En milieu urbain, la concurrence entre les enjeux de préservation de la biodiversité et de la densification du territoire est particulièrement développée. Dans une optique d’aide à la décision, une meilleure connaissance des zones les plus conflictuelles est requise. Face au constat d’insuffisance et d’inadéquation des données et des méthodes nécessaires à la cartographie des Trames vertes urbaines, notre travail s’intègre en premier lieu dans une démarche technique. Celle-ci est centrée sur la mise en place d’une méthode de traitement d’images satellitaires Très Haute Résolution Spatiale Pléiades (THRS) pour l’extraction de la végétation arborée et herbacée à l’échelle fine d’une emprise urbaine. D’abord appliquée à des données fictives, cette méthode est ensuite déployée sur quatre territoires (Toulouse, Muret, Pierrefite-Nestalas et Strasbourg). Bien que fondée sur une approche pixel, la simplicité de la méthode, qui s’appuie sur des outils libres, et les résultats obtenus (indice Kappa supérieur à 85 %) garantissent sa reproductibilité sur de vastes territoires plus ou moins urbanisés. Cette donnée de végétation est ensuite exploitée pour modéliser les connectivités écologiques potentielles du paysage urbain et périurbain toulousain. L’approche mobilise la théorie des graphes et permet d’évaluer l’impact d’un aménagement urbain sur la biodiversité. Le cas du Boulevard Urbain Nord de Toulouse est étudié. La cartographie proposée des réservoirs de biodiversité, hiérarchisés à l’aide de métriques de connectivité, est avant tout indicative. Elle est finalement confrontée à des documents d’urbanisme (Plans Locaux d’Urbanisme) afin d’obtenir une meilleure visibilité des territoires à enjeux environnementaux et urbanistiques. En fonction des enjeux fixés par les acteurs du territoire et à travers le filtre applicatif, cette thèse propose un outil robuste d’analyse et d’aide à la décision pour la gestion et la planification du territoire. / In urban areas, competition between land development and ecological conservation is intense. To assist decision making, a better knowledge of those areas of interest is required. Regarding inadequacy data and methods needed for ecological network mapping in urban areas, the aim of our study is to develop a method for semi-automatic vegetation extraction with Very High Spatial Resolution Pleiades imagery (VHSR). Initially applied to training samples, the process is then be deployed to four French study areas (Toulouse, Muret, Pierrefite-Nestalas and Strasbourg). The reproducibility of this method over large urbanized areas is ensured by its simplicity and the results of a pixel-based classification (kappa coefficient higher than 85 %). This extraction workflow uses free or open-source software. This vegetation data is then used in order to model potential ecological connectivity in Toulouse’s urban and peri-urban areas. Impacts on biodiversity due to urban planning are assessed using graph theory. The “Boulevard Urbain Nord de Toulouse” project, a road infrastructure, is studied. Graph metrics have been calculated to assess the level of connectivity at habitat patches and landscape scales. We classified the importance of the patches which is cross-tabulated with planning documents (PLU, a local town planning) in order to locate conflict urban areas: between biodiversity preservation and urbanization. Depending on the issues set out by local actors and through the application filter, this thesis proposes a robust analytical tool and decision-making aid for landscape management and land planning.

Bumble bees (Bombus spp.) are adept pollinators of countless cultivated and wild flowering plants, but many species have experienced declines in recent decades. Though urban sprawl has been implicated as a driving force of such losses, urban green spaces hold the potential to serve as habitat islands for bumble bees. As human populations continue to grow and metropolitan areas become larger, the survival of many bumble bee species will hinge on the identification and implementation of appropriate conservation measures at regional and finer scales. North Texas is home to some the fastest-growing urban areas in the country, including Denton County, as well as at least two declining bumble bee species (B. pensylvanicus and B. fraternus). Using a combination of field , molevular DNA and GIS methods I evaluated the persistence of historic bumble bee species in Denton County, and investigated the genetic structure and connectivity of the populations in these spaces. Field sampling resulted in the discovery of both B. pensylvanicus and B. fraternus in Denton County's urban green spaces. While the relative abundance of B. fraternus in these spaces was significantly lower than historic levels gleaned from museum recors, that of B. pensylvanicus was significantly higher. Statistical analyses found that both bare ground and tree cover surrounding sample sites were negatively associated with numbers of bumble bee individuals and hives detected in these green spaces. Additionally, limited genetic structuring of bumble bee populations was detected, leading to the conclusion that extensive gene flow is occurring across populations in Denton County.

