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Today, planning an urban–rural interface requires redefining the planner’s role and toolbox. Global challenges such as food security, climate change and population growth have become urgent issues to be addressed, especially for the implications in land use management. Urban–rural linkages, socio-economic interactions and ecological connectivity are the main issues on which the new urban agenda and sustainable development goals focus. Thus, urban and peri-urban agriculture (professional and not professional) in urban–rural interfaces has a crucial role in the maintenance and enhancement of landscape quality, urban green spaces and ecosystem services. The research presented in this article adopts a holistic approach, with a special focus on open spaces, in order to understand the complexity of peri-urban landscapes and to identify homogeneous units. It also defines map-based indices to characterize peri-urban landscape types and identify main functions to maintain and enhance. The method was applied to the peri-urban area of Turin (Italy), and maps of spatial and functional classification at the landscape unit level were generated, as well as a map of critical areas to improve. Despite some minor limitations, the method and tools proposed appear to have a range of applications in the context of global challenges and from a landscape perspective.

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Peri-urbanization is a global phenomenon strongly linked to socio-demographic and settlement dynamics. Although peri-urbanization is a topic widely debated in academic literature, especially in the field of urban and regional planning, there is no universal definition, and different types and interpretations of peri-urban areas can be found in the literature. Identifying physical limits and boundaries, as well as defining what is peri-urban and what is not, are important issues for planning these spaces at city and metropolitan levels but are not easy to solve due to their heterogeneity. Establishing land use rules for peri-urban areas is a crucial issue for maintaining and fostering primary and vital ecosystem services, especially in terms of functions provided to urban core areas. Developing a replicable method to identify and regulate peri-urban areas, exportable to other European countries, is the aim of this study. In this paper, the authors propose a method applied to the case study of Turin (Italy), based on a collaborative and place-based approach, the identification of certain peri-urbanization conditions, and the definition of rules and guidelines for peri-urban areas, in order to support decision-makers at different levels. These planning tools were adopted by the recent General Territorial Plan of the Turin Metropolitan Area (TMA). In conclusion, the authors highlighted not only the strengths and possible limitations of this method but also the role of the landscape planning approach in terms of the protection and management of peri-urban areas, considering some of the new challenges that will likely involve future peri-urban research and planning practices.