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The Varces plain is completely flat, with the exception of the steeply sloped valley of Saint-Paul-de-Varces which is surrounded by the buttresses of the Massifs. From the 1950s it was the scene of extensive urbanisation, mainly involving single family detached dwellings.

It is traversed by the A 51 motorway and is the southern extension of the metropolitan area. The eastern and northern fringes are formed by the valley of the Drac river, which is not channelled here, and whose wild appearance is a reminder of the power of the natural forces at work. The rocky and sandy alluvia of the Drac and the Romanche enclose substantial water reserves used for supplying Grenoble (the plain of Reymure and Fontagnieux).

At the confluence of the four valleys of the Drac, the Romanche, the Gresse and the Lavanchon, the plain consists of landscapes characterised by long reliefs similar to parallel wings:

- the rocky formations of the Bourgeoise highlight the the Saint-Paul-de-Varces Valley,

- Uriol Mountain and its lower levels on the Petit and Grand Rochefort individualise on the one side the Varces plain and on the other the Reymure Plain. The landscapes could not be more different.

Saint-Paul-de-Varces is pressed against the bottom of the amphitheatre that occupies the floor of the steep-sided valley of Lavanchon. It is an intimate landscape composed around classic vegetation motifs, including lines of willows and pollarded poplars, living hedges and lines of closely trimmed ash trees leading onto the large farms and bourgeois estates on the plain. The hillsides are the favourite sites of hamlets that are set perpendicularly to the valley.

Varces, Claix and Vif , along the left bank of the Drac, were founded and developed while making use of the Gresse. They stand in strong contrast with the Reymure plain, towards which they are oriented. Their counterparts on the right bank of the Drac are the petrochemical facilities located in Jarrie and Champ-sur-Drac, on the edge of the Champagnier plateau.

The Reymure Plain has a sufficiently strong and clear unity to offer a spectacular entry point to the Grenoble metropolitan area on its own. It contrasts the natural motifs of the alluvial forests that accompany the meanders and islands of the Drac with the features of a lush plain in which the motifs of the drèves , the alleyways of trees that highlight access to the farms and châteaux, strongly structure the park-like landscape. This is the landscape that offers the motivation for adopting the park model for the landscape restructuring of the towns near the valley and for the outlying suburbs of Grenoble.

The Rive Park project offers one of the examples drawn up by the AURG to use the waterways as the leitmotif for the landscape restructuring of the urban alluvial valleys and plains using the model of the urban or periurban park. In the city, as well as in the transition between the city and countryside, this model flows from the logic of the garden belt, which provided this transition in the past, and which it now replaces. This could include very different forms of nature and varying dimensions, from the urban park of a few hectares up to an agri-urban project that includes high-quality agricultural and forest production as well as cultural and educational activities: "A place for exchanges (direct sales, picking, etc.), a place for relaxation (farm campsites, tables d'hôtes, country cottages, etc.), a place for education (educational farms), a place for escape (horseback riding, rambling) – the agricultural world in the periurban area can offer a broad range of activities" (Celdran).

Here the site is the point of convergence of multiple continuities: the waterways of four rivers and their plains, and the roads that join up in an intersection at the outset of the broad avenue de Lesdiguières at the city entrance. The structure of the landscape heritage scheme of a big "ville-pont" with regard to its natural horizons is thus maintained. In the Reymure plain the open agricultural continuities have been maintained between the forest horizons of the surrounding massifs and the city. Against the background of these open continuities stand the continuities of the waterways of the alluvial forest and the drèves that highlight the farms, châteaux and city entrances. The river also preserves its freedom and its capacity to transform the site with its ebbs and flows. The moving, changing, surprising image that results produces an exceptional landscape potential at the very entrance to the city. These characteristics suggest the following projects.

Rive Park project is formulated as follows (AURG):

"to envisage a water management project (EDF) and to envisage accessibility for the purpose of leisure and walking in the form of a Rive Park. This park should encompass the entire area covered by the Drac (former meanders) that make the link between the Champagnier Plateau and the Reymure Plain. To be included in the landscape continuity of the park are the urban and industrial sectors that are found within the geographic definition of Rive Park (landscape project, operations on public space, etc.).

The Project to Restructure the Entrance to the Grenoble Metropolitan Area proposes the integration of the industrial and urban sectors of the main population centre into the continuity of Rive Park using the following methods:

- highlightthe outlines of the buildings by using the depth of field offered by the rivers,

- reconquer and upgrade the public spaces associated with the rivers,

- upgrade the transversal arteries and finish linking up the road system on both sides of the Drac.

The project to restructure the nearby cities ("RVA") extends the principles used for the metropolitan area to the other riverside towns insofar as they are situated along the flowing water of a tributary: "in towns like Varces and Vif, the waterways offer an opportunity to create hillside/plain continuities .The water needs to be used as an element in the urban layout to compose genuine public spaces linked with the rivers. These spaces can be very structuring for a commune, as the waterways are a factor in creating a lively, poetic urban landscape" (AURG).