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PERI-URBANISATION
IN EUROPE Towards
European
Policies
to Sustain
Urban-Rural
Futures
Editors
Annette Piorr
Joe Ravetz
Ivan Tosics

Synthesis
Report
PERI-URBANISATION IN EUROPE

1
2
 Synthesis
Report

PERI-URBANISATION
IN EUROPE Towards
European
Policies
to Sustain
Urban-Rural
Futures
Editors
Annette Piorr
Joe Ravetz
Ivan Tosics
 7 Preface
Kjell Nilsson

8 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Joe Ravetz, Annette Piorr, Ivan Tosics

18 A NEW KIND OF SPACE

20 Why the peri-urban?
Ivan Tosics, Kjell Nilsson

24 Concepts and methods

Wolfgang Loibl, Annette Piorr, Joe Ravetz

The dynamics of the peri-urban:

30
global change and regional response
Joe Ravetz, Wolfgang Loibl

42 PERI-URBAN AGENDAS
44 Economy and employment
Piotr Korcelli, Elzbieta Kozubek

50 Population and migration

Wolfgang Loibl, Simon Bell

56 Housing and community

Wolfgang Loibl

61 Mobility and transport

Mika Ristimäki

65 Food and farming

Annette Piorr

72 Environment and landscape

Ingo Zasada, Regine Berges

76 Recreation and tourism

Regine Berges, Ingo Zasada

80 Managing Growth
Ivan Tosics, Joe Ravetz
 Contents

88 EUROPEAN POLICY AGENDAS

90 Cohesion Policies
Annette Piorr

96 Agricultural and Rural Development Policies

Annette Piorr

102 Transport Policies

Mika Ristimäki, Ville Helminen, Panu Kontio

104 Landscape and Environmental Policies

Ingo Zasada, Regine Berges, Simon Bell

106 Towards Europe 2020

Joe Ravetz

INTEGRATED Development AND

112

EU POLICY OPTIONS
Integrated Development for
114
Peri-Urban Territorial Cohesion
Joe Ravetz

124 New European Directions

Ivan Tosics

132 Annex
134 Methods und models
Annette Piorr

136 PLUREL XPlorer

Katharina Helming

138 iIAT-EU
Annette Piorr, Ingo Zasada

140 References

142 List of Authors

143 Imprint
6
 Preface

U rban development is by far the most rapid type

of land use change in Europe. Regardless which
future scenario we choose, urban expansion will
targeted policies and new concepts of urban-rural
linkages. This synthesis report, authored and edited
by Annette Piorr (Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural
continue at 0.5 – 0.7 % per year, which is more than Landscape Research, ZALF), Joe Ravetz (University of
10 times higher than any other land use change. Ar- Manchester, UOM) and Ivan Tosics (Metropolitan Re-
eas classified as peri-urban are growing four times search Institute, MRI), is based on data, maps and
faster than urban areas, at a rate which, if continued, written contributions from scientists representing
would double their area of 48,000 km2 in 30-50 35 institutions from 14 European countries and
years. China. PLUREL, an Integrated Project funded by the
Urban development has a lot of positive effects EU’s 6th Framework Programme, started in 2007 and
as a locomotive for economic development, but terminated in 2011.
there are also many negative consequences of such PLUREL has approached the peri-urban issue
rapid expansion. The results of the PLUREL project on two administrative and geographical levels: the
show that consumption of agricultural land will pan-European and the rural-urban region. This report
continue in all parts of Europe. Landscape fragmen- focuses on the pan-European level, while the results
tation is concentrated in central western Europe, of the studies on the regional level, based on six Euro-
where only small patches of open landscapes re- pean and one Chinese case study, are presented in a
main. With increasing welfare, changing lifestyle forthcoming book published by Springer (Pauleit et
and consumption patterns, peri-urban growth is al., 2011). During the research process, a fruitful and
likely to continue, especially in the conversion re- inspiring dialogue has taken place with the EC (DG
gions of south and central eastern Europe. Other Research, DG Regio, DG Agri and European Environ-
negative consequences of urban sprawl are traffic ment Agency), PURPLE, ICLEI and Eurocities.
congestion, decay of inner city areas, unhealthy life I thank Thomas Sick Nielsen for his successful
styles and social segregation. project management and all the authors of this syn-
A better balanced and more sustainable devel- thesis report for their valuable contributions:
opment requires more policy attention at the re- Simon Bell (Edinburgh CA, UK), Regine Berges
gional level and the urban-rural interface. When it (ZALF, DE), Piotr Korcelli (Polish Academy of Science,
comes to policy making, the time has come to chal- PAS, PL), Wolfgang Loibl (Austrian Institute of Tech-
lenge the conventional distinction between urban nology, AIT, AT), Annette Piorr (ZALF, DE), Joe Ravetz
and rural issues. Instead, we need a more holistic, (UOM, UK), Mika Ristimäki (SYKE, FI), Ivan Tosics (MRI,
territorially integrated perspective to shape future HU) and Ingo Zasada (ZALF, DE).
EU Cohesion Policy, especially where it concerns eco-
nomic development, social inclusion, transport, agri-
culture, environment and landscape. Frederiksberg, December 2010
New research from the PLUREL project quanti- Dr. Kjell Nilsson
fies the trends, risks and potentials for peri-urbani- Forest & Landscape, University of Copenhagen – LIFE
sation in Europe, and provides recommendations for Coordinator of PLUREL

7
8
 Executive Summary

New research results from the FP6 PLUREL project show that
urban development is by far the most rapidly expanding land
use change in Europe. Urban development has a lot of posi-
tive effects as a locomotive for economic development, but it
can also have serious negative social and environmental con-
sequences, for example, through urban sprawl. A better bal-
anced and sustainable development requires more policy at-
tention at the regional level and on the urban-rural interface.
The EU can promote an integrated rural-urban development by
targeting its policies and funding towards peri-urban areas.

Facts on peri-urbanisation

 Today, the European areas classified as ‘peri-ur-  Similar modelling on the impacts of urbanisa-
ban’ have the same amount of built-up land as tion show that land fragmentation, loss of habi-
urban areas, but are only half as densely popu- tats and amenity values will all be more serious
lated. in the peri-urban than today.
 There is a real risk of increasing urban sprawl:  Meanwhile, the peri-urban is also a place of in-
The growth of built development of peri-urban novation and increasing employment in the
areas will be up to 3.7 times as high as in urban service and IT sectors: 25% of peri-urban regions
areas. are classified as ‘highly innovative’.
 European-wide projections of built development  New research from the EU Project PLUREL quan-
in peri-urban areas are for 1.4 – 2.5% per annum tifies the trends, risks and potentials for peri-ur-
– if such trends continue. Total built develop- ban regions, and provides recommendations for
Energy wood plantation ment in peri-urban areas could double between targeted policies and new concepts of urban-ru-
near Trieste, Italy 2040 – 2060. ral linkages.

9
 A New Kind Of Space What is the peri-urban?

Why the peri-urban? T he peri-urban is the area between urban settle-

ment areas and their rural hinterland. Larger
peri-urban areas can include towns and villages

T he peri-urban – the space around urban areas

which merges into the rural landscape – is grow-
ing rapidly across Europe. There is about 48,000 km2
within an urban agglomeration. Such areas are of-
ten fast changing, with complex patterns of land
use and landscape, fragmented between local or re-
of built development in peri-urban areas, almost gional boundaries.
equal to that in urban areas. But while most urban
areas are now slow growing (at 0.5-0.6% per year),  Peri-urban areas are defined in the PLUREL
built development in peri-urban areas is growing at project as ‘discontinuous built development, con-
four times this rate. taining settlements of less than 20,000, with an
There are many impacts of such rapid expan- average density of at least 40 persons per km2 (av-
sion. In many cases the result is sprawl, with increas- eraged over 1km2 cells)’ (figure 2, p.25).
ing problems of social segregation, urban decline,  In the EU, there are nearly 48,000 km2 of built
wasted land, and dependency on oil for transport. development (‘artificial surfaces’) in areas which
However, there are examples of alternatives, with are classed as peri-urban, similar to the 49,000
opportunities for improved quality of life, green in- km2 in urban areas.
frastructure, better linkages between city and coun-  The ‘hot spots’ – regions with the largest share of
tryside, and more sustainable urban and rural devel- peri-urban land use and generally the highest
opment. rates of peri-urban growth – are mainly concen-
How to avoid the sprawl and achieve the op- trated in the central Pentagon area (i.e. between
portunities? A wide range of trends, projections and London, Paris, Milan, Munich and Hamburg), but
policy responses have been investigated by PLUREL, also in parts of central and eastern Europe. Of
an Integrated Project under the EU’s 6th Framework the ‘top twenty’ peri-urban regions, nine are in
Programme (EC FP6 036921). Emerging from this is a the Netherlands, five in the UK, and the others in
set of recommendations for policy. Germany, Poland and Belgium.
Overall, the challenges of the peri-urban need  Rural-urban regions (‘RUR’) are the overall terri-
to be addressed at the wider strategic level of the torial unit for the PLUREL project. They include
surrounding ‘rural-urban region’. This requires more both the ‘Functional Urban Area’ (zone of daily
effective local government, alongside new forms of commuting), and the surrounding rural hinter-
social enterprise and cooperation, for ‘integrated de- land. Figure 3 on page 27 maps ‘statistical’ rural-
velopment’ (i.e. ‘joined-up policy’) in the rural-urban urban regions across the EU. However, in policy
region. Achieving this is a multilevel agenda, from terms, the boundaries are flexible in order to re-
local to national and European. At this higher level, spond to problems and opportunities.
there are a range of options for EU action.  So, in summary: The urban area + peri-urban
area = Functional Urban Area.
 And also: The urban area + peri-urban area + ru-
ral hinterland = rural-urban region (RUR).

10
Peri-urban areas suffer from urban pressures, but  A1 – ‘Hypertech’: growth, technology innovation
they also gain from proximity to urban areas, mar- and out-migration to rural areas.
kets and cultures. The direct impacts of uncontrolled  A2 – ‘Extreme water’: rapid climate change, and
expansion of built development are focused on ur- defence against flood and drought.
ban sprawl – defined by the European Environment  B1 – ‘Peak oil’: energy price shock, with re-popula-
Agency as ‘unplanned incremental urban develop- tion of cities and towns.
ment, characterised by a low density mix of land uses  B2 – ‘Social fragmentation’: communities in re-
on the urban fringe’. Even without the expansion of treat into private enclaves.
built development, there are urban pressures on
peri-urban areas: housing shortages, transport con- For each of these a set of detailed models calculated
gestion, decline of landscape quality, economic re- the effects of economic growth, population change,
structuring and social change. On the other hand, environmental and technology factors onto land
there are positive effects, such as proximity to mar- use change and built development up to the year
kets and work places, quality of life, and innovation. 2025. The projections for an increase in built devel-
opment (defined as ‘artificial surfaces’) are espe-
What are the dynamics cially high in peri-urban areas at 1.4 – 2.5% per an-
of change? num. In contrast, urban areas can expect growth
rates of only 0.5 – 0.7%. If such trends continue, the

U rban expansion on a wider front is driven by

economic growth and restructuring, new em-
ployment opportunities, growth of transport infra-
total built development in peri-urban areas could
double between 30-50 years. In practice, there are
many localised differences within and between re-
structure, population growth and household change, gions, depending on factors such as migration,
as well as a decline of traditional rural economies. transport systems and spatial planning.
There are also more intangible factors, such as cultural There are implications for the EUROPE 2020
values, lifestyles, social segregation, and urban/rural strategy, with its goal of “smart, sustainable and in-
attitudes and perceptions. The combination of high clusive growth”, which is almost in line with the in-
economic growth with weak or fragmented govern- novation friendly PLUREL scenario A1 ‘Hypertech’.
ance generally produces the worst types of urban This economic development path tends to assume
sprawl. large amounts of new built development, but there
The PLUREL project developed a set of scenarios are side-effects which don’t appear in the strategy.
based on the global climate scenario scheme of the The implication is clear – unless governance and spa-
IPCC (2001): tial planning systems can be rapidly strengthened in
some parts of eastern and south eastern Europe, the
EUROPE 2020 strategy is likely to produce more ur-
ban expansion and uncontrolled urban develop-
ment.

11
 peripheral regions in central and eastern Europe
Peri-Urban Agendas have less chance of catching up. Europe-wide migra-
tion (in particular from eastern EU and from outside
Economy and employment the EU), as well as national level migration will
change the demographic structure, with effects on

E conomic growth and restructuring often look to-

wards lower density peri-urban locations. With
the ‘pull’ of the global economy, and with the ‘push’
employment, lifestyles, cultures and communities.
The policy agenda is aimed towards communi-
ties which are balanced in age, class, ethnicity and
of urban overcrowding and congestion, there are occupations. Urban regeneration should increase
strong pressures for the relocation of economic activ- the social and economic viability of inner areas,
ity to peri-urban zones, with easier access to large while rural development should sustain the rural so-
sites and major roads. cial structure and balance. In between, the PLUREL
There is also a capital accumulation dynamic. research has identified the agenda for sustainable
The peri-urban is often seen as a place to make peri-urban communities, which combine old with
higher profits at lower risk than in urban areas by new, and urban with rural. This is both a local issue
landowners and developers, entrepreneurs and in- for towns and villages in the peri-urban, and a stra-
vestors, and by house builders and house owners. tegic issue at the level of the rural-urban region.
Rural economic change also contributes as the de-
creasing labour intensity of agriculture combines Housing and communities
with the influx of more affluent workers and retired
households to rural areas. This generates demand Social and cultural preferences for housing location
for local service sector activities, and encourages the can be a powerful driver for spatial segregation and
transition from rural to peri-urban economies. social fragmentation. Most peri-urban development
The economic policy agenda revolves around is due to families and older groups, and most hous-
‘peri-urban territorial cohesion’. There are crucial dif- ing in-migration is due to high income and educa-
ferences between an urban-regional economy based tion groups. This further encourages urban sprawl,
on ‘branch plants’ serviced by commuter settle- gated communities and the removal of local com-
ments and one which is diverse, resilient and sus- munity services from the peri-urban areas.
tainable. If the latter goal is to be achieved, policies For the future, there are key drivers of change:
and programmes should aim at capacity building for rapid changes in lifestyles and housing location
restructuring, diversification, and better urban-rural choices, teleworking, dual career households, as well
linkages, especially for entrepreneurialism, finance as flexible household and retirement arrangements.
and markets. Self-determined lifestyles often result in fewer peo-
ple per household, with growth in housing area de-
Population and migration mand. Technology, such as on-line public services
and shopping, is changing the structure of local cen-
Population changes in peri-urban areas show high tres and the pattern of housing and settlements. On
contrasts. In the central and eastern EU, many rural the other hand, rising oil prices might constrain
areas depopulate, while urban areas experience long-distance commuting.
modernisation, some with population decline and The policy agenda aims towards social inclu-
others with growth. In the western EU, many rural sion, integration and cohesion. Housing markets
areas are re-populated by urban-based residents. In and allocation systems have the primary role to play.
both cases, peri-urban change is about social and Housing locations should be accessible, environ-
economic restructuring, as much as direct urban ex- mentally sustainable and available for all social
pansion. groups, as well as being integrated into the sur-
In the future, as population growth is projected rounding landscape. Positive support is needed for
to level off, migration at various levels will become a public and commercial services in peri-urban settle-
greater influence. Demographic trends will widen ments, which are vulnerable to change and restruc-
the interregional gaps across Europe, so that more turing.

12
 Mobility and transport

A t present, low density urban sprawl causes

longer commuting distances, increased infra-
structure costs and less viable public transport sys-
Overall, the agriculture policy agenda aims to
turn the conflicts between agriculture and peri-ur-
ban into opportunities – employment and quality of
tems. Urban expansion encourages car use, and car life in diverse, productive, multifunctional land-
use encourages urban expansion. Improvements to scapes. Success will depend on a new peri-urban fo-
infrastructure can reduce congestion and emissions, cus that links agricultural policy with wider agendas,
but often exclude the poor and those without cars, such as climate change and adaptation, public
while encouraging longer distance commuting. health and food quality, leisure and community
The PLUREL modelling looked at the effect of services.
different spatial types. The transport system that
has the lowest impact works with a monocentric Landscape, ecology, recreation,
settlement pattern with public transport modes. For and tourism
a polycentric settlement pattern, multimodal and
trans-modal systems are possible, but would require Large parts of the European environment are under
larger public investments. pressure from peri-urban development. This affects
To achieve the optimum is a challenge: how to many types of ‘ecosystem services’, including biodi-
coordinate and obtain investment into multimodal versity, water supply, flood control, soil quality, land-
transport choices in a fragmented peri-urban area? scape aesthetics and the capacity for climate change
Or how to locate urban developments and activities adaptation. The concept of ‘ecosystem services’ is a
in the most accessible parts of the peri-urban? Each key theme for peri-urban policy. Moreover, many of
solution requires stronger and more strategic gov- Europe’s wide variety of landscapes – places for re­
ernance at the level of the rural-urban region. creation and regional identity – are endangered by
further urban growth, as shown by the PLUREL mod-
Food and farming elling results. This negatively affects flows of matter,
energy and species, such as the fragmentation of
Food security is one of the first priorities for the EU, habitats and reduced groundwater recharge etc.
but there is a critical interface between agriculture As to the future – the PLUREL scenario modelling
and peri-urban land use change. At present, regions anticipates higher growth of artificial surfaces in areas
with strong agriculture sectors, combined with the which are already under the most pressure. On the
highest proportions of peri-urban areas, include social side, peri-urban areas are under pressure from
north west Germany, Denmark and the Benelux, recreation and tourism: Where the local ‘brand’ and
large parts of Poland and Hungary, southern UK, image lead the way, then housing and services often
western France and eastern Italy. Conflicts often follow. The demographic shift towards a semi- or
arise where urban expansion destabilises rural non-working population is also a ‘leisure shift’, with
economies, patrimony systems and land markets. the result that large peri-urban areas are in ‘golf
There is also great potential, where peri-urban farm- course’ or ‘horsiculture’ uses for affluent consumers.
ing provides local or high value products, in a more The policy agenda includes the goals of multi-
sustainable multifunctional landscape. functional landscapes, sustainable resource man-
Future trends will depend on biotechnology, on agement, conservation of habitats and cultural
climate change, water and soil, on fertilizers and the landscapes. But in reality, there are challenges – how
possibility of ‘Peak oil’. A key factor is the changing to manage and fund ‘ecosystem services’ in a fast
rural economy and the availability of labour, full-time changing peri-urban context? And how to develop
or part-time. The PLUREL scenario modelling projects coordination and cooperation in a fragmented and
a general increase in farm productivity, as former low- undefined territory? Such challenges suggest the
capital and small scale farming is modernised. Some need for a new kind of multilevel, multifunctional
scenario projections show the doubling of peri-urban governance.
areas in 30-40 years, and peri-urban agricultural areas
(many of them with the highest quality land) could
be reduced by up to 15%.

13
 Managing Growth

T he problem of uncontrolled urban sprawl can be

seen as a market failure. Society would be better
off as a whole by coordinating development, but of-
ten lacks the means to do so. This is a problem not
only of urban expansion, but urban shrinkage (par-
ticularly in older industrial areas), which also causes
and is caused by expansion.
In reality, there is often fragmentation between
government units, and a ‘governance gap’ for deci-
sion making and investment. There is therefore an
urgent policy agenda to set up or enable such bodies.
The PLUREL research looked at three main issues:

 Firstly, there are general problems with the ca-

pacity of the formal government system and
planning policy regime to control land use
changes in most EU member states. The PLUREL
project analysed the level of organisation, the
level of democratic control, and the level of frag-
mentation of governance structures in a typical
rural-urban region;
 The question of spatial planning follows in rela-
tion to its lack of legal strength and capacity for
cross-border coordination, and its lack of influ-
ence on infrastructure provision. Besides, there
are problems with the NIMBY (“Not In My Back
Yard”) and similar lobbies and political move-
ments, with incentives for continuing urban
sprawl;
 Thirdly, financial and taxation mechanisms of-
ten create incentives for urban sprawl, either di-
rectly (e.g. linking public support to population
number) or indirectly (through local tax compe-
tition). Each country needs to review its system
for local or regional taxation and reinvestment.
This can involve both the public sector and also
new kinds of partnerships, such as for ‘ecosys-
tem services’ and social reinvestment.

14
 European policy
agendas

Policy Response Towards EUROPE 2020

N ational or EU policies rarely take the peri-urban

sphere into account, and the peri-urban (often
cross-cutting administrative boundaries) rarely
Current and projected development trends are likely
to bring rapid changes to peri-urban areas:

makes the best use of policies and funding. Many  Globalisation and innovation. Conventional eco-
peri-urban areas qualify for either urban or rural de- nomic development often takes peri-urban land
velopment funding from various sectoral budgets. as the location for large scale industry, science
But this is rarely focused on place-specific require- and business parks, roads and other urban infra-
ments, and there is a hidden risk of uncoordinated structure;
development and urban sprawl.  Demographic change. The shrinking of some re-
Meanwhile, it is clear that peri-urban areas gions, the ageing of many others, and one-sided
have great potential and great opportunities. So we migration tendencies bring challenges to the
need to refocus policy to address this. At the EU level, population stability of peri-urban areas, lead to
this applies particularly to the Structural and Cohe- Europe-wide unwanted restructurings of popu-
sion Funds, as well as the CAP and various transport/ lation, and further widen the gap between over-
environment policies. Around 20% of the total and under-populated areas;
Structural Funds in the Programming period 2007 –  Climate change impacts combined with urbani-
2013 will be spent in rural areas, and around 32% in sation and fragmentation of peri-urban areas
urban areas. The Structural Funds and associated resulting in flooding and sea-level rise in some
programmes have an indirect but powerful effect on areas, while in others, soil erosion and habitat
peri-urban development, as well as in regions which loss. Energy shortages will change the viability
are predominantly peri-urban. of peri-urban transport, while the search for re-
In terms of agriculture, countries with large newable sources will claim peri-urban land use.
peri-urban areas spend more of the Rural Develop-
ment budget for diversification measures than EUROPE 2020 is a potential driver of policy innova-
those countries which are mainly rural. In most other tion for “territorial cohesion”, integrating economic,
countries, investment support and agri-environ- environmental and social aspects. But achieving the
mental payments are the main focus of Rural Devel- Lisbon Agenda, on current trends, is likely to produce
opment funding. In terms of better policy targeting, urban sprawl on a massive scale. So, there is a need
it has to be stated that the potential for rural-urban for a stronger policy focus on the peri-urban agenda,
linkages has not yet been realised. In future, the CAP particularly in terms of major financial interven-
should focus on these linkages, with a more multi- tions. EUROPE 2020 could become an opportunity
functional landscape of urban, peri-urban and rural for new thinking on core agendas in the peri-urban.
food production with short supply chains, peri-ur- This would require, however, a multilevel approach,
ban leisure activities, sustainable landscape man- particularly with national government systems,
agement and urban-rural LEADER initiatives. planning policies and financing for local and re-
In some countries, more than 10% of NATURA gional development.
2000 sites are in peri-urban areas. While Rural Devel-
opment programmes support extensive agriculture
and diversification in such peri-urban areas of high
ecological value, other measures such as LEADER do
not.

15
 Integrated Development
and EU Policy Options

Government and governance gion level, strategic planning should promote low-
for integrated development impact infrastructure and public services in
sustainable settlement forms. This then applies to

A strong and democratic government is the pre-

condition for the management of market forces
for public benefit. In peri-urban areas, there are par-
many territorial types: from the airport zones and
business parks, to large urban infrastructure, to
towns and villages, and to multifunctional land-
ticular problems of fragmentation, under-invest- scapes connected by green-blue infrastructure.
ment and ‘winner takes all’ conflicts. Therefore, the Overall, there is a policy menu for putting the whole
government at the local and rural-urban region level picture together – i.e. managing the peri-urban
needs to focus on its effectiveness and outcomes: through ‘integrated development models for rural-
urban regions’:
 The local government financing system and
source of revenue. This should avoid fiscal incen-  Spatial strategy – policy framework at the level
tives that lead to wasteful competition for of the rural-urban region to coordinate peri-ur-
houses or investments; ban development and low-impact infrastructure,
 The local taxation system. This should encour- and to set up controls and incentives to avoid
age balanced development for business and sprawl. Focus on the potential for zoning, such as
households, and avoid tax incentives for urban green belts, to be positive catalysts more than
sprawl; restrictions;
 Sectoral policies and subsidies for infrastructure,  Economic strategy – peri-urban diversification
transport, housing or agriculture. Each should and resilience of local economies and employ-
aim at diverse and resilient patterns of develop- ment involving rural diversification and multi-
ment, for instance, with multi-modal transport functional land-based activity, as well as urban
planning; regeneration with improved urban-rural links.
 Spatial planning and regulatory coordination of Focus on the social economy in the peri-urban,
development, land use change and especially and on mobilising hidden resources;
larger projects aiming not only at restrictions,  Social strategy – housing and service provision
but also the positive enabling of polycentric di- to encourage balanced, inclusive and resilient com-
versified activities; munities. Focus on the needs and opportunities in
 Finally, effective mechanisms for cooperation at different settlement types, and on social functions
the level of the rural-urban region, aiming to- and values provided by peri-urban areas;
wards joint strategic planning rather than a  Environmental strategy – ecosystem services
‘winner takes all’ competition for development. policy and investment system involving climate
change mitigation and adaptation, landscape
There is also an agenda for more responsive ‘bottom- and habitat conservation, and multilevel green-
up’ forms of governance – not to replace formal pol- blue-infrastructure. Focus on diversified, resilient,
icies, but to work alongside them and fill in any gaps. multifunctional agriculture and forestry;
The PLUREL case studies identified ‘new institutional’  Governance strategy – strong and democratic
partnership models for collaboration between pub- municipal government focusing on healthy fi-
lic, private and community sectors. There are also nances and fiscal policy, a capacity for invest-
‘policy intelligence’ models to deal with complex ment in infrastructure, playing an active role in
problems, and ‘social entrepreneur’ models to mobi- the local economy, and transparency with public
lise resources in the social economy. and stakeholder participation. Focus on the ca-
In parallel, there are ‘territorial models’ for inte- pacity for strategic and cross-border coordina-
grated spatial development. At the rural-urban re- tion at the level of the rural-urban region.

16
 EU policy options

T he agenda for managing the peri-urban is multi-

level: from the local to the rural-urban region, to
the national and European levels. Policies and pro-
2. EU CONDITIONALITY for Integrated
Rural-Urban Development:
For access to European financing (Structural Funds,
grammes at the European level may be part of the CAP etc) integrated development plans would have
problem or they may be part of the solution. So to be prepared on the rural-urban region level, and
there is a new agenda for EU policies and funds with approved by relevant authorities. Rural-urban re-
any kind of linkage to spatial development and ter- gions would be accepted as the main territorial ba-
ritorial cohesion. In particular, the PLUREL results sis for EU financial programming and assistance.
show that to meet the challenges of the EUROPE
2020, we need to refocus and retarget EU policy and 3. EU COMMUNITY INITIATIVE for Integrated
investment to include for its effects on peri-urban Rural-Urban Development:
change. A dedicated fund would be allocated among the
To do this, the core objectives of EU policies and member states to be used directly for specific pilot
funding programmes should include support for ter- and demonstration projects (following the example
ritorial ‘integrated development models for rural- of the pre-2007 version of the URBAN Community
urban regions’. And by implication, if an EU interven- Initiative).
tion appears likely to produce urban sprawl, it should
not proceed. To support this, in the optimal case, a 4. EU Open Method of Coordination for
system of definitions and boundaries will be needed Integrated Rural-Urban Development:
(to be developed by the nation-states, along a given Benchmarking and indexing with a common sup-
EU framework regulation), so that clear targets and port system. Member states would prepare a Na-
benchmarks can be drawn. tional Action Plan, with a capacity building pro-
So, how to make this work for Europe? We set gramme of best practice, skills development and
out here five possible ‘options’ for EU-level policy policy advocacy.
and/or financial intervention that would promote
‘integrated development models for rural-urban re- 5. EU Reference Framework for Integrated
gions’. The most effective option is first, and the fall- Rural-Urban Development:
back option is last. An advisory service with some technical backup, in-
cluding guidance, tools and documentation.
1. EU DIRECTIVE for Integrated Rural-Urban
Development: Each of these options recognises the immense chal-
A legal mandate and operational structure for ‘inte- lenges of peri-urban change, and the impacts of cur-
grated development models for rural-urban regions’. rent EU and national policy. They also need to recog-
The target is defined in the form of framework crite- nise the potential of positive visions, strategic goals
ria, with a focus on the procedural system. Following and integrated policy frameworks to generate new
the example of the Water Framework Directive, this opportunities for all involved.
involves not only EU financing, but all forms of de-
velopment.

17
18
A NEW KIND
OF SPACE

19
 Why the peri-urban?

Urban areas are expanding due to a combination of population

growth and outward spread of urban activities. The result is
that urban and rural areas are no longer separate territories.
The newly emerging ‘peri-urban’ areas are the site of the
most dynamic changes. Peri-urban problems and opportuni-
ties are best addressed at the level of the rural-urban region,
which includes both peri-urban and rural hinterland areas.

