Semestre 5

This course, which is aimed primarily at undergraduate students, attempts to renew the approach to risks. It covers various topics including natural, industrial and technological hazards (earthquake, flood, forest fire, pollution...) or by type of space (mountains, cities, developed countries, developing countries...) for the benefit of a synthetic and dynamic approach, a reflection on the evolution of risk in geography.

The objective is to provide readers, in addition to the acquisition of essential knowledge, with a critical approach to risks to better approach the reading of scientific articles.

For this purpose, a large place is given to vulnerabilities (often less treated in manuals than hazards), sources and databases increasingly accessible free of charge on the Internet, management methods and games of actors, all this is illustrated largely by maps, graphs and tables. A number of emerging reflections in the field of risks are analyzed.

This course begins with an update on the key concepts essential to understanding the geography of risks (hazard, vulnerability, risk, disaster, resilience...).

At the intersection between hazards and vulnerabilities, the question of the relationship to territory and time is also raised to clarify how risk has become in recent years a major theme of geography.

In the first part of this course, we discuss tectonic and morphodynamic hazards (earthquakes and tsunamis, landslides...) as well as hydro-climatic hazards (floods, forest fires, drought...).

The second deals with hazards of anthropogenic origin such as biological hazard, pollution, industrial accidents and transportation of dangerous goods.

The last part, more synthetic, shows how the geography of risks is explained at the regional level, in particular by the differences in vulnerabilities and levels of intervention especially in Algeria. These vulnerabilities are complex to understand because they also depend on differences in perception (disaster victims, local elected officials, experts, insurers...) without forgetting the consideration of the political will to manage risks in the planning of the territory, which may face administrative complexity. For the sake of clarity and pedagogy, the argumentation of some cases is based on examples chosen all over the world and taken from specialized bibliography. 

This course is taught and graded by a final exam over thirrteen (13) weeks. Students interested in this content are invited to complete this course with individual readings or consult the references cited (books, handouts, website).