Gestion des risques naturels et prise en compte du développement durable: un lien équivoque. Le cas du sud grenoblois

This article examines the nature of the possible link between natural hazards and sustainable development through a study of the area to the south of Grenoble in the French Alps, a zone subject to two major natural hazards: the extensive landslide known as the "Séchilienne Ruins" and flooding from the Romanche and Drac rivers. More specifically, the study analyzes the assumed transition from the management of natural hazards to the sustainable management of an area subject to natural hazards and is divided into three stages. Thus the link between natural hazards and sustainability is considered as: 1) an association that is entirely relative, 2) one that is logical but limited in the field, 3) one that is above all indirect. The interactions identified between risk and sustainability, in legislative as well as ideal and operational terms, are found to be complex and not necessarily explicit. They depend in particular on the juxtaposition of multiple territorial scales or spatial boundaries (national to local) that bring into conflict the different strategies of the actors involved – from decision-makers to technical specialists.