{"title":"Die another day: explanations based on qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) for the survival and non-survival of isolated ski lifts in Switzerland","authors":"Steve Schlegel, Christoph Schuck","doi":"10.5194/gh-79-85-2024","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract. In the form of an explorative empirical study, this paper deals with the reasons for the survival and demise of isolated Swiss ski lifts. For the first time, all isolated lifts documented in Switzerland have been recorded and coded according to a total of six conditions. Using a set-theoretical research method in the form of qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), the study aims to identify the necessary conditions and configurations of sufficient conditions explaining (non-)survival. It transpires that closed isolated lifts tend to be outdated and have no technical snowmaking facilities. Moreover, it has become evident that the simultaneous occurrence of the lack of lift facility replacement, lack of technical snowmaking and high ski area competition has caused the closure of most isolated lifts. Low natural snow depth and low elevation difference, conversely, have not had a measurable impact. The causes for the survival of isolated lifts, by contrast, are extremely heterogeneous.\n","PeriodicalId":35649,"journal":{"name":"Geographica Helvetica","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Geographica Helvetica","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-79-85-2024","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"Social Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract. In the form of an explorative empirical study, this paper deals with the reasons for the survival and demise of isolated Swiss ski lifts. For the first time, all isolated lifts documented in Switzerland have been recorded and coded according to a total of six conditions. Using a set-theoretical research method in the form of qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), the study aims to identify the necessary conditions and configurations of sufficient conditions explaining (non-)survival. It transpires that closed isolated lifts tend to be outdated and have no technical snowmaking facilities. Moreover, it has become evident that the simultaneous occurrence of the lack of lift facility replacement, lack of technical snowmaking and high ski area competition has caused the closure of most isolated lifts. Low natural snow depth and low elevation difference, conversely, have not had a measurable impact. The causes for the survival of isolated lifts, by contrast, are extremely heterogeneous.
期刊介绍:
Geographica Helvetica, the Swiss journal of geography, publishes contributions in all fields of geography as well as in related neighbouring disciplines. It is a multi-lingual journal, accepting articles in the three main Swiss languages, German, French, and Italian, as well as in English. It invites theoretical as well as empirical contributions. The journal welcomes contributions that specifically deal with empirical questions relating to Switzerland. The agenda of Geographica Helvetica is related to the specificity of Swiss geography as a meeting ground for different geographical traditions and languages (German, French, Italian and, more recently, a type of transnational, mainly English-speaking geography). The journal aims to become an ideal platform for the development of an informed, creative, and truly cosmopolitan geography. The journal will therefore provide space for cross-border theoretical debates around major thinkers – past and present – and the circulation of geographical ideas and concepts across Europe and beyond. The journal seeks to be a platform of debate also through innovative publication formats in its section "Interfaces", which publishes shorter interventions: reflection pieces on major thinkers as well as position papers (see manuscript types). Geographica Helvetica is promoted and supported by the following institutions: Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT), Geographic and Ethnological Society of Zurich/Geographisch-Ethnographische Gesellschaft Zürich (GEGZ), and Swiss Association of Geography/Association Suisse de Géographie (ASG).