Le travail presenté étudie à l’exemple de la Bohême la question dans quelle mesure la naissance des oppida (ou plus largement la transformation culturelle de la Transalpine à La Tène récente) a-t-elle été influencée par des impulsions venues depuis la Méditerranée et dans quelle mesure, par contre, peut elle être expliquée comme phénomène local. La carte historique et culturelle de la problématique est analysée en détail. La question même est étudiée à travers une analyse du corpus des importations méditerranéennes en Europe Centrale, ciblée à évaluer dans le cadre de l‘Europe centrale le rôle et la position de la Bohême dans les contacts avec la Méditerranée; ensuite les correspondances et différences entre les oppida et les systèmes d’habitat dont ils font partie et les villes méditerranéennes. Les contacts du monde transalpin avec la Méditerranée paraissent constants et très significatifs pour la Transalpie, les oppida se présentent toutefois plutôt comme un phénomène local. / The presented study analyses on the example of Bohemia the question in what extent the creation of oppida (and more broadly the cultural transformation of the Transalpine world in the recent La Tène period) were influenced by Mediterranean impulses and to what extent they may be on the other hand considered as a local phenomenon. The historical and chronological background are studied in detail, the question itself is approached by an analysis of the corpus of Mediterranean imports in central Europe intended to evaluate the role of Bohemia (within the central European context) in the contacts with the Mediterranean. In the concluding chapter the oppida and their settlement systems are confronted with the Mediterranean towns. The contacts with the Mediterranean turn out to have been constant and significant for the Transalpine word, the oppida, however, seem to be a largely local phenomenon.

La ville de Đà Lạt se préparait aux grandes périodes de transformation pour devenir une magnifique ville de système de parcs à l’époque coloniale française. Mais actuellement, l’urbanisation et la mutation de l’agriculture amènent de forts changements dans le paysage de la ville. Il est nécessaire d’analyser l’évolution de la transformation du paysage de la ville sous l’interaction de l’agriculture et de la mutation urbaine entre trois époques, celle de l’époque coloniale française, celles des époques d’avant et d’après le Đổi Mới de 1986. Sous l’impact des différents acteurs et des stratégies du gouvernement actuel, Đà Lạt se développe comme une ville socialiste vietnamienne et multifonctionnelle. On n’est plus dans l’idée première d’une ville de villégiature et de système de parcs. Dalat suit les influences d’urbanisation comme les autres villes du Vietnam et a tendance à perdre la caractéristique de sanatorium d’altitude. Elle ne retrouvera sa qualité que grâce à une orientation dans le développement durable, tout en connectant les espaces d’agricultures, les espaces urbains et les espaces paysagers. Ainsi, Dalat peut à nouveau se mettre en valeur comme une véritable ville de système de parcs. / The city of Đà Lạt was being transformed to be a magnificent city with a system of parks since the French colonial period. But in fact, the urbanization and the mutation of agriculture cause a great change of the city’s landscape. It is necessary to analyze the evolution of the transformation of the landscape regarding to the interaction of agriculture and the urban mutation in three periods, those are the period of French colonial, the period of Vietnam Republic and the period of Renovation ( Đổi Mới) since 1986. Through many activities of different strategies by the present authority, Đà Lạt is developing as a socialist and multifunctional city. People no longer think of Đà Lạt as a resort with a system of parks as before. The city is being influenced by the urbanization as other cities in Vietnam and losing her characteristic of an altitude resort. The city has not found her own orientation from quality grace in durable development, all together is connected with the space of agriculture, the space of urban and the space of landscape. Therefore Đà Lạt would be able to be regarded as a valuable city with a system of parks.

