Many natural areas and systems within urban landscapes are small or narrow. Landscape ecology studies within forested and agricultural landscapes have found that small natural areas that are protected from development or resource extraction through land use planning are significantly affected by adjacent land use changes. Some eventually lose the values for which they were protected. Studies also indicate that natural area boundary structures and functions are important determinants of the extent to which external threats affect adjacent natural areas. Few studies have empirically tested whether small or narrow urban natural areas that are protected from development through municipal land use planning are significantly affected by adjacent land use changes. However, municipal planners and forest managers are concerned that activities of residents living adjacent to the forest edge, commonly referred to as residential encroachment, may be degrading the social values, and ecological forms and functions of their woodlands. Studies have recorded evidence of human impacts within suburban forest edges, indicating that both recreation and yard-related activities are occurring and that these activities occur at significantly higher frequencies in the forest edge than in the interiors of these forests. However, no study has differentiated residential encroachment activities from those of other recreationists. In addition, although a number of municipalities have developed policies to address these activities, little is known about these policies, the extent to which they are implemented, or their effectiveness in protecting their small or narrow forested natural areas from residential encroachment activities. The principal research questions answered in this research are: 1) Do municipalities within Southern Ontario have policies for protecting natural areas from the activities of residents living adjacent to suburban forest edges? 2) To what extent are they implementing these policies? 3) What encroachment activities, if any, are occurring in Southern Ontario municipal forest edges? and 4) Are municipal boundary-related policies effective in limiting edge-resident encroachment activities? Using a mixed method approach, the research incorporates qualitative and quantitative data collection to answer these questions. The content analysis of official and secondary plans and social surveys of key informants within six Southern Ontario municipalities identify boundary-related policies for protecting municipal natural areas from residential encroachment activities. They also determine the extent to which the study municipalities implement these policies. Field studies in 40 forests within these municipalities used unobtrusive measurements of encroachment behaviour to describe encroachment activities under two implemented municipal boundary demarcation policies, and other boundary treatments The three research methods, together with a literature review, were used to determine whether Ontario municipal policies are effective in limiting edge-resident encroachment activities within municipal forest edges. The content analysis and interviews indicated that, in general, municipal policies were insufficient to address the edge-resident encroachment issue. Policies had been established, but not at a sufficiently authoritative policy level (i.e. the official plan level) to support their implementation by staff. In addition, policies were missing explicit goals, objectives and strategies to direct their implementation, and the municipalities had not integrated their disparate policy components into an integrated course of action through time and space. The municipalities were successful in implementing policies to prevent edge resident encroachment within natural areas adjacent to newly developing subdivisions. However, they had infrequently implemented their policies for preventing encroachment within natural areas adjacent to established subdivisions. Furthermore, all the municipalities were not frequently implementing their policies to remediate existing encroachments within natural areas adjacent to newly developing or established subdivisions. The unobtrusive measurement of encroachment behaviour confirmed that residential encroachment activities generated a housing effect zone of impact within municipal forest edges. The distribution of the evidence of encroachment was significantly biased to the forest border. Encroachment traces were highly prevalent within study forests, occurring in over 94% of sites and covering 26 to 50% of the sampled area. Encroachment traces were particularly intense in the first 8 metres from the forest border; but extended a mean maximum extent of 16 metres from the forest border, with 95% of the evidence of encroachment lying within 34 metres. Boundary type significantly affected the mean frequency, intensity and maximum extent of encroachment. Mean frequencies, intensities and extents of all encroachment, and of most encroachment categories, were generally higher in sites with boundary types that allowed edge residents ready access to the forest edge. Conversely, sites with boundary treatments that had barriers to entry, such as fences or grass strips, tended to have lower encroachment levels. Sites with multiple barriers, such as those with fences, grass strips and paths, tended to have the lowest mean frequencies, intensities and mean maximum extents of encroachment. While sites with implemented municipal post and fence policies had significantly lower mean frequencies, intensities and, in the case of fences extents of encroachment, they were not significantly different from those of sites under some of the boundary types not subject to municipal policies. They were also significantly higher than those of sites with fences and grass strips (with or without pathways). Sites with municipal posts had significantly lower mean