Risk perception in urban and rural areas

Are risk perceptions “spatially differentiated realities”? This article is based on the first local version of the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report and considers risk perception as a social construct. This action-research project, carried out in the Grenoble metropolitan region in France, is based on a multidimensional approach of risks deployed through a survey of residents’ perceptions of 44 risks. Our theoretical position is based on a systemic and localised view of risk perception and a vision of sustainability based on social and planetary limits. The article draws on a multiple linear regression of declared concerns at local level, and a descriptive analysis and scoring of these risks. From the interpretation of these results, we highlight the importance of taking spatial specificities into account in the deployment of risk-related policies. We also show that perception of risk plays a role in the process of constructing public problems and the solutions that can be applied to determine solutions aligned with social and environmental limits. Over and above the objectification of risks at local level, the article highlights the value of an approach to risk that is co-constructed with local stakeholders.