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More than ever before, the question of the construction of a territorial unity is today at the heart of political and social debate. It is a process which mobilises both the various cadres of local politics – mayors, regional councillors – and also a number of networks which go beyond the local dimension : in particular the producers and holders of various modes of knowledge. The concept of territory is therefore not something which is bound up within the natural and historical confines of the valleys through which it was constituted. This is evident from the survey carried out in the territory of I Tré Valli, comprising three valleys in south-west Corsica, and which has been studied by a group bringing together people active in the daily life of the territory and researchers (sociologists and anthropologists). The aim of the group has been to promote and foster productive capacities within the territory.The article shows how the group appropriated the question of economic and human development, addressed from a perspective within which the question of productive practices and of local democracy needs to be renewed.