ideas precisely in the irst review.

3rd – WORK IN PROGRESS – 2nd REVIEWFor me it was really important to analyse what went wrong in the irst part of our col-laboration process and until the 2nd review.In conclusion we organised ourselves better. We prepared agenda points for our meet-ings, agreed on a ix meeting time and gave concrete homework for the next meeting. Therefore google drive documents became very important for our collaboration. This tool offered the possibility to comment the work of the others and to read the hints of all team members without a discussion in an extra meeting.

4th – FINAL OF THE PROJECTThe work of the last weeks was a success in my eyes. Just some days before the inal presentation we are well prepared and nearly inished with the project.It was a great experience.



75

Federico Santillano Physical kickoff My expectation towards the ELOP project were fulilled in a different way to the one I expected at the physical kickoff in Finhaut. I was expecting a very technical project in which I could collaborate with my engineer-ing point of view to improve an architecture project. The irst surprise I had was to meet my team which is extremely rich and diverse, regarding nationality, cultures and back-grounds. When the problem of the town was presented to us, it was clear that the solu-tion was not an architectural one. We had to put aside a big part of our backgrounds and start thinking in a different area of study, new for most of us and work together to discover it and embrace it and ind out a feasible so-lution: “Participatory Design”. We developed that idea until the last presentation, when we showed our irst results, obtaining a good response form the coaches and people from the village. First review To prepare for the irst review we settled a time to meet at the video conferences in Scopia. At the irst meeting it was clear that it was really dificult to settle a ixed time to meet since we are 5 members in the team plus the coach and all of us have different and changing schedules. After accept-ing this, the meetings were constant and productive but totally irregular regarding schedule. Thanks to the video conferences

we started working and developing more the idea of participatory design for Finhaut. The irst review was a little dificult for us, since it is really hard to represent our ideas as a team, so the feedback we got from the review was to make our ideas clearer and present them in an understandable way. Second review Basically we started working the same way as before, through video conferences and personal tasks. We progressed a lot in the proposal for Finhaut, bud sadly we couldn’t ind a good way to present it to the other teams and coaches, therefore, there was a lot of confusion among the audience re-garding the presentation. But for our team everything was clear, we know the project and we understand it, the big problem is presentations. Final presentation We started working for the inal presentation at the end of the last review, focusing on creative and understandable ways to present our project and results. We decided to pres-ent a video that can explain easily our idea as well as a magazine that would show our progress and future scenarios for the village. But I am glad to say that with bad and good experiences it was an excellent adventure.



f

Aglaé Bindi

I was not actually prepared for this little Elop experience. I came without knowing what it was all about and I had missed the virtual kick-off. My irst reaction was actually to be really confused about what was asked to us and the reason why I was here... What was I meant to ilm again?

It took me time but I inally got to know the people I was working with and to understand what problem we were facing.

The link within the team was really strong, and I was happy to realise that we were sharing a very similar point of view on the question and on the project – whatever we were doing, the locals had to be included.

From there we provided a really productive work during the kick-off week. We were well prepared and organised when we left Fin-haut and we had the basis for the continua-tion of a proliic team work.

However, once apart it was more dificult to meet and our communication was at irst quite problematic. We could not agree on a time to meet, would turn up late at most of the meeting time and the work we were providing became really individual. After a fairly chaotic second review, we decided to be more accurate on our meet-ing time and more organised. We included Agenda Points and Minutes for each meet-ing and had precise tasks to accomplished

individually between them.

As for the irst week, the last week was a success. Being all together again helped us to carry on with positive energy. As in any relationship, we forgave each other the past mistakes and decided to go further together, adopting a stronger communication and aiming forwards.

Beautiful.



77

Alessandro Betta

I didn’t really know what to expect when I enrolled for ELOP project. I was attracted both by the topic of the workshop and by the groupwork expected from us.I admit that I arrived in Finhaut expecting a more “academic” working process; multidis-ciplinary but still inside deined tracks.All those expectations fortunately revealed themselves as not true. I will never know what was behind the process of forming the groups, but I immediately had the feeling of being in an “outsiders” group. I really ap-preciated the way we approached elopathlon and the initial phases of working. I felt very lucky to have the possibility to explore differ-ent ways of working on projects rather than the “classical” designing approach that sees buildings as an answer for problems.It’s hard to express with few words my feel-ings for the week, so I’m taking with myself a box of little moments that made me really feel part of a “family” [which of course is something more than just a workgroup]. I have to admit that I found really dificult to work without having contacts with people. It is even more dificult when you try to make a project which is not simply putting together disciplines but merging them in a common result. That is the case of our group, I think we really needed a more intensive physical experience, rather than a very dispersive online communication strategy. In the begin-ning, as usual when in a group democracy tends to anarchy [because if you want to be transdisciplinary you need not to have proper leaders], we struggled a lot to ind a com-mon goal. Even inding a common meeting

time seemed impossible.The irst review reinforced our sensation of being the “outsiders” of this ELOP year proj-ect. It was not a good review, but it helped us a lot to reinforce our concepts and to express them in a clearer way. Also due to “homeland” problems this was the worst period for me. Even if the project was going on and I was really liking the fact that inally I was not doing architecture, it was hard to accept. It seemed to me the project was going nowhere and, as I was not seeing concrete outputs, I started to be really worried and pessimistic about the results. This was also due to the fact that I tend to be a perfectionist in my work and I’m not really able to delegate duties to other people. I was tempted to leave everything. Final presentation.

As already said I think our group really need-ed a more intensive experience as we really need to work together to recreate the sort of “creative alchemy” we want to produce. I barely felt tired; things were coming out quite naturally. Of course it was very hard for me being the “only” designer in the group and sometimes I had this feeling of people not working, even if it was a wrong perception due to different approaches to the work.Talking about the inal result I have to say that I really loved the fact that our group just followed the idea against all opposite forces and the fact that we were totally out from every conditioning. Talking about the group atmosphere I can just say that I was really amazed by the atmosphere we created in such few time; it was like we knew each other for ages. Hopefully we’ll meet again in the future, maybe to organize a festival!

Not I, nor anyone else can travel

that road for you.

You must travel it by yourself.

It is not far. It is within reach.

Perhaps you have been on it since

you were born, and did not know.

Perhaps it is everywhere – on water

and land.

Walt Whitman

Documents

A vision for Finhaut