Contenu du sommaire

Trends in residential segregation in urban area. The case of the urban area of Nantes The aim of this article is to propose an analysis method of the tendencies in sociospatial segregation in urban zones, from the case of the urban area of Nantes, between 1990 and 2008. This evolution is rarely measured, while the prevailing view seems to be that the inescapability of a progression of the segregation. Now, the analysis shows a generalized residential deconcentration and a decrease in of the socio-residential contradictions, under the effect in particular of the strong progress of executives where they were under-represented, in particular in urban periphery.

Actors and resources of local development in eastern Germany: the rural territory shown through the European Programme LEADER projects The contribution analyses how the members of Local Action Groups (LAG) from the European LEADER programme (2007-2013) devise and pilot development projects in the eastern part of Germany. The study emphasizes the monographic approach –in the Henneberger Land LEADER region in western Thuringia - to gain an understanding of how these cooperative networks are working to diversify rural activities through the mobilization of new land resources. In these rural areas of the former GDR, decollectivized rapidly in the early 1990s, the LEADER programmes contribute to the implementation of rural policies based on principles of endogenous development and on the mechanism of local governance. As they involve different actors, requested for their level of political responsibility, their work or their participation in community life, the GAL raise the question of coordination of the local action for the territorial development.

The acceptance of the sea as a factor in coastline management planning: a new governance with regard to the risk of flooding? A look at the examples of Lincolnshire, Essex (England), the coast of Picardie and Arcachon Bay (France) Coastline management policies and their effectiveness in the prevention of sea flooding or the fight against its risks are studied on four sites : the coast of Picardie, Arcachon Bay (France), Essex and Lincolnshire (England). The integration of natural dynamics and of long-term solutions in management policies shows some differences in the approach between Anglo-Saxon countries and France, the latter revealing, until a few years ago (and even nowadays in some cases), an anthropocentric form of governance. Thus, even in the Netherlands, which endured the dramatic floods of 1953 and whose history is bound up with the struggle against the sea's action, engineers, taking the future effects of Climate Change into account, look to new more flexible management concepts integrating the sea's action rather than fighting against it. Up to now, the works performed on the coast of Picardie have shown a continual struggle against the effects of the sea and have focused on protection or repairs (consolidation) after strong storms. In the Bay of Arcachon, the “planned” intrusion of the sea into the site is not justified by the necessity for the struggle against the consequences of the rising sea level, in contrast to the English examples. However, in France, a notable change seems to appear with the emergence of solutions, up to now more frequent in other European countries. These are more flexible, although paradoxically audacious because they are innovative and so arouse some suspicion among the population, such as on the coastal zone of Picardie. The paper studies what motivates this new approach to the problem. Does it square with what might be called the “post-Xynthia” period.

Catastrophes and adaptation along the Mississipi coast According to the “adaptation cycle” theory (Holling and Gunderson 2001), human adaptation to the changing coastal environment may be enhanced by repeated disaster experiences. However, one might establish a distinction between planned “first order” adaptation processes and spontaneous “second order” social and economic adaptation processes (Birkmann 2011). This paper aims to investigate the coastal Mississippi case-study to test the factors that help explain why “second order” adaptation is more efficient than planned “first order” adaptation. Coastal Mississippi has experienced two devastating hurricane strikes from Camille (1969) to Katrina (2005). For this reason, this case-study is focused on investigating theories about adaptation and mitigation policies versus coastal hazards. This paper reviews the Mississippi Coast's experience with an eye to lessons learned and lessons lost from these catastrophic events. The comparison between the disaster responses during Camille and Katrina displays significant progress. However, comparing the post-Camille reconstruction and the ongoing post-Katrina rebuilding process also shows evidence of the difficulty of learning lessons from disasters. This is vividly underscored when land developers and home owners rebuilt in vulnerable locations. Local interests strongly reject options like “potential buy-out areas” and demand instead an increased protection, eventually under the guise of soft environmental restoration programmes whenever structural options are not available. Unfortunately, the climate-change driven sea-level rise thwarts these mitigation strategies on the long run. For this reason, the next major hurricane-induced storm surge could well cause another disaster, similar to or worse than those already caused by Camille and Katrina, except if a strategic retreat from the shoreline is actually implemented. Nowadays, market forces seem more efficient in triggering a “second-order” urban adaptation process than faltering planners.