Urban sprawl and Managing urban population change will be

the consequences one of the most important challenges during the

next decades, along with moderating the impacts of
climate change. In developed countries, the urban

I n 2008, for the first time in human history, the

number of people living in urban areas exceeded
the rural population. Urbanisation is a worldwide
future will involve dealing with complex changes in
the composition of urban populations and contai-
ning urban sprawl beyond the suburbs to retain the
phenomenon. The World Resources Institute (2001) critical ecosystem services that will sustain popula-
estimated that in 2025, more than 50% of the Afri- tion growth. In developing countries, where 80% of
can and Asian populations would be living in urban the world’s population resides, central issues will be
areas. In central and south America, these figures how to cope with an unprecedented increase in the
will be between 75 and 85% (figure 1). number of people living in urban areas, and with the

Figure 1: persent

estimated urban 100 10

population by region. 90 9
Figures from World 80 8
Resources Institute 70 7
(2001) 60 6
50 5
40 4
30 3
20 2
10 1
0 Afrika Asia Central europe north South 0 1950 1975 2000 2025
Amerika Amerika Amerika URbAn DeveLoPIng RURAL DeveLoPIng
1970 2000 2025 URbAn DeveLoPeD RURAL DeveLoPeD

20
growing concentration of these urbanites in large agriculture or to urbanise and build upon, and unaf-
cities with millions of residents and declining availa- fordable housing prices due to increased demand as
bility of natural resources. metropolitan expansion or residential tourism takes
In the decade 1990 – 2000, the growth of ur- place.
ban areas and associated infrastructure throughout As differences between urban and rural be-
Europe consumed more than 8000 km2 – equivalent come decreasingly clear-cut, it is difficult to analyse
to the entire territory of the state of Luxembourg, or urban and rural areas separately, but instead as
0.25% of the total area of agriculture, forest and na- fuzzy territories composed of mixed areas, from
ture land (EEA, 2006). This is an almost irreversible more the densely urbanised to diffuse and disperse
process, since less than 10% goes the opposite way, zones and isolated towns (Mcrit, 2010). The terms
i.e. is transferred from urban land into brownfields, ‘rural’ and ‘urban’ refer increasingly to social atti-
and only a minor part of these are reclaimed for ar- tudes and stereotypes, or narratives, than to real
able land use or nature. An important driving force places. Urban areas can be found in rather rural
behind urban expansion is, of course, the growth of landscapes, such as urban sprawl, in commuting ar-
the urban population. An equally important effect, eas of a major metropolis, large food processing dis-
however, is the ‘per capita sprawl’: cities have be- tricts and scientific clusters, while rural areas can be
come much less compact. Since the mid 1950s, Eu- found within urban environments, namely urban
ropean urban areas have expanded on average by farming and gardening, urban forestry and agricul-
78%, whereas their population has grown only by tural communities within metropolitan areas.
33% (EEA, 2006). Even in regions where the popula-
tion is decreasing, urban areas are still growing, no- The spatial context:
tably in Spain, Portugal, Italy and in eastern Ger- The rural-urban region
many. Leipzig-Halle is an example of a region which
suffers from both the problems of a shrinking city PLUREL deals with the problems of urban expansion
and urban sprawl. The same trend – that urban ar- through the lens of the rural-urban regions (RUR).
eas expand faster than the population – can be This concept can be considered as the spatial exten-
seen in the United States and China (Nilsson and sion of the Functional Urban Area (an urban core
Nielsen, 2010). and its surrounding commuting ring, see e.g. ESPON
The dominant spatial form of the continued ur- 1.1.1 (ESPON, 2005)), including both the peri-urban
ban expansion processes is urban sprawl, which and rural part of an urban catchment up to a dis-
blurs of boundaries between what is urban and tance where daily commuting ceases due to travel
what is rural. Infrastructure, activities and inhabit- times becoming too long. Areas of recreational use,
ants affect rural zones at a growing distance from food supply and nature conservation located in pre-
the city centres, causing land use changes, land use dominantly rural areas are also part of the RUR. Ru-
competition, and social and economic changes in ral-urban regions can also be described as spatial
what were previously rural areas. The rural land- clusters of three interrelated regional sub-systems
scape is no longer simply for agricultural production – the urban zone, the peri-urban surroundings and
and residential use, but also for purposes of recrea- the rural hinterland, all characterised by different
tion and amenity. structures, functions and relations which are re-
It is no longer easy to argue for the traditional flected through different land use classes.
split between the two geographies of urban and ru- It is a natural wish of many families to increase
ral Europe. In most countries, urban centres have their quality of life by acquiring low-rise single fam-
long since lost their particular privileges, and there ily residences on larger plots. However, the advan-
is no longer a clear difference in the administrative tages of the individual families must be balanced
status between town and countryside. The rural life against the negative impacts of urban expansion.
is urbanised by transcending commodity relations, These impacts depend to a large extent on the spa-
and lifestyles are organised around mass consump- tial pattern of urban growth: polycentric develop-
tion regardless of location (ESPON, 2006). ment is less harmful then unlimited urban sprawl.
There are increasing conflicts between urban Empirical investigations have resulted in long
and rural uses that need to be addressed (Mcrit, lists of negative impacts related to urban sprawl.
2010). For example, water availability for agriculture Most well known are the environmental impacts.
versus water to drink and for industry, using land for For example, the consumption of mostly non-re-

21
 The dynamics
of development in the
peri-urban areas

W ith some simplifications, two types of actors

can be identified in the peri-urban areas: the
moving actors (households of different income lev-
els, industry/businesses and retail/leisure centres)
and the non-moving actors (key actors in the devel-
opment process such as landowners, developers and
local and supra-local governments of the RUR region
who are responsible for planning, regulating, finan-
cial influencing, investments/taxing, see URBS-PAN-
DENS, 2005).
Peri-urban areas are among the main target
areas for urban development within rural-urban re-
gions. There are strong interests for peri-urban de-
velopment – both from a demand and a supply per-
spective. The demand aspect is dominated by the
expectations of the moving actors:
newable resources such as land and soil, as well as
the negative effects on the ecosystems functions,  Urban residents, aiming to leave less attractive,
the environmental impacts such as poor air quality densely populated urban centres, while seeking
and high noise levels etc. But there are also eco- affordable, attractive residential areas that
nomic impacts (the loss of concentration and eco- promise a higher quality of life through good in-
nomy of scale, and the increase in travel needs be- frastructure, better safety and security, a cleaner
tween work and home) and social impacts (greater environment, nearby open space and reasonable
residential segregation of different social classes) accessibility to their (urban) workplaces;
(see e.g. SCATTER, 2004).  Developers and investors, locating businesses
The peri-urban area is the dynamic transition and commercial centres to peri-urban areas that
zone between the denser urban core and the rural promise easier access to markets and higher
hinterland, consisting of a lower density discontinu- profit with less investment. Entrepreneurs es-
ous urban fabric and a mix of residential, commer- tablishing new companies supplying the new
cial and leisure-related land uses. Peri-urban areas residents with goods and services and benefit-
exhibit throughout Europe very different character- ting from the potential pool of skilled workers in
istics regarding spatial structure and density of the the vicinity.
different land uses, ranging from continuous low
density urban fabric, to scattered medium density The heavy pressures by the moving actors on peri-
settlements and commercial sites; from dense horti- urban areas are usually accompanied by efforts of
cultural areas to arable and range land, to forests the non-moving actors to satisfy these expectations.
and natural areas. Municipalities surrounding larger cities are zoning
The peri-urban is not just an in-between fringe. new building land and applying liberal building
It is instead a new and distinct kind of multifunc- regulations as a means of attracting new residents
tional territory, and often the location for opportuni- and workplaces to increase their revenues from lo-
ties such as airports, business parks and high value cal taxes or larger shares of national tax revenues.
housing, which are all seen as essential to urban/re- Landowners and developers are partners in these ef-
gional development. However, in most cases, it is forts, the more so since they are the receivers of
also the location for problems: urban sprawl, wasted large parts of the land value increase.
public funds, traffic congestion, agricultural land un-
der pressure, damage to landscapes and biodiversity,
fragmented communities and social polarisation.

22
 Urban sprawl as a
policy challenge

U rban expansion is a natural process. However, it

is a difficult policy challenge to steer this process
and avoid urban sprawl. Peri-urban areas and their
stakeholders and protagonists of sustainable devel-
opment are looking for the most suitable level of
territorial governance for complex and contradictory
problems cross many administrative and sectoral urban problems which cross municipal boundaries.
boundaries, and they are rapidly changing locations Finally, at least some of the EU stakeholders aim to
towards both success and failure side-by-side, in tackle the controversies of EU fund regulations, and
social, economic and environmental terms. For all are looking for spatially integrated interventions to
these reasons, effective policy responses are likely to replace single-sector policies that usually have large
be multilevel, multiagency and multifunctional. externalities. There is growing awareness that the
Today there is a clear need for peri-urban think- major EU interventions – Cohesion Funds and Com-
ing, coming from at least three sides, and for slightly mon Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidies and pro-
different reasons. Rural stakeholders and environ- grammes – largely ignore peri-urban issues and view from the old town
mentalists are directly interested in resisting the ur- sometimes even contribute to the sprawling version of Sibiu towards the urban
ban push for land use change of the green. Urban of urban growth. fringe, Romania

23
 Concepts and methods

The peri-urban is a zone of transitions between urban settle-

ments and their rural hinterland. Here we introduce concepts
and definitions of the peri-urban within the wider context of
the ‘rural-urban region’. The technical analysis and typology
shows the distribution of peri-urban areas and the locations
of ‘hot spot’ concentrations around europe.

Definition of peri-urban  Suburban area – generally lower density contigu-

ous built-up areas that are attached to inner ur-
as transition zones ban areas and where houses are typically not
more than 200 metres apart;

T he peri-urban is a zone of transition between ur-

ban and rural areas. In many cases, this zone
changes rapidly as the urban area expands and re-
 Urban fringe – a zone along the edges of the
built-up area, which consists of a scattered pat-
tern of lower density settlement areas, urban
structures, while in some regions it is carefully man- concentrations at transport hubs and large green
aged and preserved. Increasingly, the peri-urban is open spaces;
also recognised as a spatial type and territory in it-  Urban periphery – a zone surrounding the main
self, characterised by a dispersed and non-contigu- built-up areas with a lower population density,
ous fabric of built-up and open spaces surrounding but belonging to the Functional Urban Area as
the urban core areas. described below. This can include smaller settle-
To understand the peri-urban area and the dy- ments, industrial areas and other urban land uses;
namics of change, we need to explore the spatial  Rural hinterland – rural areas surrounding the peri-
context more extensively. Within the PLUREL project, urban area, but within the rural-urban region.
a ‘rural-urban region’ (RUR) has been defined as the
main unit of analysis, with a range of area types The peri-urban area includes both the urban fringe
shown below as nesting circles (figure 2). (Note that and urban periphery. This is defined for the PLUREL
the meanings of each of these areas may vary be- project as: ‘discontinuous built development contain­
tween different countries and languages. A techni- ing settlements of each less than 20,000 population,
cal definition of the rural-urban region is shown in with an average density of at least 40 persons per hec­
the next section). These area types include: tare (averaged over 1km cells)’ (Loibl and Köstl, 2008).
Each of these area types is contained within a
 Urban core – which includes the Central Busi- whole urban system. A number of different concepts
ness District and other civic functions; related to urban system units with different boundary
 Inner urban area – generally higher density built definitions are in use. Some of these are vague and
development (built-up areas); some are quite specific. The PLUREL project focuses
on two classifications:

24
 Functional Urban Area (FUA): “an urban core and Figure 2 shows two interpretations of this scheme.
the area around it that is economically integrated The upper sketch is a simple text-book depiction of a
with the centre, e.g. the local labour market. Be­ monocentric settlement pattern surrounded by
longing to a commuter catchment area, FUAs re­ nesting circles. The lower sketch is a more realistic
present common local labour and housing mar­ version: a polycentric agglomeration of settlements
kets.” (ESPON Report 1.1.1 (ESPON 2005)) with different sizes and patterns surrounded by a
 Rural-urban region (RUR): “spatial clusters of rural hinterland with a complex boundary. In the
three interrelated regional sub­systems – the ur­ polycentric version, the peri-urban areas do not only
ban core, the peri­urban surroundings and the surround the urban, they are also a geographical
rural hinterland. Areas of recreational use, food type and territory unto their own, and the reality on
supply and nature conservation located in pre­ the ground is often complex and fast changing. FUAs
dominantly rural areas are also part of the rural­ overlap and merge to form urban agglomerations,
urban region.” (PLUREL Description of Work 2009, existing settlements change their shape and func-
p11). Rural-urban regions are the overall territo- tion, and in larger FUAs, there are many areas with a
rial unit of analysis for the PLUREL project. They combination of infrastructure, housing, industry,
include both the ‘Functional Urban Area’ (zone of open space and land in transition – a challenge by
daily commuting) and the surrounding rural hin- any definition.
terland. A technical calculation method for rural- Another issue is data. Generally we are required
urban regions is shown in table 1 and in figure 4. to refer to the NUTS system (Nomenclature of Units
However, in policy terms, the rural-urban region for Territorial Statistics), which is a geocode standard
boundaries are flexible in order to respond to for subdivisions of countries for statistical purposes
problems and opportunities. of territorial classification across the EU. The NUTS
 So, in summary: the urban area + peri-urban area = boundaries (e.g. NUTS0 national, NUTS2 region,
Functional Urban Area. NUTS3 district) often do not fit with any of the
 And also: the urban area + peri-urban area + rural boundary definitions above, which makes research-
hinterland = rural-urban region. ing these units even more challenging.

Figure 2:
Peri-urban areas & the
‘rural-urban-region’
Geographic concepts &
definitions as used in the
(a) Mono-centric PLUREL project
Urban area City centre
settlement
(continuous & over Inner urban
20,000 population) pattern
Suburban (text book version)

Peri-urban area Urban fringe

(discontinuous & over built up area
40 persons / hectare) Urban periphery F 
Rural hinterland Functional Urban Area
F 

Rural-urban-region
F 

Multiple (b) Poly-centric

combinations settlement
of urban & peri- pattern
urban areas (semi-realistic
version)

Source:
UOM, ZALF, MRI

25
 The first and foremost problem in peri-urban de- The rural-urban region
velopment is urban sprawl, which is generally seen as a
land use pattern with lower density, inefficient land method and typology
use, car dependency and other characteristics. But
many questions arise, e.g. which scale or spatial unit is RUR Typologies for Europe
to be used? Is an airport or industrial complex to be
defined as urban sprawl or economic development? A
more technical definition singularises low values in
one or more of eight factors: density, continuity, con-
A technical analysis of peri-urban patterns and
changes needs to take into account the context
of the surrounding rural-urban region (RUR) from
centration, clustering, centrality, nuclearity, mixed uses analytical and functional aspects. This requires a
and proximity (Galster et al., 2001). In simple terms, we physical delineation of the rural-urban regions
use two definitions for sprawl: ‘unplanned incremental (RURs) into their respective sub-areas, while the ex-
urban development characterised by a low density mix ploration of peri-urban issues across Europe requires
of land uses on the urban fringe’ (EEA, 2006) and also; a simple typology. Such a typology was developed in
‘low density, scattered urban development, without sys­ PLUREL with certain assumptions: (1) that the RURs
tematic large scale or regional public land use planning’ would cover all of the EU-27, (2) RUR boundaries
(Bruegman, 2008: p18; Reckien and Karecha, 2007). would be compatible with NUTS3 sub-region bound-
There is a range of other problems examined in aries so that EUROSTAT data is available, (3) and that
this report, each stemming from ‘peri-urban develop- the RUR typology would be practical to calculate,
ment’ or ‘peri-urbanisation’. This is a quite flexible con- even with limited data availability.
cept that relates to the conversion of urban or rural The PLUREL method defined a total of 903 RURs
areas into peri-urban areas as defined above. This con- for the EU-27. It also developed three different ways
version is often rapid and unpredictable. In countries to analyse urban–rural relationships and patterns:
with weak spatial planning, it can result in a physical
development which drives social and economic change.  Settlement morphology (based on the number
On the other hand, social, economic and cultural and size of urban centres);
changes are also significant in countries with strong  Development dynamics (based on core city dy-
spatial planning that controls physical change. namics versus peri-urban dynamics of growth
Overall, the PLUREL project has developed a and shrinkage);
practical working method for defining the peri-ur-  Land use and population density. This typology
ban and the rural-urban region concepts, as well as provides a spatial definition of three types of ter-
for investigating urban sprawl problems. This method ritory within the RUR, namely urban, peri-urban
became the basis for a more technical analysis as Motorway M1, Dublin and rural.
described below. county, Ireland
In the summary of this work, we focus on the third
method based on land use and population density.
This then applies to both lower and higher levels:

a) Lower level (detailed analysis carried out inside

each of the rural-urban regions);
b) Higher level (comparitive analysis between the
rural-urban regions across Europe).

Lower level:
Area types within the
rural-urban region

At the lower level, each area type is further divided

into two sub-classes since the urban, peri-urban and
rural types across Europe show a range of land uses
and densities. Table 1 shows a total of six area types
with working definitions. Figure 4 shows examples of

26
 Figure 3:
RUR subregion
delineation
baseline Situation 2001

RUR delineation

0 – unpopulated
1 – urban
2 – peri-urban
3 – rural

Source: AIT, EUROSTAT, JRC

this application at a higher resolution scale for six ru- A simplified result for the entire EU-27 is shown
ral-urban regions: Manchester, Montpellier, Warsaw, in the ‘spatially explicit’ map of rural-urban regions,
Leipzig, Koper and Haaglanden. These regions have which depicts urban, peri-urban and rural areas in a
been the main case-study regions within the PLUREL 1km2 grid resolution (figure 3). The borders of the re-
project. For each region, there is in-depth analysis gions are NUTSX, a unit which, in some countries,
that focuses on governance and spatial planning, refers to NUTS 2 regions and to NUTS3 regions in
combining stakeholder participation, policy analysis others (Renetzeder et al., 2006). This unit was chosen
and spatial scenario modelling (Pauleit et al., 2011). in order to achieve a more harmonised size of NUTS

U_1: urban high density: urban fabric class inside U_2 Table 1: Rural-urban-
region area types
U_2: urban low density: urban fabric (without urban green, industry) and population > 20.000
P_1: peri-urban high density: population density > 75 inhabitants/km2 or population > 10.000 and inside P_2
P_2: peri-urban low density: population density > 40 inhabitants/km2 and adjacency to the U_2 sub-region
R_1: rural high density: population density > 10 inhabitants/km2
Table 2: Summary
R_2: rural low density: population density > 0 inhabitants/km2 of baseline data

total artificial total land area proportion of Residential overall residential density proportions of
surface area (surfaced + non- surfaced / total population residential on artificial surface population
(km2) surfaced) land area by area type density (persons (persons per
(millions)) per km2) hectare)

Urban area type 48,765 61,649 79.1% 234.9 3,810 48 50.0%

Peri-urban area type 47,532 572,669 8.3% 118.0 206 25 25.1%
Rural area type 72,182 2,887,273 2.5% 116.7 40 16 24.9%
Un-populated (rock, ice, water) 5,626
TOTAL EU (2000 base: excluding Bulgaria) 168,478 3,527,217 4.8% 469.5 133 28 100.0%

27
 Figure 5: Hot spots of peri-urbanisation

Figure 4: RUR delineation in PLUReL case study regions

Source: Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF)

Share of Peri-Urban Surface per nUTSX region

in % of total area
0 – 10 > 30 – 50
> 10 – 30 > 50 – 70
> 70
Manchester, UK Montpellier, FR
Table 3: Top 20 peri-urban regions in the eU-27

NUTSX NUTSX Peri-urban Artificial

Code Name Area (RUR2) Surface
in % CLC in %

NL21 Overijssel 88,51 8,02

NL13 Drenthe 88,37 5,52
NL12 Friesland (NL) 87,30 5,23
DEA3 Muenster 86,09 9,88
NL11 Groningen 85,20 7,08
NL42 Limburg (NL) 83,37 14,50
UKH3 Essex 82,64 10,22

Warszawa, PL Leipzig, De NL41 Noord-Brabant 82,18 13,00

PL211 Krakowsko-tarnowski 78,15 4,45
DEA4 Detmold 78,00 9,67
BE23 Prov. Oost-Vlaanderen 77,67 24,86
UKJ4 Kent 75,11 10,48
Bedfordshire,
UKH2 74,10 13,31
Hertfordshire
NL23 Flevoland 73,91 5,53
NL31 Utrecht 72,85 17,01
NL22 Gelderland 72,72 9,21
UKE3 South Yorkshire 71,56 20,96
DEA1 Duesseldorf 70,24 23,74
PL612 Torunsko-wloclawski 69,36 1,83
Koper, SI Haaglanden, nL Berkshire, Bucks
UKJ1 68,05 10,27
and Oxfordshire
RUR delineation (6 classes)
urban high density urban low density peri-urban high density

peri-urban low density rural high density rural low density

Source: Austrian Institute
rock, glacier, water no data of Technology, AIT

28
Figure 6: nUTSX regions in the eU-27 with an above average share pf urban, peri-urban and rural areas

Urban Peri-Urban Rural Scoure: ZALF, AIT

Urban Peri-Urban Rural

other other other

regions within Europe. All EU-wide databases and Where are the hot
indicators used in PLUREL have been calculated on spots of peri-urbanisation
NUTSX, based on available NUTS2 or NUTS 3 data. in Europe?
The totals for artificial surfaces, areas, popula-
tion and densities in each of the area types of urban,
peri-urban and rural are shown in table 2. T his method allows us to identify the ‘hot spot’
regions where peri-urban land uses and densi-
ties are the most widespread in Europe. Figure 5
Higher level: Comparitive shows the hot spots classified by the proportion of
analysis across the EU-27 peri-urban built development, i.e. ‘artificial surface’.
These are mainly concentrated in the central ‘Penta-

e ach rural-urban region contains a certain mix of

urban, peri-urban and rural land uses within its
borders. So we identified those rural-urban regions
gon area’ between London, Paris, Milan, Munich and
Hamburg.
Table 3 presents a ranking of the ‘Top 20’ re-
with an above average share of urban, peri-urban or gions of the EU-27 based on the highest shares of
rural areas. These were labelled “predominantly ur- artificial surfaces within each rural-urban region as
ban”, “predominantly peri-urban” respectively “pre- determined by NUTSX borders. It may not be sur-
dominantly rural” (figure 6). prising that regions in the Netherlands, Belgium and
Another issue is that most statistical data are south east UK are among the top places, but also
available at NUTS2 or, to a lesser extent, NUTS3 scale, that many regions in Poland and Italy are faced with
but not as data which are spatially explicit to a 1km2 the serious problem of peri-urbanisation However,
grid. So in order to combine settlement density data note that this listing is dependent on the bounda-
with statistical data, we classified as “predominantly ries selected. For example, the Spanish Mediterra-
peri-urban” those rural-urban regions which have a nean coast faces severe problems of urban expan-
share of built up area classed as “peri-urban” that sion and sprawl. But this is concentrated on a narrow
lies above the EU-27 average (median) of 6.5% artifi- strip, while most of the surrounding region is more
cial surface within peri-urban areas. Several maps in rural and remote.
the following sections depict results for “peri-urban”
regions, which are those highlighted in figure 6.
(Note that according to this definition, some regions
are “predominantly urban” and “predominantly peri-
urban” at the same time).

29
 The dynamics of the peri-urban:
Global change and regional response

The peri-urban may be the dominant urban design and plan-

ning challenge of the 21st century. It is not only an in-between
fringe, but a new and rapidly growing multifunctional terri-
tory, often with globalised industries, high mobility and trans-
port dependence, fragmented communities and degraded
landscapes. In this chapter, we look at the dynamics of growth
and change, a range of alternative scenarios for the future
and the respective results of the PLUReL scenario modelling.

The global oping countries (UN Population Fund, 2007). While

megacities tend to dominate the development policy
urban agenda agenda, their overall growth may slow down, while
smaller cities of less than 500,000 will contain most

I n some parts of the world, the peri-urban is a loca-

tion for affluence and conspicuous consumption.
In others, it is a fragmented zone of poverty and dis-
new urban residents. On current projections, the
majority of these will live in slums (Davis, 2005). As
such cities modernise their transport networks and
placement – a kind of front line between the prob- extend their zone of influence, they will merge into
lems of the city and the countryside. Underlying this larger agglomerations with extended peri-urban areas
is the changing nature of the city and urban expan- and be organised around interchanges, airports, low
sion itself. Along with the physical growth of urban density parks and campuses for business, research,
form, there is a wider economic, social and cultural shopping and leisure. The effect is a current global
dynamic of change via the ‘global urban system’. rate of doubling of urban built development (counted
Looking beyond the conventional divide between ‘ur- here as ‘artificial surfaces’) every 15-20 years (Angel et
ban’ and ‘rural’, the ‘peri-urban’ is the central feature, al., 2005).
and this can be both a local, regional and global space. There is an implication for the European agenda
Some see a new kind of ‘edge city’ (Garreau, 1991), and and the PLUREL research, namely that urban areas
new kinds of metropolitan landscapes or ‘metro- around the world are now aiming for growth and
scapes’ (Greater Helsinki Vision, 2007; Kraffczyk, 2004). modernisation – in many cases faster than in Europe.
Behind the European peri-urban agenda lies If Europe can demonstrate practical ways of manag-
the greater global challenge of urbanisation. At ing growth, avoiding urban sprawl, and encouraging
present, 3.3 billion people live in urban centres across more sustainable urban development, this can then
the globe. By 2030, this number is projected to reach transfer to other parts of the world, with benefits on
five billion, with 95 percent of this growth in devel- a global scale.

30
31
 Dynamics and Direct urban
driving forces expansion

T o explore the dynamics of peri-urban change

and peri-urbanisation, we have to work at more
than one level of scale and complexity. This is not
The first dynamic of urban expansion is population
growth, with related factors being demographic and
social change:
only an academic question, but a practical question
for policy makers who need to understand the peri-  Fertility and mortality rates. While these are rela-
urban in order to work with it. The PLUREL research tively slow to change, over several decades there
produced a five-level framework that helps to ex- may be very different demographic profiles;
plore not only the direct and tangible forces of ur-  International and interregional migration is
ban expansion, but also its underlying and system- more volatile, and depending on social policy
wide effects (Ravetz et al., 2011) (figure 7): and economic swings, can change rapidly;
 Urban-rural in/out-migration is dependent on
 The first level describes urban expansion as a di- spatial policy, the state of the cities or rural areas,
rect result of population growth, economic as well as transport and communications;
growth and the demand for physical space. This  Lifestyle perceptions of city or rural quality of life,
is detailed below; leisure and tourism, also affect the trends of
 As cities expand further, they form regional ag- peri-urbanisation.
glomerations with step changes in economies of
scale; Secondly, economic growth and development drives
 Global dynamics of power and ideology then the rate of urbanisation. The level of savings and
shape this new peri-urban territory; credit, and the overall rate of capital investment,
 The whole rural-urban region goes through sys- leads directly to the expansion of the building stock
tem-wide transitions, with radical restructuring and land use conversion:
and resilience effects;
 A final level concerns policy responses, which  Employment pressures. In more remote areas,
feed back into the mix, and become ‘dynamics’ there is migration from rural to urban areas by
themselves. those in search of jobs. In more central areas,

Figure 7: Driving forces & dynamics of peri-urbanisation

showing direct driving forces in urban expansion, within a 5-level dynamic framework.
based on Ravetz, Fertner & nielsen (2011)

Governance & policy responses

Transitions, resilience & system effects
Global / local, structural dynamics
Agglomeration & spatial ecology

Urban mobility growth; Public / commercial

vehicle technology; business growth & OTHER DYNAMICS
urban infrastructure; specialization
location choice Housing size / density demand;
dispersed settlement pattern;
DIRECT DRIVERS OF
Population growth; location choice
Infrastructure Services URBAN EXPANSION
migration; family &
household structure

Population Housing

Economic growth:
household affluence Economy Employment Labour market growth &
property market specialization: expanding
dynamics location choice

32
 larger and more specialised labour markets are  Spatial planning policy may aim to manage or
enabled by peri-urban development and road- contain growth in larger cities, smaller cities and
based mobility; towns, or smaller rural settlements, or allow a
 Employment and occupation patterns also affect free market;
the trends of peri-urbanisation. For example, the  Behind formal spatial planning policy is a less vis-
spread of teleworking in the service industries ible ‘regime effect’ from the system of property
can encourage out-migration to peri-urban or rights, land markets, patrimony and inheritance.
rural areas;
 Business technology will affect not only employ- Rural development and landscape quality have tra-
ment, but also supply chain logistics, as well as ditionally been on the receiving end of urban expan-
the distribution of production, services and con- sion. This may be changing however, with environ-
sumption; mental effects on property values, new rural
 Peri-urban development is shaped by the prop- economies and new urban systems for food and
erty market. High value housing will tend to be other resources. The dynamics of change are there-
located in high quality environments and segre- fore complex:
gated from other social groups. Meanwhile, there
emerges many peri-urban social housing estates  Agriculture, particularly driven by the CAP re-
with multiple problems. forms relating to intensive or extensive produc-
tion, is a major influence on land use change;
Environmental dynamics are varied, but it seems  Biodiversity and habitat protection is a direct
that climate change effects will dominate peri-urban policy choice that may aim to take parts of the
development for the foreseeable future: peri-urban area out of urban development;
 Rural economic development trends are also
 Climate change impacts include sea-level rise very sensitive to growth pressures and policy
and fluvial flooding, extreme storms and heat agendas, as detailed in the next section.
waves, soil erosion and habitat change;
 As a result of climate change, urban environ- Agglomeration effects
ments are likely to become more unpleasant and

T
Soil sealing is expected to
increase nearly four times
hazardous, which then encourages further out- he urban expansion scheme outlined above is not
faster in peri-urban areas migration to more liveable peri-urban areas; a one-way process: it also generates responses
than in urban areas  Water resource issues will meanwhile put pres- and changes in the surrounding areas that start to
sure on peri-urban development, particularly in amount to a ‘regional agglomeration’ effect. This is
arid climates and/or areas vulnerable to flood- where the focus of attention shifts from a free-stand-
ing; ing city in rural surroundings towards the wider com-
 Renewable energy sources such as biomass are munity of interconnected and multilayered settle-
often sited in peri-urban areas, and may start to ment forms. The result is that, for the majority of
influence the pattern of development; residents, previously separate peri-urban areas de-
 Urban infrastructure such as waste and sewage velop into continuously functional, but low density,
treatment is usually in peri-urban locations. cities for most forms of living, working and shopping.
However, new concepts in recycling and ‘zero- The process is described by Soja (2000): restructuring
waste’ may change this. of the urban economic base; formation of a global ur-
ban system; restructuring of urban form and land use;
The urban development regime, housing markets restructuring of the urban social pattern; formation of
and investment cycles, housing design and layout the ‘carceral’ city and an ‘archipelago’ of enclaves; and
are all linked to the growth and pattern of peri-ur- finally, new types of urban images and cultures that
ban development: are powerful dynamics in their own right.
In practical terms, there are strong incentives
 Transport and communications are central to for peri-urban locations for retail markets, labour
the peri-urban agenda. Access to networks or in- markets or logistics hubs. A firm looking for a large
frastructure can enable and encourage in/out- new site will often prefer a peri-urban location
migration, counter-urbanisation, or re-urbanisa- which is accessible (generally by road) and serves a
tion; larger population from several urban areas.

