Environmental planning and management of the peri-urban interface: perspectives on an emerging field

Abstract

Although there is no consensus on the definition of the peri-urban interface, there is growing recognition among development professionals and institutions that rural and urban features tend increasingly to co-exist within cities and beyond their limits. There is also recognition that the urban-rural dichotomy that is deeply ingrained in planning systems is inadequate for dealing with processes of environmental and developmental change in the peri-urban context. This paper argues that environmental planning and management of the peri-urban interface cannot simply be based on the extrapolation of planning approaches and tools applied in rural and urban areas. Instead, it needs to be based on the construction of an approach that responds to the specific environment, social, economic and institutional aspects of the peri-urban interface. The paper also outlines approaches to environmental planning and management in the peri-urban interface, examining its specificity in terms of both the challenges faced and possible approaches for implementation.

Contributing to food security in urban areas: differences between urban agriculture and peri-urban agriculture in the Global North

“…Nevertheless, the zoning status does not protect agricultural land from being built upon. One aspect that often hampers the area's protection is the unclear or changing responsibilities of the various municipalities sharing the peri-urban area (Allen 2003), which can result in a lack of general planning (Zasada 2011). There are some examples where planners and municipalities developed strategies to protect agriculture in the peri-urban area, such as the finger plan in Copenhagen (Swaffield and Primdahl 2006), the Baix Llobregat Agricultural Park near Barcelona (Paül and McKenzie 2013) or the agricultural buffer zones in the US (Sullivan et al 2004).…”

“…They are described as the transition zone between urban and rural areas with, on the one hand, lower population densities and a lack of infrastructure compared to cities, and therefore not ''urban'', and on the other hand a limited amount of agricultural and natural land, and therefore not ''rural'' (Allen 2003;Piorr et al 2011). They suffer from urban pressures, but they also benefit from proximity to urban areas, markets and cultures, and are accordingly signified by a socio-cultural shift from rural to urban lifestyles (Antrop 2000;Piorr et al 2011).…”

Representing uncertainty in a spatial invasion model that incorporates human-mediated dispersal

“…4c), where high origin probabilities under the baseline were regularly associated with major urban areas outside the fringe zone, it is primarily map cells in these areas that exhibited a decrease or, just as commonly, no change in rank. For all states and provinces, the map cells that exhibited increases in rank under this sensitivity scenario were usually found in rural areas or the peri-urban zones (Allen 2003) that surround large cities.…”

Anatomía de la dispersión urbana en Barcelona

“…Véase Allen (2003) o Goffete-Nagot (2000) para una versión actualizada del tema. Entre las causas que han llevado a un espectacular incremento en el número de viviendas en España, cabe destacar las siguientes: i) tipos de interés anormalmente bajos (Trilla, 2001); ii) caída en el tamaño de los hogares (Trilla, 2001), iii) aumento en el número de segundas residencias (Trilla, 2001), iv) cambio de destino de una parte relevante del ahorro familiar colocado en bolsa hacia la compra de vivienda, debido al "pinchazo" -la caída repentina-de los valores tecnológicos y a los bajos tipos de interés bancarios (Naredo, 1996;Balsameda, San Martín & Sebastián., 2002); y v) el blanqueo de capitales (Naredo, Carpintero & Marcos, 2003).…”