This study was undertaken between July 24, 2003 and January 16, 2004 to investigate the influence of urban development upon the abundance and species diversity of frogs in the upper Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. Five urban sites were paired with matched non-urban sites. Urban sites were located within or on the fringes of the towns of Katoomba and Blackheath and were subject to varying degrees of physical disturbance, as well as degradation and pollution by urban runoff and sewage. The non-urban sites were located within the Blue Mountains National Park and were effectively un-impacted by human activity. No adequate explanation emerged for the marked difference between the frog assemblages at the two types of habitat. It is speculated that the salts, detergents and other chemicals in urban wastewaters (roadway runoff, yard runoff and sewage) may provide the frogs at urban sites with some level of protection against disease, particularly chytridiomycosis. All indications from this and previous work are that the frog abundance and diversity in non-urban habitats in the upper Blue Mountains of New South Wales are showing the same trends in decline as observed in other montane regions of Australia. Urban habitats are important population reservoirs for the diversity of frog species absent from the non-urban habitats, but are vulnerable to progressive destruction from a variety of human impacts. Efforts should be made by municipal authorities to recognise their significance and to protect them from future loss / Master of Science (Hons)

La croissance de l’urbanisation, par son importance et sa rapidité, pose des problèmes considérables dans beaucoup d’endroits du monde, en Asie du sud-est et notamment au Vietnam où le potentiel d’accroissement urbain est extrêmement fort. Au Vietnam, dans les grandes agglomérations de ce pays, le processus d’urbanisation est encadré dans des limites territoriales définies par l’Etat et collectivités locales. Mais il se fait en outre de façon spontanée en réponse aux besoins de nombreuses populations qui viennent de la campagne et travaillent dans les zones industrielles. Le problème de définition du périurbain à HCM Ville est abordé dans notre recherche de façon à tenir compte du contexte local mais surtout des enjeux théoriques que pose le périurbain en tant que phénomène sociogéographique. L’interrogation sur les liens d’interdépendance entre périurbanisation et modernité traverse nos réflexions. La recherche vise à comprendre comment émergent dans les zones périurbaines de nouvelles formes d’urbanité que l’homme tisse avec son milieu de vie et qui sont marquées par la modernité. Plus particulièrement, il s’agira d’examiner comment certains types d’habitats lient diverses catégories de population et diverses formes d’urbanité en milieu périurbain, afin de dégager la dimension sociale et culturelle de l’adaptation à la nouvelle situation et du développement durable. La thèse se concentrera sur trois types de population dans des types d’habitats différents, qui sont parmi les plus affectés par l’expérience de la confrontation à la modernité : les jeunes, les femmes et les personnes âgées. Notre approche géographique consiste à caractériser la zone périurbaine par les outils de télédétection, statistiques et cartographiques, et aussi au moyen de méthodes d’observation participante et d’entretiens approfondis, grâce auxquelles on peut voir comment les gens construisent leurs lieux et vie et leur donnent du sens. Ils font preuve d’adaptations personnelles importantes qui se traduisent par de nouvelles façons de vivre et de participer à l’émergence de nouveaux lieux d’urbanité. / Peri-urban areas, with their landscapes of closely mixed rural and urban activities represent a form of urbanization that is emerging a question on the traditional urban - rural duality. The suburban Hô Chi Minh-City ( HCM-City ) is dealt in our thesis in the local context taking into account the theoretical issues raised by this socio-geographical phenomenon. Three types of inhabitant were identified in our study and are characterized by their different way of living the suburban space in HCM-City. They participate in the construction of very revealing field interactions between the countryside and the city, between tradition and modernity. Representations and actions revealingthe modernity which is distancing itself from traditions, can affect all residents. However, they are more easily identifiable in certain population groups, more specifically those three which are the most affected by the experience of confrontation with modernity: women, youth and the elderly. Their social roles are more likely to be modified by the peri-urban context, which results in some aspects of lifestyle where high pressure to change the behavior of their daily life including their mobility is observed. The analysis of new livestyles both in their positive and negative aspects allows us to understand the changes that affect social relations, religious practices, the role of women and family conflict, mobility and behavior of youngand older people as well in the studied peri-urban areas. The analysis also shows that the geographic distribution of the three types of habitathas conditioned the emergence of a new tissue of socio- spatial relations in peri-urban areas of HCM-City.