33
 Structural dynamics peri-urban as a relationship of dependency and colo-
and transitions nisation, and as a new kind of urban hinterland and
service zone. There is also a powerful discourse on

o ne way to explore the underlying dynamics of

power and ideology is through ‘critical perspec-
tives’ (Roberts et al., 2009). They are critical in the
the peri-urban as a kind of frontier for enterprise
that is shared by the science park developers and
financiers, with images of green field sites, fast air-
sense that existing structures of power, wealth and port connections, and generally a ‘cultural-cogni-
ideology are not assumed as inevitable and fixed. tive-capitalist’ creative zone (Scott, 2000). There is
One perspective starts with globalisation and the also a peri-urban of resistance, which is the home of
economic effects on the structure of business and fi- illegitimate, informal, grey or black economies –
nance, political effects of which social groups are in farmers who deal in scrap lorries or youths looking
favour, and cultural effects through media and ICT for a festival location (Shoard, 1983).
(‘information and communications technology’). A All this raises very topical questions for this re-
counterpart force can be seen as ‘localisation’, where port – for whom or what is the peri-urban land-
the cultural identities of local people and places can scape? Who should decide, and who receives the
emerge and be reconstructed in new ways. Many costs or benefits?
peri-urban areas are stark demonstrations of this. Large parts of the peri-urban area are no longer
There is a liberalisation agenda, re-shaping the state- competitive in agricultural use, and there are many
market balance, which involves privatisation, fran- other possibilities which require a policy decision,
chising, and cost recovery, with powerful effects on such as nature conservation, housing, infrastructure,
urban governance and public services. Meanwhile enterprise or new forms of cultivation for urban
the consumption culture is a driver of cultural identity, food or energy (Ravetz, 2011). Increasingly, peri-urban ecosystem Services: water
with new perceptions of peri-urban environments areas are privately owned by ‘high net worth’ indi- household and habitat
through leisure, tourism and locational decisions. viduals, even while there are increasing pressures for function in the peri-urban
area. Haaglanden, the
These combine in many ways. For instance, in the public access. Overall, there are many agendas – eco-
netherlands
‘post-metropolis’ concept of Edward Soja (2000), the nomic, ecological, historical, residential and func-
‘space of flows’ from Manuel Castells (1996), the ‘risk tional – which can be in competition or conflict.
society’ concept of Ulrich Beck (1995) and the ‘cos- Transition thinking draws on current ecological
mopolis’ of Leonie Sandercock (2003). theory on ‘complex adaptive systems’ that are com-
A structural approach looks beyond the physi- posed of multiple relationships at multiple scales
cal land use processes at the underlying dynamics of (Waltner-Toews, 2009). The implication for policy is
power, wealth and ideology. Here we can see the crucial – that to manage a complex adaptive system

Figure 8:
High land-use Peri-urban paradigms –
intensity
quantity vs. quality



POLY-CENTRIC URBAN SPRAWL –

Strong spatial »SOCIAL CITY- UNCONTROLLED Weak spatial
planning & REGION« DEVELOPMENT planning &
governance
governance

URBAN ADHOC LOW

CONTAINMENT GROWTH
CITY-REGION


Low land-
use intensity

34
Coexistence: Alternative is a different task to managing linear systems, and  High or low land use intensity, e.g. the amount
trailer commune next to that governance itself needs to evolve along with its of area demanded for each unit of housing or
town house. berlin, territory. However, there is also a ‘de-territorialisa- business. This factor could be further analysed in
germany, 2010
tion’ effect, where the urban social-economic order terms of economic intensity, value or production,
is ‘splintering’ into globalised networks and discon- or social intensity in terms of welfare measures.
nected from the local (Graham and Marvin, 2001). Environmental land use intensity is also relevant,
This is seen clearly in some peri-urban areas that where the urban system demands land for eco-
lack the traditional patterns of settlement hubs and system services, material supplies, waste man-
meeting points, and instead form a diffused net- agement, leisure and amenity. The land use in-
work of ‘spaces of flows’ with ‘landscapes of power’ tensities are normally assumed as on a growth
that are shaped by global images and consumption trajectory that is similar to that of economic GDP.
aspirations (Zukin, 1998). In the scenario modelling (next section), land
use intensity is assumed to be correlated with
Governance and economic growth and capital investment;
policy responses  Strong or weak spatial governance. This ranges
from active and coordinated spatial planning

T he final level in this framework looks at govern-

ance, spatial planning and the policy system it-
self. This is both a response to problems, and also a
and governance in the public interest to ad hoc
and fragmented governance for short term en-
terprise and private profit.
dynamic in itself. For instance, the Green Belt policy
in the UK is at least partly successful in its objective The many issues in governance and spatial planning
of urban containment, but it then shapes the land are covered in later chapters. Here, the point is that
and property market and generates other problems these can be dynamics in their own right. This is
such as dis-investment and land hoarding, which clear, with the overall policy agenda to redirect the
are then the objective of further policies, and so on. process of urban development and ‘peri-urbanisa-
Firstly, there are questions on the overall scope tion’ away from sprawl towards polycentric develop-
and effects of ‘spatial governance’ – the system of ment in a ‘social city region’ (Howard, 1898; Ravetz,
territorial government, spatial planning and the poli- 2000). This involves looking at both quantity (land
cy system (figure 8). The portion on the left shows use intensity) and quality (coordination of land use
the main factors in direct urban expansion, with al- patterns), not only in the peri-urban, but across the
ternative modes of spatial governance: whole rural-urban region.

35
 Scenarios and
modelling

Scenario method
Figure 9: PLUReL Scenario framework and framework

T
Private enterprise /
he dynamics of peri-urbanisation, as outlined
economic values
above, are complex, multilevel and beyond the
A1 – ›Hyper-tech‹ A2 – ›extreme water‹
(High GDP growth) (High GDP growth) capacity of any single technical modelling system.
global /
Shock – rapid Shock – climate /
Regional / So it is essential to work with scenarios. These can
technology advance water crises
macro & local & combine technical analysis and modelling with
top-down bottom up
dynamic dynamic
other non-technical kinds of social, cultural and po-
b1 – ›Peak oil‹ b2 – ›Fragmentation‹
(Low GDP growth) (Low GDP growth) litical changes. Such scenarios are most effective
Shock – peak oil & Shock - social exclusion, when they include a creative set of stories, models,
energy price enclaves
images and visions. PLUREL developed a scenario
framework, based on the IPCC (Inter-governmental
Panel for the Scientific Assessment of Climate
Change) report ‘SRES’ (Special Report on Emissions
Figure 10: PLUReL Scenario images Scenarios) (IPCC, 2001). This framework included:

Private enterprise /
economic values  Applying the global level scenarios to the Euro-
pean level up to the years 2025 and 2050;
 Developing and exploring a series of plausible
‘shocks’, i.e. rapid and important changes that
bring current trends into sharp focus;
 Particular focus on the implications for urbanisa-
tion, peri-urbanisation, and peri-urban land use
global / macro & Regional / local &
change.
top-down dynamic bottom up dynamic
The scenario framework includes four main types
(with references to the A/B/1/2 of the IPCC report)
(figures 9 and 10):

Public / community & Flooding of elbe river

ecological values near Hitzacker, germany,
2002

36
 A1 – high growth scenario (‘Hypertech’) B1 – energy crisis scenario (‘Peak oil’)

... a future world of rapid economic growth, global population that … a future of environmental and social awareness – a global ap­
peaks mid­century, and the rapid spread of more efficient tech­ proach to sustainable development, involving governments, busi­
nologies. Investment in research and development is high, and na­ nesses and households. Economic development is more balanced,
tions share knowledge and pool resources in a global market place. with investment in resource efficiency, social equity and environ­
Energy prices decline as supply is driven by new renewable and nu­ mental protection. Population levels are relatively stable. The ‘shock’
clear energy sources. The ‘shock’ concerns the rapid acceleration of in this scenario is driven by the early arrival of ‘Peak oil’, i.e. a decline
ICT, which transforms home and work. The effect on the peri­urban in global oil production and rapid rises in energy prices, with many
is to accelerate out­migration and counter­urbanisation, so that social and economic effects. The peri­urban agenda here is domi­
large areas become ‘peri­urban/peri­rural’. These see extended net­ nated by the rising costs of car­based settlement patterns. There is a
works of settlements, serving affluent knowledge workers in flexi­ return to cities and consolidation of rural towns. Many peri­urban
ble employment with digital connections to the global urban sys­ areas are depopulated and returned to low­energy farming.
tem.
B2 – social fragmentation scenario
A2 – climate change scenario (‘Walls and enclaves’)
(‘Extreme water’)
... Europe sees a fragmentation of society in terms of age, ethnicity
… a more heterogeneous world of self­reliance and local identity. and international distrust. The elderly are increasingly dependent
While the population increases, economic development is region­ on the younger generation, migrant workers undercut each other,
ally­oriented: economic growth and technological change are and there are intergenerational and interethnic conflicts. The ‘shock’
slow and fragmented. The ‘shock’ here is subtitled ‘Extreme water’, then accelerates this process of fragmentation and segregation of
and this sees the rapid onset of climate change effects – flooding, different communities. Cities become more dispersed as younger
drought, storm and a sea­level increase. The effect in the typical migrants dominate city centres, and older natives populate the out­
peri­urban area is constrained development, uneven growth and skirts and enclaves outside the cities so that the peri­urban becomes
un­coordinated sprawl without the affluence to compensate. more like ‘peri­society’.

37
 These scenarios were used at the EU level to
Figure 11: Comparison of scenario average for population,
model the effects on land use of economic Comparison of scenario average for population, GDP and built development
gDP and built development
growth and development combined with demo- 250
250
graphic change. Details of the modelling method
are described in the Annex. The scenarios were 200
200
also used in regional case studies together with
stakeholder input on social and cultural trends, 150

1990 = 100
150

= 100
as well as their implications for governance. population

1990
100
100
European-wide scenario projections GDP
50
50

T here is a gap between population growth artificial

0 surface
and the growth of artificial surface within 0 1190
1990 1195
1995 2000
2000 2005
2005 2010
2010 2015
2015 2020
2020 2025
2025

Europe. In the post-war period, European cities population gDP artificial surface

have grown between 40% and 300% in size but

considerably less in population (EEA, 2006). Ac-
Table 4: Annual growth rates
cording to all four scenarios, this gap will grow 1990-2000 and scenario projections
further in the coming years, meaning increasing
Projected annual increase by scenario in %
per capita land consumption.
A1 A2 B1 B2
Besides this, the scenarios show some differ-
Population * 0.16 0.14 0.13 0.15
ences in possible future development. Economic
GDP/capita ** 2.22 1.92 1.53 1.43
development is 50% higher in the scenario A1
Artificial surface *** 1.86 1.55 1.10 1.09
than in B2. Similar growth rates are seen with the
* 2000-2025, EU -27 without Bulgaria: Source AIT
increase of artificial surface within Europe. On the ** Data for 2005-2025. Prices 2000. Bulgaria not included in scenario data
*** Data for 2000-2025
other hand, population development is similar in
all scenarios, changing only by a very low annual
Table 5: Projected growth of artificial surface in urban,
increase (figure 11). As in the previous chapter, the
peri-urban and rural areas
PLUREL method analysed the whole EU territory
by urban, peri-urban and rural area types. Table 5 Sub-region
Artificial surface area in 2000 Annual increase until 2025 by scenario
(with share of total area) A1 A2 B1 B2
illustrates the key results of the typology and sce-
nario modelling exercise. 48,765 km 2

Urban 0.65% 0.61% 0.50% 0.48%

All four scenarios show a continued growth (79.1 %)
of built development, i.e. ‘artificial surface’, across 47,532 km2
Peri-Urban 2.46% 2.06% 1.44% 1.44%
Europe (Figure 12). Peri-urban areas will experi- (8.3 %)
ence the highest growth rates of up to 2.46% per 72,182 km2
Rural 2.13% 1.75% 1.24% 1.24%
year, while growth in rural areas will be nearly as (2.5 %)
rapid in the A1 – Hypertech scenario. In contrast, 168,478 km
2

Total 1.86% 1.55% 1.10% 1.09%

areas which are already predominantly urban will (4.7 %)
experience relatively small changes, indicating
that these areas are relatively ‘full up’. The pro- Table 6: Projected growth of population in urban, peri-urban and rural areas
jected population growth is much more gradual
Resident population
at a maximum of 0.18% in the peri-urban areas. Sub-region in 2000 (millions) Annual increase until 2025 by scenario
However, there is much variation across Europe, (with share of total) A1 A2 B1 B2

as illustrated in the figures 13 and 14. There are 234.85

Urban 0,17% 0,15% 0,12% 0,17%
(50.1%)
large contrasts projected between the central ar-
eas of the ‘Pentagon’, the Mediterranean coast 117.95
Peri-Urban 0,18% 0,15% 0,13% 0,16%
(25.1%)
and central eastern Europe. Higher growth is pre-
dicted for some of the more remote areas in 116.67
Rural 0,11% 0,08% 0,14% 0,10%
(24.9%)
northern and western Europe, but from a base-
line that is sparsely populated and developed. Total 469.47 0.16% 0.14% 0.13% 0.15%
Meanwhile, some more remote areas in eastern
Europe may continue to depopulate. Souce: (Tables 4-6, figures 11, 12): IIASA, ERASME, University of Edinburgh, Austrian Institute of Technology

38
 Figure 12: Artificial surface growth – A1 scenario
300000

250000
area in 1000 km2

200000

150000

100000

50000

0 1190 1195 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025

URBAN PERI-URBAN RURAL

Figure 13: Changes in proportion of artificial surface

A1 – ‘hyper-tech’: growth, technology innovation, A2 – ‘extreme water’: rapid climate change,

and out-migration to rural areas and defence against flood and drought

Scenario A1 Scenario A2
2000 – 2025 2000 – 2025

Difference to Difference to
baseline in % baseline in %

0 – 1o 0 – 1o
> 10 – 20 > 10 – 20
> 20 – 30 > 20 – 30
> 30 – 40 > 30 – 40
> 40 – 50 > 40 – 50
> 50 > 50
no data no data

B1 – ‘peak oil’: energy price shock, with B2 – ‘fragmentation’: communities in retreat

re-population of cities and towns into private enclaves

Scenario B1 Scenario B1
2000 – 2025 2000 – 2025

Difference to Difference to
baseline in % baseline in %

0 – 1o 0 – 1o
> 10 – 20 > 10 – 20
> 20 – 30 > 20 – 30
> 30 – 40 > 30 – 40
> 40 – 50 > 40 – 50
> 50 > 50
no data no data
Souce: University of Edinburgh, Austrian Institute of Technology

39
Figure 14: Changes in total nUTSX Population

Scenario A1 Scenario A2
2000 – 2025 2000 – 2025
Difference to Difference to
baseline in % baseline in %

< = -20 < = -20

> -20 – -5 > -20 – -5
> -5 – 5 > -5 – 5
> 6 – 20 > 6 – 20
> 20 – 66 > 20
no data no data

Scenario b1 Scenario b2
2000 – 2025 2000 – 2025
Difference to Difference to
baseline in % baseline in %

< = -20 < = -20

> -20 – -5 > -20 – -5
> -5 – 5 > -5 – 5
> 6 – 20 > 6 – 20
> 20 > 20 – 64
no data no data

The second set of model results, depicted above in Fig- Overall, the scenario modelling shows some signifi-
ure 14, shows the projected population development. cant results:

 In scenario A1, the strongest growth combina-  Population growth rate. Most scenarios show a
tion (population/artificial surfaces) is almost strong contrast between growth in the western
continuous from Portugal to Sweden. However, regions and the Mediterranean sunbelt, and con-
parts of eastern Europe are still experiencing de- tinuing decline in central and eastern Europe;
population and shrinkage.  GDP growth rate. Most scenarios show very
 Scenario A2 shows a more mixed picture, but strong growth in eastern and south east Europe,
there is still combined growth over most of the and some in the more remote regions of Spain,
Mediterranean region. Ireland and northern Sweden. In the B1 and B2
 In scenario B1 and B2, by contrast, the areas of scenarios, most of the core regions show less
shrinkage and low growth extend right across than 2% growth (except for Benelux).
the core regions. Even in affluent countries such  Artificial surfaces. Scenario A1 shows the ex-
as France, the UK and Germany, there are large treme case where most of the core regions show
areas where urbanisation will slow. over 10% growth in surfaces by 2025. By contrast,
the scenario B2 shows a development retreat
back to the main city and capital regions in most
countries.

40
 Conclusions

T his is a brief review of the peri-urban dynamics

and driving forces, the scope of scenarios, and
the results of the PLUREL modelling on population
 However, growth is also spread over many other
mainly urban and rural type regions. There is still
a problem of depopulation and shrinkage in
and built development. There are many drivers of most scenarios for some central and eastern ar-
change in a complex situation. Some of the more di- eas.
rect drivers have been modelled up to 2025 using a  Overall, the direction of current economic and
scenario framework based on that of the IPCC. The social policy, as in the EU2020 strategy and Lis-
headline results from the pan-European scenario bon accords, aims towards a development path
modelling are shown here, in summary: which is likely to increase artificial surfaces in
peri-urban areas by 1.4% – 2.5% p.a. If this con-
 The A1 high growth ‘Hypertech’ scenario brings tinues beyond 2025, such areas could double in
the highest increase in artificial surfaces, which size between 2035 and 2055.
equates to the most rapid peri-urbanisation;
 Growth under all scenarios is highest in regions The following sections look in more detail at the im-
which are already peri-urban (i.e. above average plications of this regarding policy in different sec-
shares of peri-urban land). Many of the hot spots tors.
lie within the European ‘Pentagon’ or core region
(between London, Hamburg, Munich, Milan and
Paris).

Low density housing in

the peri-urban. Dublin
County, Ireland

41
42
PERI-URBAN
AGENDAS

43
 Economy and
employment

The expansion of peri-urban areas in Europe is a manifesta-

tion of a complex web of social, economic and technological
changes. It reflects the drive towards lower density and lower
costs locations, as well as the search for better environmen-
tal quality.

The situation

T he contemporary processes of metropolisation,

deindustrialisation and demographic change
have a profound and mutually reinforcing impact
display increasingly similar land use and economic
development characteristics. These regions are char-
acterised by relatively small variations of composite
upon the structure of land use and the relations be- indicators in which measures of economic develop-
tween urban, peri-urban and rural areas in Europe. ment and land use structure are integrated. Con-
The analyses of interrelations between economic de- versely, the biggest variations in this respect are ob-
velopment and land use characteristics, carried out served among the rural regions. Nevertheless, the
at the NUTS-3 level, point towards spatial polarisa- polarisation of non-urban space in Europe is first of
tion trends. It is found, among other things, that the all expressed by growing disparities between rural
income gap between urban and peri-urban areas on and peri-urban zones surrounding the large urban
the one hand, and rural areas on the other, has been centres on the one hand, and peripheral rural re-
widening. This is revealed by the analysis of interre- gions on the other. This is illustrated by the distribu-
lations between GDP per capita change, as observed tion of the values of GDP potential per capita, with
during the 1996 – 2006 period, and the intensity of the pronounced peaks in the core – the heavily ur-
land used for human settlement, which is measured banised west central part of the EU (figure 15).
by the share of artificial surface in the total land Peri-urban zones are generally characterised by
area. rapid economic change. These areas benefit from
Although spatial polarisation has to be consid- the deconcentration of economic activity at a local
ered as an important trend, it is by far not the domi- scale, i.e. the relocation of firms and the related jobs
nant one. In fact, in many respects, the large metro- from urban centres. At the same time, they attract
politan areas across the European Union tend to labour and other resources from smaller towns and

44
 Economic development:
construction of a 100
million Euro motorway-
based logistic centre

the predominantly rural regions. Increasingly, the

peri-urban areas are becoming loci for metropolitan
functions, including knowledge-intensive industrial Figure 15:
and advanced service sector activities. GDP/ capita potential 2000
Conversely, the peripheral rural regions con- Quotients
tinue to experience selective population outflow (EUR per capita)
and general depopulation. Their economic base no data
faces instabilities related, among other things, to de- 4820
creasing embeddedness of manufacturing activities 7461

that tend to move in search of lower cost locations. 11161

19320
These regions often lack sufficiently skilled labour,
27419
and are characterised by poor spatial accessibility
39892
that constitute barriers to the spatial diffusion of 51822
economic growth. This causes spread effects origi- 57935
nating from large and economically sound urban 70446
centres. As a result, they tend to suffer from the out- 83905
migration of young and educated people, the depar- 102037

ture of innovative firms and the transfer of locally 133234

153404
accumulated savings to the large centres. A special
263348
category of such predominantly rural, economically
less developed regions are borderland areas, espe- Source: PAS, EUROSTAT

45
 cially those situated along the European Union’s
Figure 16:›Economic & employment dynamics in the peri-urban eastern borders. Low overall population density, dis-
persed and functionally disintegrated settlement
Key impacts
Key driving forces networks in these areas are among the factors re-
Finance & property Existing workforce sponsible for an insufficient level of investment ac-
development marginalized
tivity and a limited degree of participation in physi-
Globalized firms & Decline of traditional
workforce centres cal modernisation and economic development
Expanding workspace Housing vulnerability processes.
& ICT effects
Nevertheless, the peripheral rural regions ben-
Occupations & career Dependence on
changes New employment & fossil fuels efit from a number of unique assets related to the
investment in peri-urban
Economic
natural environment and cultural heritage, the po-
Global investment business locations
focused on CBD &
modernization & tential of which is only partly utilised. At the same
restructuring in
peri-urban rural areas time, these assets may in certain instances hinder
business locations
economic expansion by restricting the scale and
scope of infrastructural investments (figure 16).
Emergence of peri-urban
as new enterprise &

The future
Re-investment & employment activity zone
regeneration in
CBD & inner areas

Globalizing Low-cost
CBD
Service worker Enterprising, high Urban view - attractive leisure
labour pool home base in value, connected hinterland. Rural view -
inner areas suburbs peri-urban productive economic zone T he future evolution of land use and its economic
aspects in European rural-urban regions is a func-
tion of general development trends that can, to a cer-
Source: UOM
tain degree, be corrected or modified by public policy.
Various combinations of possible trends, of the im-
pact of new external factors (such as climate change)
and policies, give rise to alternative development sce-
narios. Policies that influence territorial development
patterns are both of explicitly spatial as well as secto-
ral character. An important role is also played by mid-
and long term corporate policies, especially in such
territory-relevant fields like the energy sector.
The interdependence between economic and
land use change has been projected into the future

Figure 17:
GDP/ capita potential Quotients Quotients
Scenario A1, 2025 (EUR per capita) Scenario A2, 2025 (EUR per capita)

no data no data
7658 6922
13078 11905
19393 17785
28235 25596
42238 38585
59486 46442
77389 55009
92781 70094
117878 83855
153269 108627
175127 139243
211437 166155
238162 195466
490622 454587
Source: PAS

46
according to four alternative development scenarios, infrastructural projects that have a major impact in
as defined earlier in this document (Korcelli and Ko- this respect, such as high-speed railway networks,
zubek, 2010). This projection extends until 2025. As require long planning and implementation periods.
indicated above, the highly urbanised areas, those The past and current trends allow us to anticipate a
with a high share of artificial surface in the total land gradual convergence of basic economic indicators at
area, are generally characterised by relatively high an international scale, and the persistence, if not an
gross domestic product (GDP) per capita values, as ex- increase, of interregional economic disparities. At an
pressed in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms. This intraregional scale, relations between urban, peri-
association continues throughout the projection pe- urban and rural zones of rural-urban regions may
riod. However, the distribution of projected GDP val- evolve in alternative directions. As it is generally ex-
ues increases while becoming less distorted (figure pected, the metropolisation process which is fuelled
17). The share of spatial units characterised by values by globalisation will continue over the next few dec-
above the mean indicator value tends to increase. ades. However, the concentration of people and eco-
This suggests a growth of territorial cohesion levels in nomic activity in metropolitan areas cannot last in-
the future. Interestingly, differences between the four definitely. It is appropriate at this point to refer to
alternative scenarios are not pronounced in this re- the so-called counter-urbanisation phenomenon,
spect. Similar results pertain to projected changes of which appeared rather unexpectedly and prevailed
employment and its sectoral composition. in western Europe and north America during the
Figure 18 shows the projected change in em- late 1970s and the early 1980s. This phenomenon
ployment in the service sector within the time span was marked by a turnaround of earlier, long term
2000 – 2025 for the four scenarios. While in rather migration, as well as regional economic develop-
remote regions of Europe (eastern Scandinavia, ment trends. What are the factors or circumstances
Hungary, and certain regions in central and northern under which a similar trend reversal could occur in
Spain) strong reductions will occur, working places the future, causing the growth of medium-sized and
in the service sector in other regions will boom, such smaller towns situated at some distance from the
as in all coastal regions, large parts of UK and nearly metropolitan centres at the expense of major urban
the complete area of Poland. As with GDP projec- and peri-urban areas?
tions, employment projections also do not reveal Four such factors can be identified here. The
distinct differences. first one, which is rather conventional, refers to
As the results of the scenario analysis indicate, growing dysfunctions of large urban concentrations.
the time span of 15 years until 2025 may not be a suf- At a certain point, spatial concentration of popula-
ficiently long period to envision radical changes in tion and economic activity in metropolitan areas re-
territorial patterns in Europe at a macroscale. Major sults in an increase of their functioning costs above

Quotients Quotients
Scenario B1, 2025 (EUR per capita) Scenario B2, 2025 (EUR per capita)

no data no data
1595 3518
25304 27964
49013 52410
72722 76856
96431 101302
120140 125748
143849 150194
167558 174640
191267 199086
214976 223534
238685 247978
262394 272424
286103 296870
309812 321316

47
 the level of aggregate benefits. This critical level is The fourth condition under which a reversal,
sensitive to technological and environmental preceded be a slowdown of observed metropolisa-
change (energy cost, climate etc.), as referred to in tion trends might take place, refers to the future
most of the general socioeconomic and spatial de- course of economic globalisation.
velopment scenarios. The second factor, also exten- The process of delocalisation – the transfer of
Typical conflict between sively called upon in scenario analyses, concerns industrial production to low-cost countries – is grad-
grown structures and growing social and spatial fragmentation of metro- ually extended to the service sector, which includes
new development
politan space, as brought about, to a large extent, by technologically advanced and innovative activities.
strategies. Konstantin
the inflow of migrants from low-income countries, As a result of this, the present economic base of ma-
Jeziora, Poland
and the expansion of the so-called inner-metropoli- jor European metropolitan areas may become se-
tan periphery that is composed of districts scoring verely affected. In the future, Europe’s competitive
low on the scale of both social and physical indica- position on the global scale may increasingly de-
tors. This process may again cause a shift in the bal- pend on her globally unique, cultural and historical
ance of attractiveness in terms of both living condi- heritage assets, the domain in which the network of
tions and the location of modern economic activities, medium-sized and small towns occupies a particular
in favour of medium-sized and smaller towns situ- place.
ated in lower population density regions at the cost The Konstantin-Jeziorna case in the Warsaw
of large urban and peri-urban areas. Metropolitan Region illustrates conflicts between
The third factor pertains to the process of pop- the local authority, or the local community, and
ulation change and its implications for spatial mo- owners of an industrial plant – a paper products fac-
bility, including migration propensities. The continu- tory. The factory was built in the 18th century, and a
ing population outflow, from rural areas and smaller part of it is under conservatory supervision owing to
towns to large urban areas, accelerates population its historical and architectural values (see photos).
ageing in the former areas, thus reducing their total This year, the present owners – a Finnish industrial
out-migration potential. Conversely, the accumula- conglomerate – decided to discontinue operations
tion of relatively younger populations in large cities until 2012 and move production to a new location.
and peri-urban zones implies higher migration lev- This decision created major difficulties for the local
els. One part of this migration flow is interurban as authority, as the plant had provided a part of the
well as international, while another part is oriented town with electricity, heating and drinking water for
towards smaller towns and rural areas. At some many years, and its sewage treatment plant had col-
point in time, the volume of migration flow may be- lected sewage from the whole township. In the past,
come large enough to exceed the reverse stream. the local government was not interested in assum-

Figure 18:
Changes in the number of Changes in the number of
emloyees in the service* sector emloyees in the service* sector
Scenario A1 Scenario A2
2000 – 2025 2000 – 2025
in % in %
< = -50 < = -50
> -50 – -25 > -50 – -25
> -25 – 0 > -25 – 0
> -0 – 25 > -0 – 25
> 25 – 50 > 25 – 50
> 50 > 50
no data no data

* Wholesale and retail

trade, repair service;
hotels and restaurants;
transport; storage and
communication

48
ing responsibility for the plant. Now it is no longer their cultural and historical heritage assets. These
for sale. The township is presently facing the prob- globally unique assets may help to preserve the
lem of finding an alternative solution with all the competitiveness of European space in the long term.
associated costs and delays involved. Nevertheless, the balance between cohesion
and competitiveness-oriented policies may assume
various forms in different parts, or sub-regions, of
Goals, objectives and Europe. In the densely populated and heavily urban-

policy challenges ised west European countries, the focus tends to be

put on secondary growth poles – the utilisation of
potentials available in smaller urban regions, and in

P olicies that focus on relationships between eco-

nomic development and land use are generally
governed by the sustainability principle. This in-
areas facing economic restructuring problems, such
as old industrial regions. In the new EU member
countries of central and eastern Europe, strategic
volves searching for a balance between territorial spatial policy articulates the need to upgrade the in-
cohesion and economic competitiveness viewed ternational standing – to elevate the ranking of the
from a long term perspective. Such a balance re- main urban regions, including the capital regions, by
quires partnership relations to exist between urban, closing existing infrastructural gaps and promoting
peri-urban and rural segments of the rural-urban re- the development of an advanced, knowledge-based
gions – the kind of linkages which are expressed in economy. In those countries with strongly polycen-
flows that compensate for spatial concentration ef- tric urban systems, the formation of integrated city
fects implied by the metropolisation processes. The networks is seen as a means of creating spatial syn-
more specific policy objectives pertaining to the ergy effects, thus allowing for increased specialisa-
less-urbanised, particularly peripheral areas, should tion and the emergence of new, high order func-
include: improving connectivity with major urban tions. For regions of predominantly rural character
centres; enhancing the functioning of public institu- throughout the EU, with primary sector activities
tions in these areas by aiming to improve both qual- such as agriculture, forestry, renewable energy pro-
ity and access to public services with education held duction all playing an important role, the advisable
in foremost regard; supporting the development of strategies should aim at strengthening the eco-
local specialisation based on endogenous resources; nomic and cultural functions of local medium-size
and preserving environmental quality. Another rele- centres, including the policy that would help to re-
vant policy objective in this context is physical revi- sist economic marginalisation and progressive de-
talisation of smaller towns with an emphasis on population of these areas.

Changes in the number of Changes in the number of

emloyees in the service* sector emloyees in the service* sector
Scenario B1 Scenario B2
2000 – 2025 2000 – 2025
in % in %
< = -50 < = -50
> -50 – -25 > -50 – -25
> -25 – 0 > -25 – 0
> -0 – 25 > -0 – 25
> 25 – 50 > 25 – 50
> 50 > 50
no data no data

49
 Population and migration

Continental migration flows and regional population move-

ments affect peri-urban development. Social transition in
terms of birth rates, ageing and household structure also
contribute to peri-urban land use change, which creates en-
vironmental pressures and social fragmentation. Instru-
ments to manage growth and control decline must concen-
trate on developing compact sub-centres in peri-urban areas
by establishing strict zoning regulations against urban
sprawl, and by restructuring urban low-rent areas.

The situation Migration, ethnicity

and their relationship
S ocial transitions appear as different but highly
interrelated issues. Migration, education, em-
ployment and birth rates are all effects of changing
to land use change
lifestyles. Migration towards urban centres is driven
by the desire for better education, better jobs and
higher income, even though the urban environment
E urope is experiencing various migration flows
that head towards wealthy countries away from
the less rich ones (in and outside Europe). These
might not be attractive to all. Higher independence flows also target economically active urban and
and better education lead to higher female employ- peri-urban areas and attractive coastal areas, while
ment rates and women giving birth to fewer children. moving away from rural areas. Migration can be of
Self-determined lifestyles result in fewer marriages several types, including labour migration for work
and more divorces, all leading to more one-person and better income, forced migration by refugees,
and single-parent households. Duel income families and retirement migration. Thus migration and eth-
with a higher level of income demand better hous- nicity can be seen to be related. Such migration
ing standards, which accelerates the movement to- flows, combined with short distance domestic rural-
wards attractive suburban and peri-urban areas. urban migration, cause population densification in
Longer life expectancy leads to an increase in the urban (often low rent) areas and trigger further in-
population segment comprising of elderly people terregional migration flows that will be addressed
who may also migrate to attractive places for their later. We can see some clear patterns depicted in
retirement. table 7.

