Peri-urbanisation , also periurbanisation, relates to a process within the phenomenon of urban sprawl

Urban sprawl

Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density and auto-dependent development on rural land, high segregation of uses Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a...

. The expression originates from the french word périurbanisation.

Origin

It is used—even in official statistics of INSEE

INSEE

INSEE is the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies. It collects and publishes information on the French economy and society, carrying out the periodic national census. Located in Paris, it is the French branch of Eurostat, European Statistical System...

—to describe the 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. Hence, the concept tries to fill the gap between suburbanisation

Suburbanization

Suburbanization a term used to describe the growth of areas on the fringes of major cities. It is one of the many causes of the increase in urban sprawl. Many residents of metropolitan regions work within the central urban area, choosing instead to live in satellite communities called suburbs...

 and exurbanisation.In science, the term was used initially in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.

Periurbanisation vs. (post-)suburbanisation

Whilst the word suburb

Suburb

The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...

 describes a mainly monofunctional—e.g. residential—area developed around or next to the urban center

Urban Center

The Urban Center is a gallery on Madison Avenue in New York City , which is run by the Municipal Art Society . The gallery serves to champion the fields of urban planning and design in New York, and is also the site of MAS' community development workshops, seminars, lectures, and other educational...

, a peri-urban area is more distant to the core city and tends to have a higher land-use diversity (e.g. individual houses, agricultural land, leisure residences). Due to the latter fact, peri-urbanisation is often called rurbanisation. Peri-urban areas, which are less dependent on and even begin to compete with the urban center regarding functionality, are often called postsuburbia.

Rurban space

The rurban space, also known as the outskirts or the urban hinterland, is the structure resulting from the process of peri-urbanisation. It can be described as the "landscape interface between town and country", or also as the transition zone where urban and rural uses mix and often clash. Alternatively, it can be viewed as a landscape type in its own right, one forged from an interaction of urban and rural land uses.

Spatial characteristics

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

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 where urban areas are intensively managed to prevent urban sprawl

Urban sprawl

Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density and auto-dependent development on rural land, high segregation of uses Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a...

 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 motorways and bypasses
• Waste transfer stations, recycling
  Recycling
  Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...
  
   facilities and landfill sites
• Park and ride
  Park and ride
  Park and ride facilities are car parks with connections to public transport that allow commuters and other people wishing to travel into city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system , or carpool for the rest of their trip...
  
   sites,
• Airport
  Airport
  An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
  
  s,
• Large hospital
  Hospital
  A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
  
  s,
• Power, water and sewerage facilities.
• Factories
• Large out-of-town shopping facilities e.g. large supermarkets

Despite these 'urban' uses, the fringe remains largely open with the majority of the land agricultural, woodland or other rural use. However the quality of the countryside around urban areas tends to be low with severance between areas of open land and badly maintained woodlands and hedgerows.

Further reading

• Laurent Astrade et al. 2007: Periurbanisation and natural hazards. In: Journal of Alpine Research 95 (2), pp. 19–28.
• Ingo Zasada et al. 2011: Peri-urbanisation and multifunctional adaptation of agriculture around Copenhagen. In: Danish Journal of Geography 111(1), pp. 59–72.
• Anne Lambert 2001: The (mis)measurement of periurbanization. In: Metropolitics, 11 May 2011. URL: http://www.metropolitiques.eu/The-mis-measurement-of.html