Echoing through the lecture theatres, conference halls and pages of the contemporary Urban Studies discourse is the oft-repeated refrain that today over half the world’s population live in urban areas, and that by 2050 this proportion is expected to be upwards of 70%. The place of the leftover 50% of people inhabiting a vast and seemingly forgotten 98% of the planet’s rural territory is externalised, apparently lying outside the purview of marching urbanisation. Yet the theory of ‘Planetary Urbanisation’ has emerged in recent years positing a contentious epistemological questioning of Urban Studies’ focus sites, objects and processes. In this it argues for a reorientation of the field towards the ignored rural hinterlands of ‘extended urbanity’ falling under the influence of the fluid process of urbanisation which is transforming the countryside through processes of rationalisation, functionalisation and disintegration. Critiqued as overly abstract, empirically shallow and puritanically ignoring form, this paper investigates and experiments with the theory of planetary urbanisation in a grounded study of a corridor of the Swedish countryside and the village of Röstånga. It does so by a concrete, detailed and dualistic approach to sites of extended urbanisation, integrating both form and process in its analysis. This research exercises this analysis through extricating the city-bound flâneur out into the non-city through a phenomenological 60km, 2 day walk from the city of Malmö to Röstånga. Arriving in Röstånga, this paper then turns its attention to multiple, triangulated methodologies of mapping, observations and interviewing in order to bind our flâneur reflections to the built environment of rurality. In doing so, this research details a changing spatial and social landscape of the Skåne countryside and the village of Röstånga with results exposing an urbanised rurality of hybridity, control and decay and a village of operationalised suburbia, of an externally orientated centre and of disparate social innovations. A discussion of these results then exposes a rural realm simultaneously surrendering to its new reality of extended urbanity and desperately searching for meaning and purpose within it; a landscape wilting under what this paper terms as the shadow of post-political urbanisation. This research than calls for ‘politics of the possible’ in a re-politicisation of the rural and concludes by challenging planners, architects and governments to re-imagine alternatives for this vital if forgotten space.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), also known as chronic diseases of lifestyle, cause the greatest burden of disease globally. The major risk factors for NCDs are hypertension, hyperglycaemia, high cholesterol, tobacco smoking, alcohol abuse, overweight/obesity and physical inactivity. NCDs in South Africa are increasing in black South Africans with the transition from rural to urban areas. The transitions have resulted in a change in lifestyle. Regular moderate intensity physical activity (PA) has many health benefits and decreases the risk for NCDs. PA is often determined by means of questionnaires, motion sensors (pedometers and accelerometers), heart rate and accelerometry combined. Within the South African context PA has traditionally been determined with internationally composed questionnaires adapted for South Africa. In South Africa the relationship between PA and risk factors for NCDs has not been investigated in populations in transition, and limited information on the relationship between change in PA and the change in risk factors in a South African population is available. The objectives of this study was to determine the correlation between the adapted Baecke physical activity questionnaire and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (short version) (IPAQ-S), the changes in PA and how the changes relate to changes in BMI, and finally the relationship between the changes in PA and the changes in the risk factors for NCDs of black South Africans. The study forms part of the baseline and five year follow-up of the South African leg of the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study. This study is a longitudinal study of which the baseline data was allocated in 2005 and the five year follow-up allocated in 2010. 2 000 participants aged 30 years and older were recruited for the initial study – 1 000 urbanised (from Ikageng), and 1 000 rural black adults (from Ganyesa, Moswana and Tlakgameng). Data, including the PA questionnaires (Baecke & IPAQ-S) were collected by a specialised multidisciplinary team. After signing an informed consent form, questionnaires were completed during individual interviews and conducted by extensively trained fieldworkers in the language of the participants’ choice. The variables used in this study were anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, serum lipids and fasting blood glucose. BMI was calculated from the body weight divided by the height squared. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS for windows (Version 21.0). Descriptive statistics were performed to determine the characteristics of the participants. The relationship between Baecke and IPAQ-S was determined by means of a partial correlation adjusting for age and BMI. Linear regression analyses were used to determine the relationship between the changes in PA (dependent variable) and BMI (predictor variable) and then adjusted for gender and age. Where a significant relationship was observed (in the case of setting, urban versus rural) separate analyses were performed for the rural and urban participants; likewise the relationship between the changes in PAI (dependant variable) and the change in the risk factors for NCDs (predictor variable) was determined by means of linear regression analysis, and also adjusted for gender, change in age and setting (urban/rural). The results from this study indicated that a weak but significant relationship was found between the Baecke and IPAQ-S (Spearman r = 0.243; p = 0.00) when adjusted for age and BMI. Significant differences were found between rural and urban