Local initiatives for post-flood reconstruction and territorial reconfigurations around water in the Roya valley (Mediterranean Alps, France).
On 2 October 2020, storm Alex hit the Roya valley (Mediterranean Alps) hard. The flash flood left the Roya with very difficult access for a year despite massive investment to reopen roads and railways. This presentation focuses on the dynamics of post-flood reconstruction in this valley and questions the way in which, in a crisis context, local initiatives for environmental transition are implemented (or not). Do new territorial imaginaries emerge to ‘rebuild differently’ around water? Or does the emergency situation favour existing planning schemes? The paper focuses on i) solidarity initiatives of citizens living outside the territory but very involved locally since the disaster, ii) everyday practices and strategies of the inhabitants of this mountain territory.
With a political geography and political ecology approach, this research shows which actors manage to legitimize their representations of the future of the Roya valley in a crisis context. While authorities invested for the reconstruction of heavy infrastructure (roads, bridges, riverbanks), collective citizen actions could carry out actions directly on private land affected by the flood. Local organizations created before the flood sought to mobilize their networks of social and political relations to put forward their vision of the reconstruction of the valley. Some mainly supported the demands for economic aid and rapid infrastructural reconstruction, others emphasized the need for consultation or participation and supported ‘alternative’ projects. Therefore, ‘community-based response’ appears to be non-homogeneous, very diverse, strongly influenced by political relations and linked to supralocal (state) actors. From a relational perspective, (mountain) territory is understood as a space of negotiation at the interface of collective action and public action, between public policies and local development dynamics.
Mots clés : flood|post-disaster reconstruction|territorial imaginaries|local initiatives|political ecology
A105011SL