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Potential of the rhodanian neighborhoods

A careful inventory of the territory along the Rhône - from the glacier to the sea - aims to collect relevant data on the sites adjacent to the river. In a perspective of transition towards sustainability, it is more precisely a question of identifying and quantifying the sites likely to be part of a dynamic of change at the neighborhood scale. The inventory is being developed using cartographic data. The aim is to produce an unprecedented analysis of the urban shorelines in terms of their urbanization. This information - relating to more than 5'000 sites - will ultimately make it possible to produce various thematic syntheses and representations in the form of drawings, diagrams, and charts. These outcomes will reveal the potential for development, both from a quantitative and qualitative point of view, of rhodanian neighborhoods.
Rhodanian urban communities
A vector of urbanity since Antiquity, the Rhône River crosses 382 communities - including 2 metropolises (Geneva, Lyon) - for a total population of more than 3 million Rhodanians.
[source: OFS 2017, IGN 2018]
Rhodanian basin
The Rhône River rises in the St. Gotthard massif, flows through southwestern Switzerland for 290 km and then down southeastern France for 520 km, before reaching the Mediterranean.
[source: OFS 2017, IGN 2018]
Rhodanian flood areas
The severe floods that occurred between the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century led to the creation of the Plan d’aménagement de la 3ème correction du Rhône in Switzerland, and the Plan Rhône in France.
[source: OFEV 2018, IGN 2018]
Inventory of rhodanian neighborhoods
[© LAST]

Study sites

The approach focuses on developing project-based visions applied to study sites that are in the process of regeneration and show potential for evolution in terms of a new city-river balance. The underlying goal is to confront the diversity of situations. Following the Rhône as a common thread, four study sites were selected, one per hydraulic entity (excluding Lake Geneva and the Delta): one site in Sion located along the Rhône alpestre, one site in Geneva located along the Haut Rhône, one site in Givors (Greater Lyon metropolis) located along the Rhône moyen, and one site in Avignon located along the Rhône inférieur.
Study sites and hydraulic regimes of the Rhône
The four chosen study sites (Sion, Geneva, Givors, Avignon) are each located in a different Rhône hydraulic regime (excluding the Delta) and are intended to become new urban polarities.