participants for age and BMI in 2005, where the urban participants where older and reported a higher BMI compared to the rural participants. Rural women gained significantly more weight than the urban women. The PAI in the urban participants increased from 2005 (6.40 ± 1.84) to 2010 (7.50 ± 1.40), but decreased in rural participants from 2005 (8.21 ± 1.48) to 2010 (5.10 ± 1.54). Change in BMI was significantly inverse associated with change in PA for the urban population after adjusting for gender, setting (rural/urban) and change in age (β = -0.10; p = 0.004). Significant differences were found for resting systolic blood pressure (SBP) for the rural (129.72 ± 23.30) and urban (137.33 ± 25.14) participants as well as the diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of rural (86.16 ± 14.48) and urban (89.28 ± 14.46), fasting glucose of rural (4.88 ± 1.23) and urban (5.10 ± 1.86), triglycerides of rural (1.21 ± 0.64) and urban (1.38 ± 0.92) and physical activity index (PAI) of rural (8.21 ± 1.48) and urban (6.40 ± 1.84) in 2005. There were significant changes in the high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and in the low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Although the overall PAI decreased from 2005 (7.30 ± 1.90) to 2010 (6.46 ± 1.85), it increased in urban participants (6.40 ± 1.84 – 7.50 ± 1.40) and decreased in rural participants (8.21 ± 1.48 – 5.10 ± 1.54). A significant negative relationship between changes in PAI and changes in blood pressure (systolic and diastolic), total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol was found when adjusted for gender. When changes in PA and changes in risk factors were separated according to gender, a significant negative relationship was found between PA and diastolic blood pressure (β -0.63; p 0.02) in the male population, and a significant negative relationship for females between PA and systolic blood pressure (β -1.05; p 0.002), diastolic blood pressure (β -0.59; p 0.003), total cholesterol (β -0.05; p 0.01) and LDL-cholesterol (β -0.07; p 0.00). In conclusion, the study found that the low but significant correlation between PAI assessed with the Baeck questionnaire and IPAQ-S makes both questionnaires applicable for the South African context, however the Baecke questionnaire is based on various domains for PA, while the IPAQ-S report on time spent in physical activity. Over the 5-year period PA decreased in this black South African population with a concomitant increase in BMI. Biological risk factors for NCDs increased from 2005 to 2010. The change in PA was inversely related to changes in total blood pressure. Future in PA interventions would be beneficial in the management of hypertension in the at risk South African black population. / PhD (Human Movement Science), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This study examines the determinants of unemployment at the municipal level and as such aims to answer what the place-specific drivers of unemployment in South African cities and towns are. The purpose has been to test the arguments that local economies and labour markets matter for local unemployment. The empirical analysis makes use of a balanced panel data set for the period 1996 to 2012 for across 234 local and metropolitan municipalities to estimate a regression model in which the level of unemployment in a particular place is determined by a range of place-specific explanatory variables. It is found that the place-specific determinants of unemployment are a higher population growth rate and dense populations that are associated with lower unemployment rates, indicating the benefits from agglomeration economies. A large informal sector is negatively associated with unemployment, which supports the sentiments expressed in the literature that without agglomeration, economic opportunities for individuals in informal employment are limited. If people in a city or town are better educated this is associated with lower levels of unemployment on average. High inequality does not necessarily cause high unemployment; however, they do coincide. A positive association between specialisation and unemployment is found. Furthermore, the mining, manufacturing, construction and trade sectors that are locally bigger than in the national economy are associated with lower unemployment. The results support the findings that a link exists between geography and labour market outcomes and therefore the need exists for convergence of the social safety net and integration with the economic opportunities at the thriving cities and towns. / MCom (Economics), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), also known as chronic diseases of lifestyle, cause the greatest burden of disease globally. The major risk factors for NCDs are hypertension, hyperglycaemia, high cholesterol, tobacco smoking, alcohol abuse, overweight/obesity and physical inactivity. NCDs in South Africa are increasing in black South Africans with the transition from rural to urban areas. The transitions have resulted in a change in lifestyle. Regular moderate intensity physical activity (PA) has many health benefits and decreases the risk for NCDs. PA is often determined by means of questionnaires, motion sensors (pedometers and accelerometers), heart rate and accelerometry combined. Within the South African context PA has traditionally been determined with internationally composed questionnaires adapted for South Africa. In South Africa the relationship between PA and risk factors for NCDs has not been investigated in populations in transition, and limited information on the relationship between change in PA and the change in risk factors in a South African population is available. The objectives of this study was to determine the correlation between the adapted Baecke physical activity questionnaire and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (short version) (IPAQ-S), the changes in PA and how the changes relate to changes in BMI, and finally the relationship between the changes in PA and the changes in the risk factors for NCDs of black South Africans. The study forms part of the baseline and five year follow-up of the South African leg of the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study. This study is a longitudinal study of which the baseline data was allocated in 2005 and the five year follow-up allocated in 2010. 