50
Societal diversity:
Stairs, La grande Arche,
La Defense. Paris, France

51
 CATEGORY TYPE MIGRATION CHARACTER LAND USE CHANGE CHARACTER LOCATIONS WHERE THIS CHANGE
TAKES PLACE
1 Abandoned Flow of young people to cities, Land abandonment: fields lie Eastern Europe (Baltics away
rural flow of working age people to uncultivated, empty farms, forest from main cities), parts of Poland,
cities or abroad, older residents colonising abandoned land, landscape Bulgaria and Romania, Portugal
left behind becoming progressively »wilder«. and Spain, parts of Swiss, Austrian,
Italian and Greek mountains.
2 Extensified Flow of young people to cities, Extensification of agriculture and Eastern Finland, Eastern Germany,
rural general depopulation out of the forestry: more land farmed by fewer parts of Romania, Italy, central
region. people, extensive modes of farming and Sweden, Hungary, eastern France,
industrial forestry. May be some tourism Iceland.
development in places.
3 Stable rural Slight increase in population but Traditional farming continues or there Western and northern Norway,
low rates of migration, mostly to is extensification in remoter places and northern Finland, rural Ireland.
urban centres within the area. tourism development including holiday
houses.
4 Idyllic rural Foreign migration into rural Rural houses and villages are Western and central France, Central
areas by well-off people regenerated and revitalised by foreign and northern Italy, parts of Portugal
from elsewhere in Europe or incomers. Traditional rural landscape and Spain, small trend in Greece,
migration to remoter areas is maintained or slightly extensified. Romania and Bulgaria, northern
within countries. Retirement Tourism development also uses old Scotland and parts of England and
migration.
settlement infrastructure. Wales.

5 Intensive rural Labour migration into Areas where agricultural production Eastern England, Netherlands,
productive agricultural areas and horticulture is economic but relies southern Spain, Greece
on low wages. Landscape covered
by polytunnels and other modern
technology of agriculture.
6 Grey rural International retirement Ex-urban suburban developments along Southern Spain, southern France
migration from northern to coastal areas, in association with golf and Brittany, the Algarve in
southern Europe courses and other amenities. Portugal, Greek islands.
7 Gentrified Not strictly migration but Villages close to large urban centres UK, Ireland, southern Germany,
rural movement of better-off people expand, new residential developments southern Scandinavia, France,
from the city to rural edge or in rural areas within commuting national or regional capital cities
hinterland distance of the city. Urbanisation of in most countries or economically
rural areas (more roads, street lights) developing cities in Eastern Europe.
and local people priced out of the
housing market.
8 Dynamic National migration from rural Pressure on urban areas leading to Cities in UK, France, central
urban to city, EU labour and non-EU densification, reducing quality of some Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands,
immigration, intensive in scale neighbourhood environments as well Belgium, Scandinavia and other
and multi-ethnic in composition as urban sprawl. Ethnic composition regionally dynamic areas
in many places. of some urban districts changes, local
population is displaced to the urban
fringe.
9 Stagnant Moderate population change Some decay of urban infrastructure, Central Germany, parts of Eastern
urban from inward and outward reduction in development pressures, Europe, ex-industrial cities across
migration, net effect being increase in brownfield land. Europe
slight reduction in population.
Some non-EU immigration
substitutes for the loss of
national population.
10 Shrinking Net out-migration from Reduction in development pressure, Eastern Germany, Baltics, regional
urban failing cities to other more vacant housing in less-desirable areas, cities in eastern Europe.
economically active regions or increase in brownfield sites.
countries. May be in-migration
at a rate that does not balance
out-migration

52
 Table 7: Characteristics
of European-wide
Migration from rural to urban areas is occurring in
eastern European and the Nordic countries, as well
The peri-urban issue:
migration trends and
related land use effects
as Portugal. Meanwhile, other countries are experi- Peri-urban population
(Bell et al. 2010) encing counter-urbanisation away from urban to
rural areas, and this is carried out by those seeking
movement and land use
to achieve a better lifestyle in places such as the UK,
France, Spain and Italy. Urban growth, triggered by
migrants, affects low rent areas, leading to an in-
crease in multi-occupancy and densification. Coun-
U rban areas are often the first target for labour-,
education- and refugee migration, bringing
about the need for more housing and workplaces
ter-urbanisation leads to the so called “gentrifica- while making low rent urban quarters more densely
tion” – or social up-scaling – of the peri-urban areas occupied and less attractive. The steady decline of
within the urban commuting zone, and sometimes urban environment quality makes people – mostly
to some repopulation of rural areas. child-rearing younger families who can afford big-
European labour migration from rural home- ger houses with gardens – move to quieter, green
lands in eastern Europe often targets prosperous suburbs (figure 19).
western European regions. Non-EU migration from This makes the peri-urban the second target for
Africa and Asia has an economic or political motiva- migration, which in turn boosts the demand for
tion, especially among asylum seekers. housing and related infrastructure (e.g. schools, hos-
There are distinct migration patterns of certain pitals, recreation facilities, retail centres and produc-
ethnic groups that target the former colonising coun- tion sites) to supply the “new” peri-urban dwellers
tries including the UK, the Netherlands, France, Bel- and the “traditional” urban population with goods
gium and, in the case of political and economic refu- and services as well as additional workplaces. All
gees, Nordic countries and Mediterranean Europe. these activities produce additional traffic related to
International retirement migration has again commuting and goods transport, which impacts the
very distinct patterns and distinct land use change environmental quality.
effects outside the urban capital areas, with the This trend occurs all over Europe, with certain
suburbanisation of rural and coastal areas in Spain hot spots in the east and peripheral regions in gen-
and Portugal being particularly large in scale. eral. The reasons are already addressed above: de-
clining birth rates, migration of the young, active
population and rural depopulation. Only some young
people (after finishing education) and a few workers
Figure 19: Social & demographic dynamics in the peri-urban return to their former home regions. This is counter-
acted in some places by retirement migration to rural,
Key driving forces Key impacts affordable but attractive areas, or to the former home-
Ageing population
Existing settlement lands. Therefore all rural, peripheral, economically
change
weak, often southern and eastern regions in Europe
Fragmented
Social mobility communities have higher shares of retired people.
Household & family Housing & service
changes imbalance
Occupations & career
changes
Commuting costs The future

T
Migration of Rural depopulation
families & older (some areas) hese trends are expected to continue. Dynamic
to peri-urban &
International migration rural
urban areas will attract more people expecting
to inner & peri-urban to find better jobs and/or receive a better education,
areas Emergence of
peri-urban as new while rural peripheral areas will experience a further
living / working
environment depopulation and social fragmentation. Urban cen-
tres will tend to experience opposing social transi-
Migration of younger &
professionals to urban tion patterns, in that highly educated, affluent socie-
centres ties will be drawn towards attractive suburbs or city
centres while poorly educated, low income migrant
Source: UOM

Wealthy, Mixed, Stable, solid Attractive, green, Remote, small-

busy, dense transient reliable well connected town / village-
centre inner areas suburbs peri-urban life rural
classes will develop in low rent, inner city areas or
some peri-urban city edge developments. The urban

53
 age class distribution will be more evenly balanced
than the rural one because of the in-migration from
young people. Peri-urban areas will still attract more
affluent families wishing to live in a green environ-
ment that is inhabited by a younger population with
a better level of education and higher incomes.
But these trends will be shaped by the various
possible future scenarios in different ways. The four
scenarios describe certain opposite conditions (see
chapter 1) where the driving push and pull factors
affect the migration patterns in different ways. The
following overview describes the general implica-
tions of the scenarios in terms of changes to migra-
tion and land use:

 Scenario A1 “Hypertech”: Labour migration into

the cities will continue with less speed.
 Scenario A2 “Waterworld”: Migration from rural
to urban areas and labour migration within the
EU will cease. Non-EU migration will increase
due to lack of food and labour, placing pressure
on cities and resulting in growth.
 Scenario B1 “Peak oil”: High commuting costs
will cause people to live closer to their work,
leading to the densification of cities. Rural popu-
lation will decline, leading to extensification or
further land abandonment. The rural areas
around cities will become more intensively man-
aged for food production.
 Scenario B2 “Social fragmentation”: Interna-
tional migration of younger people will be the
major driver for urbanisation. The need for re-
gional self-sufficiency in food brings about the
recultivation of abandoned land.

Figure 20: Changes in peri-urban population

Scenario A1 Scenario A2
2000 – 2025 2000 – 2025
in % in %

< = -20 < = -20

> -20 – -2 > -20 – -2
> -2 – 2 > -2 – 2
> 2 – 20 > 2 – 20
> 20 – 54 > 20
no data no data
Source: AIT

54
 Goals and objectives
Figure 20 shows the population effects on peri-ur-
banisation for each of these scenarios. In general,
heavily declining peri-urban population shares are
either the outcome of declining regional develop-
ment or the product of fast urban growth overtak-
ing the peri-urban development. Stagnation, or
T he major objective is to achieve a balanced pop-
ulation structure in terms of general population
distribution, including age structure and education,
moderate reduction, may be a positive signal for the in order to promote social cohesion. Integrating the
effectivity of planning policies. An accelerated in- youth as well as the elder generation is a require-
crease of peri-urban population shares is an indica- ment on the way to achieving such a future. Further
tion of intensive peri-urbanisation. objectives are to protect green and open space in ur-
The highest changes in peri-urban population ban and peri-urban areas, to prevent environmental
shares can be found in central Europe, stretching from disadvantages, and to establish attractive quarters
the UK to northern Italy and on to Poland and southern for the local dwellers.
Greece. France, Spain, the northern countries and Bul-
garia show distinctly less fluctuation in peri-urban
population shares. Clear hot spots of growth and de- Policy challenges
cline in an east-west/north-south divide are obvious.
In north eastern Europe (Finland, the Baltic States and
eastern Europe) the peri-urban population will decline
due to a general population decrease, which will in-
T he basic policy targets are to manage growth
and control the decline of urban population in an
intelligent and inclusive manner. Well developed
crease the concentration of the remaining population compact towns serving as sub-centres in the peri-
within urban centres. The coastal areas of southwest urban may improve polycentric development and
Spain, France and also the UK are expected to experi- avoid urban sprawl, as well as protecting the open
ence rapidly increasing peri-urban population shares. space in a bid to support equity in the quality of life
In the A1 “Hypertech” scenario, those regions with al- and fight social exclusion. Such appropriate meas-
ready high peri-urban population shares (UK, Benelux, ures are the strict zoning regulations in the peri-ur-
southern Germany, Italy and some coastal regions in ban, as well as the restructuring of urban low rent
southern Spain, France and Ireland) will also observe areas. On the other hand, the economic vitality of
higher peri-urban population growth rates. The “oppo- rural areas also has to be strengthened to encourage
site” scenario B2 “Social fragmentation” shows some young people to return to and reinvigorate these areas.
additional regions with declining peri-urban popula- The roots of policies that set out to achieve equal
Pull factor quality of
life: particularly families
tion shares (in the more peripheral regions of Portugal, economic opportunities and social cohesions lie in
with children are settling Italy, Greece, Poland) but also some regions with in- education and the provision of basic infrastructure
in the peri-urban creasing shares (coastal regions in France and Spain). and cultural landscape protection.

Scenario B1 Scenario B2
2000 – 2025 2000 – 2025
in % in %

< = -20 < = -20

> -20 – -2 > -20 – -2
> -2 – 2 > -2 – 2
> 2 – 20 > 2 – 20
> 20 > 20 – 52
no data no data

55
 Housing and community

Self-determined lifestyles result in increasing household

numbers, accompanied by a growth of smaller households
with a corresponding decline in larger ones. To change these
trends would require various interventions. The housing
market can be one instrument. For example, by building
larger flats, couples may be compelled to live together in-
stead of in separate households. Sufficient social infrastruc-
ture is another way of improving the quality of life for all
population groups in all quarters of a city.

The situation

E urope is home to various social groups with dif-

fering educational standards, income levels, age
distributions and household structures. We can ob-
different dwelling areas and housing types based on
alternate levels of affordability. The perception of
the city versus the alternative peri-urban target areas,
serve social fragmentation between countries, re- as well as the attractiveness gradients between the
gions and within the rural-urban regions where former residential area and a future one, are impor-
people are impacted by economic prosperity, local tant issues when deciding on location options for
opportunities and also their community, so that the urban versus the peri-urban (figure 21).
they evolve a certain lifestyle that is influenced by As addressed earlier, low rent residential areas
media and local society which includes their parents, are attractive to job-seeking rural people or immi-
teachers, friends and neighbours. grants with low income who have recently moved
Different lifestyles, income, lifecycle positions into urban centres, and who may not be in a position
and family settings result in different household to consider other location assets. Members of the
types with varying demands for floor space require- population who can gradually afford better housing
ments, different housing preferences, and different quality will leave these areas in preference of middle
locational preferences for residential areas and the class residential quarters – either inner urban or
related infrastructure (e.g. schools). This drives the suburban. Childless households with higher educa-
segregation of social groups into, or exclusion from, tion and income levels often stay in the urban cen-

56
 tres, preferring either prestigious apartment build- one-person and single-parent households, the aver-
ings in the city centres or high quality suburban age household size is declining, while the number of
apartments in green environments. Meanwhile, small (one- to two-person) households is increasing.
families with children often try to settle in peri-ur- The number of households with four or more people
ban green environments, where they occupy ter- shows a further decrease, with some variation in
raced or detached houses if the commuting distance certain countries and different shares in urbanised
to the urban centre is important. Households with versus peri-urban regions. While in urban areas the
children and lower income, or those who do not self-determined lifestyle trends started decades ago
commute, or who tolerate long distance commuting and continue today, the population in rural areas,
to the urban centres, also settle for dwelling areas adopting urban lifestyles, are also following the
located at a greater distance to the cities with trend towards smaller household sizes.
cheaper lot prices but little infrastructure. More Nevertheless, decreasing household size is not
households consequently demand more flats or only a matter of lifestyle. Elderly people exhibit
houses, and thus more dwelling area. more widow households, which again increases the
number of one-person households. Currently, dis-
tinctly higher shares of older people are observed in
Household types, central Europe – in large parts of eastern Germany

household size and and in some parts of southern Europe, while Ireland
and some northern (Finland, Sweden) and eastern
housing demands European countries (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slo-
vakia) show smaller shares of aged people.
EUROSTAT records the average household size in Eu-
rope currently as 2.4 (data from 2004 – 2008), rang-
ing from between 2.1 in Scandinavia and 2.8 persons The future
in traditional Catholic countries such as Malta, Slov-
enia, Ireland and Poland. As a result of better educa-
tion and higher female employment rates, such
populations exhibit more self-determined lifestyles,
T hese trends can be expected to continue into the
future. Changing lifestyles will further acceler-
ate an increase of household numbers with a corre-
which in turn result in growing household numbers sponding demand for new dwelling areas. Growing
that are distinctly decoupled from population dy- cities will attract more workers arriving without a
Single family houses namics. Even areas with declining population show family who then create one-person households. A
are the peri-urban trend. growing household numbers. As self-determined sharp growth of higher education shares is expected
Near Waren, Germany lifestyles result in fewer marriages, more divorces, in Poland and Finland, while some regions in the UK,

Figure 21: Social & community discourses

DISCOURSE OF THE FREE MARKET

Low land-use
intensity

Private car
access
Large private
gardens
Localized
Globalized
employment
employment

Public open space

Public trans- High land-use

Source: UOM

port access intensity

DISCOURSE OF URBAN COMMUNITY

57
Figure 22: Changes in proportion of 1-person households

Scenario A1 Scenario A2
2000 – 2025 2000 – 2025
in % in %

> -9,2 – 0,0 > -9,2 – 0,0

> 0 – 2,5 > 0 – 2,5
> 2,5 – 5,0 > 2,5 – 5,0
> 5 – 10 > 5 – 10
> 10 > 10
no data no data

Source: AIT, EUROSTAT

the Netherlands, Greece, Ireland and some French the peri-urban settlement area can be expected for
regions will show moderate growth. Growing retiree the coming decades. The hot spot areas with the
numbers (in the urban as well as in the rural areas) fastest peri-urban settlement growth will be ob-
will further increase the number of one-person served in south England, Benelux, northern Italy and
households. large parts of Germany (as outlined in chapter 1).
The trends may be influenced by different fu- Moderate growth may occur in France, northern UK,
ture conditions as defined in the scenarios. The trend central Europe, the eastern European capital regions,
variations will follow the variations of the popula- and along the coastal regions of the Mediterranean
tion dynamics, while the influence of lifestyle on the and southern Scandinavia. Changes of artificial sur-
household structure will appear to be stable. face shares in the peri-urban will attract households
In general, the future trend scenarios predict with a different floor space demand. The scenario
that peri-urban areas will experience specific dy- maps above and below depict the regional differ-
namics in population movement and economic ences in the change of household proportions occu-
growth. A certain variation of growth patterns of pied by one individual and four or more people.

Figure 23: Changes in proportion of 4plus person households

Scenario A1 Scenario A2
2000 – 2025 2000 – 2025
in % in %

< -15 ,0 < -15 ,0

> -15 – -10 > -15 – -10
> -10 – -5 > -10 – -5
> -5 – 0 > -5 – 0
> 0 > 0
no data no data

Source: AIT, EUROSTAT

58
 Scenario B1 Scenario B2
2000 – 2025 2000 – 2025
in % in %

> -9,2 – 0,0 > -9,2 – 0,0

> 0 – 2,5 > 0 – 2,5
> 2,5 – 5,0 > 2,5 – 5,0
> 5 – 10 > 5 – 10
> 10 > 10
no data no data

Figure 22 shows projections of the relative and some regions in Spain. However, scenario B2
change in the share of one-person households for suggests less growth of one-person households as
the time span 2000 – 2025. The estimation of the economic pressure compels families to live together
household numbers by household size is based on in larger households. Scenario B1 (Peak oil) in con-
the GDP as an economic indicator, as well as on pop- trast shows rather moderate changes.
ulation and settlement area distribution in the ur- The projected change of the shares of larger
ban, the peri-urban and the rural areas within the (four or more person) households is shown in figure
European regions. It is not possible to project the 23. The share will further decline, although less de-
number of these households for the entirity of the crease is expected in the peri-urban. The bigger
EU-27 since certain explanatory variables are not households will show distinct decline patterns in
available for regions in some countries. Central Europe (Austria, northern Italy, Czech Re-
Scenario A1 indicates an expected increase in public, Slovakia, Poland, Finland, the Netherlands,
the amount of one-person households, with hot parts of the UK and Ireland, and regions in northern
spots in Poland, Finland, the Czech Republic, Austria Spain).

Scenario B1 Scenario B2
2000 – 2025 2000 – 2025
in % in %

< -15 ,0 < -15 ,0

> -15 – -10 > -15 – -10
> -10 – -5 > -10 – -5
> -5 – 0 > -5 – 0
> 0 > 0
no data no data

59
 Goals and objectives Policy challenges

O ne objective is to achieve a balanced population

in terms of age distribution and education, as
well as a more balanced household structure. An ex-
T he trend towards smaller households is not sus-
tainable due to an increasing demand for hous-
ing area, as well as to an increasing number of cars
tension of settlement area has to be controlled in that in turn creates more traffic and a decreasing so-
order to prevent open space and environmental cial cohesion and demographic growth potential.
quality degradation, and also to avoid further urban Bringing about a change is a challenge that requires
sprawl with accelerated land consumption. Further various interventions, one of which may occur in the
measures to achieve these objectives include maxi- housing market. Barriers could be established to at
mum and minimum zoning, maximum housing least hinder an increase in the number of single
density specifications, and the provision of a suffi- family households. For example, by imposing regula-
ciently attractive public transport infrastructure. tions for minimum flat sizes and demanding higher
rents, couples may be compelled to live together in-
stead of in separate households. This instrument
must be accompanied by rent subsidies for larger
households with a lower income level.
Sufficient social infrastructure in the urban and
Urban lifestyles and
peri-urban is a further issue related to the improve-
single household
ment in the quality of life for all population groups. structures also transform
Mobility via public transport is an important aspect peri-urban and rural
for less mobile people. societies

60
 Mobility and transport

At present, low density urban sprawl causes longer commut-

ing distances, increased infrastructure costs, and less viable
public transport systems. Urban expansion encourages car
use, and car use encourages urban expansion. Policies that
support non-motorised transport modes, substituting mo-
bility and planning more accessible land use patterns, are
sustainable ways to increase accessibility.

different directions and intensities (figure 24). For

Transport and pollution transport, NOx particulate matter and CO2 emis-
sions remain a problem. NOx emissions from road

T he overall air pollutant emission trends in Europe

are expected to decline despite an increasing
amount of emission-generating activities and goods
transportation are expected to decline despite an
increase in traffic, but only to the level when all cars
are equipped with a catalyst. Little improvement has
consumption patterns. However, the trends show occurred in energy efficiency and particulate matter
emissions. Therefore, the amount of kilometres cov-
ered by vehicles is an important factor in the reduc-
Figure 24: NOx emissions from road traffic tion of air pollution emissions caused by traffic. Ur-
ban form and spatial structure are the most
Emission totals
per 50x50km EMEP important issues influencing vehicle kilometres
raster cells travelled.
EMEP_base2004.N
OX_S07

<0
The situation

T
< 1.000 T
< 2.500 T he ultimate goal of a transportation system is to
< 5.000 T be highly accessible. Optimal accessibility is usu-
< 10.000 T
ally reached at densely built areas where destina-
> 10.000 T
tions i.e. workplaces, shops, services and activities,
are all agglomerated. Urban sprawl and low density
peri-urbanisation lead to longer commuting and
higher emissions. It also tends to exclude low in-
come earners and those without cars.
Source: AIT, applying data from CORINEAIR 2004 Mobility means actual physical movement in-
cluding walking, cycling, public transit, car and other

61
 modes of transportation. Increased accessibility can
Figure 25: Transport, mobility & spatial dynamics in the peri-urban
be reached by improving the quality, capacity and
Key driving forces Key impacts speed of the transport system. In peri-urbanisation,
Search for markets & Transit decline & social
accessible locations segregation the improvement of procedures related to transport
Transport technology Climate emissions & infrastructure reduces the environmental impacts,
pollution
& infrastructure but also encourages longer commuting. However,
Socio-cultural role of Commuting costs &
car dependency
improvements for the car-oriented transport system
mobility & cars
tend to increase vehicle-based mobility and thus
Extension of daily emissions. Therefore, we need alternate ways to ob-
use pattern to rural
hinterland Orbital road network tain improved accessibility. Policies that support
enables the emerging
peri-urban ›archipelago‹
non-motorised transport modes, improve mobility
Extension of High speed links to and incorporate more accessible land use patterns
commuting zone centres & peri-urban
to peri-urban interchanges
are sustainable ways to increase accessibility.
The increased speed of automobile-dominated
Urban transport systems increases vehicle-based mobility
structure
shaped and creates pressure on the peri-urban use of land.
Airport & related
by
transport
development zone as primary Increased numbers of potential destinations are
hub in the peri-urban
available within the same allotment of time. As a
consequence, people are less likely to prefer local
Globally inner areas – suburbs – potential peri-urban – potential Rural hinterland
connected potential for for multi-modal for clustering to avoid with few buses / jobs if more distant jobs are otherwise more attrac-
CBD transit integration car-dependency trains
tive. Particularly well educated members of the
Source: UOM workforce seek job opportunities from specialised
regional employment markets. Urban sprawl ex-
tends the functional urban area into fragmented,
less accessible areas, which reduces the overall ac-
cessibility within the urban area (figure 25).
Monocentric and polycentric urban forms differ
considerably in terms of commuting patterns (fig-
ure 26). The monocentric urban form is an easier ob-
jective for the planning of public transportation,
Figure 26: Typical communiting curves for different types of
settlememt patterns in rural-urban regions whereas the dispersed form, in general, enforces car
dependency. In a polycentric structure, several desti-
60%
centre= circle with radius 10 km nations exist within the same distance. Commuting
patterns are more varied in such cases. A polycentric
50% structure may in theory minimise commuting costs
In RUR typology very large
*

monocentric cities with over 3 by shrinking the distance between settlement and
million inhabitants employment. Sustainable polycentric urban struc-
40%
ture requires a public transport network that can
Large monocentric
manage commuting between several centres.
Probibility of commuting to the centre

Very large monocentric

30% There are also differences in the phase of urban
Individual polycentric metropolitan* development and mobility patterns in European
Urban polycentric
countries. Car ownership rates are the lowest in east
20%
European countries, but are nevertheless increasing
at rapid pace. City size determines the features of
10% the transport system. Megacities like London or
Paris need extensive public transportation systems
with fast rail connections to satellite towns, whereas
0%
in medium-sized cities, public transport systems re-
10 10 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90
Distance to the centre (km) Source: SYKE
main usually rather compact. At a regional scale,
most urban areas provide adequate public transport,
whereas peri-urban and rural areas are more or less
car dependant.

62
 In the peri-urban areas, urban sprawl increases When population growth is low, there is no huge
the variation of origins and destinations of journeys, pressure on the peri-urban. Weak planning leads to un-
but decreases the choice of modal options. New pat- controlled relocation of activities. The direction of in-
terns of settlement and employment require new traregional migration is outwards from the main cen-
patterns of mobility and transport. Fragmented low tre, which creates a more polycentric structure. Due to
density areas are by default car dependent. This low population growth, land prices remain reasonable
poses a challenge for people who cannot drive or in urban areas. Weak transport planning means that
can’t afford a car. The main challenge is to provide a any increase in the proportion of the urban area will be
socially and environmentally sustainable transport car dependent. Commuting patterns that have been
system that also ensures adequate accessibility for oriented towards the main centre change into criss-
those without cars in peri-urban areas. cross patterns between several centres.

The future Goals and objectives

T he possibilities for conducting a scenario analy-

sis for transportation systems and commuting
patterns at EU scale are very limited due to the high
E nvironmentally sustainable peri-urban transpor-
tation systems are determined by reduced green-
house gas emissions achieved by: 1) reducing the
dependencies on local conditions and planning need to travel; 2) increasing the share of non-motor-
strategies (figure 27). The four scenarios present dif- ised and public transport; 3) improving vehicles. So-
ferent population trends related to the planning cially sustainable transport systems support modal
policy. Population growth is either high or low, and choice and provide equally high accessibility for all
planning policy is strong or weak. Strong planning societal groups. The transport system is vital for the
supports transit-oriented development, whereas local economy, as it links peripheral areas to regional,
weak planning leads to a car-dependent urban national, European and global markets.
structure. Strong planning refers to integrated land
use and transport planning, where the goal is sus-
tainable accessibility.
High population growth with strong planning Figure 27: Commuting to the Commuting to the
enables efficient land use allocation and the devel- Relationship between main centre main centre

opment of a fast and efficient public transport sys- planning policy types
and commuting types
tem. In monocentric cities, the functional commut-
in rural-urban regions
ing area extends via traffic corridors with rail
connection. Continuing growth with strong plan-
ning also changes the urban form towards a polyc- Strong planning
entric structure with strong public transport links
Suburban Peri-urban Suburban Peri-urban
between nodes. Monocentric with Monocentric with fast
When population growth is low, strong plan- car transport public transport
ning enables efficient reallocation of land uses, but
densities, especially in the peri-urban, remain low. Commuting to the Commuting to the
main centre main centre
Peri-urban areas become car dependent. Strong
planning supports suburban public transport and Weak planning
discourages peri-urban commuting to the centre.
Weak planning with high growth leads to ur-
ban sprawl and counter-urbanisation. Employment
relocates from the centre to the suburban, and set-
tlement spreads across the peri-urban. Peri-urban Suburban Peri-urban Suburban Peri-urban
long distance commuting increases, but a frag- Polycentric with Counter-urbanisation
mented structure does not support public transpor- car transport with long distance car
transport
tation. Most of the urban area is accessible only by
car. Source: SYKE Low growth High growth

63
 The distances between living quarters and
Figure 28: Systems of the urban structure
amenities tend to be longer in the peri-urban areas,
forcing people to travel. The travel requirement can
be limited with integrated transport and land use
planning. Higher densities and mixed land use mini-
mises the need to travel long distances between dif-
ferent areas of land use. Virtual interactions can also 
substitute physical travel. Technological solutions
 Walking City
for teleworking and e-commerce are improving con- 
tinuously. However, leisure trips increase the amount Transit City Car City
of total journeys made, which makes the objective
of reducing the amount of time spent travelling
even more challenging.
Lower levels of car dependency can be achieved
Source: Leo Kosonen, Kuopio 07.04.2005
by increasing the share of public transportation. In
low density areas, regular public transport is usually
not profitable. Land use planning should be able to
create transit-oriented districts in the peri-urban. In
these areas, public transportation should be based on
a multimodal transportation system that connects
Policy challenges
various modes such as ‘park and ride’ facilities. Peri-
urban public transportation systems should utilise
existing local and regional rail and road connections
and generate transport corridors between cities.
T he transport sector is facing a major challenge
in trying to meet the requirements for reduc-
ing greenhouse gas emissions. At a general level,
High quality peri-urban public transport sys- policies should concentrate on breaking down the
tems consist of a well planned network of routes link between economic growth and an increase in
with timed connections between services. Time- mobility, and support the urbanisation trend that
tables and ticket systems of different modes should generates sustainable accessibility. Good accessi-
be synchronised. This requires the co-operation of bility requires integrated land use and transporta-
different operators. Metropolitan train connections tion planning.
with regional and local bus connections should be Within the peri-urban areas, the main policy
coordinated at a strategic level where the whole challenge is to provide multimodal accessibility
network is taken into account. It is also important to and avoid car dependency. The question is how to
encourage passengers to accept transfer between coordinate this and obtain investment for multi-
modes in multimodal systems. This is made easier if modal transport options in a diffused and frag-
public transport is able to compete with car-based mented peri-urban area, and also how to position Commuters arriving
transport when comparing the amount of travel urban developments and activities in the most ac- on an early morning
time to the centre. When cars are the only solution cessible locations in the peri-urban. train. London, UK
for transportation, environmentally friendly options
should be encouraged. This means the implementa-
tion of new technology vehicles with low emissions.
Accessibility to the regional and urban trans-
port network is essential for rural communities (fig-
ure 28). In economic terms, the competitiveness of a
territory is determined by good accessibility. At an
individual level, accessibility is defined by available
opportunities for bridging distances. In both cases,
the transport system is vital for the cohesion of
functional regions. An integrated transport system
is a basis for social inclusion and cohesion in the
peri-urban area.

64
 Food and farming

Pressures on agriculture are high in peri-urban areas. As a re-

sult, conflicts between farming and other land uses are more
intense than elsewhere. On the other hand, particular oppor-
tunities for sustainable agriculture emerge in this environ-
ment – from the neighbourhood to the market.

The situation

E uropean agriculture is multifunctional. It pro-

duces food, fibres and renewable energy, but also
natural and cultural resources that we have increas-
tural use is located in rural areas, the functions of
agriculture have to be seen as a complex exchange
between urban and rural regions (figure 29). The
ingly come to value, such as biodiversity, traditional majority of consumers live in towns (72% average in
landscapes and the capacity to mitigate climate Europe), where they do not only demand sufficient
change. and healthy food, but also public goods like clean
European agriculture takes place in the urban- water, and that the surrounding countryside is of
rural context. Though most land devoted to agricul- great natural, aesthetical and recreational value.

