|  What
is the rural-urban fringe?
The rural-urban
fringe is the boundary zone outside the urban area proper
where rural
and urban land uses intermix. It is an area of transition from agricultural
and other rural land uses to urban use. Located well within the
urban sphere
of influence the fringe is characterised by a wide variety
of land use including dormitory
settlements housing middle-income commuters who work
in the main urban area. Over time the characteristics of the fringe
change from largely rural to largely urban. Suburbanisation
takes place at the urban boundary of rural-urban fringe.
Problems stem from the competing land uses within this zone and
the constant pressure for new development, even in areas that have
green
belt status or other forms of protection. The issues
of land use and prospective change are significant in most MEDCs
(Figure 1) and an increasing number of LEDCs.
The nature of the rural-urban fringe is influenced by four main
factors: agricultural policy, regional planning, the urban economy
and the agricultural economy. Baker et al have identified four types
of fringe (Figure 2) resulting from these influences:
- disturbed landscapes
- neglected landscapes
- simplified landscapes
- valued landscapes.
This model is useful as it shows
that the rural-urban fringe varies in character from place to place
according to the main influences acting upon it.
Figure
1 - The North American rural-urban fringe
| The North American
rural-urban fringe
Figure 3 summarises the main processes operating in the North
American rural-urban fringe. In the United States in particular
planning controls on urban development have usually been much
weaker than in Britain resulting in far more extensive urban
sprawl.
In general the size of the fringe area is dependent on the
magnitude of the overall metropolitan area and the influence
of nearby and competing metropolitan areas. As land values
can change so rapidly in fringe areas speculators frequently
hold much of the undeveloped land with the ownership and character
of land frequently beginning to change more than 20 years
before the area is actually built over. Detailed studies of
a number of urban regions have shown that investors and property
developers own a higher proportion of fringe land where development
pressures are strong than where such pressures are moderate
or weak. The main processes operating in North American fringe
areas are:
- A marked change in ownership land size with distance
from the built-up area. Units of land show decreasing size
and increasing value with proximity to the urban area.
- The rate at which land ownership changes also varies with
distance from the boundary of the built-up area with the
most intense activity closest to the urban area.
- Development takes the forms of peripheral accretion (adding
on directly to the existing urban area), linear development
along major routeways and leap-frogging. The locations of
the latter are determined by a number of factors including
the varying desirability of different locations and the
ownership status of the land.
Land use change in the rural-urban fringe is a major issue
in most North American urban areas. As more and more fringe
land becomes developed, an increasing number of tools have
been created to preserve the land that remains. One method
that is now being employed in 18 US states is the purchase
of development rights (PDR). This is a voluntary system whereby
a land trust or some other agency, usually linked to local
government, makes an offer to a landowner to buy the development
rights for a parcel of land. If agreement is reached a permanent
deed restriction is placed on the property which restricts
the type of activities that may take place on the land in
perpetuity. In this way a legally binding guarantee is achieved
to ensure that the parcel will remain agricultural or open
space forever.
|
The location of the rural-urban fringe
has changed over time (Figure 4), stabilising only after the introduction
of green belt restrictions. Successive waves of suburban development
swallowed up previous fringe areas as private and local authority
builders tried to satisfy the insatiable demand for housing. The
development of suburban railways and the increase in middle-income
car ownership were the main catalysts in such development. |
