Future Environmental Design through Solidarity: Focusing on Solidarity in French Ecomuseums and Social Museums

The purpose of this study is how the ecomuseums invented in France works together for the future environmental design through the process of development and activities of the French ecomuseums and the Social Museums Solidarity (FEMS). This study focuses on how the French ecomuseums build relationships with regional heritage in order to find their own value of existence. The Ecomuseums Solidarity initially started as the French Ecomuseum Association, but as it expanded its scope, it began to include social museums and interpretation centers as members of the solidarity, and began to embrace all cultural heritage institutions that preserve regional stories. What is particularly noteworthy in this study is that institutions that primarily focused on heritage interact with each other for the future environmental design, reflect on the challenges they face, and continuously discuss them to derive implications for the time being. In conclusion, first, we investigated self-identification factors from three perspectives: territory, topic, and community, regarding how members perceive themselves. Second, we discussed the philosophy pursued by ecomuseums and social museum solidarity based on the theme of the expert meeting held every year. The process of a society or community solving a problem by linking with a museum or cultural heritage institution is not accomplished in a short period of time, and requires long-term understanding of the local community environment and practical efforts. Nevertheless, the study of French ecomuseums and social museums solidarity, which continuously form discourses and design future environments while putting them into practice, is significant