Land use management for coastal flooding prevention: a participatory simulation platform applied to Camargue (France)

Coastlines today are particularly fragile environments for several reasons. Of the different natural disasters they face, the coastal flooding caused by winter storms poses a significant threat that local authorities need to address. Storm Xynthia, which hits the coast of France in 2010, revealed gaps in terms of risk perception and weaknesses in management measures. The LittoSIM platform was created in this regard with the aim of raising local stakeholder awareness of the different risk management strategies, particularly in terms of land planning and therefore involving changes in land use. This participatory simulation platform is a combination of a serious game, a physical model of coastal flooding and a model reproducing social and environmental dynamics. The platform is used in targeted workshops for local managers and elected officials. LittoSIM has been applied in various coastal areas in France, including the Camargue region. The results show that the participants to the workshop experienced a variety of strategies to manage coastal flooding, including the strategic withdrawal.