2 000 participants aged 30 years and older were recruited for the initial study – 1 000 urbanised (from Ikageng), and 1 000 rural black adults (from Ganyesa, Moswana and Tlakgameng). Data, including the PA questionnaires (Baecke & IPAQ-S) were collected by a specialised multidisciplinary team. After signing an informed consent form, questionnaires were completed during individual interviews and conducted by extensively trained fieldworkers in the language of the participants’ choice. The variables used in this study were anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, serum lipids and fasting blood glucose. BMI was calculated from the body weight divided by the height squared. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS for windows (Version 21.0). Descriptive statistics were performed to determine the characteristics of the participants. The relationship between Baecke and IPAQ-S was determined by means of a partial correlation adjusting for age and BMI. Linear regression analyses were used to determine the relationship between the changes in PA (dependent variable) and BMI (predictor variable) and then adjusted for gender and age. Where a significant relationship was observed (in the case of setting, urban versus rural) separate analyses were performed for the rural and urban participants; likewise the relationship between the changes in PAI (dependant variable) and the change in the risk factors for NCDs (predictor variable) was determined by means of linear regression analysis, and also adjusted for gender, change in age and setting (urban/rural). The results from this study indicated that a weak but significant relationship was found between the Baecke and IPAQ-S (Spearman r = 0.243; p = 0.00) when adjusted for age and BMI. Significant differences were found between rural and urban participants for age and BMI in 2005, where the urban participants where older and reported a higher BMI compared to the rural participants. Rural women gained significantly more weight than the urban women. The PAI in the urban participants increased from 2005 (6.40 ± 1.84) to 2010 (7.50 ± 1.40), but decreased in rural participants from 2005 (8.21 ± 1.48) to 2010 (5.10 ± 1.54). Change in BMI was significantly inverse associated with change in PA for the urban population after adjusting for gender, setting (rural/urban) and change in age (β = -0.10; p = 0.004). Significant differences were found for resting systolic blood pressure (SBP) for the rural (129.72 ± 23.30) and urban (137.33 ± 25.14) participants as well as the diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of rural (86.16 ± 14.48) and urban (89.28 ± 14.46), fasting glucose of rural (4.88 ± 1.23) and urban (5.10 ± 1.86), triglycerides of rural (1.21 ± 0.64) and urban (1.38 ± 0.92) and physical activity index (PAI) of rural (8.21 ± 1.48) and urban (6.40 ± 1.84) in 2005. There were significant changes in the high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and in the low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Although the overall PAI decreased from 2005 (7.30 ± 1.90) to 2010 (6.46 ± 1.85), it increased in urban participants (6.40 ± 1.84 – 7.50 ± 1.40) and decreased in rural participants (8.21 ± 1.48 – 5.10 ± 1.54). A significant negative relationship between changes in PAI and changes in blood pressure (systolic and diastolic), total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol was found when adjusted for gender. When changes in PA and changes in risk factors were separated according to gender, a significant negative relationship was found between PA and diastolic blood pressure (β -0.63; p 0.02) in the male population, and a significant negative relationship for females between PA and systolic blood pressure (β -1.05; p 0.002), diastolic blood pressure (β -0.59; p 0.003), total cholesterol (β -0.05; p 0.01) and LDL-cholesterol (β -0.07; p 0.00). In conclusion, the study found that the low but significant correlation between PAI assessed with the Baeck questionnaire and IPAQ-S makes both questionnaires applicable for the South African context, however the Baecke questionnaire is based on various domains for PA, while the IPAQ-S report on time spent in physical activity. Over the 5-year period PA decreased in this black South African population with a concomitant increase in BMI. Biological risk factors for NCDs increased from 2005 to 2010. The change in PA was inversely related to changes in total blood pressure. Future in PA interventions would be beneficial in the management of hypertension in the at risk South African black population. / PhD (Human Movement Science), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This study examines the determinants of unemployment at the municipal level and as such aims to answer what the place-specific drivers of unemployment in South African cities and towns are. The purpose has been to test the arguments that local economies and labour markets matter for local unemployment. The empirical analysis makes use of a balanced panel data set for the period 1996 to 2012 for across 234 local and metropolitan municipalities to estimate a regression model in which the level of unemployment in a particular place is determined by a range of place-specific explanatory variables. It is found that the place-specific determinants of unemployment are a higher population growth rate and dense populations that are associated with lower unemployment rates, indicating the benefits from agglomeration economies. A large informal sector is negatively associated with unemployment, which supports the sentiments expressed in the literature that without agglomeration, economic opportunities for individuals in informal employment are limited. If people in a city or town are better educated this is associated with lower levels of unemployment on average. High inequality does not necessarily cause high unemployment; however, they do coincide. A positive association between specialisation and unemployment is found. Furthermore, the mining, manufacturing, construction and trade sectors that are locally bigger than in the national economy are associated with lower unemployment. The results support the findings that a link exists between geography and labour market outcomes and therefore the need exists for convergence of the social safety net and integration with the economic opportunities at the thriving cities and towns. / MCom (Economics), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

