The research methods and the methodology will be applied and tested in four pilot study sites where hazards are currently evident and some risk management procedures have already been implemented. The study areas are located in the French Alps, North Eastern Italy, Romania and Poland.
These areas are expected to experience substantial impacts related to climate change and may expect also important changes in development, which requires an important component of spatial planning. Most of these areas have been previously investigated during earlier national or international research projects and/or training/mobility programmes and are, therefore, extensively documented. Methodologies and models will be transferable between regions, as well as being able to incorporate the individuality of a particular site. This is envisaged to be extremely useful in the future exploitation of results across the European Union.
The project will pay attention in particular to the comparison of risk assessment and management frameworks between Eastern and Western European countries. In order to ensure optimal integration of the work of the young researchers and the project partners the Network will concentrate on a limited number of pilot areas, where most of the aspects of the methodology will be combined. In principle all network partners will also work in the four pilot areas, in order to fully benefit from the complementary expertise of the partners. Network meetings will also be organized in these areas, so that all partners get known the differences and, purely as a practical side effect, these stays can be combined with field work and direct contacts with local stakeholders/end-users.