Assessing summer urban heat islands in the Metz Eurometropolis (France) and Greater Casablanca (Morocco) : observation, perception, vulnerability ; Caractérisation des îlots de chaleur de saison chaude dans les territoires de l'Eurométropole de Metz (France) et du Grand Casablanca (Maroc) : observation, perception, vulnérabilité

In the current context of rapid climate change, heatwaves are on the rise in both intensity and frequency. Within urban areas, this upward temperature trend exacerbates the phenomenon of urban overheating, often culminating in the formation of Urban Heat Islands (UHI), thus posing substantial risks to the health and well-being of the city residents. Taking the two geo-climatically contrasting cities of Metz and Casablanca as case studies, this thesis aims to investigate how urban heat islands manifest in urban areas and interact with environmental conditions, with a specific focus on the spatial distribution of the most vulnerable populations. The research is conducted along two primary axes: the first axis involves an analysis of the spatiotemporal variability of surface temperatures in relation to land use typologies and urban configurations in the two cities. To achieve this, we make use of satellite remote sensing products to carry out a diachronic analysis of surface heat islands at the urban scale. This analysis is complemented by thermographic images at the scale of public spaces derived from airborne drone imagery. Furthermore, we utilize unprecedented field data from a network of weather stations deployed throughout the territory of the Metz metropolitan area, enabling continuous monitoring of air temperatures at the urban canopy level. The processing of these field measurements allows us to map the UHI at the scale of the urban area through a multicriteria statistical modeling approach. This network is complemented by mobile measurements conducted along transects covering a variety of urban spaces and climate zones in the two studied cities. The second axis examines vulnerability on the basis of an approach incorporating both quantitative and qualitative data. To this end, a heat vulnerability index (HVI) is constructed using multivariate statistical analysis with the objective of identifying vulnerable populations at an intra-urban scale. The results are supplemented by a perception survey targeting ...