Amélioration de la qualité paysagère dans l’habitat urbain à travers la compensation écologique

Abstract

Living environments are subject to degradations that are often irreversible in the face of current urban practices. This is the case of Algiers, where new urban extensions ignore the landscape dimension, particularly in the residential sector, which is the primary factor in urban sprawl. Faced with social demand for housing, peripheral agricultural land gives way to new habitat projects that accentuate the fragmentation of the territory. Increasingly, the notion of landscaping quality is praised by city actors who are trying to find a consensus between nature and urbanity in an alarming context of soil artificialization. Urban policies of the 21st century call more than ever for a restoration of nature in the city. In order to mitigate the impacts of urban development, reflections on green spaces go beyond the landscape and aesthetic dimensions, and consider the ecosystem value of the plant element. In this sense, ecological compensation finds its legitimacy in the urban area. In this research we propose a reflection on urban habitat as a joint system between sustainability data and the principle of ecological compensation. It is at the level of the district of Ain El Malha located on the southern outskirts of Algiers that we first try an environmental assessment with a view to implementing compensatory measures, through (re)consideration of open spaces. Greening scenarios are then elaborated from the equivalence method developed in this work on the basis of values assigned to the Areas of Ecological Interest (AEI). The results show that it is possible to improve the landscape quality of the neighbourhood through the concept of ecological compensation.