From De-Urbanisation to the Renaturation of Riverbanks in France: The Emergence of an Ecology of Reconciliation in Urban Design?

Many of France’s urban rivers have been the focus of redevelopment projects, with the main aim of turning their banks into attractive public spaces. In addition to emblematic projects in the central areas of metropolises this chapter focuses on more modest reclamation projects currently underway in small and medium-sized towns and/or on small urban watercourses. The aim is to decipher the multiple development issues simultaneously addressed by projects that take the flood risk issue as their starting point and respond to it by deciding to de-urbanise areas close to the river. How are these riverside areas redeveloped? Do these projects reflect a renewed vision of urban rivers and their development? At a time when the ecological and climate crisis requires us to reinvent our relationship with the living world and the environment, is the redevelopment of these de-urbanised areas helping to make more room for ecological and climate issues?