Territoires ruraux insulaires et développement durable

As a concept of territorial management, sustainable development can be analysed in the systemic vision allowed by complex territorial systems. This article wonders about the representations associated to rural areas and insularity. Largely encouraged by our modern societies, the critical vision of island development – not environmentally friendly models – promotes an integrated vision of development aiming at combining economical and sociocultural considerations. The great movement of cultural heritage, sort of reinvention of mythic islands symbolising a past equilibrium is then progressively supported. Different examples dealt with in this article (The Greek island of Skopelos, Corsica, Martinique) show that resources and specific know-how, not easily transferable out of the insular context, can be considered as strong advantages for development. They reinforce communities’ identity and favour new social dynamics. Obviously, quality ties increase the resilience of the territorial system even though it necessitates to redefine collective rules that aim at inventing sustainable solidarity relying mainly on knowing how to behave instead of pure technical know-how