Contenu du sommaire

Resilience : a concept for risk management The socio-natural systems have the capacity to resist hazard. Disasters disturb them but rarely do they make them disappear. The concept of resilience illustrates this capacity. From its physical origin it has evolved through its applications in several different scientific branches. Nevertheless, resilience remains difficult to measure. But its knowledge makes possible the adoption of new forms of management of social or natural risks. Theses forms of management are very different from the technological approaches which are not always well adapted to the environment or the society.

Hydromorphic processes and human activity interactions within the floodplain forest of the Rhône River basin Floodplain forests present a complex and diverse mosaic of vegetation units that result from a combination of physical and temporal gradients, biotic interactions, and human pressures. Qualitatively, the links between vegetation and hydro-morphological processes have been explored by several authors, but some aspects remain poorly documented. This paper seeks to illustrate why a quantitative approach is needed to describe the impact of hydro-morphological channel evolution on water and sediment flux, and thus on floodplain forests. At the landscape scale, human control is fundamental to both the evolution of geomorphic surfaces and the structural characteristics of the riparian corridor. In here, abandonment of forestry and pastoral practices can lead to an increase in floodplain vegetation cover (Ain River) and, conversely, human activities can reduce forest cover, leading to its fragmentation (Arve River). With lateral channel mobility, the diversity of the landscape mosaic increases, even if the structural diversity also increases by human activities. At the community and individual scale, results show that channel adjustment due to upstream controls can change floodplain ecological conditions and therefore forest structure and evolution. It also shows that vegetation dynamics are controlled by multiple processes acting at varying temporal and spatial scales. Considering the importance of interactions and variability within fluvial corridors, what guidance can be given to managers ? This framework proposes sustainable development but is still inefficient in integrating riparian values. Some progress must be made in terms of integrative management and socio-economic understanding of services provided by floodplain forests. The results obtained within this framework make it possible to discuss the validity of concepts used in floodplain forest management : diversity, naturalness and functionality. Functionality appears to be the best insurance to preserve ecological and socio-economic values of alluvial woodlands. Finally, we propose to substitute, for management purposes, the classic “reference state” with a “reference dynamic” concept.

Critical analysis of a territorial management policy ( “Opérations Grands Sites”) This article offers a critical analysis of Great Sight-seeing Operations, a French land use planning policy to construct, establish and mark high heritage value for tourist areas. Since the beginning of the Eighties, environment French administration has leaded a policy to rehabilitate some protected sight-seeing intensely visited by tourists. Around 43 listed sites have been chosen in several tourist areas, on the coast or inland. In 2004, four major spots were officially selected as Great Sight-seeing of France because of their good environmental management. These Great Sight-seeing Operations aim at making local tourism development consistent with the preservation of undamaged landscapes. The criteria for the selection are first studied ; it thus shows an “official” geography of French heritage, whose relativity and malleability make the management of these operations long and difficult. Second, the sight-seeing operations are compared with other French landscapes and heritages protection acts : national and natural parks, UNESCO World heritage, etc. In this, the significance of those great projects of is better understood. At the end, it becomes possible to discuss the notions and improve the accuracy of the carrying capacity, of tourism flows management and of the links between tourism and heritage.

Spatial capital, housing strategies and individualization process Based on an inquiry of the residential practices within the urban area of Tours (France), this article shows how the use of the concept of spatial capital improves the understanding of residential identities, their formation and their dynamics. Seen in a legitimist perspective, the residential capital of the individuals — which constitutes a constituent of the spatial capital — confirms the persistence and even the intensification of the position effects, in line with the endowed economic and/or cultural capital. Seen in an individualistic perspective, the residential capital reveals the powerful individualization of the choices of environment, and leaves way to an understanding of its complexity. Thus, applied to the residential strategies, the concept of spatial capital allows to hold together the collective and the singular on the scale of the individual, and, by there even, to recognize the role of this double movement in the complexification of urban organizations.

Urban dynamics of New Orleans before Katrina : urban sprawl and racial segregation When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, it was a mostly black and poor Metropolis. The study of the settlement trends between 1990 and 2000 displays how Urban Sprawl, caused by the white flight out of the city toward the outer ring of the MSA and the inland parishes, reduced the number of people affected by flooding, but how it worsened also the social sensitivity to natural hazard as a consequence of increased racial segregation.