There is an alarming global trend where both adults and adolescents do not meet the recommendation on physical activity that WHO has set. This is seen worldwide, and Sweden is not an exception. There is, however, a trend that adolescents in Sweden want to live healthier and be more active in their free time. Therefore, the thesis aims to investigate how two Swedish municipalities work to promote self-organized physical activity with adolescents in focus.  The study was conducted through semi-structured interviews with officials working in Linköping municipality and Uppsala municipality, and an official working in the National Sports Confederation. The interviews were analyzed through thematic analysis. The thematic analysis was also conducted on specific municipal and government documents. The main findings of the thesis are that to promote physical activity, the quality of place needs to be high, the feeling of security is vital, and there is a gap in how municipalities take citizens' thoughts and opinions into planning.

Socio-ekologisk resiliens är ett begrepp som bör integreras i en större omfattning i dagens stadsplanering då extremväder till följd av klimatförändringar, samt Covid-19 pandemin har förändrat behoven i stadens offentliga rum. Ett sätt att bemöta de nya behoven är att öka andelen grönområden. Denna studie fokuserar på Stockholms mest centrala delar, Vasastan, Norrmalm och Östermalm som har ett väldigt begränsat utbud av grönområden, sett till hur många som bor där. Stockholms stads rekommendation är att boende ska ha maximalt 200 meter till närmsta grönområde, vilket studiens fokusområden inte uppfyller idag. Dessutom är dessa områden utsatta för värmeöar och översvämningsrisker, vilket var ytterligare en orsak till varför studieområdet valdes.  Att få loss mark och implementera nya grönområden i ett redan högt exploaterat område är en utmaning. Denna studie syftar därför till att undersöka var urbana grönområden såsom mikroparker kan införas i syfte att öka den socio-ekologiska resiliensen, men även att undersöka hur Stockholms stad arbetar med resiliensstrategier idag samt hur dessa kan förbättras. Vidare undersöktes vilka faktorer som ett urbant grönområde ska ha för att bidra till resiliens. Med resultatet av intervjuer och spatiala analyser som underlag, kan denna studie konstatera att Stockholms stads arbete med socio-ekologisk resiliens har förbättringsmöjligheter, och att det finns flertalet spillytor att anlägga mikroparker på. Dessutom har de viktigaste framgångsfaktorerna när det kommer till grönområden, ur ett socio- ekologiskt perspektiv, presenterats vilket framför allt handlar om mångfunktionalitet. Dock visar studien på att man behöver ta vissa bilvägar i anspråk för att säkerställa ekologisk resiliens. / Socio-ecological resilience is a concept that should be integrated to a greater extent in today's urban planning since extreme weather as a result of climate change, and the Covid-19 pandemic have changed the needs of the city's public spaces. One way to meet the new needs is to increase the proportion of green areas. This study focuses on Stockholm's most central parts, ON, Norrmalm and Östermalm, which have a very limited range of green areas, in comparison to how many people live there. The City of Stockholm's recommendation is that residents should have a maximum of 200 meters to the nearest green area, which the study's focus areas do not meet today. In addition, these areas are exposed to heat islands and flood risks, which was another reason why the study area was chosen.  To implement new green areas in an already highly developed area is a challenge. Therefore, this study aims to investigate where urban green areas, such as micro parks, can be introduced to increase social-ecological resilience. It also aims to investigate how the City of Stockholm works with resilience strategies today and how these can be improved. Furthermore, it was investigated what factors an urban green area should have to contribute to resilience. With the results of interviews and spatial analysis as a basis, this study can point out that the City of Stockholm's work with socio-ecological resilience has room for improvement, and that there are several available areas to build micro parks on. In addition, the most important success factors when it comes to green areas, from a socio-ecological perspective, have been presented, which is primarily about multifunctionality. However, the study shows that it is necessary to develop some car roads into greener areas, to ensure socio-ecological resilience.

