Among the reasons for the development of the eco-museum concept, largely in France in the 1970s, was that of encouraging economic advance in areas which had suffered serious reverses of fortune. The paper examines the current position of some important early eco-museums, at Le Creusot (intended to assist development in a former industrial area) and two in the Cevennes (designed to stabilise the culture of a remote rural area). The relationship with the local people, one of the critical features of the eco-museum, may suffer severely as generational change occurs.The takeover of such developments by institutions for different purposes, or for the benefit of visitors rather than locals, can make them victims of their own success in stimulating economic growth, with the risk of consequent unintended shifts in society and economy.
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Peter Howard (2002) studied this question.