In a somewhat empirical way, one can distinguish four interrelated phases in the process of forming the collective image of a milieu: identification, « modélisation » (internal model), significance and affectivity. Beginning with these fundamental constituents of perceptual activity and placing them in relation to those of landscape (forms, inhabitants, and values) it has been possible for us to reconstitute the network of the regional objective of Charlevoix, and to identify its level of consistency. Essentially polydimensionnal and open in the distant past, this « objective » seems to contract as one progresses in time : the range of choice shrinks, imposing as it does so, more and more stereotyped patterns of behavior. By going beyond the conceptual limitations of the past and present, one can foresee the outline of a new regional objective which appears not as a possible return of the diversity of the past, but rather as the assertion of a new concept of development which attempts to introduce long range planning, collective participation, and protection of the environment.