The coastal visible environment. A key issue on the French riviera

Samuel Robert

CNRS - Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis (FR)

Among various factors explaining why some coastal regions have become popular with people, scenic beauties have been underestimated. Yet there is no doubt about the influence of coastal sceneries on the success of coastal areas with tourism in Europe, either on the Mediterranean or the Atlantic and the other northern seas. But the part played by environmental aesthetics in how attractive are coastal areas goes farther beyond the impact on tourism industry.
For more than 250 years now, sea and coastal areas have been fascinating human societies. Coastal zones have been hosting more and more inhabitants and activities, transforming dramatically the visible environment, that is landscape and seascape. Nevertheless, people (tourists as well as locals) still enjoy coastal sightseeing and, with the rise of environmental issues, are more concerned with visible environment than ever. Moreover, international recommendations for landscape management (European landscape convention, for instance), for sustainable development, as well as for integrated coastal zone management do reinforce the need for more information and study of our visible environment
On the French Riviera, the visible environment has been very early identified as one of the major assets of local development. The rise of this coastal region as one of the leading coastal spot of the world in terms of tourism ows a lot to its climate but also to its landscape and coastal sceneries. Nevertheless, developments have been very strong : urbanisation, marinas, yachting harbours, transportation networks, etc. After a few decade of heavy land artificialisation, the region has been experiencing (for the last 10 years) policies and small developments more respectful for the visible environment.
The presentation will deal with coastal visible environment in general, in order to set up this concept. Then, various examples from the French Riviera will show what is the main trend on this littoral regarding coastal management and, particularly, how the visible environment is taken into account. Ultimately, the specific experience run jointly by ESPACE laboratory and the city of Vallauris, concerning the study of sea visibility on the whole territory and how it should be integrated into urban planning, will be presented.