In the last few decades protection of the environment has moved to the forefront of earth science research. Sustainable development is becoming more important to rapidly growing communities throughout southern Ontario including the City of Waterloo which has adopted an ecosystem planning approach toward future urban expansion. The City of Waterloo is located in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo which relies mainly on local groundwater resources for its drinking water supply. The Waterloo West Side is a collective name for several new developments occurring at the western limit of the City of Waterloo. Development of the Waterloo West Side is encroaching on a potential regional groundwater recharge area. Recent studies have recommended that some of these developments will require artificial infiltration facilities to augment the reduction in infiltration rates at the post-development stage. For this study, the pre-development groundwater flow system was characterized using a three-dimensional finite element model (WATFLOW). The regional Waterloo Moraine Model (approximately 750 km2) was refined in the study area (approximately 25 km2) so as to include the regional-scale influence on the local-scale groundwater flow. In addition, to approximate the complex groundwater flow system, within the study area, modifications were made to the current conceptual model. Several existing techniques were utilized in the numerical approach including three-dimensional parameterization and automated calibration methods. Simulations were completed to steady-state therefore results are averaged on a yearly basis. The potential impact of urbanization on the groundwater flow system was investigated by modifying the surficial boundary condition to simulate post-development infiltration rates (increased runoff) in areas where development will occur. The impact to local surface water was investigated for each post-development scenario. In addition, the effect on the regional and local groundwater flow systems were compared for each scenario.

8 Abstract Counterurbanisation research, which is a central topic of this thesis, represents an appropriate field where transformations of contemporary societies and their socio- spatial organization can be examined. The dynamics of social and societal changes creates a demand for developing new methods and tools which helps us to understand contemporary change. Counterurbanisation is a multi-faceted concept which has been controversial since its initial use. An introduction of the concept of counterurbanisation in the field of population geography provoked a general debate on new and emerging trends in development of settlement system. Different logics of concentration and deconcentration of human activities has been challenged. Counterurbanisation operationalized as a migration poses a challenge for many standard conceptualizations of migration. The logic of non-economically motivated migration from the centre to the periphery requires a search for alternative explanatory mechanisms. Impact assessment and the impact of counterurbanisation in rural communities are analogous to the classical social science studies evaluating the integration of immigrants from rural areas in the cities. The thesis is composed of two basic sections. The first section presents a broader theoretical and methodological...

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The Cape Floristic Region (CFR) of southern Africa is one of the world’s most unique biodiversity hotspots. However, this biodiversity continues to be threatened by habitat loss due to rapid urbanisation, agriculture and alien vegetation encroachment, and now, by future groundwater extraction and climate change. Previous work had shown that soil moisture is important in structuring wetland plant communities at fine-scale. What is not fully known, however, is how the spatial distribution of species at a local scale is related to soil hydrology and what the response in the future of species distributions will be to perturbations arising from changes in climate or subsurface moisture in the future. The current research investigated the water regime of the Restionaceae which is a key family in the Fynbos biome and the implications of possible changes in soil hydrology caused by climate change in communities within this region. The Restionaceae were particularly appropriate because they are shallow rooted perennials with the ability to tolerate a wide range of water regimes which allows them to successfully co-habit within mixed plant communities as segregated clusters along fine-scale hydrologic gradients. Vegetation survey counts for the presence of these species along with measurements of soil water table depth and moisture content data generated from eight small-scale plots (50 x 50 m) were used to investigate the possible hydrological niches and to envision the potential impacts of a substantial reduction in rainfall and an increase in temperature as projected by Global Climate Models (GCMs) on the structure of Restionaceae communities in seasonal wetlands by 2100. A comparative analysis of the effects of two extreme Representative Concentration emission Pathways (RCP2.6 and RCP8.5) on significant hydrological variables to plant water regimes was carried out. The IPCC AR5 report describes the RCP8.5 emissions scenario as the likely ‘business as usual’ scenario where emissions continue to rise through the 21st century while the RCP2.6 scenario assumes that emissions peak between 2010 and 2020 and substantially subside thereafter.