Between the Country and the Concrete: Rediscovering the Rural–Urban Fringe

Abstract

Substantial U.S. population growth in relatively rural areas adjacent to large urban areas is sparking renewed interest in the rural‐urban fringe. This research identifies some of the roots of the rural‐urban fringe concept and reviews recent scholarly interest in the related exurban concept. Analysis of primary and secondary data is conducted to examine the fringe in relation to both urban/suburban areas and rural areas of Ohio, seeking to determine the extent to which the fringe is similar to or dissimilar from the suburbs or more rural areas. Comparisons are made across a number of ecological, occupational, and sociocultural attributes. Differences between incorporated (cities and villages) and unincorporated (township) areas are also considered. Findings support the notion of the fringe being distinct from the suburbs, with more modest differences compared to more rural places. Practical implications of this research are discussed as are future research needs for further understanding an increasingly important settlement area of the United States.

Down on main street: Drugs and the small-town vortex

“…The central towns all had picturesque main streets lined with storefronts, restored courthouses that mark them as the seats of local government, and commercial strips with a Wal-Mart and other retailers and restaurants located on the outskirts of the town proper. These are fairly typical features in the "rural-urban fringe" of the Midwestern United States (Sharp and Clark 2008).…”

Exploring the social bases of home gardening

“…Drawing on insight from research on the rural-urban fringe (Audirac 1999), and following the approach of Sharp and colleagues (Sharp and Clark 2008;Sharp and Adua 2009), a two-step classification process was utilized to characterize the location of respondents along a rural-urban continuum. First, all the land area of Ohio was categorized as either urban, suburban, exurban, or rural.…”

A typology of agro-innovation adoptions: the case of organic farming in Korea

“…Multifunctionality in urban fringe areas is required to respond to various demands from urban residents concerning the agricultural domain, for example organic food (Morgan et al 2010;Zasada et al 2011). On the other hand, rural residents tend to be concerned with preserving farmland for agricultural production (Sharp and Clark 2008) and have more cumulative knowledge than ones in urban fringe areas. It suggests the possibility that rural farmers identify themselves as producers rather than entrepreneurs (Seuneke et al 2013;Vesala and Vesala 2010).…”