Through the Jura mountains: a path of productive nature

In most people’s imagination, the Jura Mountains are a wild and untouched landscape. However, what we now perceive as typical of the region is the outcome of centuries of modifications to make it more hospitable and productive. The accompanying Enoncé Portrait of the Jura Mountains highlights Forest management, creation of wooded pastures, hedgerows and agricultural methods that favour biodiversity and draining of wetlands. The landscapes needs evolve continuously. Agricultural practices tend towards monoculture and abandonment of less productive areas. Concurrently, other uses arise that challenge the fragile balance established. The project is based on the mapping of key elements along a path, built or natural which define an identity described as “Jura-ness”. The suggested route links Le Locle and the Lake Neuchâtel encountering seven different conditions, each with their own potential or shortcomings. The interventions are tailored to each site, ranging in their scope and scale. From a bench to accommodate a couple of hikers to a building dedicated to the produce of pastures, or from small structures to accommodate insects to the renaturation of a whole stream. They combine all the previous general and site-specific considerations with a unique visual identity and vocation of extracting potential of each site. The outcome forms a whole experience of the spirit of “jura-ness” while by contributing to the management, productivity, and longevity of the region’s identity.