Pour cela, nous avons dans un premier temps, créé une typologie des interfaces
urbanisation/espaces "naturels". Dans un second temps, l’analyse de l’influence réciproque
des deux systèmes établis au préalable, doit nous permettre d’établir des scénarios
d’évolution des interfaces urbanisation/espaces «naturels» et plus généralement une
modélisation de la dynamique des paysages périurbains.
Abstract
Urban sprawl provides a model of competitive land use where anthropogenic and wildland
dynamics enter into conflict, creating a disturbance at the urban/wildland interface and
thereby affecting the biodiversity. For example, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in
southern France, natural lands have gradually been abandoned since the early 1900s, to be
colonized by easily combustible forest species such as Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis).
Urban sprawl has been reducing the wildland around Marseille since 1960. The
development of two sets of dynamics, urban and wildland, has created a new wildland/urban
interface, which is the subject of our study. One consideration is how to manage the
ecological consequences of urban areas. Urban patterns depend in part on how and where
people choose their housing locations. Choices usually involve both practical criteria
(transportation costs, job opportunities to be found in Marseille or Aix-en-Provence, etc.) and
aesthetic criteria (attractive landscapes, open green spaces, etc.). An analysis of urban
dynamics must characterize the forest amenities along the interfaces. The urban pattern is
linear or mosaic-like along the interfaces, creating an increasing fragmentation of the area.
Our purpose is to determine the linkages between the urban pattern and the wildland
communities at different scales. Our preliminary results revealed disturbances along the
urban/wildland interfaces. Through spatial analysis, we were able to describe the structure
of the exurban landscape and of the urban/wildland interfaces. The economic results
indicate that residential location factors can be included in an economic model as landscape
variables.
Further goals in our study are to explore the functional role of landscape pattern on phyto-
diversity organisation and to determine the type of landscape that influences urban
dynamics. Our hope is to model urban and wildland dynamics. We were able to analyse the
factors influencing landscape dynamics using two different approaches (spatial economy
and landscape ecology). The first stage required creating a typology of urban/wildland
interfaces. In the second stage, analysing the reciprocal impact of the urban and wildland
systems should allow us to come up with a development scenario for urban and wildland
dynamics.
Mots-clés : périurbanisation, interfaces urbanisation/Forêt, diversité, économie spatiale,
aménités forestières.
Keywords: exurban area, urban/wildland interfaces, diversity, spatial economy, forest
amenities.
Problématique
Depuis le début du XXème siècle, les paysages de basse-Provence calcaire sont
soumis à de nombreux changements, du fait de l’exercice d’une forte pression
anthropique. Deux phénomènes majeurs semblent avoir marqué celle-ci.
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