Application of territorial intelligence focused on the cultural heritage and of the reaffirmation of territorial entities: "pays" in France. The case of Couserans (Ariège - Pyrenees)

Within the framework of a total Territorial Intelligence approach focused on the territorial identity called "pays", we studied the limits and the ambiguities of this notion. The belonging feeling to a specific area ("pays") has stirring effects for regional institutions, that's why it is necessary to develop a identity feeling around this notion, feeling which is deeply linked to the heritage and the culture. We found, through an investigation realised on the « pays de Couserans », that if a very strong local identity linked to a common history and heritage does exist, the notion of "pays" is quite unknown and its action field and attributions are not really understood. The entity "pays", a concept all in nuances that is necessary to handle with precaution, because it also can carry exclusion. But because it is also anchored since unmemorable times in our collective memory, the "pays" can carry a lot of meanings. Territorial unity "pays" seems to be a relevant vector in the installation of projects of sustainable development within the framework of concerted and participative processes of Territorial Intelligence.