Image of the future Upper Valais “We grow together”
Bildquelle: Copyright © 2022 RW Oberwallis AG / Design & Visuals by Startup Mario About a year ago, the Upper Valais Regional and Economic Centre (RWO) began work on a vision of the future. The client was the Upper Valais Region Association, which represents all 63 municipalities in the region. The process of developing the vision was designed in such a way that the population could be involved as much as possible. The result is now a broad-based vision for the Upper Valais.
The Upper Valais has been experiencing strong economic growth for several years and with it exceptional immigration. People from 119 nations live in the region today. In 2021 alone, more than 6500 people moved to Upper Valais. The region’s development is additionally influenced by global trends such as the increasing tendency towards urbanisation, new family and life models as well as a transformation of the working world through digitalisation. “In such a phase of change, it is helpful to have a common vision that everyone can orientate themselves by,” says Reinhard Imboden, President of the Upper Valais Region Association. “To ensure that such a vision of the future actually meets the needs of the population and is supported by them, everyone was invited to share their concerns and wishes, but also their priorities. Two broad-based population surveys and a carefully compiled impulse group led to the Upper Valais vision of the future that we have today.”
Vision for the future
Throughout the process, the fields of action for Upper Valais became clearer. On the one hand, there were the already strongly felt challenges that many other regions in Switzerland are currently facing: The population is concerned about ensuring basic medical care and coping with the shortage of skilled workers. With regard to the future of education, the population is focusing on digital and language skills and practical teaching. In the area of mobility, the public transport network and non-motorised traffic routes are to be expanded. The people of Upper Valais also see an urgent need for action in dealing with climate change. “The Valais has a high availability of renewable energy sources. The circular economy used to be the rule rather than the exception in our region. We thus have two strong levers for a more ecologically sustainable development of our region. This is something that the population wants to put to good use,” explains Tamar Hosennen, Managing Director of the RWO. The people of Upper Valais also identified the positive development of the mountain villages as an important field of action.
The vision of the future is made available to all interested actors from politics, business and society as orientation and inspiration for their own strategy processes