Le besoin grandissant pour une planification urbaine plus durable et pour des interventions publiques visant à l'amélioration du bien-être collectif, ont grandement contribué à un engouement pour les espaces verts. Les parcs sont reconnus pour leur impact positif en zone urbaine dense, et nous sommes intéressés par l'application des concepts théoriques du domaine de la recherche opérationnelle pour assister les décideurs publics afin d'améliorer l'accessibilité, la distribution et la conception des parcs. Étant donné le contexte, nous sommes particulièrement motivés par le concept d'équité, et étudions le comportement des usagers des parcs à l'aide d'un modèle d'interaction spatiale, tel qu'appliqué dans les problèmes d'emplacement d'installations dans un marché compétitif. Dans cette recherche, nous présentons un modèle d'emplacement d'installations à deux étapes pouvant être adapté pour assister les décideurs publics à l'échelle de la ville. Nous étudions spécifiquement l'application aux espaces verts urbains, mais soulignons que des extensions du modèle peuvent permettre d'aborder d'autres problèmes d'emplacements d'installations sujets à des enjeux d'équité. La première étape de notre problème d'optimisation a pour but d'évaluer l'allocation la plus équitable du budget de la ville aux arrondissements, basé sur une somme du budget pondérée par des facteurs d'équité. Dans la deuxième étape du modèle, nous cherchons l'emplacement et la conception optimale des parcs, et l'objectif consiste à maximiser la probabilité totale que les individus visitent les parcs. Étant donné la non-linéarité de la fonction objective, nous appliquons une méthode de linéarisation et obtenons un modèle de programmation linéaire mixte en nombres entiers, pouvant être résolu avec des solveurs standards. Nous introduisons aussi une méthode de regroupement pour réduire la taille du problème, et ainsi trouver des solutions quasi optimales dans un délai raisonnable. Le modèle est testé à l'aide de l'étude de cas de la ville de Montréal, Canada, et nous présentons une analyse comparative des résultats afin de justifier la performance de notre modèle. / The recent promotion of sustainable urban planning combined with a growing need for public interventions to improve well-being and health in dense urban areas have led to an increased collective interest for green spaces. Parks have proven a wide range of benefits in urban areas, and we are interested in the application of theoretical concepts from the field of Operations Research to assist decision-makers to improve parks' accessibility, distribution and design. Given the context of public decision-making, we are particularly concerned with the concept of fairness, and are focused on an advanced assessment of users' behavior using a spatial interaction model (SIM) as in competitive facility locations' frameworks. In this research, we present a two-stage fair facility location and design (2SFFLD) model, which serves as a template model to assist public decision-makers at the city-level for the urban green spaces (UGSs) planning. We study the application of the 2SFFLD model to UGSs, but emphasize the potential extension to other applications to location problems concerned with fairness and equity. The first-stage of the optimization problem is about the optimal budget allocation based on a total fair-weighted budget formula. The second-stage seeks the optimal location and design of parks, and the objective consists of maximizing the total expected probability of individuals visiting parks. Given the non-linearity of the objective function, we apply a ``Method-based Linearization'' and obtain a mixed-integer linear program that can be solved with standard solvers. We further introduce a clustering method to reduce the size of the problem and determine a close to optimal solution within reasonable time constraints. The model is tested using the case study of the city of Montreal, Canada, and comparative results are discussed in detail to justify the performance of the model.

