This paper investigates why managers and researchers working on disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies concerning large metropolitan areas use more integrative and systemic notions and tools as time goes on. Such is the case with resilience, panarchy and their counterpart belonging to the realm of management: knowledge management systems. It derives from the trend towards reconsidering notions and tools belonging to risk and urban studies. It’s consistent with the need to acknowledge more the existence of complexity. And it helps understanding the process towards reconsidering even more policies targeting DRR in metropolitan areas. We justify the relevance of these ground trends while turning to a specific case study, Givors city, which belongs to the French metropolitan area of Lyon. DRR policies limitations locally found there during experience returns help understanding the usefulness of these notions and tools, but also the problems they met and still meet while implementing them.