intensities of encroachment than sites with other boundaries that enabled residents to enter the forest edge, and had significantly lower mean frequencies of waste disposal traces than fenced sites. Sites with fences also had significantly lower mean intensities of encroachment than sites with no boundary demarcation, or sites with fences and gates, and were particularly effective in reducing the incidence of yard extension encroachments, and mean maximum extents of encroachment. Despite the effectiveness of these boundary demarcation policies, and that of some of the other boundary treatments evaluated, none of the boundary treatments was effective in eliminating encroachment traces. A buffer of between 10 and 20 metres in width would be required to segregate the mean maximum extent of encroachment activities from sensitive forest edges, depending on the boundary demarcation policy, or type. The research concludes that current municipal policies are insufficient to meet the complexity and scope of the encroachment activities occurring. Some preventative policies have been developed and are regularly implemented within natural areas adjacent to new subdivisions. However, implemented boundary demarcation policies are insufficient to eliminate, or minimize residential encroachment. Wider more complex boundary policies that limit different types of encroachment and include elements that reduce access, spatially separate, and encourage informal residential surveillance (such as fences, grass strips and pathways) can further reduce encroachment levels. Few municipalities have established boundary demarcation policies to prevent encroachment within natural areas adjacent to established subdivisions, and study municipalities infrequently implement policies and bylaws to mitigate existing encroachments within these areas. Yet interviewees, and the results of the unobtrusive measurement of encroachment in study forest edges, indicate that encroachment activities are highly prevalent within these municipal forests. Policies at all levels, and particularly at the official plan level, are required to protect natural areas from edge resident encroachment, and other forms of post development impacts on natural areas. These policies are required to support the more rigorous enforcement of encroachment bylaws, and the negotiation, and implementation of effective buffers and boundary demarcation treatments. In consideration of these results and conclusions, the dissertation describes the implications for municipal planning policy and urban and regional planning theory, and provides recommendations for future research.

Le changement d’approche de la conservation de la nature est à l’oeuvre, et se manifeste aujourd'hui à travers des politiques fondées sur le concept scientifique de réseau écologique. Celui-ci est considéré comme l’expression du « troisième temps de la conservation », en ce qu’il vient compléter les approches antérieures de la nature, centrées prioritairement sur la création d’aires protégées. Le réseau écologique doit permettre de répondre plus efficacement aux enjeux de maintien de la biodiversité : il met l’accent sur le besoin d’établir des corridors entre les habitats naturels, afin de favoriser la mobilité et le brassage des populations animales et végétales. En France, la trame verte et bleue (TVB) est un nouvel objet politique publique qui concrétise cette approche dynamique de la conservation. La thèse porte sur le processus de territorialisation de la TVB, à travers une méthode par études de cas. L’objectif central de ce travail est d’examiner les effets de la TVB sur la mise en oeuvre de l’action publique, en considérant celle-ci comme un vecteur potentiel de changement des politiques de protection de la nature et/ou des politiques d’aménagement. Ces politiques sont respectivement étudiées aux échelles régionale et locale. / The change of approach in the conservation of nature is at work, embodied today by policies based on the scientific concept of ecological network. This concept is the expression of the "third step of conservation", complementing previous approaches, mainly focused on creating protected areas. The ecological network should provide better responses to the challenges of maintaining biodiversity: it emphasizes the need to set up bridges between natural environments, to stimulate mobility and mixing of plant and animal populations. In France, the green and blue infrastructure (TVB) is a new public policy entity, which materializes this dynamic approach to conservation. The thesis covers the process of territorialization of TVB, using a case study based methodology. The core of this work is to assess the effects of TVB on public policies, considering it a potential game changer in nature conservation policies and/or land-planning policies. These policies are studied at both regional and local scales.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:37:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Paulo Cesar da Costa.pdf: 4253113 bytes, checksum: 8fe9dda35243a879336e5fa6037d55cb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-18 / The concepts of fractal geometry, which were developed in 1975 by Mandelbrot, complement Euclidean geometry as they provide theoretical dimensional fundamentals for shapes whose irregularities cannot be properly interpreted by classical topological definitions. The standards of this irregular morphology, found in abundance in nature, can be recognized in the construction processes of various fractals anthropic figures, mainly when combined with computational technology. Professionals and researchers from several knowledge fields are exploring these concepts to simulate or create models of irregular shapes, with detail levels hitherto inconceivable. Earth sciences supported by geotechnologies have great potential for applying Mandelbrot s theories as a conceptual reference for