Safa Bel Fekih Boussema

Dr. Safa Belfekih is a landscape engineer and post-doctoral researcher at the Institut Supérieur Agronomique in Chott Mariem (University of Sousse, Tunisia), specializing in landscape ecology, land use planning and sustainable landscape management. Her research focuses on green infrastructure, ecological continuities, Nature-based Solutions (NbS), landscape heritage valorization, as well as the application of geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing and spatial modelling to territorial planning and biodiversity conservation.

The project

Development of an Urban Green Belt to Strengthen Resilience to Climate Change. Application to the municipality of Hergla (Tunisia).

Today, the promotion of landscape is essentially done with a "green" discourse to advocate that of the so-called "sustainable" city and, in particular, a more ecological city developed with its natural environment. The development policies that support the "sustainable" city opt for a "nature-city" where natural spaces are installed in the heart of cities and constantly reinvent them. Through these policies, the Urban Green Belt (TVU) redefines the place and functions of nature in the city by considering it as a structuring network that tends to preserve biodiversity in the urban environment and to provide ecosystem services for human well-being. However, the implementation of the TVU can only be achieved after consultation between the various actors of the territory. The involvement of local authorities in the process of designing and managing the TVU is far-reaching on the ecological viability of the territory and provides a lasting basis for its economic organization. Hergla, in the north-east of Tunisia, is a coastal town characterised by urban pressure on its natural sites. This project aims to develop the TVU of Hergla by relying on the role of the actors to assess its relevance. To do this, the multidisciplinary methodological approach involves three stages. Firstly, it is a question of carrying out a review of the literature and carrying out the landscape and territorial diagnosis of the study area. Secondly, the relevance of the TVU is assessed among the actors of the territory through questionnaires and interviews. Finally, an operational and sustainable design of the TVU of Hergla is carried out. The TVU is therefore presented as a new reading of nature in the city; which also aims to i) organise the "city-nature" relationship, ii) network nature spaces, iii) develop leisure areas, and iiii) revalue the urban by limiting its sprawl.

Hosting institution : French National School of Landscape Architecture (Versailles-Marseille)

Selected list of publications

Bel Fekih Boussema S. , Khebour Allouche F., Ajmi R., Cohen M., 2025. Ecological Corridors to mitigate habitats fragmentation in North Africa-Tunisia. Euro-Mediterranean Journal for Environmental Integration, 11.12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41207-025-00994-w 

Bel Fekih Boussema S. , Khebour Allouche F., Ajmi R., Chaabane B., Gad A., 2023. Assessing and monitoring the effects of land cover changes in biodiversity. Case study: Mediterranean coastal region, Sousse, Tunisia. The Egyptian Journal of Remote Sensing and Space Science. Volume 26, Issue 1, 185-196 p. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1110982323000029

Bel Fekih Boussema S. , Cohen M. and Khebour Allouche F., 2022, Green and Blue Infrastructure Design in a Semi Arid Region. Front. Environ. Sci. 10:1061256. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.1061256

Bel Fekih Boussema S. , Souidi Z., Chaabane B., Hammami S., Ajmi R., Aloui B., Khebour Allouche F., Boukharouba K., 2024. Green Infrastructure, A Sustainable Development Tool. URBAN ART BIO, vo.2, no.3, 26–31 p. https://www.ajpsdz.org/rv/index.php/uab/article/view/110

Bel Fekih Boussema S., Cohen M., Khebour Allouche F., 2022. Promoting Biodiversity conservation with Supra-regional connections. Case study of a Mediterranean region, Tunisia. International Journal of Research-GRANTHAALAYAH, Volume 10, Issue 8, 01-10 p. https://www.granthaalayahpublication.org/journals/granthaalayah/article/view/4723