Small urban centers in the alps and their development issues

Abstract

Mountainous areas are by default physically unsuitable for larger urban agglomerations, yet are nevertheless urbanized to a substantial extent. This chapter describes the development of such urbanized areas, the small urban centers (towns) in the Alps. Inner Alpine areas are increasingly "threatened" by expanding suburbanization processes from pre-alpine mega-agglomerations (Milan, Turin, Munich, Vienna, Zurich, etc.), which have a damaging impact on the Alpine settlement structure. This chapter focuses on smaller and peripheral towns in the Alps that provide a backbone of social, economic, and cultural activities. Thanks to the physical structure of the Alps, the landscape is dominated by smaller settlements, which have important central functions for large mountainous areas. These small urban centers therefore are important as generators of Alpine economic and social capital. The Alps thus reflect duality: on the one hand, some well-connected valley regions experience rapid development, which is often associated with the suburbanization of pre-alpine metropolitan areas, and on the other hand there are areas that are no longer attractive to people and capital and are thus subject to depopulation. As is the case elsewhere in Europe, the urbanization of the Alps keeps changing, especially in response to the impact of economic structural changes.