Forskning har framhävt problematiken som kan uppstå när tillgången och kvaliteten på grönytor intill bostadsområdet inte anpassats efter medborgarnas behov. Om användarens intressen och värderingar kring vad som anses vara en kvalitativ grönyta förbises, kan många hälsoaspekter kopplade till vistelsen bland grönytor försummas. För att stadsplanerare ska kunna avgöra vilka kvalitativa aspekter som intressegrupper värderar har medborgardialoger blivit ett användbart verktyg. Dessvärre upplever inte alla medborgare sig som delaktiga i planeringen.  Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur medborgare i Malmös delområden Herrgården, Kronprinsen och Bellevue upplever tillgången och kvaliteten på grönytor utifrån ett rättviseperspektiv. Uppsatsen ämnar även undersöka om upplevelsen av delaktighet och inflytande skiljer sig mellan olika socioekonomiska grupper i förhållande till planeringen av grönyta och i så fall varför? Det teoretiska ramverket utgår från den rumsliga rättvisan och miljörättvisan. Metoderna som används är en demografisk undersökning av delområdena, en enkätundersökning om malmöbornas värderingar av grönytor samt intervjuer med medborgare och tjänsteperson om kvalitativa grönytor. Resultatet indikerar att upplevelsen av tillgång och kvalitet på grönytor skiljer sig åt mellan de olika delområdena. Även upplevelsen av delaktighet och inflytande i planeringen av grönytor skiljer sig åt mellan olika socioekonomiska grupper på grund av förväntan, medvetenhet, inkomst och kunskap. / Research has highlighted the problems that can arise when the availability and quality of green spaces next to the residential area have not been adapted to the needs of citizens. If the user's interests and values of what is considered a qualitative green space are overlooked, many health aspects linked to the usage of green spaces can be neglected. For city planners to be able to determine which qualitative aspects interest groups value, citizen dialogues have become a useful tool. Unfortunately, not all citizens feel involved in the planning. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate how citizens in Malmö's sub-areas Herrgården, Kronprinsen, and Bellevue experience the availability and quality of green spaces from a justice perspective. The thesis also intends to investigate whether the experience of participation and influence differs between different socio-economic groups in relation to the planning of green space and if so, why? The theoretical framework is based on spatial justice and environmental justice. The methods used are demographic surveys of the sub-areas, a survey of Malmö residents' values ​​of green spaces and interviews with citizens, and an official survey about qualitative green spaces. The results indicate that the experience of access and quality of green areas differs between the different sub-areas. The experience of participation and influence in the planning of green spaces also differs between different socio-economic groups due to expectation, awareness, income, and knowledge.

Les infrastructures vertes urbaines (IVU) fournissent de nombreux bénéfices aux citoyens. L’évaluation des Services Écosystémiques (SE) permet de rendre compte de leur valeur. Le cadre conceptuel des SE valorise la nature de manière instrumentale ou intrinsèque, ce qui est inadapté pour évaluer tous les SE culturels (SEC). La notion de valeur relationnelle permet de combler les lacunes de cette vision dichotomique. Des difficultés demeurent pour opérationnaliser le concept, notamment pour les distinguer des autres valeurs environnementales dû au peu d’études empiriques sur le sujet. S’appuyant sur un cadre théorique de co-construction des SEC, les théories de l’embodiment, puis sur la construction des valeurs relationnelles, cette étude a exploré de manière qualitative les valeurs relationnelles des usagers envers les jardins de rue à Montréal. Puisqu’il s’agit d’une IVU publique en bordure de rue et partagée entre voisins, le rapport à l’espace des usagers est intéressant à étudier. Quatre jardins de rues au profil similaire ont été sélectionnés à cet effet. L’analyse des entrevues semi-dirigées réalisées avec les usagers a démontré leurs valeurs relationnelles envers les jardins de rue. Ceux-ci nourrissent l’identité des usagers, leur fait vivre des expériences valorisées, augmentent leurs capacités et leurs connaissances, accroissent leur sens des responsabilités envers la nature et envers les autres, puis alimentent leur bien-être. Leur rôle social est significatif. L’étude donne des perspectives pour opérationnaliser le concept de valeurs relationnelles en identifiant des indicateurs discursifs de ces valeurs. Les facteurs influençant les valeurs relationnelles des usagers envers les jardins de rue ont été explorés. / Urban green infrastructure (UGI) provides numerous benefits to citizens. Valuation of Ecosystem Services (ES) is a way of accounting for their value. The conceptual framework of ES values nature instrumentally or intrinsically, which is unsuitable for valuing all cultural ES (CES). The notion of relational value can fill the gaps in this dichotomous vision. Difficulties remain in operationalizing the concept, particularly in distinguishing it from other environmental values, due to the paucity of empirical studies on the subject. Drawing on a theoretical framework for the co-construction of CES, embodiment theories, and then on the construction of relational values, this study qualitatively explored users' relational values towards street gardens in Montreal. Since this is a public UGI located on street verge and shared between neighbours, users' relationship to space is interesting to study. Four street gardens with similar profiles were selected for this purpose. Analysis of the semi-structured interviews conducted with users demonstrated their relational values towards street gardens. These gardens nourish users' identity, provide them with valued experiences, increase their skills and knowledge, heighten their sense of responsibility towards nature and others, and fuel their well-being. Their social role is significant. The study provides perspectives for operationalizing the concept of relational value by identifying discursive indicators of these values. Factors influencing users' relational values towards street gardens were explored.

