We examine two academic traditions that address the nature-society interface. These traditions are organized around two main concepts: social-ecological system and territoire. These traditions have grown independently and are rooted respectively in ecology and social geography. We show that they have much in common: Both come with a systemic view of the nature-society interface and have the intention of understanding better the relations between nature and society and improving their sustainability. However, they differ in how they deal with space and society. We foresee that the combination of both traditions could improve the understanding of these systems, their definition, and their evolution, and hence, the capacity to assess and manage their resilience.

Resilience in urban development projects in flood-prone areas: a challenge to urban design professionals This article analyses how more resilient cities can be built in flood-prone areas by looking at the various ways urban design professionals get involved in urban development projects. While stressing the aesthetic values added by water environments, urban professionals (i.e. urban designers, landscape designers and architects) also have to deal with a number of risks specific to waterways and floodprone areas. They also find themselves facing a range of operational difficulties that can be solved either at the immediate building level or at the area level. This study focuses on four French projects developed in three medium-sized cities, Le Havre, Angers and Narbonne, as well as in a small city, Romorantin. Leveraging those examples, it provides an opportunity to better understand how vulnerability and resilience are dealt with by urban design professionals, as well as how the latter attempt to articulate the various and sometimes conflicting aspects of their projects-should they be political, aesthetic, technical or urban. This article will focus more specifically on architectural and urban forms. It will review some of the limits they present in terms of risk management, when reducing vulnerability to flooding becomes the number one priority.

Résumé Deux quartiers de l’agglomération de Blois – se trouvant dans un déversoir de la Loire, donc fortement soumis au risque d’inondation – sont actuellement en cours de délocalisation. Cette politique volontariste intégrant la prévention du risque au sein de l’aménagement urbain, qui constitue une première à l’échelle de la Loire moyenne, se heurte inévitablement à des oppositions, plus ou moins structurées et efficaces, mais qui révèlent néanmoins de nombreux enjeux, qu’ils soient sociaux, économiques ou territoriaux. Cette opération de délocalisation de quartiers entiers soulève en particulier la question de la vision de la ville à l’œuvre dans la mesure où le choix fait pour prévenir le risque d’inondation entraînera des recompositions urbaines non négligeables. La lutte contre le risque constitue ainsi une opportunité dont le politique peut se saisir afin de remodeler l’espace urbain. Mais n’y a-t-il pas, au vu des solutions esquissées pour l’instant, un risque d’évolution vers des logiques d’exclusion et de ségrégation ?

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