Figure 29: Spatial dynamics of agriculture in the peri-urban

Key driving forces Key impacts
Land consumption Increasing land prices
and land rents
Higher population New markets, new
density creative ideas
Scarcity of environ- Growing demand for
mental resources New technologies: ecosystem services
Awareness for healthy production of energy crops
More organic farming,
regional food e.g. precision farming
more specialization

New markets:
Horsification, nurseries
New networks:
Local markets, hobby farms, rural
tourism, on-farm catering

New initiatives: urban

agriculture (e.g. socially
inclusive, intercultural,
vertical) Adoption of innovation
Source: UOM

Pressure from increasing land prices

65
Table 8: Characteristics of
important agricultural regions
with peri-urban situation

Region Peri-urban share Agricultural land Farm Part-time

(share of total area) (gross margin) productivity farming

South UK above average high (rather) low medium

Northern Germany above average high (scattered) medium low
The Netherlands above average high high low
Belgium above average high high low
Atlantic coast
above average high medium low
France
Mediterranean
above average low high low
coast France
Mediterranean
above average medium high (south) high
coast Spain
North Portugal above average low low low
North Italy above average scattered high high
Eastern
Mediterranean above average high scattered high
coast Italy
Southern Italy above average scattered high high
Poland above average high (scattered) low medium
Hungary above average high (scattered) low low (scattered)

Peri-urban themes
for agriculture: zoning,
long term development
perspectives, land
prices, competition

Figure 30: Agricultural Area in Farm productivity in peri-urban

peri-urban regions in EU 27 regions in EU27
Baseline Scenario 2000 Baseline Scenario 2000

in % in Euro/ESU and ha
0 – 20 0 – 0,5
> 20 – 40 > 0,5 – 1
> 40 – 60 > 1 – 1,5
> 60 – 80 > 1,5 – 2
> 80 – 100 > 2
other regions no data
other regions

Source: ZALF, EUROSTAT

66
 Regions where peri-urbanisation and agricul-
tural land use coexist are important, and are there-
fore worthy of a more detailed examination (figure
30). There are regions in Denmark, north western Ger-
many, the Netherlands and Belgium where the main
use of land is devoted to agriculture while also con-
taining an above average share of peri-urban areas.
This is also the case in large parts of Poland, the Atlan-
tic coast of France, eastern Italy, parts of Hungary and
the south of the United Kingdom. These regions can
be characterised according to table 8. Some are run in
a highly intensive manner, often with horticultural
production and high economic productivity (e.g. the
Netherlands, Denmark, Spanish and French Mediter-
ranean coast, as well as northern and southern Italy).
Other regions have a traditionally strong crop or
grassland production. The amount of part-time farm-
ing is used as a proxy indicator to assess the degree of
professionalism of farming. In southern Europe, part-
time farming is often connected to a breakdown of
the inheritance and patrimony system, and is there-
fore also a proxy for the ageing of farmers. High
amounts of part-time farming can even indicate an
increased likelihood to end farming activity entirely,
and for a region, a higher probability of structural
change in agriculture. In regions where low soil fertil-
ity and low farm productivity are also factors, such
assessments might indicate a likely increase in land
abandonment. A risk of sprawl due to low land prices
may also be applicable. In other more favourable con-
ditions, there are pressures to increase the size of
those farms that are remaining, or to increase the di-
versified multifunctional agricultural uses thereof.

No. of part time farmers in

peri-urban regions in EU27
Baseline Scenario 2000

in % of all farmers
> 0 – 5
> 15 – 30
> 30 – 45
> 45 – 0
> 60
no data
other regions

67
 The future
seeking urban work places, will not only be a partic-
ular problem in remote regions, but also in peri-ur-
ban regions where better paid jobs are available,

F uture global change will affect agriculture. Inno-

vation has always been a key driver for increasing
agricultural productivity. Precision farming and ge-
maybe even while maintaining the farmstead as a
housing site. Part-time farming and hobby farming
are therefore trends that require careful study, with
netically modified organisms are examples of future particular regard to sustainability impacts. PLUREL
trends in technological or biotechnological innova- scenario B2 is related to this issue.
tion. But innovation also means gains in knowledge. The results in figure 31 show that consumption
With shrinking spatial potentials, intensification by of agricultural land by urbanisation will continue in
means of innovation will gain more importance. all parts of Europe independently of the future glo-
PLUREL scenario A1 examines this issue. bal scenarios which we assume. This is particularly
Climate change will lead to higher risks of the case in large parts of Scandinavia where affor-
flooding in northern Europe, while droughts will se- estation takes place. It also holds true for the UK,
riously affect yield and soil fertility in southern Eu- central Europe, the Mediterranean coastal areas and
rope. Agricultural land use can be a most effective parts of Romania. In each of these countries, more
climate change mitigation strategy by maintaining than 5% percent of the currently used agricultural
soil fertility, ensuring cropping patterns that posi- area will be turned into artificial surfaces. Among
tively affect groundwater renewable capacity, re- the peri-urban areas with major agricultural impor-
ducing erosion risk, keeping grassland in manage- tance, the Netherlands, Belgium and the Mediterra-
ment in wetland areas, and by maintaining the nean coast of France will suffer the highest loss of
stores of carbon in soils. PLUREL scenario A2 covers agricultural land, while in places like northern Ger-
these aspects. many, Poland and Hungary, the degree of land con-
Although it is an increasingly important supplier sumption will occur in a more scattered pattern. In
of green energies, agriculture is strongly dependent addition, highly productive soils associated with in-
on fossil energy, which is essential for Nitrogen ferti- tensive use and larger farm structures will be af-
liser production. Agriculture is therefore sensitive to fected, as well as areas with a rather low economic
the risks of the ‘Peak oil’ crisis that PLUREL scenario performance and a high proportion of part-time
B1 refers to. farming.
Demographic change affects labour in agricul- On the other hand, all scenarios indicate a con-
ture in peri-urban areas. The ageing of farmers, as siderable increase of farm productivity in economic
well as the migration of the younger generation terms. In rural areas, the economic improvements

Figure 31:
Changes in Agricultural Area
Scenario A1 Scenario A2
2000 – 2025 2000 – 2025
in % in %
< = -5 < = -5
> -5 – -4 > -5 – -4
> -4 – -3 > -4 – -3
> -3 – -2 > -3 – -2
> -2 – -1 > -2 – -1
> -1 > -1
no data no data
Source: ZALF

68
are particularly expected in rather extensively run,
predominantly mixed farming or grassland regions
in partially remote mountainous areas (Alpine re-
gion), or in east European regions with small scale
farming structures, such as the Baltic States and
northern Romania. The latter regions show an in-
crease of farm productivity that is independent of
the scenario. In peri-urban regions, the advantages
of technological progress within the Hypertech sce-
nario (A1) are more distinct than in the other sce-
narios. Innovations seem to be adopted more rapidly
and converted to a growth in farm productivity.
Among the peri-urban regions, those that are most
successful in strengthening the economic power of
the agricultural sector are expected to be able to
limit extreme losses of agricultural land, such as the
UK.
Part-time farming will gradually be reduced all
over Europe at a similar rate that agricultural area is
also reduced (-1 to > -5%). This will be most prevalent
in regions with high amounts of peri-urban areas,
such as in southern Germany, the Czech Republic,
Austria, northern Italy and other regions which al-
ready today are characterised by highly professional
agricultural or horticultural use, such as in the south
of the UK, the Netherlands and southern France. In For decades the Berlin
south and south east Europe (Italy, Spain, Hungary, wall separated Gropius-
Romania and Bulgaria) where a high share of part- stadt and the arable fields
in the south of Berlin.
time farming is traditionally typical, this strategy
After the reunification,
will likely be continued (except for a few regions in urban planning kept the
northern Romania) and will occur regardless of functional separation.
whether urbanisation pressures are high or low. Berlin, Germany

Scenario B1 Scenario B2
2000 – 2025 2000 – 2025
in % in %
< = -5 < = -5
> -5 – -4 > -5 – -4
> -4 – -3 > -4 – -3
> -3 – -2 > -3 – -2
> -2 – -1 > -2 – -1
> -1 > -1
no data no data

69
 Goals and objectives

P eri-urban regions do not only experience the

sprawl of suburbs and malls. They are also the
space of creative multifunctional agriculture, as well
negative impacts on the natural and recreational
value of the region.
On the other hand, peri-urban areas offer par-
as the area experiencing the highest urbanisation ticular opportunities for agricultural land use. The
pressures on agriculture. The main problem relates entrepreneurial activities of farmers tend to stem
to the loss of area through the conversion of land for from directly perceived societal demands and expec-
settlement and infrastructure purposes. Land prices tations, but also from new market opportunities
rise and long term planning security falls, for exam- that emerge in a creative urban environment. Exam-
ple, when it is measured in terms of land-rental con- ples that can be found all over Europe are direct
tract duration. As a consequence, urbanisation influ- marketing at local food markets (especially for or-
ences the structure of agricultural production even ganic food), new niche products, services (riding fa-
more. Farm sizes, the socio-economic situation of cilities), community farming initiatives and new in-
farms, and farm households change. Farms without stitutional forms for nature conservation. Typically,
successors become subject to part-time farming, they all have a high degree of social inclusion in
hobby farming or otherwise disappear, as other common.
farms grow and specialise (Zasada, 2011). Depending In recent years, creative green urban trends
on natural yield expectation and urban-rural devel- have explored agriculture and gardening as activi-
opment conditions, the broad spectrum of adapta- ties where production, leisure, political action and
tion processes will occur in aspects that relate to community building merge into a fruitful and col-
Producer – consumer specialisation (e.g. horticulture, nurseries, horse ourful mix. ‘Guerrilla gardening’, ‘transition agricul-
interaction: farmers plant keeping), extensification (organic farming), diversifi- ture’ and ‘nomadic green’ are the keywords of such
market cation (agrotourism) and land abandonment, with movements.

70
 Policy challenges

P olicy action should be directed to strengthen the

role peri-urban agriculture can play in mitigating
the following problems in the urban-rural context:
 The problem of natural value loss in the urban
fringes. Peri-urban regions are important open
spaces in the directly accessible surroundings of
towns, and agriculture is able to keep them open
 The problem of increasing disparities between without public expenses. To ensure this remains
urban and rural, not only of economic nature, the case, long term guarantees are required to
but also referring to biodiversity, landscape ensure security for the strategic decisions made
value and demographic change. The ageing of by farmers. For example, planning strategies and
farmers is the key problem of agriculture, not rental contracts of a minimum 10-year duration
only in remote areas, but also in the peri-urban. are important incentives for farmers to make in-
Peri-urban areas with a clear commitment to- vestments that will secure the economic future
wards maintaining agriculture can offer an at- of peri-urban farms;
tractive location for young innovative agricul-  The problem of local identity loss, and the loss of
tural entrepreneurship, since the adoption of viable urban-rural community ties. Peri-urban
innovations in peri-urban regions is high; agriculture is important for local identification
 The problem of climate change impacting towns. and societal interaction through local products,
Agricultural areas in the peri-urban fringe are traditional agricultural management practices,
buffer zones that provide water storage, filter air landscape preservation activities and seasonal
Maintaining cultural
and prevent erosion. Local production of food events.
identity: traditional
harvesting method in
close to large human settlements also means
an olive grove. Near fewer transports, and should therefore be part of
Grosseto, Italy a strategy for reducing CO2 emissions;

71
 Environment and landscape

Ecosystem services and the character of a landscape in peri-

urban areas can be very negatively impacted by urban
growth, depending on the way this growth occurs.

The situation

L andscapes that are characterised by large ex-

panses of green and unsealed open spaces fulfil
valuable ecosystem services, namely the regulation
tions such as climate change. Peri-urban areas have
to be taken into consideration from the ecological
perspective. Due to their heterogeneous land use
of ecosystem processes and the provision of habi- pattern and habitat niches, these areas are often
tats for species. They are important for the regional home to a high diversity of species. The proximity to
supply of drinking water, soil protection, flood con- urban centres increases their importance as sources
trol and the moderation of urban climate, as well as of ecosystem services. But the dynamic of urban
the reduction of air pollution. They also play an im- growth here aggravates the negative ecological im-
portant role in climate-relevant carbon sequestra- pacts (figure 32).
tion. Therefore, urban areas depend on the integrity The fragmentation of the landscape through
Habitat losses in the
peri-urban: often caused of ecosystems to assure the local self-sustenance infrastructure has a negative impact on ecosystems
by fragmentation due to and provision of biotic and abiotic resources, as well and species habitats. The index of Effective Mesh
infrastructure as the toleration of alternating framework condi- Size (MESH) represents a suitable indicator, since it

Figure 32: Spatial dynamics of environment & landscape in the peri-urban

Key driving forces Key impacts

Population growth Landscape changes
(fragmentation, etc.)
Growth of settlement/ Loss/change of
infrastructure habitat/biodiversity
Changing lifestyles Reduced ecological
capacities

Provision of
drinking water
and fresh air Regional biodiversity
Growth of
artificial
surface Soil protection
Source: UOM

Storm water storage

72
indicates the probability of individuals meeting in a Management of open Due to an economic requirement to increase ef-
landscape fragmented by infrastructure and settle- landscapes providing ficiency in production, farming and forestry, land use
important ecosystem systems have become larger in size, and in so doing,
ments. Figure 33 shows the situation for this index in
services, such as water
the year 2000 within the EU-27. Not surprising, it is have reduced the amount of marginal land. Further-
retention and reduction
observed that the index is closely related to the de- of flood risks. Elbe river. more, urban growth (following a very similar pattern of
gree of urbanisation, and also that mostly rural and Germany sprawl) and ex-urban development have both contrib-
remote regions possess comparably large and con- uted to a shrinking diversity and homogenisation of
tinuing habitats. Fragmentation is concentrated in landscapes. The landscape structure has been spatially
central western Europe, where only small patches of analysed based on landscape metrics, which give valu-
open landscapes remain. Low landscape fragmenta- able insights in the intermixing, continuity and diver-
tion, in contrast, cannot only be observed in regions sity of land cover at a landscape level, and has revealed
with low population density, but also in large parts that urbanisation contributes to a greater evenness
of northern, eastern and southern Europe. and a reduced continuity of the landscape.

Figure 33: Landscape fragmentation (Effective Mesh Size)

Baseline Situation
2
in 2000 in km

> 0 – 250
> 250 – 500
> 500 – 750
> 750 – 1000
> 1000
no data

Source:
ZALF

73
 The future

A long with increasing welfare, changing life-

style and consumption patterns, urban growth
is most likely to continue, especially in the conver-
tic Sea coast, many regions of Spain and in Sicily.
Characterised by their composition of individual
patches and structures of various land cover types,
sion regions of south and central eastern Europe, landscapes will undergo major alterations in terms of
where increasing pressure on ecological functioning their diversity and continuity. With the European
of landscapes is causing soil compaction and the transportation infrastructure network expansion,
sealing, or disturbance, of soil horizons. Within ur- open landscapes will become increasingly frag-
ban areas, the hydrological capacity of soils to re- mented (figure 35). Roads and rail tracks will trans-
ceive water from the surface is thus depleted, along form the physical conditions on and adjacent to the
with the ability to recharge groundwater and cope landscapes, creating edge effects. Settlement struc-
with extreme meteorological events. In the context tures will also account for fragmentation effects.
of climate change, the effects of urban growth on However, flows of matter, energy and species will be
ecological functions are aggravated. In urban areas, modified, while habitats are degraded and de-
the ecological balancing capacity is limited to a few stroyed, which affects the abundance, composition
areas, such as housing green, street green or parks. and the diversity of species. A massive shrinkage of
Soil sealing differs between European regions as a habitat sizes has to be expected in regions around
result of varying urban development and design tra- metropolitan core areas.
ditions. In Germany, approximately half a city’s area
is considered to be sealed. In southern and eastern
European countries, urban areas are more densely Goals and objectives
built-up, leading to higher degrees of imperviousness.
Figure 34 proves a spatially differentiated pat-
tern of the changes in landscape fragmentation due
to urbanisation within the time span 2000 – 2025 in
W hen considering the assessed future land use
conversion for urban purposes, the associ-
ated extension of the infrastructure network, and
scenario A1. A remarkable decrease of Mesh size up the transformation of the land use composition, it is
to 40%, which indicates a strong increase of land- inevitable that further reduction will occur in eco-
scape fragmentation and, accordingly, a deteriora- logical regulation, balancing capacity and biodiver-
tion of ecological and habitat value, can be observed sity. These development trajectories are additionally
in parts of Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, the Polish Bal- particularly aggravated in the face of climate change,

Figure 34: Changes in landscape Figure 35: Landscape fragmentation

fragmentation caused by urbanisation response to urbanisation
Scenario A1 Effective 1000
2000-2025 Mesh Size
in % (km2)

< = -50 800

> -50 – -40
> -40 – -30
> -30 – -20 600
> -20 – -10
> -10 – 0
no data 400

Changes in the effective

mesh size, an indicator 200
for the size of connected
undisturbed habitats
(negative values
indicate increase of 0
fragmentation and risk 0 20 40 60 80 100
Source: ZALF of habitat loss)
Share of Artificial Surface in % Source: ZALF

74
with its impacts in many European regions like the infrastructure, or the European Cohesion and
Mediterranean basin. There is a clear necessity to Structural policy. Since environmental and land-
understand and sensibilise to the consequences of scape issues and regional responsibility do con-
urban growth and to implement strategies if not to tinuingly require attention in European spatial
reduce it, but at least to come up with solutions that policy, it is recommended to both strengthen
will marginalise its negative effects. In the land- this perspective and to raise awareness of land-
scape context, several development objectives can scape impacts in European policy wherever it is
be drawn from this requirement. related to spatial development.
 The regional focus: It is also advisable to inte-
 Efficient use of space and resources. Resource ef- grate and commence dialogue with local and
ficiency embraces smart growth, landscape regional landscape initiatives, authorities and
management concepts and solutions of densifi- NGOs to make use of the endogenous knowl-
cation in urban areas without reducing local en- edge of the regional conditions. This supports a
vironmental quality by reusing derelict urban more regional perspective, which is then increas-
land for urban development or renaturation. ingly able to take the large regional variability of
 Preservation of valuable ecosystems and the landscape into account. Secondly, by shifting the
maintenance of their continuity and connectiv- decision making capacity and responsibility to
ity. Three ways of achieving this are, firstly, to regional and local authorities, it is suggested
bundle transportation infrastructure, secondly, that funding (of the likes provided via the Euro-
to concentrate in the urban area, and thirdly, to pean Structural Funds) should be distributed to
extend the flora-fauna-habitat network. Human the lower administrative level. More generally,
disturbance and urban growth in ecologically the economic perspective of ecological and land-
valuable landscapes should be reduced to an scape topics requires reformation, since both
unavoidable minimum. topics suffer from monetary undervaluation. Fi-
nancial investments are necessary to comply
with European legislation and directives on envi-
Policy challenges ronmental quality (e.g. FFH, air quality, nitrate
balancing or water supply). Moreover, payments
 European Policies: It is highly advisable to review for ecosystem services through the second pillar
the impact of policies on ecological functioning of the Common Agricultural Policy, as well as Landscape
in existing and implemented European policy other sources, need to be expanded. fragmentation
action, such as the Trans-European Network of by railway

75
 Recreation and tourism

European peri-urban and rural landscapes are essential places

for recreation and tourism, but are threatened by their own
attractiveness.

The situation

A long with their productive and ecological rele-

vance, European landscapes account for a broad
range of socio-cultural values. This includes their us-
tural values (figure 36). This is not only the case for
landscapes of international prominence, such as
Tuscany, the Dresden Elbe Valley or Cornwall, but
age as a place for nature-focussed recreation, leisure also for other lesser known ones, such as Cantabria
and tourism, but also as an important element for in Spain, Maramures in Romania or Kocevje in Slov-
the construction of regional identity. Europe’s ap- enia.
pearance is characterised by a huge variety of re- The role of landscape and nature for recreation
gionally recognisable cultural landscapes that are and tourism purposes incorporates a number of ac-
created by biophysical conditions, the traditional tivities, from hiking in the forest or riding a horse, to
farming and forestry land use systems in place, as visiting theme parks or heritage sites. Peri-urban re-
well as the built-up environment. Cultural land- gions are particularly favoured by urban and peri-
scapes are essential as living environments, but also urban inhabitants for daily recreation purposes. In
as a source of heritage and identity. Urban transfor- addition to green urban areas, the countryside
mations contribute to an erosion of these socio-cul- around cities also represents an important part of

New leisure landscape in

the peri-urban: Golf course
near Torrevieja, Spain

76
the green infrastructure, with its adjacency to and
accessibility from the inner cities, as well as its dense Figure 37: Urban Green Neighbourhood Index
allotment of leisure services and facilities. From that Baseline Situation
perspective, peri-urban areas contribute eminently in 2000

to the local quality of life. Attractive peri-urban ar-

> 0 – 50
eas suffer, but do also gain from different kinds of > 50 – 100
pressures (figure 37). For instance, in Manchester > 100 – 150
there is a ring of multifunctional country parks, com- > 150 – 200
munity forests and ‘access land’ under the owner- > 200
no data
ship of a water company. In Haaglanden, a peri-ur-
ban area competes with glasshouse cultivation and
the artificial maintenance of farming adjacent to
large populations. In Leipzig, there is extensive
green infrastructure that is turning the problem of
urban shrinkage into an opportunity for an ecologi-
cal city. Source: ZALF
Attractive landscapes in peri-urban areas are
also subject to domestic and international tourism.
Here, the natural features of the region such as wa- Figure 38: Green Background Index
terways, landscape relief and natural environments Baseline Situation
are of particular relevance. Measuring the land- in 2000

scape’s recreational capacity at the EU regional level,

> 1 – 20
the Green Background Index (GBI) indicates the
> 20 – 40
probability of natural attractive environments oc- > 40 – 60
curring in a region (figure 38). Its value is negatively > 60 – 80
influenced by the degree of urbanisation and inten- > 80 – 100

sive anthropogenic farming/industrial land use. The no data

attractiveness of a landscape also encourages rapid

urbanisation, as the example of the Costa Blanca re-
gion in Spain illustrates (figure 39) (Zasada et al.
2010). The proximity to a coastline leads to a concen-
tration of housing and leisure facility developments,
in turn creating new urban and peri-urban spaces.
Source: European Environment Agency (EEA), ZALF

Figure 36: Spatial dynamics of recreation & Figure 39: Urban Growth in Alicante Region 1990 – 2000
tourism in the peri-urban
New Urban
Fabric Area

1 Recreation 2 Housing, Loss of cultural 1 km buffer

activities of urban leisure landscapes,
and peri-urban facilities, etc. regional identity,
dwellers in natural in attractive habitats and
attractive peri-urban areas changed local
and rural areas communities

1.
2.
Source: UOM

Source: EEA 2007, Eurostat 2007, ZALF

77
 The future

A gricultural areas and natural habitats will tend

to diminish in European peri-urban regions,
while the amount of sealed surface increases. This
versity and homogenisation of landscapes. Both the
appearance of cultural landscapes as well as the rec-
reational capacity will be affected.
shows in a very clear manner the decreasing recrea-
tional attractiveness associated with increasing ur-
banisation. Nevertheless, higher incomes and demo- Goals and objectives
graphic change imply a higher need for recreation,
as this is part of the supposed lifestyle of non-work-  To provide high quality and accessible open
ing people, mainly of those in their retirement years. spaces, which shall include the maintenance and
If current economic, social and industry trends development of the peri-urban green infrastruc-
continue, tourism worldwide will grow at an aver- ture, the qualification and integration of peri-
age rate of 4.1% a year (European Travel Commission, urban open spaces, and farmland or forests for
2011; EEA, 2007). On the one hand, leisure and recrea- urban recreation.
tion will become important drivers in land use  To provide suitable and accessible recreational
change, urbanisation, economic development and open spaces for all kinds of social milieus – inde-
social change, which can, for example, include the pendent of their members’ age, income, ethnic-
construction of golf courses, large indoor or semi- ity or educational background.
outdoor sport facilities and hotel complexes. On the  To develop sustainable tourism and the use of
other hand, the recreational capacity of cities and landscape amenities to encourage smart tourism,
regions will be heavily affected by urbanisation as particularly in sensitive natural areas.
open space is lost through land conversion while  To preserve and develop cultural landscapes to
transport emissions increase. Still further pressure is conserve the cultural diversity and rural identity
Open space – space for
expected to be added to open spaces as the number of European landscapes – not only of the rural
recreation, outdoor activi- of people rises. Urban sprawl and ex-urban develop- ones, but also peri-urban and urban areas as re-
ties and cultural identity ment will continue to contribute to a shrinking di- quested by the European Landscape Convention.

78
 Policy challenges

T here are libraries of policy statements on ‘sus-

tainable tourism’, and much progress has been
made in this field. The problem of urbanisation still
 Land management – reuse derelict urban land, or
under-used rural land, for recreational purposes;
 Transport and other infrastructure – plan and
continues however, and the contribution of recrea- manage sites and facilities for the lowest impact
tion and tourism still grows. Major policy goals and provision of transport, water and other services;
challenges aim to find a balance between new op-  Agriculture and diversification – provide oppor-
portunities (economic, social, and environmental) tunities for visitors, farmers and entrepreneurs;
and the problems created that are centred on the  Local economic development – aim for local
peri-urban: spin-offs and reinvestment opportunities where
recreation is the major employer and target of
 Spatial development in the peri-urban – use the investment;
opportunity of recreational areas as a means to  Local community development – aim to inte-
limit urbanisation; grate visitors and new home owners into exist-
 Landscape and ecology – maintain and enhance ing social and cultural communities.
the ecological integrity and green infrastructure;

79
 Managing Growth

This chapter analyses the role of the public

sector to manage growth in peri-urban areas.

T he public sector has strong role to play to en-

sure sustainability in the rural-urban regions.
This chapter explores the various means to perform
velopment are often abstract and lie in the future,
while the costs are concrete, and are due in the
present.
this role: through the formal government system The sprawl of chaotic and uncoordinated ur-
and spatial planning policies; through financing and ban land use is the largest single threat to sustain-
taxation systems and sectoral policies; with the help able peri-urban development. It can be character-
of regulatory tools; and finally by using informal ised by a conflict between private interests and
governance type processes. common goods (values). This involves the striving of
The analysis highlights the importance for ef- individuals for improved environmental quality and
fective formal institutions, policies and regulations for low rise residential housing that can only be sat-
at the rural-urban region level, especially targeted at isfied at the expense of public goods, such as high
the peri-urban areas. Governance processes can be- quality green areas and clean air. This situation, well
come useful extensions, but cannot substitute for known in game theory as the “Tragedy of the Com-
the non-performance of the formal institutions and mons” (Hardin, 1968), is one type of market problem
policies in rural-urban regions. that can only be handled by public interventions.
The previous chapter gave an overview of how To ensure sustainability in the rural-urban re-
the different peri-urban agendas (economy and em- gions – especially in the peri-urban areas – land
ployment, population and migration, housing and use changes and new developments have to be
community, mobility and transport, food and farm- controlled, managed, or in some way coordinated
ing, environment and landscape, recreation and by the public sector. Various means of such control
tourism) all relate to urban sprawl. Each of these are analysed in this chapter: through the formal
agendas can be modified towards methods that government system and spatial planning policies;
could potentially constrain sprawl. Even so, the sus- through financing and taxation systems and sec-
tainable development of urban and rural areas is dif- toral policies; with the help of regulatory tools; and
ficult to achieve. The problem lies in the fact that the finally, by using informal governance type proc-
gains (returns) and the costs are not addressing the esses (the latter are discussed in more detail in the
same actors. Moreover, the gains of sustainable de- final chapter of this synthesis report).

80
 Potentials of government a) Typology of EU countries along
their formal government systems
system and planning and planning policies

policies to control land The formal government systems and planning poli-
use changes cies differ substantially across EU countries. In order
to develop a typology based on the potential strength

I n the market-dominated economies of Europe,

spatial processes around large cities are largely de-
termined by the population through choices of
of control of the formal government system, unitary
states (federal states were considered as a different
category) were examined in more detail in terms of
where to work and where to live. They are also deter- the following dimensions:
mined by economic investors – the developers of in-
dustries, offices, retail units, or housing – through  How many intermediary levels exist;
decisions of where to invest. The free-market logic  How strong these are (governmental elected by
of new development usually leads to urban sprawl, citizens, administrative with general competence,
as residential choices and investment decisions are administrative with limited competence);
mainly based on short-term considerations, and do  To what extent are the local government units
not take indirect consequences into account. In the integrated.
calculations of the developers, peri-urban green-
field sites are preferred against the more problem- Based on the relative power of the local and the sub-
atic inner-city brownfield sites, since the external national (regional) levels of government, the follow-
effects of development (e.g. growing travel times ing typology emerged:
and car use) and the costs of creating public infra- From table 9 it can be seen that the new mem-
structures (such as water, sewage and public trans- ber states are split between two categories. The Bal-
port) are usually not considered. There are of course tic States, Slovenia and Poland have relatively large
exceptions, such as in the Scandinavian countries local government units (category 3), while the other
where these costs are normally included in the countries’ decentralisation has led to a fragmented
budget for a development project, and are typically local government system where a new ‘regional’ level
shared between the developer and the public. of government would be needed for coordination.
This second category virtually does not exist in the
EU-15.

Table 9: Typology of territorial governmental systems in the EU27+2 countries

Government 1. Classic unitary 2. Centralized 3. Centralized 4. Decentralized 5. Regionalized 6. Federal

structure countries unitary countries unitary countries unitary countries unitary states
with strong, but with strong, with strong countries
non-integrated local integrated* local local and strong
authority level authority level regional level

EU-15 and Greece Portugal Denmark France Italy Austria

EFTA Ireland Finland United Kingdom Spain Belgium
countries Luxembourg The Netherlands Germany
Sweden Switzerland
Norway
New Bulgaria Estonia Poland
Member Czech Republic Latvia
States Hungary Lithuania
Romania Slovenia
Slovakia
Cyprus
Malta
Based on Tosics-Dukes, 2005, with alterations based on ESPON 3.2
* In the integrated type, the size of local governmental units is larger, as it is determined by the supposed optimal size for the effective provision of public
services. Examples are the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian systems. In the non-integrated administrative systems, preference is given to local autonomy over the
aspect of service provision. Local governments are typically small (most settlements might have their own municipality), and integrative institutions are set up to
ensure the coordination required for public services.

81
 The typology has been used in PLUREL as a general planning policies that give control functions to higher
framework for the further analysis of the govern- level governments over the plans of the local govern-
ment and planning dimensions. More detailed in- ments in the rural-urban region area.
vestigations are performed in selected countries The interplay of the government system and the
which cover all the categories of the typology. overarching planning policies shows the potential of
the public role to manage and control peri-urban de-
b) Government and planning velopment. This can range from no management and
in the rural-urban regions control (fragmented public administration and lais-
sez faire planning policies) to the maximum potential

T he rural-urban regions cover large areas, gener-

ally beyond the limits of the city and even the
functional urban area. Although different patterns
for control (strong upper level government arrange-
ments and strong planning control covering the rural-
urban region).
can be found across European countries, usually no Based on the results of country reports pre-
separate (supra-local level) administrative unit ex- pared in the PLUREL project, the countries under in-
ists for this area, which consists of many local gov- vestigation can be classified according to the two
ernments. Under such circumstances, the public con- main dimensions of our analysis as follows (table 10).
trol over the market processes in the peri-urban area According to table 11, the potential strength of
can be ensured through special public administration public management and control over land use
arrangements (e.g. through the introduction or em- change (through the formal government system
powerment of a metropolitan government structure and planning policies) can be quantified in the fol-
or through the creation of compulsory associations of lowing way.
lower level administrative units) and/or through

Table 10: Classification of countries according to the rural-urban region level systems

Strengths of control from Size of the most important Local level Countries
supra-local levels of the supra-local level
planning system (average size of local
(from land use change governments,
perspective) ‘000 population)

Large (>1M) any -

C) strong, controlled
Medium-sized (0.5-1M) any Portugal
spatial policies
Small (<0.5M) any Cyprus, Greece, Lithuania
1
large (>30) Denmark , The Netherlands,
United Kingdom
Medium-sized (10-30) Belgium, France2, Germany
Large (>1M)
small (<10) Italy, Spain
large (>30) Ireland
B) medium level of control Medium-sized (0.5-1M) medium-sized (10-30)
small (<10) Austria
large (>30)
Sweden
medium-sized (10-30) Finland
Small (<0.5M)
small (<10) Estonia, Latvia, Luxemburg,
Malta3
large (>30) Bulgaria
medium-sized (10-30) Poland, Slovenia
A) weak level of control Any small (<10) Czech Republic, Hungary,
Romania, Slovakia
1 The 2007 reform abolished in Denmark the regional authorities, thus the country is on the way to move down in the hierarchy, towards less public control.
The same applies to the United Kingdom, with regard to the 2010 termination of the Regional Development Agencies.
2 While local governments in France are very fragmented, the Urban Communities cover most cities and their agglomerations.
3 For Luxemburg and Malta the results may be misleading due to the small size of the country.

