Opportunities and Challenges of Natural-Based Solutions in Urban Areas—French Case Studies

Abstract

Observing current situation in urban areas and in light of recent events in southeast France, such as the storm ALEX in 2020 over the Vésubie valley close to Nice (France), the function of existing green blue and grey infrastructure is tested. While disasters have more and more drivers that involve human actions the role of nature and use natural-based solutions bring a new dimension of managing disaster risk and contribute to better understanding. In this paper we are analyzing existing natural-based solutions (NBS) in two case study area in France: (i) Nice Eco-Vallée located in the French Riviera and (ii) Les Boucholeurs located in west Atlantic coast. The two coastal case studies are part of Horizon2020 project RECONECT (http://www.reconect.eu ) where the focus is on hydro-meteorological risk reduction by demonstrating, referencing, up-scaling and exploiting large-scale NBS in rural and natural areas.