Amenity Migration in the Alps: Applying Models of Motivations and Effects to 2 Case Studies in Italy

Abstract

Using 2 models, this article illustrates different forms of in-migration in the Alps, the motivations for relocation, and effects of newcomers on their destination areas. Since the 1990s, more and more communities in the European Alps, which had suffered from depopulation for many decades, have become in-migration destinations. This new demographic trend is particularly pronounced in the French and Italian western Alps and on the periphery of the central Alps. Up to the end of the millennium, the western and southern Alps were considered the major demographic problem areas within the Alpine arc. During the past decade, however, the picture has changed significantly: while communities in the western Alps have gradually recovered from massive outmigration, the situation now appears precarious in the eastern Alps. Even though many regions in the eastern Alps are still characterized by depopulation, we can find demographic processes similar to those in the western Alps, where in-migration contributes to population gains in peripheral mountain villages. This article demonstrates 2 models developed to explain these trends by applying the models to 2 villages in the Italian Alps. Model 1 outlines the diverse composition and dynamics of the population, potential migration flows, and the main motivations for relocation. Model 2 depicts the impacts of amenity migrants on socioeconomic, cultural, and infrastructural aspects in a mountain village as well as on the cultural landscape and building stock. In order to allow regional comparisons of individual hamlets, villages, or valleys, the degree of the models' abstraction was kept low; this also enables their application to other mountain areas.

Keywords

• amenity migration
• new highlanders
• demographic turnaround
• European Alps
• Ostana
• Dordolla
• Italy