82
Table 11: Strength of rural-urban region level public
control over land use changes

Value Countries
7 -
6 Denmark, The Netherlands, Portugal,
United Kingdom
5 Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany,
Greece, Ireland, Lithuania
4 Italy, Spain, Sweden
3 Austria, Bulgaria, Finland
2 Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Slovenia
1 Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia

The rural-urban region level government and allocated housing quotas and infrastructure, while High density urban forms
planning systems show the strongest potential pub- the local government, in two tiers, made local ‘devel- restrict further growth of
lic control over land use changes in the north west- opment frameworks’ and managed local decisions. city centres

ern European countries, mostly because of their con- This system is currently being altered.
solidated local government systems. On the other
hand, southern European countries which show
high potential, such as Cyprus, Greece or Portugal, Financial, regulatory
have more fragmented local government systems, and policy instruments
but stronger control by supra-local levels. Most new
member states show a weak public control poten- for efficient public
tial, with the notable exception of Lithuania (where control over peri-urban
the tradition of strong planning is based on the
presence of the former western Soviet planning in- development
stitutions) and Bulgaria (with a consolidated local
government system).
The results indicate the strength of public con-
trol in the different countries through the national
T he formal government system and planning
policies assign the framework and the potential
level of public management and control over market
government and planning systems. However, these processes. Within this, the real strength of public
values do not show the real strength of the public control depends on specific factors influencing the
control over land use change, as in practice these motivations of the government actors towards the
powers can be implemented in different ways. Thus processes in the rural-urban region area:
these values should only be seen as a potential re-
sulting from the higher level government and plan-  The local government financing system (from
ning systems. Hypothetically, a weak potential con- where and according to which parameters the
trol is hard to overcome even if the willingness of local governments receive their revenues, and
the local partners is given, while a high potential what are the spatial consequences);
may or may not be used entirely, depending on the  The taxation system (the different types of taxes
intentions of the public bodies in power in the rural- local governments are allowed to levy, and the
urban region. spatially relevant consequences of these taxes);
A more detailed analysis would highlight the  Sectoral (infrastructure, economic development,
developing complex multilevel governance and spa- transport and housing) policies and subsidy sys-
tial planning practices. For example, in France the tems.
SCOT planning system ensures a relatively high level
of public control. The UK practice was quite complex. Among the regulatory tools, the public sector has to
The national government provided legal powers and steer the land development process. The following
guidance, the regional government coordinated and deserve most attention:

83
 Regulations applied on new land use changes Central business public sector to recapture some part of land
and developments in general, such as sectoral district, The Hague, the value increase and require contribution from the
Netherlands, a PLUREL
requirements attached to permitting larger de- private developer for infrastructure develop-
case study
velopments (balance between jobs and homes, ment when the rezoning of land is allowed, or at
transport services, physical and social infrastruc- the moment when building permission has to be
ture requirements) and financial regulations, issued for the planned project.
such as taxes on green field investments and
subsidies for brownfield redevelopment; The analysis of these factors requires more detailed
 Rules applied in the case of concrete decisions investigations, which could only be performed for a
on larger land developments. Possibilities for the limited number of countries (covering all categories

Table 12: Quantified answers by the regions

Haaglanden Manchester Montpellier Leipzig Koper Warsaw Thessaloniki Budapest Bologna

Financial transfer system 0.67 1.00 0.67 0.67 0.00 0.33 0.00 0.33 0.67
The local taxation system 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.33 1.00 0.67 0.67 0.33 1.00
Local government
0.67 0.83 0.67 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.33 0.33 0.83
financing systems
Economic development
1.00 0.50 0.50 1.00 0.50 1.00 1.00 0.50 0.00
and infrastructure
Transport 0.83 0.67 0.50 0.50 0.17 0.33 0.67 0.50 0.50
Housing 1.00 0.67 0.67 0.33 0.33 0.33 0.33 0.00 0.33
Sectoral policies 0.94 0.61 0.56 0.61 0.33 0.56 0.67 0.33 0.28
Tools to steer development 0.75 0.50 0.50 0.75 1.00 0.25 1.00 0.25 0.50

84
of the government typology) represented by the ad- a high probability for a more effective level of control
ministrative regions. The information gained from over peri-urban land use. Manchester, Montpellier,
selected regions through a questionnaire has been Leipzig and Bologna seem to be in a less favourable,
quantified, with the following results. Higher values but still manageable, situation.
mean less interest/motivation for urban sprawl and/ Thessaloniki and Koper show a potentially strong
or more public control over it (Table 12). hierarchical government and planning system,
The results can be summarised and evaluated while the municipalities are strongly interested in
along the three main topics of analysis (the rows in expansion, which can lead to conflicts in the land
bold) in the following way. use decisions. Warsaw and Budapest have a much
weaker government and planning framework. These
 Regarding the local government financing sys- municipalities are interested in expanding urban
tem in some regions (Haaglanden, Manchester, land use, and most sectoral policies also lead in this
Montpellier and Bologna), the system does not direction. In these regions, the public control over
directly motivate the municipalities to increase land use does not seem to be efficient.
their population. On the other hand, in other re- When comparing the results of the previous two
gions (Leipzig, Koper, Warsaw, Budapest and analyses, a relatively strong connection can be seen be-
Thessaloniki) such motivations are created by tween the national and regional levels of analysis. In
the financing system. countries with weak institutional and planning sys-
 Regarding sectoral policies, Haaglanden stands tems, the regions face financial and sectoral policies
out, since very few of its analysed policies have a which usually create favourable conditions towards ur-
sprawl-oriented territorial impact. ban sprawl. At the same time, local authorities in these
 Regarding the regulatory tools, in some regions regions (with the notable exception of Koper, Slovenia)
(Koper, Thessaloniki, Haaglanden and Leipzig) have only very limited tools to control urban sprawl.
the municipalities are equipped with a broad Thus the public financial and sectoral policies are not
range of tools that they can use to steer private able to counterbalance the deficiencies of the formal
developments. government system and planning framework, and all
indicate the weakness of the public sector to control
To summarise, in the case of Haaglanden, a strong po- market processes, leading to urban sprawl. Connecting spaces,
tential control can be seen parallel to moderate mu- On the other hand, regions in countries with functions and people.
nicipal interests to increase population. This suggests high control potential show more diverse results. It Venice, Italy

85
is in Haaglanden, Manchester and Montpellier that held by different urban and rural organisations. These
the potential for strong control given by the formal can be businesses, such as developers and farmers,
government and planning systems seems to be ful- but also residents associations, associations of own-
filled by financial policy and regulatory measures. In ers (CSOs) or nature NGOs. Considering this interfer-
other regions, the regulations and tools do not seem ence of different interests in the urban fringe that are
to fully match the potential these regions could held by different interest groups (stakeholders) of
have in controlling peri-urban development. state, market and civil society, the governance para-
digm and the policy network approach is the most
appropriate for studying their interactions to steer
The governance aspects of developments in the urban fringe. This approach con-

developing public control siders public policy making and governance taking
place in networks consisting of various actors.
over peri-urban areas A more detailed analysis in the PLUREL case
study regions has shown that the governance proc-

T he application of public control over the key as-

pects of sustainable development has to be
taken in a collaborative way as much as possible,
esses can only be effective if they are based on a solid
formal government and planning system. Without
this, they only have very little potential to modify the
with the inclusion of all stakeholders. There is a strength of control over market processes in peri-ur-
growing recognition that the increasingly complex ban areas. Governance procedures – the agreements
task of steering land use developments can no between local governments in policies or regulations
longer be handled exclusively by government actors. that would not be compulsory according to the for-
This means a shift towards new forms of gov- mal systems – can be very important, but it is unlikely
ernance, beginning cooperation between govern- that such agreements can be reached without the
ments and other parties to advance sustainable land strong backing of the formal government institutions
use planning, providing relevant information and ca- and the financial and regulatory processes.
pacity building to the civil society, and better han- Thus the correct setup of the formal institu-
dling of the complex issues related to sustainability tional systems, policies and regulations is of prime
by the government (Evans et al., 2004). importance to fight urban sprawl. Governance proc-
The peri-urban area generally falls under sub- esses can become useful extensions, but cannot sub-
regional or regional authority bodies. Many different stitute for the non-performance of the formal institu- At the urban periphery of
interests interfere, both urban and rural, which are tions and policies in rural-urban regions. Frankfurt/Main, Germany

86
 Conclusions especially if informal governance agreements can Socialist satellite town.
also be reached among the partners. Bratislava, Slovakia

T he results of the government and governance

analysis underpin the hypothesis raised at the
end of the first section – that a weak level of poten-
The other extreme group consists mainly of the
new EU member states from eastern central Europe,
where the formal government system and planning
tial control by the formal government and planning policies are weak and do not allow sufficient control
systems over market processes is hard to overcome over the rural-urban region processes. In these coun-
by regulations and policies (even if the willingness tries, neither the practically used regulatory tools
exists among the public actors) or by bottom-up and planning policies, nor governance processes can
governance policies. On the other hand, a high po- assure such a control. The public sector is therefore
tential level for control by the formal systems may or weak in all aspects to control peri-urban develop-
may not be used entirely, depending on the inten- ment. In these countries, the outcome can be accel-
tions of the public bodies in power. In the case of a erating urban sprawl, depending on the specific
strong formal framework, the role of governance re- market factors.
lationships might be larger to achieve changes to- The government and governance analysis high-
wards more sustainable development. lighted the importance of effective formal institu-
The government and governance analysis ex- tions, policies and regulations at the rural-urban re-
plored two extreme types of countries from the per- gion level, especially targeted at the peri-urban
spective of public control over urban sprawl pro- areas. The third chapter of this status report pro-
cesses in peri-urban areas. On the one hand, there poses some hypothetical models as to how the Eu-
are a few countries (e.g. the Netherlands, France, UK ropean level could contribute to the strengthening
and the Scandinavian countries) where the poten- of these basic elements of the public control over
tially strong control assured by the formal govern- peri-urban sprawl. European level initiatives would
ment system and planning policies over rural-urban be important to achieve the integration of smart,
region processes are underpinned by the regulatory sustainable and inclusive aspects of urban develop-
tools and planning policies used in practice by re- ment, which is very much required to implement the
gional and local governments. These countries have EUROPE 2020 strategy (CEC2010a).
good chances to control peri-urban developments –

87
 EUROPEAN

88
POLICY AGENDAS

89
 Cohesion Policies

The targeting of territorial cohesion and regional policy pro-

grammes involves taking more into account the urban-rural
relationship and the specific role of peri-urban areas. PLUREL
results underline the fact that within the territorial borders
of eligibility regions, regional differences on a smaller scale
are considerable.

What are the aims of Territorial

Cohesion and regional policy?

T erritorial cohesion and regional policy seeks to

reduce economic and social disparities within
the EU-27, and particularly addresses the less-fa-
Through an integrated approach, these programmes
strengthen sustainable development of the regions
and of the EU territory as a whole. The funding princi-
voured member states and regions. Tailored to the ple builds on support of single projects with a strongly
needs and potentials of the latter, programmes are integrated character.
co-financed by the Structural and Cohesion Funds, The European Fund for Regional Development
and support balanced growth and job creation. (EFRD), the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Cohe-

90
sion Fund form the support platform and contribute
Table 13: Indicative distribution of structural funds by type of area
to three objectives: Convergence, Regional Competi-
(in millions of Euros) in 2007-2013 (COM 2010b, adapted)
tiveness and Employment. The eligibility of projects
depends on whether programmes are designed for AREAS
regions under the “Convergence”, “Regional Com- ERDF ESF TOTAL
petitiveness and Employment” or “Territorial Coop- Structural funds
eration” objectives. Accordingly, territorial cohesion Rural areas 47,127 6,545 53,672
and regional policy allows for objective-oriented im- Sparsely or very sparsely populated areas 7,860 3 7,863
plementation in defined target areas. Highlands 6,037 344 6,381
Islands 3,916 281 4,197
Outermost regions 1,031 1,188 5,399
Are peri-urban areas Territorial co-operation areas
9,441 162 9,604
a topic for Territorial
(between several regions/countries)
Urban areas 99,261 9,706 108,967
Cohesion policy? Not applicable 90,509 57,844 148,353
Total 268,361 76,073 344,435

T he structural funds operate simultaneously in % strictly rural areas 17.6% 8.6% 15.6 %
rural and urban areas. Therefore, peri-urban ar- % rural areas (widest possible definition) 22.7% 9.1% 19.7 %
eas are also covered. According to EC statistics (Table % urban areas 37.0% 12.8% 31.6 %
13), the distribution of funds available for the Cohesion
Policy 2007 – 2013, according to the type of area, is rd.
30% for urban areas and less than 20% for rural areas. Within the EU-27, one region in four has a GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per
The analytical procedures developed and ap- inhabitant under 75% of the EU-27 average. At the regional level, the difference
plied in PLUREL allow for a more specific analysis of is even greater. The richest region is Inner London with 290% of the EU-27’s
peri-urban regions in this context. Figure 40 shows per-capita income, while the poorest region is North-East in Romania with 23%
regions with an above EU-27 average of peri-urban of the EU average. In the period 2007 – 2013, cohesion policy will benefit from
share within the NUTSX borders, which are recipients 35.7% of the total EU budget or 347.41 billion Euros. Division by objective is rd.
of the different types of structural funds. In Conver-  81.5% for Convergence
gence regions (e.g. Poland, Hungary, eastern Germany,  16% for Regional Competitiveness and Employment
northern Portugal and southern Italy) as well as in  2.5% for European Territorial Cooperation (CEC 2010b)
Competitive and Employment regions (England, Ben-
elux, south west Germany, Italy and French coastal
regions) there are many regions that have to deal Figure 40: Cohesion Policy in Peri-Urban
with the typical problems of peri-urbanisation. Regions 2007 – 2013
Peri-Urban Regions
Competiveness &
Employment
Phasing-in
Convergence
Phasing-out

Other regions
Competiveness &
Employment
Phasing-in
Convergence
Phasing-out

Source: European Commission, AIT, ZALF

91
 What are the new challenges
of Territorial Cohesion?

Business park develop-

ment in the outskirts of
Warsaw, Poland
T he main task of regional policies in the coming
years will be to “provide the appropriate frame-
work for integrated solutions meeting the goals of
Cities are the motor that drive regional growth,
and are the key to increasing the EU’s competi-
the Europe 2020 Strategy: tiveness worldwide. 70% of EU inhabitants are
city dwellers, yet there is no specific EU policy for
 Smart growth – developing an economy based urban development. In the 2007 – 2013 program-
upon knowledge and innovation; ming period, the urban development dimension
 Sustainable growth – promoting a more resource- has been expanded. The increase in funding from
efficient, greener and more competitive economy; 0.4% to 3% of the total allocation has helped
 Inclusive growth – fostering a high-employment boost urban development. Projects that specifi-
economy delivering social and territorial cohe- cally improve innovation performance and create
sion” (Ahner, 2010). a competitive, connected and greener economy
have been selected (CEC, 2010e).

92
 Does the peri-urban
situation bring along
additional challenges?
Figure 41: Situation in 2000, Competitiveness regions

O ne of the main products of the EU project PLUREL green: predominantly urban, blue: predominantly peri-urban,
red: predominantly rural regions
research is a multiple scale and multiple purpose
tool for the integrated Impact Analysis (iIAT-EU) of ur- Social individualisation
banisation trends on land use functions (for more de-
Unfragmented landscape
tails see the Annex). The iIAT-EU integrates all quanti-
Less Heavy Metal Emissions
tative modelling results at EU-27 scale into one surface
Unsealed soil
(Piorr et al., 2011, Haase et al., 2010). It permits the free
selection of indicators (which here are related to indi-
Less CO emissions Social individualisation
cators relevant for the “new challenges” of Territorial Source: ZALF

Cohesion), and for making comparisons between sin- Ageing

gle states, single NUTSX regions, or groups of similar
regions, aggregated by a typology of choice. GDP per capita
The analysis in figure 41 shows that Competi-
Density of Natural
tiveness and Employment Regions, such as those

Source: ZALF, AIT, PAS

Habitats
with a high peri-urban share, do not differ distinctly Employment industry
from urban regions except for their lower GDP per Employment admin./finances
capita and stronger social individualisation trends. Employment agriculture
On the other hand, Competitiveness regions with a Set 1 (Reference, 2000, n=111) Set 2 (Reference, 2000, n=159) Set 3 (Reference, 2000, n=175)
strong rural character show clear disadvantages in
the employment of the service sector, but only
slightly more ageing, less soil sealing, landscape
fragmentation and more natural habitats. Figure 42: Situation in 2000, Convergence regions
Employment agriculture
In Convergence regions, peri-urban areas are green: predominantly urban, blue: predominantly peri-urban,
red: predominantly rural regions
the regions of change (figure 42). Urban, peri-urban
and rural regions vary in most indicators, and peri- Social individualisation
urban regions take an intermediate position in em- Unfragmented landscape
ployment in all sectors. Peri-urban regions prove
Less Heavy Metal Emissions
particularly young, but not socially exclusive, and
Unsealed soil
possess the highest GDP per capita.
Social individualisation
Less CO emissions

Ageing

GDP per capita

Density of Natural
Source: ZALF, AIT, PAS

Habitats
Employment industry
Employment admin./finances
Employment agriculture

Set 1 (Reference, 2000, n=147) Set 2 (Reference, 2000, n=97) Set 3 (Reference, 2000, n=83)

93
 The potential of the e
peri-urban in meeting the
new challenges
Figure 43: Peri-urban Competitiveness regions
green: baseline year 2000, blue: Hypertech scenario A1 year 2015,

F
red: Hypertech scenario A1 year 2025
igures 43 and 44 present, based on modelling re-
sults, a look into a Hypertech future of the peri-
urban Competitiveness regions respective of Con- Social individualisation
vergence regions. Ageing, social individualisation
Less Heavy Metal Emissions Unfragmented landscape
and GDP per capita are, in both cases, the indicators
that develop most dynamically. In peri-urban Com-
petitiveness regions, the trend shows continuously Less CO emissions Unsealed soil

increasing values, with ageing becoming a greater

problem after 2015. Trends are similar in peri-urban
Convergence regions, with the exception of social GDP per capita Ageing

individualisation. After a rapidly developed peak in

2015, the trend will reverse. GDP per capita will de-
velop slightly faster, but will reach its limit at a lower Employment rate Density of Natural

Source: ZALF, AIT, PAS

overall level. The strongest differences appear in the Habitats

employment situation in the third and fourth sec-

Employment industry Employment admin./finances
tors (of services and administration) in Competitive-
Employmentagriculture
Employment agriculture
ness regions. Soil sealing and the loss of natural
habitats are developments that need to be kept Set 1 (High growth (hyper-tech), 2025, n=158) Set 2 (High growth (hyper-tech), 2015, n=159)

track of in peri-urban Competitiveness regions, Set 3 (Reference, 2000, n=159)

while in Convergence regions, efforts should be

taken to set incentives to maintain employment in
agriculture in the peri-urban, as this factor contrib-
utes positively to unfragmented landscapes and re-
lated ecosystem services.
Figure 44: Peri-urban Convergence regions
Nonetheless, regions differ a great deal from
green: baseline year 2000, blue: Hypertech scenario A1 year 2015,
each other. Figure 45 compares the average situa- red: Hypertech scenario A1 year 2025
tion of peri-urban regions in Poland with two single
NUTSX regions that also have an above average
Social individualisation
share of peri-urban area. The positive development
of the GDP in all three cases will be reached from Less Heavy Metal Emissions Unfragmented landscape
different sectors. Accordingly, social and environ-
mental impact indicators differ substantially, and Less CO emissions Unsealed soil
Unsealed soil
shed light on the potential risks and development
objectives to be set at a regional level. The PLUREL
iIAT aims at supporting regional stakeholders and GDP per capita Ageing
Aging
policymakers in the steering process by delivering
research-based information necessary for strategic
objective setting.
Employment rate Density of Natural
Source: ZALF, AIT, PAS

Habitats

Employment industry Employment admin./finances

Employment agriculture

Set 1 (High growth (hyper-tech), 2025, n=94) Set 2 (High growth (hyper-tech), 2015, n=97)
Set 3 (Reference, 2000, n=97)

94
 How to best exploit
peri-urban potentials
Figure 45: Peri-urban POLAND in a hypertech scenario A1 year 2025
red: all NUTSX regions in Poland with above average share of peri-urban area,
blue: NUTSX region Lodzki, green: NUTSX region Gdansk-Gdynia-Sopot
I n the future, territorial cohesion policy will in-
creasingly build upon good governance and local
empowerment. Programme design and selection
criteria for projects will become more targeted if
Social individualisation they take the urban-rural relationship and the spe-
cific role of peri-urban areas more into account. The
Less Heavy Metal Emissions Unfragmented landscape
PLUREL iIAT-EU, for example, can contribute to inter-
disciplinary discussion of regional situations and
Less CO emissions Unsealed soil possible trends. Hence, it helps to support participa-
tory decision processes of policy makers and stake-
holders in ranking objectives and priorities. PLUREL
GDP per capita Aging results underline the fact that within the territorial
borders covering eligibility regions, the differences
between regions are great.
Employment services Density of Natural Targeting regional programmes means that ap-
Source: ZALF, AIT, PAS

Habitats propriate projects are tailored for the specific situa-

tion. For example, some regions might display very
Employment industry Employment admin./finances
obvious disparities that require support for eco-
Employment agriculture
nomic, environmental or social sustainability objec-
Set 1 (High growth (hyper-tech), 2025, n=40) Set 2 (High growth (hyper-tech), 2015, n=1) tives. Other regions perhaps possess a rather mixed
Set 3 (Reference, 2000, n=1) problem situation that calls for a different approach.
The goal of improved policy targeting is to meet the
regional development vision of EU-27 after 2013:
View over Warsaw, Poland, smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.
a PLUREL case study

95
 Agricultural and Rural
Development Policies

If key steps are taken, future CAP has the potential to replace
the sprawl of artificial surfaces from the peri-urban into rural
land areas with diversity of technical, social and environmen-
tal innovation. In addition, greater biodiversity protection
and resilience in resource-use can be achieved based on pow-
erful urban-rural cooperation tailored to regional demands.

What are the aims of

the Common Agricultural
Policy (CAP)?

O n average, more than 20% of the income of Eu-

ropean farmers comes from payments received
from the EU. The existing Common Agricultural Pol-
CAP are the Rural Development (RD) Programmes,
funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural
Development (EAFRD) for the period 2007 – 2013.
icy (CAP) provides a package of measures and poli- Member states are free to distribute the funds
cies divided into three main types: market expendi- within certain budget shares to four thematic axes
ture, direct aids and rural development. For decades, that support those measures that best reinforce the
the CAP had been mainly oriented towards market development objectives of their region. These in-
support, and expended direct payments for in- clude measures to improve competitiveness, agri-
creased market production. Also in the future, direct environmental measures, diversification measures,
support (the first pillar of the CAP) will provide a rea- and LEADER. The rationale is to best exploit the po-
sonable level of income for farmers facing volatile tentials of target groups and target regions.
market conditions or disasters. With improved tech-
nologies, environmental awareness and changed
consumer demands, the CAP has been decoupling Figures on the CAP
payments from production since 2003, and aims for The average proportion of EU payments and na-
the stronger support of Rural Development (RD) tional aid in total farm receipts stood at 16% for
measures (the second pillar of the CAP). A general EU-25 in 2006 (CEC 2009a). Rural Development
trend towards extensification of agriculture is the (RD) support in the EU-25 corresponds on average
result. This trend should be particularly strength- Euro 61/ha (EU and national part). The total direct
ened in areas of high environmental, landscape and support received by RD recipients corresponds to
recreational value, while in prime agricultural areas, 60% of their Farm Net Value Added (FNVA). In
the CAP should seek to set incentives for developing comparison, the direct support received by non-
farms towards better competitiveness on global recipients is only 26% of their FNVA (CEC 2009b).
markets. The respective policy instruments of the

96
 Cyprus Figure 46: Rural Development budgets and
Estonia RUR composition by Member State
Finland
Sweden Share of EAFRD contribution per Member State,
Latvia Programming period 2007-2013 (EC, August 2008)
Lithuania
Spain
Bulgaria
Romania
Ireland
Denmark
France
Slovakia Are peri-urban
Czech Republic
Greece areas a topic for the
Hungary
Portugal CAP after 2013?
Austria

U
Luxembourg
Slovenia ntil now, in the context of the CAP, the discus-
Italy sion about the specific role, potentials, needs
United Kingdom and targets of peri-urban regions has only been held
Poland
Belgium
sporadically. A considerable share of public support
Germany from the first pillar has gone towards urban and
Malta peri-urban regions, as they are the location of head
The Netherlands
offices of big companies owning farmland. However,
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
this does not mean that recipients keep the money
Axis 1: competitiveness Axis 2: environment
in the urban regions. Cash flows are directed further
Axis 3: diversification Axis 4:LEADER
to the countryside where the farmland is located,
e.g. with farm investments. In contrast, recipients of
second pillar payments are nearly exclusively lo-
Cyprus cated in rural regions. Currently, rural development
Estonia policy (the second pillar) is clearly directed towards
Finland the support of rural regions, where average income
Sweden
Latvia
per capita is lower than in towns and cities, the skills
Lithuania base narrower, and the service sector is less devel-
Spain oped. Still, the more concisely the needs for the
Bulgaria
post-2013 programming period of the RD Pro-
Romania
Ireland grammes are formulated, the clearer the need be-
Denmark comes to address specific importance to the particu-
France
larity of farms providing public goods in the urban
Slovakia
Czech Republic rural interface.
Greece
Hungary
Portugal
Austria
Luxembourg
Slovenia
Italy
United Kingdom
Poland
Belgium
Germany Share of EAFRD
Malta predominantly urban,
The Netherland peri-urban and rural
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% regions

urban peri-urban rural

97
 PLUREL research results permit the comparison of size, particularly the small market towns that are an
CAP support distribution to the thematic axis of integral part of rural areas. The size of urban centres
RDPs with the share of peri-urban areas for single included may be as high as 30,000 inhabitants, de-
regions or groups of regions at different levels of ag- pending on the member state” (Dormal-Marino,
gregation, e.g. according to typologies. Figure 46 2009). The reasoning for this threshold is the inter-
shows this for the national scale. Countries with a vention logic aimed at levelling disparities between
high share of peri-urban regions tend to spend a rural and urbanised areas.
higher share of the RD budget for diversification It is important to note that analyses of PLUREL
measures and agri-environmental measures than do not prove that farms in rural regions have strong
predominantly rural countries. disadvantages or noticeably different characteris-
Until now, the evaluation of CAP payments has tics and conditions than farms near large urban cen-
been carried out in a way that does not allow for tres. The figures 47-50 show the results of an analy-
specific consideration of the impacts on peri-urban sis of NUTS3 EUROSTAT census data, related to a
regions. The methods developed in PLUREL would al- typology of urban-rural regions that takes settle-
low for spatially explicit impact assessment if ben- ment structure and population density into account.
eficiary data with georeference (IACS/ LPIS) were ac-
cessible. It would then be possible to answer  Near Metropolitan regions in Europe, the share
questions such as the following: of specialists in horticulture is higher than in re-
gions with less urbanisation (Figure 47);
 Which behavioural patterns of farmers as pro-  Approximately 70 percent of European farms
viders of rural goods and services are typical in have arable production, rather independent of
peri-urban regions; whether they are located in metropolitan re-
 How is the relationship between societal urban gions, rural regions or intermediate urbanisation
demand and agricultural land use related to the structures. However, rural regions show a broad
multiple supply of functions and services in peri- range due to more grassland use (Figure 48);
urban areas;  Full time farming tends to be slightly higher the
 In which direction is this relationship expected to more urbanised regions are. Pluriactivity (diver-
develop under the changed pressure situations? sification into other sectors) is often positively
connected to multifunctionality. On the other
The intervention logic of LEADER excludes larger hand, the share of farms with full time employ-
cities from eligibility. PLUREL results cannot prove ment in rural regions is not higher than in the
a competitive advantage or substantially differ- other settlement types analysed (Figure 49);
ent farm structure near larger cities.  The economic performance (measured by the
gross margin) is higher in farms located near
metropolitan areas due to higher specialisation.
LEADER, the fourth axis of RDPs, supports projects, Regions with large urban centres are compara-
not measures or farms. “LEADER enables inclusive bly lagging behind (Figure 50);
partnerships with urban settlements of a certain

Space for recreation:

an organically run
agricultural landscape.
Brodowin, Germany

98
 Figure 47: Horticultural farms in rural-urban regions Figure 49: Part-time farmers in rural-urban regions

Share of Holders, who are a natural person, with working time in

100,00 100,00
Share of holdings with specialists in horticulture in %

80,00 80,00

agriculture max. 25 % in %
60,00 60,00

40,00 40,00

20,00 20,00

0,00 0,00

Metropolitan Regions with Regions with Rural Metropolitan Regions with Regions with Rural
Regions large urban small urban regions Regions large urban small urban regions
centres centres centres centres

Figure 48: Arable farms in rural-urban regions Figure 50: Farm economy in rural-urban regions

100,00 5,00

80,00 4,00
Share of holdings with arable production in %

60,00 3,00
Average Standard Gross Margin per ha

40,00 2,00

20,00 1,00
Source: ZALF

0,00 0,00

Metropolitan Regions with Regions with Rural Metropolitan Regions with Regions with Rural
Regions large urban small urban regions Regions large urban small urban regions
centres centres centres centres

99
 Why are peri-urban areas important to
meet the new challenges of the CAP?

I n recent years, European agriculture has had to

learn how quickly global trends can harm its eco-
nomic and environmental stability. Reaching better
The CAP towards 2020

resilience is therefore the new challenge for sustain- The EU launched a public debate on the CAP post-
able Rural Development. In particular, climate change, 2013, which indicated a significant demand to fa-
renewable energy, water management, biodiversity cilitate more regional differentiation in interven-
and dairy restructuring are the main new issues the tions with an improved territorial targeting, e.g.
CAP agenda must address. by differentiating peri-urban areas and isolated
Maintaining peri-urban agriculture is an essen- rural areas. Many stakeholders pointed out that
tial strategy in mitigating climate change (see next the dependence of rural regions on neighbouring
chapter “Towards Europe 2020”) by buffering tem- urban areas is a key determinant in achieving lo-
perature, precipitation and dust effects, and thereby cal development and the resulting need to rein-
improving the health of citizens. Furthermore, peri- force urban-rural linkages (CEC 2010d).
urban agriculture contributes to the goal of reduc-
ing CO2 emissions (e.g. by maintaining open spaces
and agricultural use, by reforestation programmes, With Rural Development support, the CAP after 2013
the processing of biomass, and the promotion of the will contribute towards the balanced territorial de-
localisation of quality production and consumption velopment of rural areas throughout the EU by em-
to reduce food miles), and also by developing short powering people in local areas, improving local con-
local food chains that reduce health costs and con- ditions, and building capacity and links between
nect the activity of buying local food with recreation. rural and urban areas. Under the guiding themes en-
Peri-urban agriculture is also essential for the vironment, climate change and innovation, policy
supply, storage and purification of water within a measures will pay attention to innovative ideas for
short distance to centres, and for the maintenance business, local development and local governance,
of biodiversity. Both functions are related to the spa- e.g. by adding value to local resources, developing
tial extent and spatial pattern that agriculture direct sales and local markets (CEC 2010c).
maintains in the urban fringe. The more that agri- The CAP towards 2020 seeks to further
culturally managed open space is reduced and frag- strengthen the coherence between rural develop-
mented, the more an efficient functioning of the ment policy and other EU policies, as well as a com-
natural resilience capacity is curtailed. If RD Pro- mon strategic framework for EU funds. The Euro-
grammes seek to strengthen rural sustainability, pean Commission presented three possible
Glasshouses in Haag- they should best exploit rural-urban relationships. A pathways for future CAP options: a rather conserva-
landen, the Netherlands, clearer acknowledgement of peri-urban functions is tive first option, a second option aimed at achieving
a PLUREL case study therefore urgently required. more targeted measures, and most far reaching, a
third option that would provide a clear financial fo-
cus on environmental and climate change issues
through the Rural Development policy framework,
which would encourage the creation of regional
strategies in order to assure the implementation of
EU objectives (CEC 2010c). The next chapters of this
status report intend to present new approaches re-
lated to the third path discussed for the CAP post-
2013.

