Towards new equilibriums for the river neighborhoods in transition

In the context of the fight against the devastating effect on the surrounding landscape of urban sprawl, a convergence appears between the objectives of densification within the built environment and risk management for flood-prone areas. It opens an era of reconciliation between the river and the urban areas it passes through. Undervalued sites to date have proved particularly suitable for the creation of new sustainable neighborhoods, especially when they are connected to public transport networks and have significant potential in terms of urban regeneration. As a river dealing with significant changes linked to the management of its floods, the Rhône is particularly emblematic of the multiple challenges inherent in these change processes.

The development of specific projectual approaches for this type of neighborhood in transition is at the heart of the “Rhodanie Urbaine” research project. To cope with the diversity of situations, the approach seeks to develop design visions on different study sites undergoing regeneration and showing evolution potential in terms of new city-river balances. Following the Rhône as a common thread, four study sites are selected at this stage, one for each hydraulic entity (excluding Lake Geneva and the Delta): a site in Sion located along the Rhône alpestre, a site in Geneva located along the Haut Rhône, a site in Givors (commune of Greater Lyon) located along the Rhône moyen, and a site in Avignon located along the Rhône inférieur.