Hållbarhet har under de senaste åren blivit ett relevat ämne som ständigt diskuteras och är en mycket central del för utvecklingen framåt. Startskottet för hållbar utveckling började med Förenade nationernas (FN) Agenda 2030. Malmö stad är en av många som arbetar aktivt utifrån handlingsplanen Agenda 2030 med hållbar utveckling för att bland annat utveckla den växande staden Malmö i en hållbar riktning. I samband med den växande staden Malmö ökar behovet av gröna miljöer, eftersom gröna miljöer har många fördelar som påverkar invånarna positivt. Därför blir Malmö stads grönplanering en viktig pusselbit i arbetet framåt. Uppsatsens syfte är att få en större förståelse för Malmö stads arbete med grönplanering, samt analysera grönplanering på en kommunal nivå för att öka människors hälsa och välbefinnande i staden. Syftet ska uppnås genom en kvalitativ fallstudie där bland annat en designprocess ingår som leder fram till ett gestaltningsförslag av området Varvsstaden i Malmö. En kvalitativ fallstudie är utgångspunkten för undersökandet av Malmö stads arbete med grönplanering. Fallstudien ger möjligheten att använda sig av flera insamlingsmetoder av empiriskt material. Fyra metoder inom fallstudien har använts, dokumentstudie, arkivstudie, fältstudie och en designprocess. Dokumentstudie, där relevant information inom ämnet samlades in. Arkivstudie, där analyser av detaljplaner och andra ritningsmaterial gjordes för att få en bredare förståelse för planeringen i Varvsstaden. Fältstudie, där observationer under flera tillfällen gjordes i Varvsstaden för att få direkt information som lägger grunden för arbetet. Designprocessen, där en bättre förståelse och nya insikter har genererats om grönplanering i Malmö. Studien visar att det finns många aspekter att tänka på när ett område planeras. Det finns många styrdokument, som ständigt uppdateras och förnyas. Dessa dokument ska alla tas hänsyn till vid planering av ett område. Studien visar också att det inte går att grönaplanera endast utifrån den sociala dimensionen. Att göra en uppdelning av hållbarhet i tre dimensioner är inte optimalt för att skapa ett komplext förslag eftersom att de är beroende av varandra och har ett tätt samband mellan varandra. / In recent years, sustainability has become an important subject that is constantly discussed because it is a central part of the future development. The starting point for sustainable development began with the United Nations (UN) Agenda 2030. Malmö stad is one of many that works actively based on the action plan Agenda 2030 with sustainable development to develop the growing Malmö in a sustainable direction. In connection with the growing city of Malmö, the need for green environments increases, as green environments have many advantages and affect people positively. Malmö stads green planning therefore becomes an important part of the work for sustainability.. The purpose of the essay is to gain a greater understanding of how Malmö stad works with green planning, as well as analyze green planning at the municipal level for increasing people's health and well-being in the city. The purpose is to be achieved through a qualitative case study that includes a design process that leads to a design proposal for Varvsstaden. The qualitative case study is the starting point for investigating Malmö stads work with green planning. The case study provides the opportunity to use several methods of collecting empirical material. Four methods within the case study were used: document study, archival study, field study and a design process. Document study, where relevant information on the subject was collected. Archive study, where analyzes of detailed plans and other drawing materials were made to gain a broader understanding of the planning in Varvsstaden. Field study, where observations were made on several occasions in Varvsstaden to obtain direct information that lays the foundation for the work. The design process on Varvsstaden creates a better understanding and generates new insights into green planning in Malmö. The study shows that there are many aspects to consider when planning an area. There are many documents, which are constantly updated and renewed. These documents must all be taken into account when planning an area. The study also shows that it is not possible to plan greenery only on the basis of the social dimension. Dividing sustainability into three dimensions is not optimal for creating a complex proposal because they are interdependent and closely interrelated.

