Territories facing the drought: Developing adaptation & mitigation tools in the Mediterranean region
In September 2022, RAW organised an immersive workshop on resilient urban planning. For five days, RAW worked hand in hand with local stakeholders to analyse the vulnerability of the territory in the face of drought, imagine risk mitigation and adaptation solutions, and build a new collective narrative around the access to the water resource. RAW's replicable workshop methodology aims to bring together research, practice, and activism in a process of knowledge co-production.
Regional
France
Châteauneuf-Grasse
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Risk & Architecture Workshop association Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Nga Last name of representative: Nguyen Le Thuy Gender: Female Nationality: Belgium Function: General secretary Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Rue des pêcheurs 10bis Town: Loctudy Postal code: 29750 Country: France Direct Tel:+32 478 72 33 19 E-mail:riskarchitectureworkshop@gmail.com Website:https://rawarchitectureworkshop.wordpress.com/
Founded by architects, urban planners and researchers in 2013, Risk & Architecture Workshop (RAW) produces knowledge on the themes of resilience and risk management integrated into territorial projects. RAW's approach is co-creative, place-based, transdisciplinary, and transformative. RAW builds links between residents, public authorities, academics, civil society, and the private sector affected by and active in decreasing territorial risk.
The effects of the environmental and climate crisis, the overexploitation of resources, the artificialisation of land and the overproduction of waste demand a rethinking of our spatial planning practices. RAW wished to work in the territories of the Mediterranean basin which are under raising threat of droughts and shortages of water resources.
RAW's spatial approach to contextual vulnerability is similar to water-sensitive urban design developed in Australia or alternative techniques in France (Fletcher et al, 2015), but with three main specific features.
1) Design based on the co-production of knowledge that relies on social and group cohesion to create a safe space for each individual.
2) Focus on small cities and solidarity among them as drivers of change.
3) Adapt the methodology to a specific place. This means adapting the design tools to specific governance conditions in order to preserve creativity and avoid blockages related to current institutional practices.
The town of Châteauneuf-Grasse gave us the opportunity to host RAW's 5-day workshop on resilient urban planning in September 2022. Châteauneuf-Grasse is ideally located between Provence and the French Riviera, and more particularly in the watersheds of the Loup, the Brague and the Siagne. Passing through the towns of Gourdon, Grasse, Mouans-Sartoux, and Valbonne, these rivers all meet on the territory of Châteauneuf-Grasse.
Contextual vulnerability
Knowledge co-production
Risk adaptation and mitigation
Small and medium-sized cities
Climate change resilience
RAW aims to propose solutions for transforming the physical environment that incorporate restoration of the natural water cycle, are multifunctional, and are responsive to climate change and environmental degradation.
These solutions are embodied in two study sites, 'Pré-du-Lac' and 'Le Vignal'. The municipality extends upstream and downstream from the Brague river in these two very different urban contexts. Upstream, the river has been buried and the urban fabric has lost its connection to the historical centre of the village. In this context, one of the key objectives was to put the source of the Brague back at the heart of the definition of the city entrance. The second solution is based in the valley downstream, with a more diffuse urban context, but also more conflicting water uses between agriculture, residence and leisure. Here, the key objective lies on an invitation to good practice in sharing the resource.
Regarding sustainability, RAW does not encourage mono-oriented technical solutions based on engineering, but rather sensitive solutions that meet the needs of a wide population. Therefore, RAW not only addressed questions regarding the governance of the territory and the status of natural resources, but also worked on spatial adaptation solutions for water preservation within the municipality of Châteauneuf-Grasse. The proposed solutions are based on nature and follow a circular and metabolic approach. The main goal is to infiltrate, treat and store rainwater and/or grey water in order to reduce the pressure on the use of drinking water.
RAW's spatial approach incorporates uses that are usually considered as secondary to enhance the experience of inhabitants. For example: soft mobility, attention to families and children, distancing and preservation of views, reconnection with place value, etc. When a place no longer has historical landmarks of value, it loses its identity and habitation becomes harder. RAW explores and provides tools to reuse the space.