analyzing phenomena presenting fractal behaviors, belonging to different application areas as geomorphology, climatology and urban and landscapes studies. In this approach, the fractal dimension of the territorial space occupied by cities is considered an indicator for understanding occupation patterns as one of the factors to be considered in urban planning policies, e.g., to propose projects for more appropriate investments distribution and development of infrastructure. In this work, these concepts were applied by using the box-counting method to calculate the fractal dimension of urban forms from eight Brazilian state capitals by using the Municipal Human Development Index (MHDI) as the selection criteria: four cities ranked among the top of the list and four cities classified among the last positions of the state capitals. The results were analyzed in order to identify possible relationships or trends among these indicators, namely, fractal dimension and MHDI, that may support future studies and urban planning. These relationships were not confirmed: the eight studied cities presented heterogeneous fractal dimension values and no trends were verified. However, it was concluded that the fractal dimension of urban form is related to its scattering pattern and occupation over the geographical territorial space and may be an indicator of the occupation density from the urban area. / Os conceitos da geometria fractal, desenvolvida em 1975 por Mandelbrot, complementam os da geometria euclidiana à medida que fornecem um arcabouço teórico de cálculo dimensional para diversas formas cujas irregularidades apresentam características que não podem ser interpretadas adequadamente pelas definições topológicas clássicas. Os padrões dessa morfologia irregular, encontrada em abundância na natureza, podem ser reproduzidos em processos de construção de figuras fractais desenvolvidas pelo homem, especialmente quando combinadas com a tecnologia computacional. Profissionais e pesquisadores de diversas áreas de conhecimento passaram a explorar esses conceitos a fim de simular ou criar modelos de formas irregulares, com níveis de detalhe até então inconcebíveis. As ciências da Terra, com o apoio de ferramentas de geotecnologia, apresentam grande potencial de se apropriar das teorias da geometria de Mandelbrot, como referência conceitual aos estudos de fenômenos que apresentam comportamento fractal, pertencentes a várias áreas de aplicação como a geomorfologia, climatologia e os estudos urbanos e de paisagens. Nessa abordagem, a dimensão fractal do espaço territorial ocupado pelas cidades vem sendo considerada indicador importante para entendimento desse padrão de ocupação, contribuindo como um dos fatores a ser considerados nas políticas de planejamento urbano e, por exemplo, propor projetos de distribuição de investimentos e desenvolvimento de infraestrutura mais adequados. Neste trabalho, esses conceitos foram aplicados por meio da utilização do método da contagem de quadrados para calcular a dimensão fractal das formas urbanas de oito capitais brasileiras, utilizando o Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano Municipal (IDHM) de 2010, publicado em julho de 2013, como critério de seleção. Foram escolhidas quatro cidades classificadas entre as primeiras da lista e outras quatro que ocupam as últimas posições entre as capitais estaduais, com o objetivo de encontrar possíveis relações ou tendências entre esses indicadores dimensão fractal e IDHM que pudessem subsidiar futuros estudos e planejamentos urbanos. Os resultados obtidos não revelaram a existência de tais relações: as oito cidades estudadas apresentaram valores dimensionais heterogêneos, sem registro de tendências. No entanto, foi possível concluir que a dimensão fractal de uma forma urbana está relacionada ao seu padrão de espalhamento e ocupação do espaço territorial geográfico e pode ser considerada um indicador da densidade de ocupação da área urbana.

Les bâtiments représentent 40 pourcents de la consommation finale d'énergie. Ils sont ainsi le fer de lance des politiques de réduction des dépenses énergétiques. Récemment, des systèmes de modèles climatiques qui incluent un modèle atmosphérique régional et des paramétrisations urbaines sophistiquées ont été développés. Ils considèrent la complexité de l’îlot de chaleur urbain et ses interactions avec les besoins énergétiques des bâtiments. Dans quelle mesure ces systèmes constituent-ils des outils d’aide à la décision pour les autorités locales ? Cette étude menée sur le territoire de l'Eurodistrict (Strasbourg - Kehl) en 2010, puis en 2030, à l’aide du système de modèles de climat WRF/ARW-BEP+BEM a démontré que si le système de modèles estimait de manière fiable les besoins en chauffage des bâtiments, ces derniers étaient davantage sensibles aux caractéristiques intrinsèques des bâtiments qu'aux formes urbaines et à l'îlot de chaleur urbain induit par ces formes. / Buildings represent 40 percent of the end-use energy. Thus, they constitute a key point of the energy saving policies. Recently, climate modeling systems that include a mesoscale atmospheric model, sophisticated urban parameterizations have been developed to account for the complexity of the urban climate and its interactions with the building energy loads. This study aims to assess the capability of such climate modeling systems to provide climate and energy guidelines to urban planners. For this, we used the research collaborative WRF/ARW-BEP+BEM climate modeling system and performed sensitivity tests considering the territory of the Eurodistrict in 2010, and then in 2030. The results reveal that the climate modeling system achieves estimating the building energy needs over the study area, but also indicate that the building energy needs are more sensitive to the building intrinsic properties and occupant behavior than to the urban forms and their induced urban heat island.