From a point of view of contemporary society which requires healthy lifestyle and healthy environment, especially in big cities there is a need for development of recreation and public green areas. First, i tis a form of preparation in planning, i.e. it is important to elaborate objectives for their subsequent promotion and enforcement and afterwards it is necessary to provide funds for their implementation. This doctoral thesis analyzes the role of everyday recreation as a part of our lives and recreation as a necessary component of our healthy lifestyle. Green areas represent the most suitable environment for this type of recreation. This thesis describes the status, importance and types of recreation and green areas in cities in the Czech Republic. It also analyzes the relationship between recreation and urban green areas in terms of uses of urban green space for daily recreation. Specifically, the work focused on conceptual and compositional principles arrangement of urban green areas. Those represent the most suitable and important potential resources for development of vegetation and everyday recreation for all people living in our cities. The intention of this thesis is to analyze the current status of recreational function of public green areas in urban developments and especially in neighbourhoods. Following that to suggest solutions for improvement and implementation of green areas as measures for design solutions within the framework of land-use planning. This thesis is supposed to act as compendium to spread knowledge about possible options how to create green areas with recreational and housing function and thus acquire complex build-up area.

Au regard de la variété d’enjeux (économiques, sociétaux et environnementaux) que recouvrent les espaces de nature soumis au développement humain, il apparait urgent de comprendre les déterminants de leur fonctionnement. En effet, même si elles ne constituent pas des lieux prioritaires de conservation pour les espèces rares et menacées, les zones urbanisées sont loin d’être dépourvues de biodiversité. Cependant, cette biodiversité et les processus écologiques en œuvre demeurent mal connus. Il s’agit ici d’utiliser les communautés de Rhopalocères (papillons de jour) comme grille de lecture des paysages urbains et périurbains. A partir de l’étude des communautés de papillons (et accessoirement d’oiseaux) en région PACA, l’objectif principal de ce travail est ainsi de mettre en évidence les patrons d’organisation de ces communautés afin comprendre les facteurs conditionnant les assemblages d’espèces en milieu urbain et périurbain. Situé en région méditerranéenne qui constitue un espace original d’un point de vue biogéographique, ce travail a porté sur des terrains d’étude permettant d’aborder deux expressions différentes du processus d’urbanisation touchant le territoire provençal : (i) le village de Lauris (84), caractéristique d’un arrière-pays méditerranéen « en voie de métropolisation » ; et (ii) l’agglomération marseillaise (13), 2ème ville la plus peuplée de France. A partir de l’analyse des assemblages d’espèces de quatre habitats (friches, jardins privés, vignes, forêts), les travaux menés sur la commune de Lauris se sont intéressés à la réponse des communautés de Rhopalocères face aux changements de la disponibilité en habitats dans une mosaïque paysagère en mutation. Les résultats ont ainsi révélé des variations en termes de structure et de composition fonctionnelle, soulignant tant l’influence du contexte paysager que du type d’habitat sur l’organisation de ces communautés. Cette étude a également soulevé l’intérêt du compartiment jardin en tant que réservoir de biodiversité. Les travaux ont ensuite été orientés sur la question de la biodiversité hébergée par les espaces artificialisés en ville. Pour cela 24 parcs publics de la ville de Marseille ont été étudiés. Il a été possible de démontrer comment les traits fonctionnels des espèces (papillons et oiseaux) permettaient de prédire leur répartition le long d’un gradient d’urbanisation. Les différents travaux menés sur l’agglomération marseillaise ont également révélé l’importance de l’échelle paysagère et des dynamiques spatiales régionales (dispersion et colonisation) sur l’organisation des assemblages d’espèces. Les communautés de Rhopalocères apparaissent fortement conditionnées par le degré d’isolement des parcs vis-à-vis des