100
Harvesting food and
appreciation: ‘Nomadic
How to best exploit peri-urban potentials
green’ urban gardening.
Berlin, Germany
without creating a distortion of competition
for remote rural regions?

 The more that future support of agriculture is can be highly priced products, such as organically
directed towards support schemes that are not grown vegetables and niche products. For such
only based on historic entitlements, but also on farmers, it is important to ensure long term stabil-
output criteria related to the societal legitimacy, ity in land rental contracts. RD programmes can
the higher the probability that public and private set incentives within axis 1 by offering specific
payments for ecosystem services can be realised. investment support qualification and training
 Greening of the CAP should consider the poten- opportunities for young farmers.
tials of peri-urban areas.  A stronger integration of urban and rural actors
 More regionally targeted CAP measures in a rural- within LEADER projects would be important, in-
urban context are needed. This includes more dependent of where particular LEADER actions
flexibility on the entitlements, and for setting take place. The role of institutional interaction is
payments related to target groups or target areas. an important issue in this context. Governance
 The more rural-urban relationships illustrate the processes to negotiate land use demands in
role of the peri-urban in meeting sustainable de- peri-urban landscapes towards sustainable deci-
velopment, the more effective governance pro- sion making arise particularly within local action
cesses will strive to control sprawl on-site, on groups of LEADER projects. The CAP should not
time and in a well-communicated way. Vitality of generally redefine thresholds, but should allow
rural areas will grow. for regional and local target setting.
 The specific challenge for peri-urban regions lies
in setting appropriate incentives for farmers to
continue farming. In prime agricultural areas, this

101
 Transport Policies

Peri-urban key challenges for transport policies are to pro-

mote sustainable accessibility and a modal shift to more en-
vironmentally friendly mobility. These goals require a broad
range of policy tools, innovative solutions and integrated
and accessibility-oriented planning at all levels.

Aims of the EU The peri-urban role

transport policy

E U policy objectives for sustainable transport out-

line the need for a transport system that meets
P eri-urban transport and mobility relates prima-
rily to the locally decided and implemented ur-
ban policies, particularly including transportation
society’s economic, social and environmental needs. and land use policies. In order to avoid the negative
Accessibility is crucial for regional competitiveness, impacts of urban sprawl, peri-urban transportation
employment and cohesion. In the peri-urban per- and land use issues should be integrated with the
spective, accessibility, and thus transportation, is the urban policies that concern the whole functional
key issue when considering the linkages between area. As a result, there is the potential to increase
urban and rural. In urban regions, cities themselves sustainable accessibility in peri-urban areas. Sus-
– instead of the EU – are actively considering trans- tainable accessibility refers to high quality accessi-
port policy. Cities and countries have active sustain- bility with different modes of transportation, in-
able transportation policies, but local transport-re- stead of car dependency.
lated problems are also part of global-scale problems
like climate change. Therefore, the EU has taken an
active role in promoting cooperation and coordina- Future transport policy
tion in urban mobility at the European level in order
to push development in the right direction at all lev-
challenges
Shipping of cars to
els: local, regional, national and European (Green

T
new markets. Danube
river, Austria paper for urban mobility (CEC 2007)). ransport infrastructure has a major impact on
future mobility in Europe. The infrastructure de-
velopment should promote the sustainable accessi-
bility and modal shift to more environmentally
friendly mobility. The regional impacts of national
and EU level transport policies and structural funds
have to be recognised. Are investments into the in-
frastructure development directed towards sup-
porting motorways or high speed rail connections?
Which modes of transport are subsidised? What are
new and emerging technologies, and what kind of
infrastructure is needed in the future?

102
 The potential of the cused on increasing mobility, which leads to increas-
ing vehicle transport. In order to achieve sustainable
peri-urban in meeting accessibility, the focus must be shifted to accessibility
the challenges oriented planning, which includes a wider scale of
policy options and solutions to improve accessibility
without simultaneously increasing the total number

I n order to make the peri-urban issue broadly visi-

ble in the EU agenda, the spatial aspect should be
of kilometers travelled (see figure 28).

emphasised in the policies. This concerns not only

structural funds, but also functional urban regions.
How to implement
Policies should recognise the spatial dimensions and policies that best exploit
the potentials of the
variety of functions in different parts of diverse ur-
ban regions (see chapter Peri-Urban Agendas –
Transportation and commuting). peri-urban to meet
It has been acknowledged in the mid-term
review of the EC’s 2001 Transport white paper, that future challenges
European sustainable mobility policy requires a
broad range of policy tools which should aim to-
wards a modal shift, optimised transport modes and
co-modality. This adaptation especially concerns
F rom the peri-urban viewpoint, critical issues re-
lated to the transport system and thus accessi-
bility are: economic competitiveness, cost effective-
long distance travel, urban areas and congested traf- ness of the transport system, and equity. Transport
fic corridors. Co-modality refers to the efficient use corridors can stimulate peri-urban development, as
of different modes in themselves and in combina- they provide accessible locations for peri-urban em-
tion with others. In the peri-urban areas, co-modal- ployment and commuting. Peri-urban areas need a
ity and especially multimodal accessibility is crucial: self-sufficient local economy to provide local job op-
In the fragmented, sparsely populated areas it is not portunities and to supply daily goods and services.
possible to support a complex public transportation Sub-regional accessibility should be improved in or-
system. der to minimise long distance travelling. A peri-ur-
The question of how to enhance mobility while ban public transportation system must be effective
at the same time reduce congestion, accidents and in order to be a realistic competitive alternative for
pollution, is a common challenge shared by all major using a car. In terms of equity, accessibility should
cities in Europe. Effective transport planning re- not be bound to personal vehicle transport. All
quires long-term vision to arrange the financial re- transport modes, from walking to aviation, must be At St. Paul Metro
quirements for infrastructure and vehicles, to design considered when examining accessibility. station, Paris, France
and promote high-quality public transport, safe cy-
cling and walking, and to coordinate this with land
use planning. Solutions need to be tailor-made and
based on wide consultation with the public and
other stakeholders. Therefore, in its Thematic Strat-
egy for the Urban Environment (CEC, 2006), the Eu-
ropean Commission strongly recommended that lo-
cal authorities develop and implement Sustainable
Urban Transport Plans.
A sustainable peri-urban transportation sys-
tem requires innovative solutions, intelligent mobil-
ity technology, new mobility culture, mobility man-
agement and integrated planning at all levels.
Comprehensive planning should integrate land use
and transportation, different parts of the transport
system, and different operators and administrations
to provide better accessibility for the whole func-
tional region. Transport planning has traditionally fo-

103
 Landscape and
Environmental Policies

In peri-urban areas, policy measures for nature preservation

and the provision of ecosystem services are already available
and should be implemented, together with spatial planning
concepts which enhance the attractiveness of inner cities to
minimise further sprawl.

Landscape Character Environmental

policy in Europe

I n the year 2000, the European Landscape Conven-

tion was signed as the “Florence Convention”. It de-
fines landscape as “an area, as perceived by people, I n the past decades, European policy put forward
many directives, strategies and programmes in or-
whose character is the result of action and interac- der to protect and enhance Europe’s environment
tion of natural and/or human factors”. European and biodiversity, such as directives for habitats, air
landscapes are mainly characterised by rural, agri- and water quality, the soil thematic strategy, the
cultural and forest dominated areas. They comprise European landscape convention, and the 6th Envi-
of high natural and cultural diversity, but are threat- ronment Action Programme. Although most of
ened by social or technological changes. Therefore, them do not explicitly refer to urbanisation, they re-
landscape character assessments from the local late to the development of urban areas, and, vice
level up to the European scale are carried out for an versa, urbanisation impacts on the intended envi-
inventory of landscapes, representing the require- ronmental good of the policies.
ment to conceptualise and monitor controlled
change and managing actions. The convention also
covers urban and peri-urban areas where landscape
Conflicts in peri-urban
Landscape conservation change is intense, and thus the monitoring and im- regions
area Camargue, France pact assessment are most important.

D espite extensive efforts to enhance Europe’s en-

vironment, difficulties prevail in the context of
urbanisation, particularly regarding peri-urban ar-
eas where settlements and infrastructure growth
are putting pressure on ecologically valuable and
even protected sites. Figure 51 illustrates that espe-
cially in densely populated countries, a large share of
NATURA2000 sites are considered to be peri-urban.
The example of Slovenia shows that almost
10% of important bird areas (IBA), home to a large

104
share of endangered bird species, are under peri-ur-
ban influence and are thus exposed to stronger an- Figure 51: Natura2000 in peri-urban regions in Europe
thropogenic pressure, leading to reduced biodiver-
30
sity (Figure 52).
25

The peri-urban future 20

T
15
he PLUREL scenarios represent different future
developments, and their common denominator 10
is continuing urban growth. The question is how the
threats and opportunities caused by urban expan- 5

sion for the environment can be addressed by policy

0 AT BE BG CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GR HU IE IT LT LU LV MT NL PL PT RO SE SI SK UK
measures.
On the one hand, certain measures must be Share of Peri-Urban NATURA2000 in % Source: ZALF, EEA

taken in order to protect sites of ecological relevance.

For this reason, a great variety of protection schemes
and laws are already in place. In the peri-urban con-
Figure 52: Number of Endangered Bird Species in
text, the response of sites to urban growth has to be Important Bird Areas in Slovenia
further defined. Ecologically sensitive sites will need
buffer zones. Others might even benefit from new
niches for species. However, incentives for nature
preservation and the provision of ecosystem services
in the peri-urban are indispensable, like agri-environ-
mental schemes or the green and blue service con-
cept of the Netherlands. In addition, urban dwellers
themselves should use their gardening inclinations in
order to enhance the peri-urban environment (e.g.
the tree planting initiative in Frankfurt/Main).
On the other hand, the impact of urbanisation
also depends on the way it takes place. As land is a
finite resource, more efficient usage is necessary – a
fact that was stated in a communication of the EC in
2006 on Cohesion Policy and cities. One suggestion is
to use brownfields as building lots instead of green-
fields, and to enhance the attractiveness of inner
cities to minimise further sprawl. Thus, spatial plan-
ning concepts for the urban fringe are necessary to
guarantee the ability to gradually densify the built-up
areas, while at the same time preserving important
green areas and not reducing urban attractiveness.
Therefore, cooperation between city and neighbouring
municipalities is essential. Such collaborations already Source: ZALF, BirdLife International
Peri Urban Area
exist in some European city regions, especially for re-
Important Bird Area
creational purposes, i.e. green belts or regional parks. Endangered Bird Species
From the promotion of green roofs and walls, the use Red List Bird Species
of less sealing materials, the construction of infra- (Near threatened/

structure next to existing facilities to reduce frag- vulnerable)

mentation, free bike rentals, through to legal limits of

daily land consumption, many single measures are
possible in order to sustain the environment and the
ecological functions in peri-urban areas.

105
 Towards EUROPE 2020:
Pan-European challenges
for the peri-urban

The EU policy goals of growth and development may meet

the Lisbon goals, but at present, the problems of urban
sprawl, environmental impact and social segregation appear
to be attached. This chapter looks at the implications for the
peri-urban agenda in light of the pan-European challenges
of globalisation, demographic change, energy, and climate
change.

T he Lisbon Agenda sets a strategic direction for

policy and the economic development path
across the EU. The Cohesion Funds from 2013 are
If each of these challenges is addressed in isolation
from the others, the situation could worsen. So to
integrate and generate added value, we need to ex-
now being designed around this. However, the plore ‘integrated development pathways’ for ‘peri-
PLUREL analysis and modelling suggests that this urban territorial cohesion’ (next chapter). Here, we
direction is likely to result in peri-urban expansion, review the trends and challenges, starting from the
and potentially urban sprawl, at a faster rate than EUROPE 2020 (CEC 2010a) regional analysis followed
ever before. So here we look at key challenges – cross by the implications for the peri-urban agenda.
cutting policy agendas which are powerful drivers of
change in peri-urban areas.
Globalisation and
 Globalisation and innovation as the driver for innovation
economic development: The direct effect of this
is peri-urban expansion for business parks, hous-
ing, roads and other urban infrastructure;
 Demographic change: The shrinking of some re-
gions, the ageing of others, and the migration of
T he benefits of globalisation are the goals of eco-
nomic policy, businesses and consumers. There
is also a downside however, which is becoming in-
people all bring challenges to the stability and creasingly topical in the economic situation post-
cohesion of peri-urban areas; 2010. The downsides include restructuring and obso-
 Climate change and energy: This will bring physi- lescence, redundancy of labour and skills, and the
cal impacts and the need for adaptation in the impacts on vulnerable industries and economies at
peri-urban. Decarbonising energy sources will the local and regional level.
also require land for renewables, and may change In order to turn the challenges of globalisation
peri-urban transport and settlement patterns. into opportunities, the Lisbon Agenda requires Euro-

106
pean economies to increase productivity (both la- they are each under pressure to provide more
bour and resources), employment levels, and the skills road infrastructure, large industrial and logistics
of the workforce. Current trends in the EU show a sites, and science/business park developments;
moderate productivity growth of around 1%, a diver-  Urban innovation policy. It is also becoming
gence in workforce education levels, and employ- clearer that the strongest drivers of the ‘innova-
ment rates with only a gradual improvement. This tion system’ are often focused on urban centres
quite mixed picture is amplified at a regional level. and urban agglomerations. Here, the expansion
of Central Business Districts often displaces in-
Spatial patterns across Europe ner city communities with multiple problems.
The need for new business sites to serve ever
Many territorial and regional impacts can be traced larger markets and workforces then drives a
directly to the Cohesion Funds and other main- chain of ‘cumulative causation’, including new
stream fiscal programmes. A mid-term sustainabil- roads, new housing, new retail and leisure parks,
ity evaluation of the Structural Funding programmes in an ever-expanding peri-urban area.
found generally that mainstream infrastructure of
roads and industrial sites often created economic Overall, there are two kinds of challenges raised by
gains at the cost of environmental problems. In con- globalisation in the peri-urban. One is to manage
trast, skills and capacity building measures appeared the impacts of the growth-led development path
to have wholly positive effects (ECOTEC, 2005). which is set by the Lisbon Agenda, particularly in re-
The ‘Globalisation Vulnerability Index’ of Re- gions that are already in rapid peri-urbanisation. An-
gions 2020 depicts this in terms of productivity, em- other is to pick up the pieces left over from restruc-
ployment rates and educational attainment, each turing in the less modernised and more economically
projected to 2020. Here, the Index is filtered to in- vulnerable peri-urban regions.
clude only regions which are ‘predominantly peri-
urban’ (Figure 53). This shows that generally, the
southern, eastern and peripheral regions are much Demographic change
more exposed to globalisation, i.e. the pressures of
restructuring, investment, infrastructure and chang- Future trends in the natural population processes,
ing skills demands. And it is very topical that within such as low fertility rates and the ageing of the popu-
these regions, the peri-urban areas will be most under lation, combined with internal or international mi-
pressure for the same globalisation menu – new in- gration, may in the long run lead to the decrease of
dustrial and business sites, high value housing, and the European population. The renewed Social Agenda
major infrastructure for roads, ports and airports.

Figure 53: Globalisation Vulnerability Index 2020

Implications for the peri-urban in predominantly peri-urban regions in EU 27

The peri-urban is generally seen as the default loca-

tion for enterprise and inward investment, and so the
policy objectives of globalisation and innovation are
very likely to lead to expansion into peri-urban areas.
There is also a restructuring effect, which in more vul-
nerable regions can leave large peri-urban areas with
obsolete industry, unemployment and shrinking pop-
ulations. There are two main levels of policy:

 Regional innovation policy. This has been the > 0 – 20

> 20 – 40
theme of a series of pilot programmes since the
> 40 – 60
1980s. The Bangemann Report (CEC 1994) set the > 60 – 80
agenda for coordination with mainstream Struc- > 80 – 100
tural Funds. The practical result on the ground is other regions
that regions are in direct competition for inward Source: Eurostat, ZALF, AIT

investment and global entrepreneurs. As such,

107
of the Commission of the European Union (2008) re- cline will hit mainly central and eastern European Building the know-
flects this conviction, as it identified population age- regions, while ageing will be delayed in these re- ledge society. Saint
Etienne, France
ing as one of the key factors in social change within gions due to the lower life expectancy. The decline in
the EU. Such demographic change is likely to trans- the working age population will be the highest in
form European societies as we know them, and create Scandinavian countries and Germany.
a whole new economic and social environment. The distribution shows that most major EU na-
In contrast to the relatively slow-changing nat- tions contain a range of conditions, with a patch-
ural population trends, migration patterns can work-like character. There are rural or more remote
change and fluctuate more rapidly, and are more areas with a high vulnerability index, a combination
sensitive to difficult policy decisions. Three forms of of ageing, population decline and working age pop-
migration, i.e. within the country, within the EU and ulation. There are also peri-urban regions close to
from third countries, have to be differentiated. The the ‘core’, with similar problems of ageing and de-
‘nationals’ (coming to the city from other parts of pendency. In contrast, some capital regions like Ma-
the same country), the ‘other EU nationals’ and the drid, Paris or Warsaw appear to have a higher growth
‘non-EU nationals’ differ substantially in all aspects, and turnover, and so a relatively low vulnerability.
from the regulations which influence their numbers, The demographic division of Europe generally
to the way they integrate into the labour and hous- follows the line of its economic division. Countries
ing market of the city. with stronger economies have relatively high fertil-
ity levels, and their population growth is also aided
Spatial patterns across Europe by migration. The extension of current trends to a
longer time horizon, beyond 2020, suggests that de-
The ‘Demographic Vulnerability peri-urban region mographic challenges will accelerate the existing
Index’ is based on the share of people aged over 65, interregional differences, reducing the chance of
population decline and the share of the working age more peripheral EU regions ever catching up. On the
population in 2020, with each factor projected to basis of fertility rates and migratory patterns, three
2020 (Figure 54). These three factors show different major areas of demographic change within the Eu-
territorial patterns across Europe. Population de- ropean Union can be defined:

108
 Figure 54: Demography Vulnerability Index 2020
in predominantly peri-urban regions in EU 27

> 0 – 20
> 20 – 30
> 30 – 40
> 40 – 50
> 50 – 100
other regions

Source: Eurostat, ZALF, AIT

 Western and northern European countries. This Implications for the peri-urban
is the high fertility belt of Europe, where there is
also a high level of immigration; Overall, there is a range of demographic challenges
 Southern Europe and the German speaking that particularly affect peri-urban areas:
countries. In these areas, low fertility is com-
bined with replacement migration that can help  Peri-urban areas with problems of growth or
to compensate for the population loss; shrinkage;
 Central and eastern Europe. In these countries, a  Peri-urban restructuring, for ageing and other
low level of fertility is combined with very little kinds of segmented communities;
or no migration at all (in a few cases even exten-  Peri-urban areas under pressure from migrants.
sive emigration) which leads to accelerating This can be voluntary migration from lifestyle or
population decrease. retirement groups. It can also be a result of ur-
ban ‘enclaving’, i.e. residential and labour segre-
The Kröhnert et al. (2007) study evaluated the dynamic gation that slows down migrant assimilation,
of natural population in itself, without external migra- perpetuating inequities in social mobility and
tion figures, as the latter depend on different political employment across ethnic groups. While en-
factors. The results show “…populations dive by 12 to 18 claves of third country migrants affect mainly
percent by 2030 in the Baltic states, Ukraine, Belarus urban areas, national migrants can more easily
and large swathes of rural Bulgaria and Romania as concentrate in peri-urban areas where there are
well as remote parts of Poland and east Germany.” cheaper land prices.
Thus the continuation of present trends might lead to
some peri-urban regions (and to a lesser extent, cities) Regional and metropolitan area governments have
in eastern Europe becoming almost deserted. On the some scope to influence the economic and social im-
other extreme, some areas in western Europe might pacts of demographic trends. The policy agenda
become much more crowded than they have been to starts with urban-rural linkages, which were dis-
date. Both developments may cause problems and cussed by the OECD (2009): “If well managed, the
raise the question as to what type of public interven- interactions between urban centres and countryside
tions are needed regarding demographic and migra- are the basis for a balanced regional development
tion patterns, as well as related aspects. which is economically, socially and environmentally

109
sustainable. … The spatial structure of polycentric re-  Invasive species and habitat decline or fragmen-
gions can enable them to reap the scale and agglom- tation. This is connected with each of the above.
eration advantages typical for large cities, and at the It is particularly topical in peri-urban areas that
same time avoid some disadvantages of large cities are often fragmented by roads and other urban
like high factor costs, congestion or pollution. … It infrastructure;
would … be important to study whether better con-  Synergistic and cumulative effects are likely to drive
nections (“linkages”) between rural and urban areas the worst problems. For instance, in the EU heat
can induce people to substitute migration with com- wave of 2005, mortality and morbidity was in-
muting.” Such ‘localised’ responses are essential. creased by lack of social cohesion. In many peri-ur-
However, the macro-regional population move- ban areas, there are fragmented communities, local
ments, with the prospect of empty areas in the East economies, governance systems and cultural groups.
versus overcrowded peri-urban areas in the West,
needs pan-European strategies and policies. Energy and climate mitigation policy

The peri-urban areas are also a key focus of energy

Energy and policy and emissions mitigation policy:

climate change  New forms of renewable energy and distribution.

Even though many of these are sited in remote

M any peri-urban areas are dependent on road

transport and vulnerable to energy shortages
or price rises. They are also vulnerable to climate im-
rural areas, there are often conflicts with land-
scape and nature conservation. Such energy
plants can be community owned or controlled as
pacts, and under pressure to find land for new part of a decentralised energy system, and so
sources of renewable energy. In areas of unplanned there will be demand for peri-urban locations
urban sprawl, the dependency on transport fuels is that are able to localise energy systems, together
highest, the climate change impacts may be highest, with associated materials and waste systems;
and the capacity to respond and adapt may be the  Transport fuel prices are likely to rise, brought
lowest. Firstly, the following is an outline of the range about by a combination of shortages, energy in-
of climate impacts on the peri-urban environment: vestments and emissions mitigation policies.
There are increasing policy pressures for higher
 Droughts and extreme heat periods. The urban urban densities and clustered settlements. It is
heat-island effect will overlap physically onto not so likely that peri-urban populations will mi-
peri-urban areas. And the effects of the urban grate back into cities, but more likely that popu-
heat-island are very likely to drive people out of lation movements will shift from remote rural
the cities into peri-urban areas; towards peri-urban areas, closer to urban serv-
 Flooding and extreme weather events. Flood ices and employment. Thus there could be in-
plains and water retention areas are tradition- creased pressures on peri-urban areas to accom-
ally sited in peri-urban areas. The problem is that modate growth within the most sustainable
land values and pressure for development en- settlement and transport pattern;
courage such areas to be built on and artificially  At the same time, there is policy pressure to cre-
surfaced, thus worsening the problem; ate attractive, high quality urban communities
 Sea-level rise and salt water incursion. This ap- to limit outward migration. Much of this effort
plies to coastal/estuarial areas, which are often will focus on the peri-urban areas, where much
peri-urban areas in close proximity either to of the population live by choice;
high quality farmland, or industrial plants, or ur-  Protection of carbon sinks and storage in both
ban infrastructure; rural and peri-urban areas. This will be topical
 Soil erosion is a driver for desertification and where there are multifunctional land use objec-
fine-dust contamination, which contributes to tives, such as habitat conservation, tourism and
lung diseases. Strengthening landscape struc- heritage, or other ecosystem services that link
tures in peri-urban areas can enhance air filtra- rural to peri-urban to urban areas.
tion and soil stability, and limit the abandon-
ment of traditional farming;

110
Figure 55: Climate Change Vulnerability Index
in predominantly peri-urban regions in EU 27

> 0 – 20
> 20 – 30
> 30 – 40
> 40 – 50
> 50 – 100
other regions
Source: Eurostat, JRC, DG Regio, ZALF, AIT

Spatial patterns and challenges  Built environment planning and design (particu-
larly transport infrastructure) for emissions re-

T he peri-urban Climate Vulnerability Index (Figure

55) shows quite a clear picture. The arid Mediter-
ranean regions face multiple challenges of rising

ductions;
Peri-urban land use change, both for climate
adaptation, and for development of renewable
temperatures and water stress, leading to soil erosion energy sources;
and rural abandonment. Northern coastal regions  Protection of infrastructure in the peri-urban
such as the Netherlands and Belgium are also at in- areas that is at risk, such as waste, minerals and
creasing risk of sea-level rise and storms. Other low communications;
lying areas in western France, northern Italy and Po-  Developing other sectors, such as local food pro-
land are also at risk from river flooding, soil erosion duction, which can strengthen each of the above,
and ecological disruption. However, there are still in- while adding to employment and diversification;
land peri-urban areas in the core regions which are  Encouraging business innovation, social enter-
relatively low risk at present. prise and community resilience to cope with
Overall, the policy challenges from energy and such changes.
climate change are manifold. If peri-urban areas
were carefully planned, and strategically governed, This overview of climate and energy issues shows
these challenges would be a more straightforward many links with other sectors, such as housing,
problem. But at present, there is fragmentation of transport, economic development, agriculture and
governance, conflict between market and state, ar- forestry. There is also the wider challenge of coordi-
guments over the allocation of costs and benefits, nating climate change action with the challenges of
and uncertainty over the economic and technologi- globalisation and demographic change. As in the
cal trajectory. So there is a very topical agenda to be next chapter, this suggests the need for new ways of
followed up on for each of the main policy themes in putting it together, i.e. multilevel, multi-sectoral,
the peri-urban areas: multifunctional ‘integrated governance for peri-ur-
ban territorial cohesion’.
Flooding at the Elbe river
in Lower Saxony, Germany,
2010

111
INTEGRATED
DEvElopmENT

112
AND EU polICY
opTIoNS

113
 Integrated Development
for peri-Urban Territorial Cohesion:
The agenda for integration

The challenge of managing peri-urban areas calls for multi-

level, multi-sectoral, multifunctional ‘integrated governance
for peri-urban territorial cohesion’. But this is easier said than
done. So this chapter sets out solutions and opportunities,
firstly for the territory of the rural-urban region, and then for
the governance system itself.

T his chapter takes an overview of the ‘peri-urban

agenda’ from many sectors. In particular, it takes
on board the EUROPE 2020 challenges and their im-
 How can physical, social and economic develop-
ment in the peri-urban area be governed, often
with fragmented units and boundaries? This
plications for peri-urban areas. From this it is clear calls for a system of multilevel governance in the
that there are widespread conflicts between differ- most suitable territorial units.
ent sectors: between the needs of city and country;
between the growth and conservation agendas; be- The starting points are very important:
tween wealth and poverty; and between local and
regional agendas. We can therefore raise some more  Peri-urban problems and opportunities need to
strategic questions (Ravetz, forthcoming): be managed in their context at the wider level
of the rural-urban region. Otherwise the peri-
 How can the policies for different sectors be in- urban will continue as a resource cupboard and
tegrated to avoid conflict and enhance opportu- dumping ground for the urban system.
nities? This calls for a multi-sectoral governance.  The rural-urban region is the optimum unit for
 How can different types of actors and stakehold- strategic governance and integrated develop-
ers be brought together to address complex ter- ment planning. But in reality the administrative,
ritorial problems? This calls for multilateral gov- economic, social or environmental units are of-
ernance. ten different. So the rural-urban region is a policy
framework and a way of working for managing
problems and opportunities more than a fixed
boundary.

114
 Rural-urban regions as  Direct rural-urban linkages including physical
and environmental flows and ecosystem serv-
territorial units ices, water resources and flood control, energy
and minerals, farm and forest products, land-

I ntegrated development models and integrated

governance systems are therefore needed. These
should be multi-sectoral and multilateral. For all
scape and biodiversity.
 Indirect rural-urban linkages including social,
cultural and economic flows, as well as the eco-
these, the rural-urban region level is the most suita- system services of amenity, leisure, aesthetics
ble for such integrated development models. Analy- and identity.
sis of the new geography of the peri-urban shows  Each of these has economic linkages and oppor-
that the conventional urban area and its administra- tunities for investment and development.
tive units are too narrow (NUTS4), while the admin-  Each also has social linkages, with opportunities
istrative ‘region’ (NUTS2) is usually too large. So the for improved balance, resilience and quality of life.
rural-urban region is the optimum size of territory
for the integration of needs and opportunities be- These linkages are combined in real places and
tween urban, peri-urban and rural areas. spaces, shown here as ‘area types’. The policy agenda
However, the actual boundaries of ecological for each is then formed as a localised ‘territorial co-
watersheds, economic functions and community hesion’. This contains a series of territorial ‘inte-
identities are often different to government units at grated development models’ for the rural-urban re-
NUTS 3 or equivalent. There are tensions between gion and all of its parts:
global and local, and between urban and rural agen-
das. The rural-urban region level of governance and  For enterprise zones, science parks, airports, and
policy-making therefore does not have to work in- other specialised sites, there is a policy agenda
side a fixed boundary. It is more like a strategic for spatial strategies and patterns. These should
framework that aims to respond to problems and steer monofunctional chaotic ‘sprawl’ towards
seek opportunities wherever needed. This being the more diverse and resilient patterns of polycen-
case, if an urban area has clear links with a rural area, tric development;
then they are both in a rural-urban region and  Housing, communities and peri-urban settle-
should be managed as such. There are two strands ments, both old and new, face challenges of so-
to this: ‘linkage types’ and ‘area types’. For the link- cial cohesion and economic vitality. Spatial plan-
age types, the diagram shows a range of possibilities ning needs to be integrated with the agenda for
(Figure 56): local diversification and social enterprise;

Figure 56: planning the

Area Types linkages
rural-urban region
Protected natural areas, Governance structures
combined with sustainable with link and coordinate
resource management municipalities in the rural-
urban region
Outer peri-urban areas,
with diversified land-based Ecosystem services linkages,
activities for water, soil, climate, food,
forest, visitors, etc.

