UNOC WORKSHOP in Nice – Spatial recomposition: a solution to adapt high-risk coastal areas
On 14 March 2025 in Nice, take part in a collaborative workshop to amplify the voice of Mediterranean communities in addressing coastal risk challenges. Contribute to a global initiative in preparation for the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC 3).
Rising sea levels, combined with land subsidence and erosion, are creating inevitable major impacts on some coastal areas, some of which may become uninhabitable. The ability of populations to adapt will depend on short- and long-term public action and on the quality of the dialogue with local communities.
Register to the workshop
Mediterranean citizens, territorial planners, coastal risk management experts, local stakeholders, researchers, students in the fields of science, urban planning or sustainable development, civil society representatives, we warmly invite you to join us!
- When: 14 March 2025
- Where : Nice, France – Centre Universitaire Méditerranéen (CUM)
65 Promenade des Anglais, 06000 Nice - Participation in-person or online (we strongly encourage in-person attendance for a successful co-production exercise).
Workshop topics
- Assessing high-risk areas: understanding and faciliting the transition
The goal is to better identify the territories most exposed to coastal changes through projection methods and data management. Foster constructive dialogue between scientists, local authorities, and citizens, and ensure wide dissemination through effective mediation strategies. - Strategies: managing and designing the recomposition
How to prepare a socially equitable transition through innovative public actions in land management, funding, and support for impacted communities? How to then act, considering urban projects for territorial recomposition and alternative urban development perspectives? - A strategy for priority projects
The aim is to explore the effective implementation of projects and the value of experimental approaches (floating cities, eco-territories, nature-based solutions, etc.) to create sustainable and high-quality re-territorialisation processes.
Making our voice heard for the Mediterranean: towards the 2025 UNOC in Nice
Be part of a regional and international dynamic to influence the future of coastal zones and make the Mediterranean a pioneering region in addressing climate change risks.
The workshop will formulate concrete recommendations to deliver a joint message, “The Voice of the Mediterranean“, a series of priorities for the future of the Mediterranean, which will be presented at the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3).
The UNOC 3 will be held in June 2025, co-hosted by France and Costa Rica. This major international event will also mark the launch of the Coalition of Coastal Cities and Coastal Regions of the World, launched and chaired by Christian ESTROSI, Mayor of Nice, President of the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis, Deputy President of the SUD – Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region.
AVITEM is contributing to prepare the Mediterranean dimension of this coalition, coordinating a dynamic co-construction and exchange process involving a network of expert partners: Plan Bleu, the Mediterranean Experts on Climate and environmental Change (MedECC), the Institute for Research and Développement (IRD), the Intermediterranean Commission (CIM-CRPM), the four schools of architecture involved in the Mélimed project, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egyptian National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, the French Development Agency (AFD), MedCities, the Ocean & Climate Platform. With the support of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the SUD – Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region and the City of Nice.
Speakers at the Nice workshop
Barbara Pons, Director of Barcelona Regional, the public agency responsible for the strategic urban development of Barcelona City Council and Barcelona metropolitan area. Associate Professor of Global Studies at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and Secretary General of CIDEU, the Ibero-American Centre for Strategic Urban Development.
An architect specialising in sustainable urban development, climate change and global cities, she holds a PhD in urban planning and a master’s degree in landscape architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.
Arjan VAN DE LINDELOOF, landscape architect and policy manager for the province of South Holland in the Netherlands, works on coastal zone development and planning and leads cross-cutting projects on issues related to water, planning, spatial design and nature-based solutions.
Convinced of the importance of multisectoral processes and the involvement of all stakeholders – society, science, politics, industry – for balanced, functional, aesthetic and sustainable adaptation solutions.
Gil MAHE, research director at the Institute of Research for Development (IRD) attached to the HydroSciences Montpellier laboratory. A geologist and geophysicist by training, he works on the hydroclimatology of the great rivers of Africa, on water issues in the Maghreb, in relation to meteorology, oceanography and anthropogenic impacts on the environment.
He has contributed to the creation of numerous observation sites, particularly in Mali, Burkina Faso, Morocco and Tunisia, where he co-founded the OMELI-UNESCO Observatory with Dr. Oula AMROUNI of the INSTM (National Institute of Marine Sciences and Technologies), to study the continent-coast link in a region highly vulnerable to marine submersion.
Dr Oula Amrouni is a researcher at the INSTM (National Institute of Marine Sciences and Technologies) of the University of Carthage in Tunisia. She specialises in coastal morphodynamics and sedimentology, and her research focuses on coastal sediment dynamics (delta, lagoon, coastline, foreshore, marine sandbars, etc.) under natural and human pressure.
She has directed or participated in 26 national and international projects on rising sea levels, stabilisation of coastal dunes and marine pollution. She is regional coordinator of UNESCO’s MEDFRIEND-WATER programme.
Stéphane Roumeau, director of the Syndicat Mixte de l’étang de Thau, a public territorial basin organisation covering 25 municipalities (Hérault), for the management of water, land use planning and the territorial coherence scheme (SCOT), taking into account issues of salinity, quality and water scarcity, in a context of adaptation to climate change.
Alexandre Pennaneac’h, project manager of the Syndicat Mixte de l’étang de Thau, in charge of BlueThauLab, a collaborative territorial innovation platform dedicated to blue growth, which brings together elected officials, public and private actors, and researchers to provide concrete answers on the future of coastal territories through data sharing and in situ experimentation.
Alain PHILIP, Director General of the Agence d’Urbanisme Azuréenne and Director General of Technical Services for the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis. An architect and town planner, he is leading a programme that focuses on the major issues of the environment, resilience and adaptation to change, linking town planning, the environment, health and quality of life.
The Agence d’Urbanisme Azuréenne supports the regions of the French Riviera in a process of dialogue, pooling and expertise in the fields of planning and urban development, and the development and preservation of the regions.
Laurence JACQUIER, Director of Studies at the Agence d’Urbanisme Azuréenne, with expertise as a landscape engineer, she leads urban projects (land, planning, studies, set-up and implementation) and landscape projects with a speciality in historical and heritage sites.