The R&R Project

Context

The growing number of risks and crises of all kinds represents a major challenge for our societies. The various public players are aware of these threats to varying degrees. In France and Germany, the national and sub-national decision-making levels have (or plan to have) possibilities for intervention and have potentially developed crisis management plans. In major crisis situations, however, it is not enough for the authorities to activate predefined emergency management plans. These rarely cover all the difficulties to be overcome or, depending on the scale of the crisis, do not exist: the emergency situation to be managed is so complex, acute or unpredictable that no action plan has been drawn up. Municipalities are the actors most directly in contact with the populations affected by risks and disasters.

The project is based on cooperation between four pilot municipalities in the Upper Rhine area.

The cross-border dimension of the project makes it possible to develop, pool and use past experience and new and innovative solutions that can be observed in both administrative systems.

Objectives

Strengthening the resilience of small and medium-sized municipalities to crises and threats in the Upper Rhine area

Improving the resilience of small and medium-sized municipalities in the Upper Rhine area

Analysis of the strategies adopted to date at local level

Increased understanding of activities on both sides of the Rhine

Devising strategies and training to better understand and manage future crises

The project's municipal partners

HAGENAU (France),

ca. 35.000 inhabitants

OFFENBURG (Germany),

ca.61.000 inhabitants

LA WANTZENAU (France),

ca.6.000 inhabitants

OTTERSWEIER (Germany),

ca. 6.000 inhabitants

Organization and Planning

2024 - 2026

Project events

29.02.2024 - External kick-off

We're off! On 29 February 2024, the team of researchers from Kehl University and the BETA laboratory involved in the ‘Rhenus and Resilire’ Interreg project had the pleasure of welcoming the project partners to the University of Strasbourg for the official kick-off of the project.

Thank you to the four pilot municipalities of La Wantzenau, Offenbourg, Haguenau and Ottersweier for sharing their experiences of crisis management. Thank you to Interreg and the entire committee of experts for sharing this moment with us. We're ready for the next steps!

25.10.2024 - International conference on municipal resilience

A panel of international experts, including Brian Gerber (Arizona State University), Ilona Ilvonen (University of Tampere), Anu Suominen (University of Tampere), Cyndi Coon (Arizona State University) and Richard Shearmur (Mc Gill University), attended the event.

The aim of the meeting was to stimulate and encourage collective reflection on the best practices and strategies to be adopted to strengthen the resilience of local authorities in the Upper Rhine. In this respect, the practical experiences and testimonies of our experts gave us a better overview of the challenges faced by municipalities and the possibilities available to them to overcome them.

We would like to thank all the experts and participants for these rich discussions, which we hope will help municipalities to be better prepared and more resilient in the face of potential future crises.

26.11.2024 - 1st workshop

On Tuesday 26 November 2024, we organised the first workshop with the four pilot municipalities at La Wantzenau town hall. The aim was to summarise and pool the lessons learned from the Covid-19 crisis and other past crises.

An interesting observation emerged: the size of the municipality or its location on one side or the other of the Rhine does not seem to determine resilience factors specific to a given geographical area. This observation reinforces our desire to develop a network for the exchange of good practice between Upper Rhine municipalities, with the aim of increasing their resilience.

We would like to thank La Wantzenau for its warm welcome and our four pilot municipalities La Wantzenau, Haguenau, Offenbourg and Ottersweier for their involvement in this project.

06.02.2025 - Towards Deep Resilience?

On Thursday 6 February 2025, we organised a workshop where we shared our thoughts on the key topics of the R&R project. It was an opportunity to exchange ideas with international experts who gave us invaluable advice.

Many thanks to all the experts for their participation, their commitment and the richness of their contributions. These perspectives will enable us to explore new avenues to strengthen our approach to resilience in the Upper Rhine region.

07.03.2025 - 2nd workshop

On Friday 7 March 2025, we met for the second workshop of the Rhenus and Resilire project in Haguenau. This project aims to strengthen the resilience of small and medium-sized communities in the Upper Rhine area to extreme situations.

During the workshop, we explored the potential consequences of future crises. Together, we identified clusters of common consequences, such as logistics, communication, drinking water management, policing and medical care. These clusters were then assessed by each municipality using probability-impact matrices, enabling us to prioritise the areas requiring immediate preparation for an effective response in the event of a crisis.

Many thanks to the municipalities of Haguenau, Ottersweier, Offenbourg and La Wantzenau for their active participation. Special thanks to the municipality of Haguenau for its warm welcome.