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Landscapes, uses and representations: What changes after the removal of the Vezins and La-Roche-Qui-Boit dams?

Coordinator(s)

Marie-Anne Germaine

Scientific context

The project to restore the Selune valley by removing hydroelectric structures is unprecedented in France and Europe, given the height of the dams (36 and 16 metres high) and their impact on the watercourse. Locally, projects of this scale generate social mobilisation and conflicts. But these social reactions have not been sufficiently studied. Similarly, the changes in landscape and practices brought about by the removal operations are not necessarily taken into account. These changes are manifold: they concern landscape forms, spatial practices and the representations of users. Whether they are planned or unplanned, directly or indirectly linked to the removal operations, negative or positive, it is important to identify these changes and to measure their impact on visitor numbers, uses and representations of the river and the valley in general.

Subject(s) of study

This project focuses on the social and economic dimensions of dam removal on the Selune in order to understand what is at stake in this restoration project for inhabitants, local stakeholders and managers.

Objectives

This study aims at contributing to a better understanding of the social issues involved in restoration projects. Based on the timetable of the operation and accompanying its various stages, this project follows the processes of acceptance and appropriation of the project by various local players in relation to the changes brought about by the project in terms of landscapes and spatial practices within the area affected. Particular attention is paid to the modes of governance and integration of local communities and the forms of communication put in place.
The objectives are to :

1. Understand the resistance to the project and analyse the difficulties of local acceptance.
2. To analyse the uses of the valley with the dams in order to understand the changes brought about by the removal of the dams on the uses, landscapes and representation of the valley.

Methods

In order to meet the research objectives, the project is mobilising several methods:

• Semi-structured interviews with representatives of various user groups, to find out the opinions of different users (fishermen, hikers, tourism professionals, etc.) as well as residents, elected representatives and managers.
• In-depth semi-structured interviews with key players (elected representatives, managers, representatives of associations and the socio-economic world). The questions asked cover the usefulness of the dam, the constraints and risks associated with its maintenance or removal, knowledge of how the watercourse functions, changes in the landscape and uses, so that environmental representations and the practices associated with them may emerge in the course of the conversations.
• A textual analysis of the full and systematic transcription of all the interviews.
• A large-scale consultation of local residents on this operation (photo questionnaire, innovative participative approaches).
• Analysis of the local press.
• A protocol using photographic tools, in particular, is developed, drawing on the work of the Observatoire Photographique du Paysage and experiments carried out in various areas.

Laboratories involved

• LAVUE – Architecture City Urbanism Environment Laboratory, Mosaics Laboratory, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense
• EVS – UMR Environnement Cities Society, Université de Lyon
• Ethnozi - consulting firm, Saint Vincent sur Oust