Whitewater sports: An innovation conducive to regional development? The case of the Ubaye Valley

Abstract

The Ubaye Valley in the French Alps became a center of tourism and outdoor sports in the twentieth century. It is named after the river which became a site for the practice of whitewater sports (canoeing/kayaking, rafting, etc.). Various structures were created there to disseminate these practices (associations, clubs and finally companies). The marketing of products combining these activities was able to take off thanks to the promotion of events undertaken by elected officials and area companies. But how was this offer able to foster innovation, understood as the adaptation of practices to current needs? Reconstructing the perspectives of ordinary innovation, this article examines the technical aspect of activities and their levers. The territory reveals itself to be inseparable from the relationship between innovation and technology. The process of tourism development in the valley and the concept of territorial resource are here mobilized to understand the relationship between the actors and the process of reception of innovation at the local level.

L’Ubaye, vallée des Alpes françaises, est devenue au cours du vingtième siècle un haut lieu du tourisme et des sports de nature. Elle porte le nom du torrent sur lequel se sont développés des sports d’eau vive (canoë-kayak, rafting, etc.). Des structures y ont été créées afin de diffuser ces pratiques (association, clubs puis sociétés). La commercialisation de produits mixant ces activités a pu éclore grâce à une politique évènementielle menée par les élus et les entreprises présentes sur le territoire. Mais comment cette offre a-t-elle pu favoriser l’innovation, entendue comme adaptation de pratiques aux besoins récents? Reconstituant les biais de l’innovation ordinaire, cet article interroge la technicité des activités et ses leviers. Le territoire apparaît donc indissociable de cette relation entre innovation et technologie. Le processus de mise en tourisme de la vallée et le concept de ressource territoriale seront ici mobilisés pour appréhender l’articulation entre les acteurs et le processus de réception de l’innovation au niveau local.

Keywords:

• territorial development
• innovation
• whitewater sports
• Ubaye
• territorial resource

Mots-clés:

• développement territorial
• innovation
• sports d’eau vive
• Ubaye
• ressource territoriale

Notes

1. This city nonetheless experienced periods of exodus of Barcelonnette natives to Mexico. This emigration lasted from 1850 to 1950.

2. Originally planned before the First World War, the construction of a railway line was discontinued in 1935.

3. This scientist and mountaineer, a member of the French Alpine Club, worked on place names and geography in the Ubaye. He wrote in 1875, ‘You routine tourists who follow the crowd to Switzerland and Savoy, leave the beaten track and come here.’ Arnaud, F., 1875. Ascension du Grand Rubren, extr. of the C.A.F. Directory.

4. Forty-seven Guides for the canoeist on the rivers of France were published between 1919 and 1958 by Susse publishing.

5. Name given to the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence before the decree of 13 April 1970, which instituted the administrative name change.

6. The word moraine comes from the Savoyard term ‘Morena’, meaning a mound of earth which is the accumulation of debris dragged and then left by glaciers.

7. Giono chose the Ubaye as the subject of his film L’eau vive, shot in 1957, which traces the construction of the lake at Serre-Ponçon.

8. Canoeing guidebook, France editions, Susse publishing, 1961 (reprint).

9. Enoch (1954, p. 446).

10. Baudry, M. 1^er slalom parallèle en eaux vives sur l’Ubaye, Canoë-kayak Magazine, 64, May 1983, p. 49.

11. Raimbault, Guide de l’Ubaye, Canoë-kayak Magazine, 32, 19. May–June 1976.

12. In addition to Barcelonnette, there is also Le Lauzet-Ubaye, Méolans-Revels, Jausiers and la Condamine.

13. Vacationing at ski-resort villages (Pra-Loup, Vars, Saint-Anne-La Condamine) represents more than half of the tourism in the valley.

14. Canoë-kayak Magazine, 1983.

15. Baudry, M. 1^er slalom parallèle en eaux vives sur l’Ubaye, Canoë-kayak Magazine, 64, 48. May 1983.

16. According to an interview with the director of the Barcelonnette Tourist Office; after growth from 1970 to 1990, the number of tourists had decreased as of 2006.

17. According to data provided by local tourist offices: Tourist Office of Barcelonnette, Joint Tourism Service of the Community of Ubaye Valley Towns.

18. This object is called ‘hydrospeed’. It has the form of a plastic floatation device for protection against the rocks. It was patented in 1982 by the l’Agence nationale de valorisation de la recherche (National Agency for Research Development; see Gauthier 1994, p. 13).

19. Names given to events aimed at promoting water sports.