Paul-Valéry's students imagine “Saint-Rome-de-Tarn tomorrow”: “We change the water in the jar a little”

Students, technicians and elected officials during the transcription of the work carried out over a year in the commune of Saint-Rome de Tarn. A.D.

For a year, students from the Paul-Valéry University of Montpellier came to Saint-Rome-de-Tarn to examine the village's potential and imagine its future. Overview with the teacher-researcher geographer, Alexandre Brun.

After a first successful experience in 2022 in Saint-Izaire and Coupiac, the students of the master's degrees in Territorial Management and Local Development or Development Project and Territorial Perspective from the Paul-Valéry University of Montpellier came to Saint-Izaire and Coupiac. -Rome-de-Tarn to examine the potential of the village of some 900 souls. 

An immersion as close as possible to the issues, between strengths and weaknesses, of the small municipality faced, like many other rural areas, with the pressing problem of the aging of the population .

A "University beyond the walls" initiated by the Grands Causses Regional Natural Park whose purpose is also to "change the water in the jar", understand "take a fresh look" on the issues of the moment revealed to us by Alexandre Brun, geographer and urban planner, teacher-researcher and lecturer&nbsp ;at Paul Valéry Montpellier University. 

With your students, you provide a precise and exhaustive diagnosis of the issues facing the commune of Saint-Rome-de-Tarn. For what purpose ? 

The interest in such an approach is mutual. First of all, it is about putting students in a position of responsibility. The objective for them is to learn in the field to identify the issues, to spatialize them and to imagine projects inspired by some of those carried by the municipality and on the other hand to advance projects which go counter to those imagined by this same municipality.

For the communities then, see around twenty kids arrive, mostly urban, with a new eye but ultimately quite sharp, pointing out difficulties to transform them into projects, It feels really good. It gives a real breath of fresh air. We change the water in the jar a little and it's beneficial. 

Precisely, what assessment do you draw from this immersion in situ in the town ? 

The first thing that stands out is the journey times. Very long regardless of the sectors where you are. The Saint-Romains live with the car, for them central, without other public transport solutions. A dependence on the car which can be problematic as we get older. Which brings us to the second point to remember: that of the aging of the population. 

A constant for rural areas…

These territories inherit and cultivate in a certain way, an image of a peripheral territory whose difficulty is to consolidate economic continuity while facing the challenges of aging. Knowing that these territories do not lack businesses except that they are mainly self-enterprises with crafts. This foreshadows what we imagine developing throughout France with a shift from a company of employees to a company of self-employed people. ;

France's demographic trajectory is not new. Did we not have the means to anticipate ? 

Yes, the subject of aging was indeed completely predictable, expected by the various INSEE surveys… So for an elected official today ;#39;Today, it's less about attracting than it is about retaining the few industries and industries that exist. #39;entrepreneurs present in the town while fighting intelligently against the aging of the population. I understand clearly, it is not a question here of fighting against the old people (laughs) but of finding solutions in terms of public spaces, equipment, services. .. 

Comment ? 

Typically, you either view aging as a problem or as part of the solution. The medico-social sector represents 25 to 30% of assets depending on the municipality, it’s huge! It's up to us to capitalize on the "Silver economy", the seniors' economy, so that it is structuring and profitable for the region. 

How can development policies contribute to this ?

By playing on attractiveness. In Saint-Rome, public space is generous but very poorly treated, cars are everywhere. It is obviously not a question of driving away cars, which are essential for households and businesses, but we can, however, improve parking and traffic flow. . Secure a pedestrian route. We need to think about marketability, precisely because the population is aging.

To paraphrase Charles Trenet, there are also extraordinary gardens in Saint-Rome separated by dry stone walls between the town center and the Tarn. A jewel that deserves to be highlighted and revealed to tourism. To get away from this way of doing tourism like in the eighties: camping, a mobile home, activities on the Tarn and that's pretty much it. You have to do tourism differently.  

You also insist on the  health aspect, "essential" according to you. 

Like the population he treats, the doctor is aging. We will therefore have to prepare for the future and imagine a medical center that will undoubtedly be a little different from what we are used to seeing elsewhere. We must massively introduce new technologies, telemedicine which is still very scary for seniors, and it is imperative to establish partnerships with nursing homes. Breaking down barriers, creating synergies.

The pharmacist who lives his life as a pharmacist, the liberal nurses who are at the end of their rope, a doctor who is aging and a nursing home which has a bad reputation…When you have four systems at the end of their rope , they must be brought together to build a more global project by putting nurses at the heart of the system, whereas today they are considered the last wheel of the carriage. ;The nursing homes "outside the walls" exist. Their objective is to coordinate the action of all paramedical professionals who work in the homes of dependent elderly people. And it works!  

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