Transport – Sports, leisure and European territorial cooperation

With the emergence of cross-border structures, European policy on sports and leisure provides a legal framework for action and funding for projects aimed at a new cross-border citizenship.

Few scientific studies have been carried out on sport and leisure in the context of territorial cooperation. What are the effects of public action? Which uses for which users? With the support of the Plateformes universitaires des données (PUD) of Grenoble Alpes and Strasbourg Universities, French and European surveys on sporting activities can be analyzed.

Three cross-border areas will be compared: Franco-Spanish (Eurorégion Nouvelle Aquitaine-Euskadi-Navarra), Franco-German (Eurodistrict Strasbourg-Ortenau) and Franco-Italo-Swiss (Espace Mont-Blanc). In the latter, which seeks to reconcile the demands of protection with those of socio-economic development that respects mountain resources, the relationship with nature and the mountains will be examined. This mountain section of the project is at the crossroads between the activities of Labex ITTEM and theTransalps axis of MSH-Alpes.

The study will focus on three areas:

1. Cross-border public action in the field of sports, leisure and tourism with a sporting dimension. Analysis of cross-border sports structures, players and systems.
2. Uses and practices of facilities (sites, spaces or itineraries) with a view to cross-border development.
3. Sports practices and mobility on both sides of borders, and use/appropriation of these cross-border sports areas.

In all these geographical and political areas of study, the aim is to analyze the production of citizenship (transnational, Euroregional, European) through sports and leisure practices, and representations of the border, neighboring countries and Europe.

Two categories of activities will be concerned: free activities (surfing, hiking…) and activities organized within clubs or associations of practitioners.

MSH Alpes researchers involved in the project:

Laine Chanteloup (University of Lausanne), Daniele Di Tomasso (Aosta Valley University), Camille Girault (Edytem), Lauranne Jacob (USMB), Marc Langenbach (Sens), Anna-Maria Pioletti (Aosta Valley University), Véronique Reynier (Sens), Cristina Vignali (USMB)