Inn river running through the Tyrol west of Innsbruck

Peri-urbanisation relates to the processes of scattered and dispersive

urban growth Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...

that create hybrid landscapes of fragmented and mixed urban and rural characteristics.

Origin

The expression originates from the French word ' ("peri-urban" meaning "around urban"), which is used by the INSEE (the French statistics agency) to describe spaces—between the city and the countryside—that are shaped by the fragmented urbanisation of former rural areas in the

urban fringe Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

, both in a qualitative (e.g. diffusion of urban lifestyle) and in a quantitative (e.g. new residential zones) sense. It is frequently seen as a result of

post-modernity Postmodernity (post-modernity or the postmodern condition) is the economic or cultural state or condition of society which is said to exist ''after'' modernity. Some schools of thought hold that modernity ended in the late 20th century – in the ...

. In science, the term was used initially in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and Switzerland.

Structure and function

Peri-urban areas (also called ''rurban space'', ''outskirts'' or the ''hinterland'') are defined by the structure resulting from the process of peri-urbanisation. It can be described as the ''landscape interface between town and country''side, or also as the ''rural—urban transition zone'' where urban and rural uses and functions mix and often clash. It can thus be viewed as a new landscape type in its own right, one forged from an interaction of urban and rural

land use Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. Land use by humans has a long ...

. Its definition shifts depending on the global location, but typically in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

where suburban areas are intensively managed to prevent

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...

and protect agricultural land, the urban fringe will be characterised by certain land uses which have either purposely moved away from the urban area, or require much larger tracts of land. As examples: * Roads, especially

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

s and bypasses * Waste transfer stations,

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

facilities and landfill sites *

Park and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system ( ...

sites *

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

s * Large hospitals * Power, water and sewerage facilities * Factories * Large out-of-town shopping facilities, e.g. large supermarkets * High-density residential buildings Despite these urban uses, the fringe remains largely open with the majority of the land for agricultural, woodland or other rural uses. However, the quality of living of the countryside around urban areas tends to be low with severance between areas of open land and badly maintained woodlands and hedgerows with the scattered urban facilities. Apart from the structural definition dominating English-speaking literature, the concept is sometimes used to fill the gap between

suburbanisation Suburbanization is a population shift from central urban areas into suburbs, resulting in the formation of (sub)urban sprawl. As a consequence of the movement of households and businesses out of the city centers, low-density, peripheral urb ...

and exurbanisation, and thus relates moreover to the movement of people in space. In this case however, peri-urbanisation is seen as the expansion of functional rural-urban linkages such as by

commuting Commuting is periodically recurring travel between one's place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regul ...

Origin

Structure and function

See also

References

Further reading