This paper focuses on the patrimonial development strategy currently followed in the Diois (Drôme, France), where the economic and demographic dynamics of its various sectors are very contrasted. However, the Diois is struck by a global decline. Actually, the objective for this region is to invest in patrimonial valorisation, to build a "territorial brand name", to assess its distinction, while being a leading engine at the scale of the territory implied in the step. Consequently, the major stake of this region is to build a community feeling and development process thanks to the valorisation of local heritage. Analysing the creation of a “Pôle d’économie du patrimoine du Diois”, the author shows that the different forms of the actors’ local belonging play a major role in this process which aimed at generating and supporting several local projects of development, based on the Diois heritage. Moreover, it is mentioned that local dynamics often result from an “active minority”, made of key-actors, whose common characteristics are their ability to “feel” the external and global factors which condition the internal development and local socio-economic dynamics. All of these key-actors show a real competence to construct and to keep many relations with the “outside”. For example, the success of organic farming in the Diois is due to few persons, and especially to two Dutch men, who have set up an international network interested in organic farming and mountain’s landscapes, and who are both are very active in different local associations and in many other collective procedures. Eventually, this paper argues that the future of rural and mountainous regions, even when several local initiatives tend to improve it, can not be separate from urban dynamics. Moreover, an important condition for local governance could rely on the capacity of key actors to apprehend these dynamics, and thus to built their local legitimacy (“he’s from here, because he has been abroad”), as well as a local belonging feeling, recognized and shared by local people.