The cultural embeddedness of population mobility in the Alps: Consequences for sustainable development

Figures & data

Fig. 1. The study area defined on the basis of SRTM data, GALPIS, and EuroGeographics; the German language boundary shows the extent of the main language used in c.1900 in relation to present-day municipalities’ boundaries; former German-language ‘islands’ outside the Alpine Convention area are not included

Fig. 2. Settlements in the southern and northern Alps: a) Bajardo (Liguria, Italy), 900 m a.s.l., a cluster village with terraced, small strip plots and mixed farming, with emphasis on arable farming (Photo: Oliver Bender, 1996); b) Ettenberg (Bavaria, Germany), 900 m a.s.l., a dispersed settlement with block plots and ‘meadows-pasture’ farms, with emphasis on livestock farming (Photo: Oliver Bender, 2004)

Table 1. Different traditional settlement and agrarian systems in the Alps during the agrarian age (Source: Bätzing 2003)

Area	Southern and south-western Alps	Northern and north-eastern Alps
Settlement density	Higher	Lower
Settlement genesis	Early settlement (pre-Roman)	Late settlement (Middle Ages)
Settlement form	Cluster villages with small strip plots	Dispersed settlements with block plots
Farm type	‘Field and pasture’ farms with sheep and goats	‘Meadows and pasture’ farms with cattle
Speciality crop	Sweet chestnut and grapes (for viticulture)	Mostly none
Inheritance type	Partible inheritance	Impartible inheritance
Community basis	Village community	Family
Social structure	Equality, liberty	Social stratification (manors, peasants, and servants)

Fig. 3. Sweet chestnut culture: a) orchard in Bregaglia Municipality (Grisons, Switzerland) (Photo: Oliver Bender, 2001); b) simplified pollen diagram for Lake Origlio (Ticino), 420 m a.s.l.

Table 2. Source and destination regions of migration to and from Alpine areas as a percentage of the total in-migration and outmigration in the period 2002–2011 (France: 2003–2008; Slovenia: 2008–2012)

Alpine area	In-migration from			Outmigration to
	Domestic Alpine area	Domestic extra- Alpine area	Abroad	Domestic Alpine area	Domestic extra-Alpine area	Abroad
Austria	59.4	18.2	22.3	60.7	21.8	17.5
France	54.9	38.0	7.1	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Germany	49.4	36.1	14.6	52.5	32.7	14.8
Italy	45.7	34.1	20.2	56.7	38.6	4.6
Slovenia	31.0	52.4	16.5	30.6	57.8	11.5

Fig. 4. Demographic types of mobility into the Alps by permanence of stay (based on Zelinsky 1971, with modifications based on Bender & Kanitscheider 2012)

Fig. 5. Neoruralist and abandoned areas: a) some new fields cultivated by neoruralists on formerly abandoned terraces in St. Véran (Hautes-Alpes, France), 2040 m a.s.l.; b) some of the very few remaining fields in Obergesteln (Valais, Switzerland), 1355 m a.s.l. (Photos: Oliver Bender, 2008)

Fig. 6. Migration balance in East Tyrol in the period 1996–2010; summarized migration balance (upper image); migration balance for the age cohort 50–74 years (lower image); (Source: Statistics Austria; Data: Migration Statistics 1996–2010)

Fig. 7. Model of distribution of inhabitants in Alpine valleys: a) valley without mass tourism (modified from Steinicke et al. 2012, 335); b) northern Alpine valley with mass tourism

Fig. 8. Spatial population mobility, landscape, and cultural sustainability in Alpine communities

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