Living with possible flooding: risk and routine | Le risque et la routine. Vivre avec la possibilité d'une inondation dans un quartier périurbain français

French. L'exposition d'un territoire aux inondations est-il un élément déterminant dans la relation des habitants à ce territoire et dans le choix des personnes d'habiter ou non dans ce territoire ? Qu'en est-il particulièrement pour les territoires exposés au risque inondation mais qui n'ont pas connu d'événement de ce type depuis longtemps ? Il s'agit d'interroger le risque dans sa phase de « routine », de mesurer sans perturber le niveau d'importance que revêt le risque inondation au quotidien, quant l'ordinaire est à l'½uvre. La communication est le bilan d'une première année sur le terrain dans une approche ethnographique qui a pour ambition, entre autre, de nourrir les réflexions méthodologiques sur les conditions d'enquête du risque en sciences sociales. Le choix a été fait de passer une première année sur le terrain dans une posture d'observation participante sans explicitement révéler mon sujet d'enquête afin d'écarter la possibilité de faire « surparler de ». Avec une réelle immersion dans la vie locale par une installation sur le terrain, il s'agit d'appréhender la réalité sociale locale vis-à-vis des inondations dans une phase de routine. Plus que de parler de culture du risque, l'approche ethnographique propose de relever les formes de manifestations repérables - qu'elles soient discursives, pratiques, matérielles - qui attestent (ou non) d'une prise en compte du risque. Dans une approche interactionniste, il s'agit d'observer comment cela vient dans la conversation, et comment cette « venue » oriente, tord, alimente la conversation. En outre, cette observation participante est complétée par la consultation de sources écrites qui permettent de comprendre la trajectoire du territoire notamment à travers l'histoire du développement urbanistique de la ville. En questionnant les orientations méthodologiques choisies, la communication se propose d'apporter des éléments de réponses à la question : Comment le lieu de vie fait-il sens pour ses habitants et quelle place y tient (ou pas) « la possibilité d'une inondation » ?

English. The aim of this research is to find out whether living with a constant flood risk is determinant in the relationship between inhabitants and their environment, and whether or not this risk determines their choice to live there or not. This question is directed more specifically towards territories who have actually been exposed to floods, but who haven't been flooded for a long time. We are analysing risk in its routine phase, measuring, without perturbing the importance level accorded to this risk in every day life, when the ordinary is routine. The terrain chosen for this study is a small town called Lattes, between Montpellier and the coast, in the once called Lez Delta. Benefitting from Montpellier's development, Lattes has undergone a demographic explosion, from a population of 3000 in the 1970's to 18000 today. Mainly residential, Lattes has many characteristics of a suburban town; close to Montpellier, to large commercial zones and to the motorway on one side, to the Méjean natural reserve and to the sea on another. Its well controlled urbanism, where no areas are left to chance, the plentiful habitation with a lot of closed residential zones, gives it the appearance of a modern and secure town, where the countryside is one of many services. Under its modern appearance, it was a port in ancient times. Lattes suffered numerous devastating floods, the last one dating back to the 1970's, and ending with the drainage of the Lez and the construction of dams. The major risk to the population of the dams breaking is presented by the authorities as perfectly controlled since the protective works recently put in place. Fiercely mediatised for the protective action put in place, the current mayor speaks of the end of fear, and of the first sheltered autumn. The communication will be an account of a first year's study on the terrain, in an ethnographical approach, aiming mainly a methodological consideration of risk research conditions in social science. The choice was made to spend a first year living on the field in a participative observation approach, without revealing explicitly my research subject, so as to avoid the possibility that people talk too much. With such an immersion in local life by me having moved to the studied site, I can really apprehend local social reality vis-à-vis to flooding in a routine phase. Rather than talking about risk culture, the ethnographical approach will allow to reveal noticeable manifestations, whether they are discursive, practical or material, showing or not showing that the flood risks are taken into account in every day life. In an integrationist approach, I will be observing how flood risks come up in conversation,and how this presence orientates, bends and feeds discussions. Besides, the participative observation is complemented by the consultation of written sources which will allow the understanding of the territory's trajectory, particularly its urban development history. By questioning the chosen methodological orientations, the communication suggests bringing elements of answers to the question; what is the significance of the place for its inhabitants and what importance is accorded to a possible risk in every day life? Two elements appear in particular in Lattes; the links between flood risks and other dangers, which allow putting into light the notion of security, as well as the links between other local interests, and particularly land ownership.