Preferences among coastal and inland residents relating to managed retreat: Influence of risk perception in acceptability of relocation strategies

Facing sea-level rise, scientists recommend adaptation measures to relocate the most vulnerable assets. This is of particular interest regarding coastal land use management issues. In order to address the acceptability of these measures, we use the choice experiment method to assess residents' preferences for different relocation policy measures that differs according to four attributes. A survey was implemented in the South of France involving 240 people evenly distributed between coastal and hinterland residents. The latent class logit modelling reveals the heterogeneity of preferences via two classes depending on risk perception: residents who may be described as "unaware individualists", generally opposed to relocation, and those who display "informed solidarity", generally in favour of this policy. Furthermore, people the more frequently exposed to the risk reveal an optimism bias.