Welcome to the web documentary created by students from the Spatial Planning and Environment Department of Polytech Tours. The Planning and Environment Department is part of the Public Engineering School of the University of Tours.

The content was produced as part of a third-year engineering school course, by around twenty students. Please read and discover their analyse on Climate Justice : Vulnerability & Equity in face of floods. The course was organized and coordinated by : Denis Martouzet and Mathilde Gralepois from September 2023 to January 2024.

This webdoc was made possible thanks to the teaching and technical support of the FacLab at the University of Tours.

Our web documentary explores issues of Climate Justice, Vulnerability, and Equity in the face of flood risks. The web documentary is a teaching and learning material. It is an outcome created with student participation based on the main results of a social science research project called SOLARIS. The SOLARIS project aims to analyze socio-spatial injustices related to Climate change Adaptation Policies, with a particular emphasis on the prevention and management of hydraulic risks. The University of Tours is the Project leader, in collaboration with researchers and PhD students from four European countries: Belgium, England, Finland, and France.

Our web documentary delves into a less-explored aspect of Climate change Adaptation Policies: the socio-spatial effects of these Policies. While numerous studies have focused on socio-economic inequalities linked to exposure to the effects of Climate change, there remain gaps in analyzing the distributive effects of Adaptation Policies. Academic studies indicate that these Policies can concentrate, displace, or generate new inequalities based on the location and socio-demographic characteristics of populations. The key question we explore is whether Vulnerability to floods encompasses an issue of Equity.

We question the consideration of socio-economic inequalities in the implementation of Climate change Adaptation Policies and how the concept of Justice is perceived or not.

Key Questions

• Where are Climate change Adaptation Policies being implemented?
• What are their socio-spatial impacts?
• Which populations are targeted?
• Who benefits from these Policies?
• What are the profiles of the affected populations?

Case Studies

Four European countries are analysed : Finland, Belgium, England & France. In each country, two case studies are selected, as you will discover in the webdocmentary !

Each of these cases examines Vulnerability data of populations exposed to extreme hydraulic risks and intersects them with the spatial effects of public action choices. Join us in this exploration of Climate justice across Europe.