This is precisely the case of the first study site, 'Pré-du-Lac'. The Pré-du-Lac site is remarkable for several reasons. Firstly, it is connected (upstream) to the source of the Brague river and hosts an open-air rainwater collector. Secondly, it is the most important traffic hub of the commune where many businesses are concentrated. Finally, Pré-du-Lac is structured around a large surface parking lot representing the entrance to the town. For this site, RAW imagined a park as nature-based infrastructure, supporting a new urban identity. The general idea is to make the issue of water sharing a trigger for a general redesign of public spaces and the source of a new identity for the neighbourhood. Integrated stormwater management brings co-benefits on urban quality in addition to reducing flood and drought risks. Furthermore, enhancing the heritage of the Brague watershed supports local identity by allowing citizens to rediscover the river.
RAW focuses on small and medium-sized cities for two reasons. On the one hand, while major cities are the subject of resilience studies and plans, small and medium-sized municipalities are poorly equipped to face climate change and environmental crises. On the other hand, the bonds of solidarity and dependence, as well as local cultures and ecological knowledge, are stronger and more apparent in local settings than in metropolises where lifestyles are more individual, globalised, and disconnected from the local anchorage.
Specifically in the case of the Châteauneuf-Grasse workshop, federating a community of actors around the management of the waters of the Brague river emerged as a viable governance measure. These actors would all be participating in a collective project of territory. RAW proposed the creation of a community and citizen governance system for the environment, on the scale of the watershed: the PEB (Parlement des Eaux de la Brague, or the Parliament of the Waters of the Brague in English). The PEB gathers different colleges of actors around the issues of land acquisition, financing, technical support and management of project spaces. The PEB must allow the civil society to organise and/or participate in events raising awareness about water-related issues of the Brague river (e.g., water festivals, assemblies, story-telling, etc.).
The concept of the PEB achieves these objectives of inclusion and sets an example for alternative governance models.
Châteauneuf-Grasse is located near the Sophia Antipolis tertiary economic pole, or “technopole”. This complex attracts many brains and leads to an increase in property prices in one of the most expensive regions of France. In fact, the municipality of Châteauneuf-Grasse is in the front line of the social gaps that this situation entails. The population is becoming increasingly fragmented, and what can be considered as “gated communities” are appearing near the solidarity markets and social housing.
RAW's initiative aims to give a voice to this disunited population and offers them the opportunity to rebuild society around an essential shared resource: water. The workshop included two participatory activities open to the public, which were communicated by the municipality leading up to the event.
To ensure this action does not remain a one-off and allows the civil society to create a debate, RAW published a booklet (under creative commons) and is willing to provide follow-up of possible future developments in relation to this action. The publication is available in French (see attachment) and is currently being translated to English.
The arrival of external RAW experts in Châteauneuf-Grasse for a week created a dynamic that brought attention to the municipality's challenges, while offering various opportunities for local actors to share their experiences.
The variety of local actors (civil society, small businesses, residents, public authorities...) was combined with a heterogeneous schedule of settings and times to facilitate interaction with the external experts (e.g., dinners, walking tours, informal daily interactions, participatory mapping). RAW's team of external experts created a safe space to share the concerns of each local stakeholder. This was made possible by the RAW team which remained easily accessible and always on the move. RAW experts were not based in an office but were a part of the community's daily life.
These elements allowed the co-production of knowledge through interaction with local actors in a multiplicity of contexts.
RAW brought together talents from complementary disciplines and with knowledge of the context of the Mediterranean basin. The team consisted of landscape architects (PUYA agency / RAW), urban planners (Perrin architectures / RAW) and architects (RAW). RAW also brought in-house expertise in water management by mobilising its own scientific council.
In addition, RAW called upon local farmers (SCIC FERRAGES, Rémi Lefèbvre), sociologists and economists from the city of Grasse (SCIC TETRIS), as well as an anthropologist (Kim Tondeur) to broaden the horizons of the project.