massifs semi-naturels, soulevant l’idée d’une alimentation des assemblages intra-urbains par un pool d’espèces régional situé en périphérie. Cette hypothèse est d’ailleurs appuyée par la distribution imbriquée des espèces (nested subsets) entre les parcs, où les sites les plus pauvres en termes de composition spécifique constituent des sous-échantillons des sites les plus riches, sans que cela ne soit relié à l’existence d’une relation aire-espèce significative. Enfin, l’étude de l’aménagement des parcs et de leur gestion a permis de souligner l’effet d’interactions plus locales sur l’organisation des communautés. Cependant, le contexte paysager semble fortement conditionner la composante végétale autour, mais aussi dans les parcs, notamment par le biais de sa gestion par les services municipaux. / Given the wide range of issues (economic, social and environmental) that are concerned by natural environments under the impact of human development, it is a matter of urgency to understand the factors that determine their functioning. Even if they do not constitute priority areas for the conservation for rare and endangered species, urban areas are by no means devoid of biodiversity. This biodiversity and the ecological processes involved remain poorly known.The approach here is to use the communities of Rhopaloceres (butterflies) as a framework for reading the urban and outlying suburban landscapes. On the basis of a study of butterfly communities (and secondarily those of birds) in the PACA (Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur) region, the main aim of this study is to provide evidence of the patterns of organisation of these communities in order to understand the factors that control the assemblages of species in the urban and outlying suburban environment.Focused on the Mediterranean area, which constitutes an original site from the biogerographical point of view, this investigation has focused on two study sites in order to offer two different expressions of the process of urban development affecting the territory of Provence: (i) the village of Lauris (84), characteristic of a Mediterranean hinterland ‘in the process of metropolisation’; and (ii) the Marseille conurbation (13), the 2nd most populous city in France.On the basis of an analysis of the assemblages of species of four habitats (fallow land, private gardens, vineyards, forests), the investigations carried out in Lauris are focused on the response of the communities of Rhopaloceres in the face of rapid changes in land use. The results provide evidence of variations in terms of structure and functional composition, underlining the influence both of the landscape context and of the type of habitat on the organisation of these communities. This study also highlights the interest of the garden compartment as a reservoir of biodiversity.Then, the investigation has focused on the question of the biodiversity accommodated in the man-made areas of the city. To this end, 24 public parks in the city of Marseille have been studied. It has been possible to show how the functional traits of species (butterflies and birds) can be used to predict their distribution along a gradient of urban development. The various studies carried out on Marseille have also shown the importance of the landscape scale and of the regional spatial dynamic (dispersal and colonisation) with regard to the organisation of assemblages of species. The communities of Rhopaloceres appear to be strongly conditioned by the degree of isolation of parks with regard to the semi-natural massifs, raising the idea of the strengthening of the intra-urban assemblages by a regional pool of species situated around the outskirts. This hypothesis is further supported by the overlapping pattern of distribution of the species (nested subsets) between the parks, where the poorest sites in terms of species composition constitute sub-samples of the richest sites, without this being linked to the existence of a significant species-area relationship. Finally, the study of the development of parks and their management has enabled us to highlight the impact of more local interactions on the organisation of the communities. Nevertheless, the landscape context would appear to strongly condition the plant component in the surroundings, but also in the parks, in particular via the management practices of the municipal departments.