Félicien Pecquet-Caumeil

The coastline is the interface between land and sea. This thick layer of overlapping natural dynamics is home to more than two-thirds of the world's population [Perrin, 2013]. While this demographic trend continues to worsen, climate change is exacerbating coastal hazards. Historians and geographers have shown that this is the ‘construction of a territory at risk’¹ and that the anthropisation of coastal areas is to blame. Coastal erosion, marine submersion and sudden flooding now threaten coastal habitats.
Since Storm Xynthia (2010), the adaptation of coastal areas to natural hazards has become a priority issue. Public policy and academic research consider this geographical fringe ‘as a project territory’. In overseas territories, the issue takes on a particular dimension, given the limited room for manoeuvre due to insularity and the intensity of natural phenomena (tropical storms and hurricanes, among others). In 2016, the municipality of Le Prêcheur (97250, Martinique) embarked on a spatial restructuring strategy. From initial prospecting to operational implementation, the approach is being taken at both the territorial and architectural levels, and is now being tested at the level of materials and associated sectors.
This research aims to study this trans-scale process. At a time when resilience strategies are deploying flexible and adaptable spatial and temporal planning, when architecture is re-exploring bioclimatism, and when local resources are raising questions about constructive cultures, between prospective theory and operational reality, can the restructuring of this coastline lead to the emergence of sustainable solutions at different project scales: territorial, architectural, and construction resources? More broadly, can the study of this Creole territory shed light on metropolitan situations? The aim is to examine climate change (and associated hazards) as a vector for the renewal of local cultures.