The entire team (ten onsite participants) actively took part in the workshop in different ways:
- In preparation of the workshop, by collecting contextual and scientific data on the watersheds, their history, their economic evolution up to the present day, and more precisely on the evolution of water sharing. Indeed, this resource has been channelled towards the coast in the context of the development of beach tourism in France, to the detriment of the territories located upstream.
- During the workshop, by using their own individual sensitivities to understand the different dimensions of the subject and produce concerted and contextualised prospective visions. In keeping with its transversal vision, RAW encouraged a professional mix in the working groups.
RAW aims to become a key actor in the mobilisation of small towns in the face of challenges that too often go beyond their means. In France, expertise and consultation take place on a rather larger scale (region, department, etc.) and localities struggle to make the complexity of the tensions observed at their level heard. This initiative aims to fill this gap and bring about change in a bottom-up dynamic that is still very rare.
RAW brings expertise to little-studied territories. The association also allows space professionals to work on territories to which they would otherwise have no access, and puts them in contact with local stakeholders. This initiative, and more globally RAW’s action, offers a new field of study to the international actors involved, while opening the debate to locals with the help of external experts.
By touching on the subject of water, RAW's transversal vision connects the resource to the multiplicity of its uses in a given territory. These uses, such as living and farming, are part of the social and economic health of the territory. As a matter of fact, food autonomy is a central issue in this region and approaching it in an innovative way through the context of access to the water resource allows for solutions that would otherwise be less apparent.
The Alpes Maritimes department have only a few days of food autonomy. The department is highly dependent on external food resources and does not have a stock that would ensure the survival of its population in the event of a crisis. This shows a disconnection between the space where the inhabitants live and what enables them to live there (B. Latour). The challenge is therefore to reconnect people with their territory while promoting the restoration of ecosystems and providing equitable access to water resources.
RAW's heritage lies in learning from cases with similar challenges. RAW believes that creativity is enriched by sharing common experiences and values. RAW proposes a methodology that brings together research, practice, and activism in a process of knowledge co-production. Specifically, co-production of knowledge develops as a result of an interaction between "experiential" and scientific knowledge.
RAW develops knowledge to feed the design process. As such, experiential knowledge includes a variety of sources and types of local knowledge. Experiential knowledge is gathered to solve a place-based problem (Armitage et al. 2011). Users are invited to share their experience in different contexts. For example, the Map-it tool (adapted for water scarcity - Huybrechts et al, 2012) allows participants to talk and creates a common language among them. It is free to use and accessible to all. Scientific knowledge is based on existing reports (such as the IPCC), the experience of experts (e.g., water management...) and the ability of designers to imagine the transformation of a physical space. An important effort is made to create a team cohesion between the experts on the sites (sharing values and personal experiences).
RAW creates safe spaces (both physical and abstract) for knowledge co-production to occur through collaboration between local actors and experts (in workshops, informal meetings and interviews) with the aim of increasing creativity and supporting the transformation of territories and their adaptation to uncertainties (Tschakert and Dietrich, 2010). For example, the meetings between the external experts and the users' college have become places of co-production of knowledge where scientific and experiential knowledge are articulated.
RAW's approach develops experiments that are temporary and place-based. The methodology used is replicable and capable of driving an urban regeneration programme or being part of existing programmes.
The workshop took place in the municipality of Châteauneuf-Grasse and aimed to reinforce the municipality’s action on two axes: 1) Develop a prospective vision based on transition strategies towards greater resilience to drought events; and 2) Consider and integrate civil society into the transition process. A collective approach supported by the population aims at democratising and accelerating the transition process.
RAW set up a working methodology before the workshop, in order to deal with the analysis of the site and its issues as well as the identification of potential solutions. Several site visits were organised, but also meetings with local actors. Subsequently, participatory workshops were set up to compare the initial hypotheses with the opinions of the community, local actors and inhabitants. The recommendations resulting from both our reflections and our experiences were thus nourished and put into perspective by this collective exchange.
