Analysing public access to the shores of Lake Geneva (Switzerland) through a “geo-legal” investigation

Résumé 0

Ensuring public access to the shoreline is a recognized public interest. However, its implementation is often hampered by shoreline privatization mechanisms. This paper mobilizes legal geography and the figure of the “geo-legal detective” to focus on the practices that have developed in Switzerland along the shores of Lake Geneva to complete a public walkway. It thus addresses the power relationship between promoters of this public interest and private owners in an indirect way. Based on field observations and confrontation with the land registry, laws and case law, a thorough investigation is carried out. By means of iterations between the legal and the territorial conditions, the paper discusses a significant gap between the legal norm and its implementation. This gap is linked to the practices that public officials develop through the interactions they maintain with shoreline landowners, public authorities, actors promoting public access to shorelines, legal experts, laws and space, in a context where temporality plays a significant role. The ultimate aim of this paper is to identify potential avenues for improving public action dedicated to shoreline access.