Inn river running through the Tyrol west of Innsbruck

Peri-urbanisation relates to the processes of scattered and dispersive urban growth that create hybrid

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

s of fragmented and mixed urban and rural characteristics. Such areas may be referred to as the rural–urban fringe, the outskirts or the urban hinterland.

Etymology

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, 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. In science, the term was used initially in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Structure and function

Peri-urban areas (also called ''urban 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 or ecotone between town and countryside, 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 is an umbrella term to describe what happens on a parcel of land. It concerns the benefits derived from using the land, and also the land management actions that humans carry out there. The following categories are used for land use: fo ...

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

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

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

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 transport, r ...

sites *

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

s * Large

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

s * 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. The quality of living of the countryside around urban areas tends to be low with severance between areas of open land and poorly maintained woodlands and hedgerows with the scattered urban facilities. "Peri-urbanisation" is also sometimes used to fill the gap between suburbanisation and exurbanisation, and thus relates moreover to the movement of people in space. In this case, it implies the expansion of functional rural-urban linkages such as by

commuting Commuting is periodically recurring travel between a 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 regular o ...

. In the United States,urban areas are defined as contiguous territory having a density of at least 1,000 persons per square mile, though in some areas the density may be as low as 500 per square mile. Urban areas also include outlying territory of less density if it is connected to the core of the contiguous area by road and within 2.5 road miles of that core, or within 5 road miles but separated by water or other undevelopable territory. Territory with population density below 1,000 people per square mile is included in the urban fringe if it eliminates an enclave or closes an indentation in the boundary of the urbanized area.

Etymology

Structure and function

See also

References

Further reading