A framework for reflection was created in order to communicate this methodology from the very first day of work. This framework successively took up the studied climatic phenomena, here drought and rain, and the general and theoretical consequences of these phenomena. Aggravating factors resulting from the development of the territory by mankind were then identified, as well as their localised situational consequences illustrating the concrete effects observed on the studied territory. Finally, solutions and recommendations regrouping the lessons learned from the workshop were proposed. In line with RAW's vision, the solutions are multidisciplinary and transversal and are as much about spatial solutions as they are about governance of the water resource, public policy or the emergence of a shared consultation between public and private actors and citizens.
One of the major impacts of climate change is the disruption of the water cycle: droughts and floods in particular. The global increase in temperature modifies precipitation patterns, which become more intense and sudden in cold seasons and rarer during hot periods, although this observation must be specified according to the local context of each geography. These disturbances in the water cycle lead to potential conflicts over water resources. Indeed, changes in precipitation regimes lead to modifications in the quantities, periods and frequencies of precipitation and in the storage and distribution capacities of the resources. These changes impact the capacity of man to use water and the way in which this resource was and is managed for several generations, calling into question the balance of its use. Changes in the availability of water resources can then disrupt other vital activities for our contemporary societies: agricultural production, energy production (dams and nuclear power plants), drinking water, industrial production or even certain leisure activities.
It is necessary to adapt these uses to better share the water resource according to the priorities on the territory. The scarcity of the resource, or at least the changes in its distribution in time and space, must be the subject of a new consensus with the stakeholders of the territory. Vulnerability is constructed by the way the territory is inhabited and the way water resources are managed, combined with the climate hazard. It is made visible in times of crisis. RAW's approach includes an iterative methodology for addressing contextual complexity.
The commune of Châteauneuf-Grasse has initiated since 2017 a policy of transition of the territory around three axes: food autonomy, energy autonomy, and integrated management of water resources. The Community of Municipalities of the Pays de Grasse is also carrying out collective actions focused on an ecological transition.
RAW has found in this locality an area conducive to exchanges and a municipality eager for new methods of approaching its territory. In January 2022, RAW contacted Châteauneuf-Grasse, began planning the workshop and scheduled a first site visit in March 2022. There, RAW experts met with the elected officials and the mayor and validated the project. This visit allowed to survey the territory and to define the methodology of the workshop. Between April and August 2022, the association prepared the workshop in close collaboration with the municipality and created the “users’ college” gathering local stakeholders. The workshop took place in September 2022. Following the final public restitution, the association published a booklet highlighting the work done.
This successful experience for both the municipality and RAW enables the possibility of future collaborations. The logical next step would be for RAW to support the definition of a public governance system for the waters of the Brague (PEB) in the coming years, one of the essential proposals resulting from the workshop. RAW continues to grow and to attract new members with multiple talents who would be keen in pursuing further development of this initiative.
The European competence framework on sustainability addresses education matters, including in informal settings. RAW’s mission is to produce knowledge on the themes of resilience and risk management integrated into territorial projects. RAW's approach is co-creative, place-based, transdisciplinary, and transformative. RAW builds links between residents, public authorities, academics, civil society, and the private sector affected by and active in decreasing territorial risk.
Concerning sustainability, RAW places nature in the centre of new spatial solutions. By doing this, RAW shifts the debate away from trivial matters to more grounded topics that affect us as human beings.
Since 2013, RAW has been addressing resilience integrated in design solutions. In the context of this initiative, we are dealing with a territory that is facing a consequence of global warming. The villages of the Mediterranean basin must build their own resilience in the face of an impending disaster. RAW fosters collective and concerted action through the proposal of an open and transparent governance system. RAW’s transversal approach addresses a set of problems that might seem disconnected at first glance. This systemic approach is critical to do so and is fuelled by both project-based research and a scientific approach. RAW is thus able to question the data by confronting it with new climate emergencies.
