Les défis de la sobriété foncière : quelles réponses en France et en Roumanie?
The challenges of land sobriety: what responses in France and Romania?

Summary/Abstract: In France as in Romania, the need to preserve natural, agricultural and forest areas (NAFA) in the face of urban sprawl through greater control of land consumption is becoming essential; if only to deal with the consequences of climate change, of the 6th extinction of biodiversity, and of the impoverishment and impermeability of soils. In its first part, this paper raises the question of land sobriety, and its territorial issues, particularly in rural areas, from a comparative approach based on partial observations in the two countries. The analysis is based in particular on the work to which we contributed within the Economic, Social and Environmental Council of the French Region of Centre-Val de Loire and on previous research dedicated to the issue of urban sprawl in Iași or Oradea, in Romania. In the second part, are analyzed the legislative and regulatory responses adopted (or not) within the EU and in the two countries with the aim of reducing overconsumption of space, by limiting artificialization soils to safeguard NAFA; notably the implementation in France of ZAN (Zero net artificialization) by 2050. The paper focuses more specifically on the challenges posed at the scale of rural territories, by asking the question of the compatibility of the “sanctuarization” of the countryside with sustainable territorial development. Without denying the fears aroused by an objective as "radical" as the end of land artificialization, we formulate the hypothesis that it is possible to combine development and land sobriety, including in peri-urban and rural areas, by developing “territorial projects” intended to preserve soils and the services they provide to life in all its dimensions. In addition, we assume that the principles of the circular economy can be applied to the existing built environment through measures to requalify abandoned spaces and renew urban forms.

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