Inner peri-urban areas, with Economic and investment

diversified landscape –based linkages to sustain and
settlements enhance the ecosystem
services
‘Green belt’ or similar spatial
development policy, with Strategic scale green
multi-functional landscape infrastructure which
diversity connects urban and rural
along natural features
‘Green city belt’ – areas
of diversified open space ‘Coastal belt’, wetlands, ‘Farm belt’ – areas of Social urban-rural linkages
with local food and natural floodplains, estuaries, intensive agriculture with to enable low impact access
habitats climatic buffer zones access to local markets between country and city

115
  Green and blue infrastructure in the peri-urban.  Pro-active spatial planning that aims for clusters
In order to compete with roads, housing and in- and hubs, for both living and working spaces,
dustrial development, this needs stronger fund- with a hierarchy of community types related to
ing and legal powers that enable the benefits of service levels;
investment to be returned to users and resi-  Transport infrastructure that enables multimo-
dents; dal integration, with alternative forms of re-
 Rural hinterland with natural or semi-natural ar- sponsive or distributed networks where needed;
eas. A priority for rural-urban linkages, with diver-  Economic development that links local enter-
sification in farming and forestry. Also ecosystem prise to global investment, thereby building re-
services exchange and strategic management of silience and diversity in SME supply chains, la-
natural assets. bour and property markets;
 Environmental policy that enhances ecosystem
visions and goals for integrated services, urban-rural linkage and ecological resili-
development ence, with a multifunctional land use strategy;
 Local government which works across borders,
There is an overarching question on policy for peri- with both formal and informal networks and co-
urban areas – is there a vision for integrated devel- operative structures.
opment that works for real places and spaces? Does
this mean not only the avoidance of sprawl, but a
positive vision? New governance
At the city region level, the peri-urban is often a
battleground between global and local, urban or ru- concepts
ral. There is a powerful dynamic of development and
enterprise, accelerated by global finance, technolo-
gies, networks and media, with the airport and
‘aero-tropolis’ as the main hub, pushed by landown-
G overnance in the sense of public interest deci-
sion making and the management of public
services is in a state of flux. The boundaries are be-
ers, financiers, entrepreneurs and householders (fig- ing redrawn between market and state, between the
ure 57). The result can be seen as a ‘Type A’ city region different sectors and professions, and between differ-
– sprawl, waste, pollution, congestion, exclusion, and ent levels from local to global. Expectations are rising
overall vulnerability. along with the challenges, while the public trust in
In response, the integrated development ap- political leadership and public services, in many
proach, or ‘Type B’ city region, sets out a positive vision places, is falling. Success may depend not only on
which aims to bring together global and local agendas: more governance, but on new forms of governance.

Figure 57: City-Region: Type (A) City-Region: Type (B)

visions and goals for Globalized development dynamic, with sub-optimal city-region Balanced development dynamic with strategic city-region
the city-region governance and planning: Result – ‘urban sprawl’ governance and planning: Result – ‘social city-region’

‘Aerotropolis’ with Spatial organization with

distributed low-density peri- clusters and families of
urban development settlement forms, to enable
higher densities, values and
‘Archepelago’ of globalized quality of life
business parks / science
parks / logistics / retail parks Integration of green/ grey/
/ health and education gold types of infrastructure
campuses to enable sustainable urabn
metabolism for the whole
Outward push and sprawl city-region
of mono-functional land
uses; displacement of local Regeneration of
diversity and resilience diversity and resilience
in local economies and
Widening social and Car dependency, traffic Linking global to local economic communities, to enhance
economic division and congestion, vulnerability to capital and investment flows, to social inclusion
exclusion zones climate change and fossil fuel enhance ecosystem services and
shortage rural-urban links

116
 The comparison of regional case studies in
PLUREL brought this agenda to the fore (Aalbers and
Eckerberg, 2010). There were four main fields of in-
vestigation related to the application of recent
thinking on multilevel governance:

 ‘Rules of the game’, i.e. the formal structures of

government and spatial planning. In some cases,
these were quite fixed and detailed. In others
they were quite fluid. And in yet further cases,
there was a kind of dual governance that com-
bined elaborate rules with a parallel low level of
corruption, favouritism and nepotism. The policy
recommendation is clearly for extended strate-
gic governance at the rural-urban region level.
However, this is politically difficult in many
cases;
 ‘Control of resources’, particularly ownership or
control of land, utilities and finance by the public
sector. In most EU regions, there is a shift away
from social democratic states towards neo-liber-
alised modes of privatisation, franchising and
deregulation. Therefore, effective control of re-
sources is more concerned with the mobilisation
of a wider community or coalition by the govern-
ment; Governance in the peri-urban context
 Coalition and the process of forming wider so-
cial and ideological partnerships is a key theme. The implications of this are interesting. Firstly, the
Each of the peri-urban cases was driven by some peri-urban territory is a new and fluid kind of geo-
kind of partnership or social contract between graphical space, where conventional ‘governance’ is
public sector agencies, landowners, financiers, often lacking. By its nature, the peri-urban crosses
farmers, utilities and so on. Conflicts over land administrative boundaries, with changes driven by
use and resources can be understood as ideo- local and global forces. It is often the site of conflict
logical coalition conflicts as much as the actual between wealthy and poor, city and country, immi-
case; grants and natives, or new and old. Such conflicts are
 ‘Discourses’ or ideological narratives. This is per- brought into focus by questions such as: Whose is
haps the most powerful and the least under- this territory? Who decides what happens? And who
stood of dynamics related to peri-urban change. gets the costs or benefits? In general, there are new
Certainly the discourse of polluted, dangerous challenges for governance in the peri-urban situa-
cities versus clean and safe countryside is re- tion:
sponsible for much peri-urban change. Public
discourses feed coalitions, coalitions grab re-  Linking territories to networks which cross mul-
sources, and with resources they can shape the tiple boundaries, with sometimes highly mobile
rules of the game. In this sense, a discourse of and globalised social-economic groups;
peri-urban change does not have to be negative,  Multifunctional policy agendas for the peri-ur-
except that it can focus and magnify existing di- ban landscape relating to energy and carbon, food,
visions and conflicts in society, as formed in land leisure, ecology, business park, retail park etc.;
use patterns.  Multilevel decision making where strategic and
local objectives need to be coordinated;
 Multi-sector working, which aims to realise the
potential and added value from a wide range of
stakeholders and ‘communities of interest’.

117
 peri-urban sustainability?  Rural development agenda. A more local policy
perspective that aims at a zone of indigenous

S ustainable development is a manifold idea that

combines economic, social and environmental
goals, both locally and globally, and in the shorter
development, with policy and investment tar-
geted at rural communities and businesses;
 Rural conservation agenda. An environmental
and longer term. This applies to peri-urban areas as protection perspective that aims at a zone of
with others. The role of the peri-urban however, is in landscape restoration, resource conservation
reality not so much its own territory, but a hinter- and local produce.
land – a support system and dumping ground for
the dominant urban activity. For instance, a typical Such policy agendas are based on different concepts
site in a peri-urban location may have conflicting of urban and rural. But again, the peri-urban covers
claims from local communities, from ecologists or both these and more as a newly emerging geo-
farmers, from city planners and road engineers, or graphic type of ‘metropolitanised’ territory. This sug-
from global entrepreneurs. gests a second approach – to focus on the ‘functions’
If sustainable development policy is to inter- or ‘services’ from ecological or urban systems, and
vene between such conflicts, it will need a wider the relationships of their components:
strategic view, i.e. at the rural-urban region level.
Within this, there will be different ‘sustainability  ‘Ecosystem services’ describe the interactions
agendas’. These can be defined by urban or rural between the physical environment and human
needs, and the development/ conservation agendas societies (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment,
(CURE, 2003): 2005). They are classed as ‘provisioning, socio-
cultural, regulating and supporting’ types of
 Urban development agenda. A growth and mod- services;
ernisation perspective that aims towards a zone  ‘Multifunctional land use’ can provide ‘win-win’
of enterprise, innovation and quality of life in solutions that fulfil more than one of the sus-
meeting the needs of urban areas; tainability agendas above (Forman, 1995; Piorr
 Urban conservation agenda. A containment and and Müller, 2009; Zasada, 2011);
regeneration perspective that aims at a man-  ‘Peri-urban land use relationships’ (as in the
aged zone via a Green Belt and other spatial PLUREL project title) can then be seen as a kind
policies in order to protect and enhance urban of ‘spatial ecology’ (Figure 58). Different activi-
areas; ties with different land uses, e.g. airports, waste

Figure 58: The rural-

peri-urban >>> rural links urban region and its
 leisure & tourism
linkages
Urban >>> peri-urban links Peri-urban  land-based employment
 housing development settlement links
 ecosystem services – social &
 commercial development  local economic cultural functions Showing the ‘peri-urban
development land-use relationships’,
 health & education facilities
 local community from the PLUREL
 transport & infrastructure
development methodology. This extends
 leisure & tourism
the ‘ecosystem services’
Rural >>> peri-urban links approach to a wider view
 ecosystem services – provisioning functions: on ‘functions, services
farming, forestry, minerals, energy, water and values’: the basis for
 ecosystem services – regulating & integrated development
supporting functions: flood retention, policy in the rural-urban
soil stability, climate moderation.
region.

Peri-urban >>> peri-urban links

 multi-functional diversified landscape –
settlements, business, services, cultural,
leisure, horticulture, livestock,
ecological habitats

118
 water plant, executive housing and heritage New forms of governance
landscapes all provide a range of functions and
services to others. This not only shows a single
gradient between urban and rural, but many
more kinds of relationships. The sustainability
T hese sustainability goals are not just a matter of
targets. They also concern the way that systems
work, in settlements, in landscapes, or in the interac-
goals then apply to the whole system rather tions between them. It follows that the governance
than just its parts. which aims to enable them also needs to be more
focused on the whole system rather than its sepa-
Thirdly, in each sector, there are practical sustainabil- rate parts. This suggests an agenda for ‘transition’ in
ity goals and targets that apply to the peri-urban governance, as in Figure 59:
situation. Some of the most topical targets include:
 From the former command-style ‘organised gov-
 Climate change emissions targets in urban and ernment’ with hierarchical structures, one-way
peri-urban systems. This links to settlement communications, and (typically) elections once
structures, land use, landscape patterns as well every 5 years;
as for adaptation potential, although this is not  Towards a more fluid and responsive ‘self-organ-
so easily measured; ising governance’. This is based on networks of
 Transport, energy, water and other urban infra- enabling, influencing, mobilisation, coalition
structure. The efficiency and external impacts and relationship building, between multiple
again are linked to settlement structures, land stakeholders at multiple levels. New opportuni-
use and landscape patterns; ties are emerging to support such a transition,
 Land quality, soil quality and other biophysical such as new ICT and Web2.0 social network sys-
resources and flows that are central to the eco- tems, new forms of public participation and de-
logical concept of sustainability. liberation, new forms of stakeholding, and the
 Sustainable forms of food production, forestry tolerance of minority groups and cultures;
and other land uses including larger scales as  Such a self-organising governance is not the
well, such as the contribution of peri-urban food whole story. It relies on a ‘regime’ or institutional
systems to the urban-global food system. structure, just as free markets rely on strong reg-
ulation, or self-organising communities rely on
strong social norms.

Figure 59: Peri-urban governance – paradigm shift

From – »oRGANIZED To – »SElF-oRGANIZING

GovERNmENT« GovERNANCE«
Policy: hierarchical Policy: responsive
& technocratic: within & inter-connected:
defined units & multi-level & multi-
sectors functional

Regulation system: Governance system

1-way information - co-production of
flow: (with occasional shared intelligence
election feedback)
Public: pro-active,
entrepreneurial,
Public: fragmented &
resilient & self-
passive recipients
organized

119
 New institutional
models

N ew forms of institutions and partnerships can

also be seen at work in the peri-urban. Where
there is overlap between public, private and ‘third’
Each of these can have a role to play in a typical mul-
tifunctional peri-urban project. For instance, many
peri-urban country parks in the UK are owned by
sectors, the results can combine the innovation of non-profit organisations, with a public-private part-
To square the circle
the private sector, the security of the public sector, nership for infrastructure investment, a business-
…new challenges ask for
and the ethical values of the third sector (Figure 60). community section for commercial tourism and a new institutional integra-
We can classify these partnerships and linkages into public sector-community ‘land trust’ with education tion. Melbourne,
three basic combinations – public-private, private- and training programmes. Australia
community and public-community – where each
sector has certain strengths, weaknesses, opportu-
nities and threats.

 Public-private linkages include various partner-

ships and consortiums, ethical procurement,
supply chain initiatives, and much of main-
stream economic development activity.
 Private-community sector linkages include local
business or regeneration partnerships, social in-
vestment funds, ‘mutual’ or cooperative finance
firms, corporate trusts and companies, consumer
clubs and networks, cooperatives, community
development trusts and other forms of social
enterprise.
 Community-public sector linkages include vol-
untary sector compacts, neighbourhood part-
nerships, customer charters, intermediate labour
markets, social trading, and other forms of com-
munity enterprise.

Figure 60: peri-urban institutions & partnerships

showing typical examples from the peri-urban case studies

Development obligations
Access agreements
Stewardship schemes

private sector public sector

Farmers Local authorities
Landowners Regional authorities
Developers Public services
Operators Public landholders

3rd sector:
Farmers markets Community groups Area forums
Tourism / heritage Conservation groups Countryside
partnerships Social enterprise groups partnerships
Village business Social landlords etc. Conservation
forums compacts

120
 New policy impacts, while at the same time, it may be the pre-
intelligence models ferred location by climate-stressed urban residents.
Figure 61 shows a view of climate adaptation in the
There are technical challenges in multi-sectoral, multi- peri-urban as multiple interactions between multi-
functional and multilevel governance, particularly in ple types of stakeholders.
the fragmented peri-urban situation. Experience shows
that different sectors speak different languages with New entrepreneurial and
different incentives. So we need ways of improving value added models
‘policy intelligence’, which does not only mean more in-
formation, but better knowledge management In the ‘institutional’ and ‘intelligence’ models above,
through the whole policy cycle from capacity building, the question is – what kinds of incentives and moti-
to analysis, strategy, implementation and evaluation. vations can help to achieve them? How do we get
This is a challenge for existing governance sys- from here to there? This raises the concept of ‘value’,
tems – generally arranged in departmental boxes – and the process of generating ‘added value’. Value is
to respond to agendas which are multifunctional, an economic concept which might be measured in
multilevel, multiagency, intergenerational and so on. money terms. It is also a social, political or cultural
The concept of ‘strategic policy intelligence’ brings concept more suitable for other kinds of measures.
this all together: The challenge for governance can be seen as the en-
abling of value-added activity by and for all stake-
 Exchange of technical information from differ- holders – not just for a static balance sheet, but as a
ent sectors; creative and entrepreneurial process. In the peri-ur-
 Application to the policy cycle, with stages in- ban situation, the best practices and the most valu-
cluding survey, analysis, strategy, implementa- able opportunities will often combine economic, so-
tion and evaluation; cial and environmental kinds of added value:
 Organisational capacity building and innovation,
learning and skills development;  In Local Economic Development (LED), value is
 Anticipatory governance through foresight and added in business self-help models. But greater
future studies, systems thinking and strategic potential exists in new kinds of partnerships be-
planning. tween businesses, landowners, consumers and
intermediaries;
One example is the peri-urban climate change  In local community development, a ‘social enter-
agenda (see previous chapter). Peri-urban develop- prise’ approach can generate cultural projects,
ment is particularly vulnerable to climate change such as heritage and arts events, public health

Planning and fiscal policy to enable Ecosystems / climate services Figure 61: Strategic
strategic approach to green infra / companies provide integrated
flood / water / resilience carbon / climate package policy intelligence -
New ways of funding
climate example
Government, Inter-mediaries and Multi-functional land,
and insuring green infra
and risk management national / local service companies collective resources and
via ecosystem services community resilience showing the different
roles & relationships of
Finance and Social and community stakeholders, and the
enterprise enterprise
Strategic policy intelligence potential for a policy
system: anticipatory scanning, intelligence system
extended value chains with
Utilities and participative innovation Citizens and
infrastructure householder

Management and Public participation and

investment systems Design and Buildings and behavioural adaptation
for green and low construction landscape to climate
impact infrastructure
indemnities New building and landscape Building contractors join
designs, regulations, codes of area consortiums, working
practice and indemnities to efficiency performance
standards
Joint action for critical infrastructure: low impact and
local water and energy management indemnities

121
 ers, farmers, schools and children, markets, delivery
Figure 62: peri-urban local integrated development – example
merchants, supermarkets, health services, restau-
showing the different based on the local food scheme in the UK South pennines:
www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk/ rants tourism operators and others (Figure 62).

Summary: Integrated development

 Extended chains and
networks of social in rural-urban regions
collaboration and
investment between public /
private / community Overall, there are two main strands to the agenda
Landscape owners and managers
 Self-organizing multi-level for integrated development:
governance and exchange Municipalities
Farmers
systems
 Knowledge networking,
 Peri-urban problems and opportunities need to
social learning, shared be managed in their context, at the wider level
intelligence
NGOs and of the rural-urban region. Otherwise the peri-
 Social / cultural / political social enterprise
space for innovation and Education and health urban will continue as a resource base and
enterprise dumping ground for the urban system;
 Role of leadership, policy Local democracy
 The rural-urban region is the optimum unit for
intermediation, community
hubs and gateways Local markets
strategic governance and integrated develop-
 Enabling role of policy and ment planning.
programmes: to support and
promote self-organizing
diversity and resilience SMEs and tourism An overall picture begins to emerge for ‘putting it to-
gether’ – integrated governance and development
for rural-urban regions. By working at this more stra-
tegic level, the particular challenges of the peri-urban
areas can be addressed and solutions can emerge.
Firstly, the peri-urban agendas for each sector –
projects, activities for young or old people, edu- economy, demography, housing, transport, agricul-
cation and skills training, re-use of obsolete ture, tourism and environment – need to be brought
buildings and so on. closer together (Chapter Peri-Urban Agendas). For the
 In local environmental action, the concept of Eco- coordination and public control of development, we
system Services opens the door to a wide agenda. need a strong and democratic local government sys-
There are new possibilities emerging from bene- tem. This depends on factors such as the financing
fit-exchange models, cost recovery models, asset and taxation base, the level of transparency and par-
transfers, carbon markets, flood resilience and ticipation, the strength of spatial planning, and par-
many other forms. ticularly, the coordination at the wider level of the
rural-urban region (Chapter Managing Growth).
One example is the Todmorden ‘Incredible Edible’ The European policy systems and forward chal-
‘Incredible Edible’ scheme for local food cultivation (http://www.in- lenges are part of the problem, but also, hopefully,
initiative, planting food
credible-edible-todmorden.co.uk). This is an entre- part of the solution. Globalisation, demographic
to share in public spaces:
‘Watch this space, come
preneurial partnership that in just three years has change and climate change are all powerful forces
back and taste something transformed the way a town of 20,000 people man- of change in the peri-urban areas (Chapter Euro-
tasty’. Todmorden, UK age and think about food. It now involves landown- pean Policy Agendas).
This chapter shows the potential for responsive
‘bottom-up’ forms of governance – not to replace
formal policies, but to work alongside them and
make them go further. In parallel, there are ‘territo-
rial models’ for spatial development in rural-urban
regions, and all the location types within them.
Overall, there is a policy menu for putting the
whole picture together – policy solutions for the
peri-urban through ‘integrated development models
for rural-urban regions’. These can be arranged in
five key themes:

122
 Spatial strategy. This involves a policy frame- Application to multilevel governance
work at the level of the rural-urban region, co-
ordinating peri-urban development and low-
impact infrastructure and setting up controls
and incentives to avoid sprawl. The focus is on
I is easy to call for multilevel and multi-sectoral
governance, but not as simple to make it a reality.
It is therefore a good reason to work at a number of
the peri-urban as a priority agenda together levels, from local to regional, national and EU level.
with its rural-urban linkages and relation- There are also good reasons to work with both for-
ships; mal and informal governance, in the event of gov-
 Economic strategy. This involves peri-urban di- ernance gaps or policy failures at one or another
versification and resilience of local economies level. So the ‘integrated development model’ above
and employment, rural diversification, urban is designed to work directly at the rural-urban re-
regeneration with improved urban-rural links, gion level, and also above or below this level:
property ownership with social and environ-
mental responsibility and public access. The  A community-led ‘bottom-up’ approach. This
focus is on the social economy and social enter- looks for added value at a more local level includ-
prise in the peri-urban; ing self-organising communities of interest,
 Social strategy. This involves housing and service with residents, landowners, infrastructure firms,
provision to encourage balanced, inclusive and businesses, social enterprises, health and educa-
resilient communities, leisure and tourism that tion, NGOs and community organisations;
is open and accessible, value, and a safe-  The rural-urban region itself is a policy-driven
guarded social and cultural heritage. The focus concept. Where an urban area has clear links with
lies on the needs and opportunities in different a rural area, then they are de facto part of a rural-
settlement types in the peri-urban; urban region, and need to be managed as such;
 Environmental strategy. This involves ecosys-  EU-initiated top-down approach. The next chapter
tem-services policy and investment systems, sets out strategic options for the contribution of
climate change mitigation and adaptation, EU policy. Some of these rely on a strong EU com-
landscape and habitat conservation, and multi- mitment by national governments, and strong
level green-blue infrastructure. The focus is public finances that are presently scarce. Others
on the agenda for diversified, multifunctional mark more flexible ways for the EU level to support
agriculture and forestry; and enable other levels of activity towards the re-
 Governance strategy. This involves strong and quired sustainable and integrated direction.
democratic municipal government, healthy fi-
nances and an active role in the local economy, EU countries are very different regarding the chances
along with transparency among public and of these three types of organising governance ap-
stakeholder participation. The focus is on the ca- proaches. Reality may prove the need for a mixed ap-
pacity for strategic and cross-border coordina- proach, for which an EU level framework, as in the
tion at the level of the rural-urban region, as next chapter, should enable and encourage. Overall,
well as on a sustainable development that ca- these new models of peri-urban governance are in
ters for the needs of all stakeholders, and does many ways old models. They need to be reinvented
not simply reproduce existing structures of for the new challenges of globalising networked
wealth and power. peri-urban territories in the 21st century.

Land art: mirrors

near Linz, Austria

123
 NEW EURopEAN DIRECTIoNS

policy integration: the need for

EU level coordination frameworks

There is a growing urban sprawl problem across the EU, but

also an integrated peri-urban development opportunity and
agenda. Both problems and opportunities need to be ad-
dressed by all EU policy and funding programmes that have
implications for spatial development and territorial cohesion.
To cope with the problems and make the most of the oppor-
tunities, territorial ‘integrated development’ models for ru-
ral-urban regions should become a requirement across all EU
countries. To implement this step, we have identified five
possible options for EU-level policy and/or financial interven-
tion. The advantages and possible drawbacks of these op-
tions are discussed, so that EU policy makers and stakehold-
ers can take the agenda forward.

124
 The problem at the pan-EU level

T he PLUREL research shows that EU policy goals –

as in the Lisbon Agenda – are very likely to ac-
celerate urban sprawl in light of current trends.
sive, affordable housing often encourages car use,
and compact development might exclude low in-
come earners. Tackling any one challenge sepa-
The highest growth scenario, which is mostly rately usually creates additional problems for others.
driven by global enterprise and innovation, leads These conflicts are especially significant in the peri-
to the highest increase in artificial surfaces. Within urban areas. Economy- and housing-induced
all scenarios, it is the peri-urban areas of the regions sprawl is in conflict with land for agriculture and
where this change will be the most intense – on av- recreation. There is also competition for water be-
erage, an increase of between 1.4 – 2.5% per year. On tween agriculture, industry and domestic use etc.
the European spatial scale, it is the most developed Overall, there is a range of spatial problems at dif-
Central or ‘Pentagon’ peri-urban regions that will re- ferent scales that are often most challenging in
ceive the highest increase in urban development, peri-urban areas:
possibly doubling their existing area by 2040.
These results clearly show the threat of fur-  Urban-rural balance. Urban sprawl can easily
ther increases to existing disparities within Europe. destroy the viability of both urban and rural
The pressure for increased urbanisation is most in- areas;
tense in areas which are already mainly peri-urban  Interregional balance. Many peri-urban areas
and in many aspects over-densified. Given that fur- are either depopulated or over-pressured by
ther urbanisation is more or less inevitable, there is commuter settlements;
a policy choice which depends on the level of pub-  Cross border effects. Many agglomerations and
lic control over land use changes: urban sprawl or functional rural-urban regions cross national
more concentrated (compact/polycentric) urban borders and need integrated forms of plan-
development. ning;
The analysis of the main future challenges of  Pan-EU balance. For example, there are imbal-
European development (ageing, climate change, ances between shrinking eastern regions and
globalisation, energy shortages) has highlighted the over-heated Pentagon area, or from remote
the problems of narrow sectoral approaches. For Nordic areas to the sprawl on the Mediterra-
instance, zero-emission houses can be too expen- nean coast.

125
T he recent Europe 2020 strategy seeks to integrate
the economic, environmental and social aspects
of development. To achieve the new smart, sustaina-
Territorial Cohesion and
the peri-urban agenda
ble and inclusive development path, strategic coordi-
nation of both policy goals and market processes are
needed as summarised by the Leipzig Charter: T he European Union, without being directly re-
sponsible, nonetheless has a role to play in the
shaping of future European territorial development,
 Transversal – coordination across sectoral de- with special regard to the peri-urban agenda. This is
partments; a multilevel agenda which demands cooperation
 Vertical – a multilevel governance system where between the EU, national, regional and local levels.
each level contributes to the integration of sec- At the EU level, the theme of ‘Territorial Cohesion’
toral policies; (TC) focuses on the spatial implications of the Lisbon
 Horizontal – multi-territorial coordination be- Agenda “to assist in improving the governance of co-
tween cities, urban/rural linkages and metropol- hesion policy, making it more flexible, more capable
itan agglomerations; of adapting to the most appropriate territorial scale,
 Multilateral coordination involving citizens and more responsive to local preferences and needs, and
all actors concerned. better coordinated with other policies, with the prin-
ciple of subsidiarity” (CEC 2008). The TC themes and
The limited results so far of the Lisbon Agenda show objectives are very relevant to the peri-urban
that EU-wide strategies cannot succeed without the agenda:
sharing of responsibility at the sub-national level.
Similarly, one of the main weaknesses of the Europe  Cooperation between territories involves cross
2020 strategy is the lack of a territorial dimension. border coordination and strategic policy at mul-
The PLUREL results show how the Europe 2020 poli- tiple scales. This works with the peri-urban as an
cies depend on the territorial level of integrated interface between urban/rural areas, or between
planning to assure the green and social aspects of different urban and regional systems. Policy also
economic development strategies. They also under- needs to look at the peri-urban as an area type in
line this should focus on the rural-urban region unit its own right, with its particular needs and op-
that brings together functional urban regions with portunities;
their peri-urban and rural surroundings.  Territorial programming uses the territory rather
PLUREL analysis has shown that the public than the sector as the base for policies and pro-
steering of market processes towards sustainable de- grammes. Functional rural-urban regions need
velopment presupposes strong formal government to be considered as integrated systems. Until
institutions and planning systems, as well as coordi- now, it has often been the case that the peri-ur-
nated functioning of financial and sectoral policies. ban territory has not been the object of policy
The bottom-up, more informal governance aspects discussions;
are also crucial for integrated development at the ru-  Coordination of policies with territorial impact.
ral-urban region level. While these cannot replace the This is very relevant to the peri-urban, which is
formal structures, they can help where formal struc- often an area of conflict or competition between
tures are weak or missing to a given extent. different policy regimes – particularly the urban
and rural. The obvious example is regional devel-
opment funding, which helps to produce urban
sprawl in the peri-urban area;
 Evidence based policy. Here it is clear that tradi-
tional forms of evidence in urban or rural ‘units
of analysis’ may not reflect the reality of peri-
urban spaces within functional rural- urban re-
gions. There is a need for new forms of research
and evidence based on the new spaces of the
peri-urban (of which the PLUREL project is one
contribution).

126
 Alternative policy options

On the basis of PLUREL results, it is clear that the EU faces a

new challenge in playing a role initiating better public steer-
ing of peri-urban development processes. Otherwise, the
economic development and growth-oriented policies will
lead to unacceptable urban sprawl mainly in the peri-urban
areas. This challenge can be approached through different
types of EU policy frameworks aimed at more integrated de-
velopment at the rural-urban region level. Five main options
can be drafted for such a policy framework for the post-2013
period:

 Option (a) – EU Integrated Development Framework Directive

 Option (b) – EU Integrated Development Conditionality
 Option (c) – EU Integrated Development Community Initiative
 Option (d) – Open Method of Coordination for Integrated Development in Functional Regions
 Option (e) – EU Reference Framework for Integrated Development in Functional Regions

Each of these options, which are ranked from the strongest

down to the weakest, have benefits and disadvantages, and
can be summarised as follows.

127
 option (a): EU Integrated
Development Framework Directive

T he ‘Integrated Development Framework Direc-

tive’ would aim at setting the agenda and the
standard for integrated territorial development pol-
It must be emphasised that such an Integrated
Development Framework Directive does not have to
define exactly, and with pan-European relevance,
icy. It would strive to provide a legal basis for regula- the content of the required sustainable and inte-
tory reform including guidance for regional funding grated development policy. Rather, it can concen-
and infrastructure development at several levels, trate on procedural questions.
and a framework for negotiation and assessment
that is built into the policy process.  Pre-assumptions for this option: member states
Similar existing tools are mainly in the environ- accept the extension of Commission competences.
mental sector, e.g. the Environmental Assessment  Similar tools already existing: Environmental As-
Directive and Water Framework Directive. Both of sessment Directive, Water Framework Directive.
these initiatives are world-leading demonstrations  Advantages of this option: the scope is not only
of integrated and proactive policy and regulation. focused on European financing, but other forms
From the history of these directives, it could be of development in general.
learnt that (a) they can be complex and lengthy to  Potential barriers or risks: the process (steps) to
transpose to the national level, (b) new tools and reach the broad aims of European rural-urban de-
methods are needed together with definitions, velopment has to be precisely defined in legal
boundaries, practices and professional skills etc. terms with overall relevance to all member states.

option (b): EU Integrated

Development Conditionality

T o access European funding, integrated develop-

ment plans would have to be prepared on the
functional rural-urban region level and be approved
 Advantages of this option: it would be a power-
ful tool given to the Commission to promote in-
tegrated territorial planning.
by relevant political bodies. This proposal is already  Potential barriers or risks: the main criteria (not
under discussion as a possible ‘mandatory territorial the precise borders) for functional regions have
dimension’ in National Strategic Reference Frame- to be given with pan-European relevance. Inte-
works and their Operational Programmes for the 2014 grated development planning has to be phrased
– 2020 period. very precisely, and the monitoring of the fulfill-
ment of the conditions requires capacities in the
 Pre-assumptions for this option: member states Commission. Also, this option will have less in-
accept the extension of EU competences over EU fluence on countries and regions which receive
funding, and functional rural-urban regions are less EU funding, which include most of the Pen-
accepted as a practical basis for planning. tagon areas that have the highest pressure on
 Similar tools already existing: all other condi- the peri-urban.
tions placed on Structural Funds to be used (e.g.
equal opportunities and gender criteria).

128
 option (c): EU Integrated
Development Community Initiative

T here are funds allocated among the member

states to be targeted directly at specific pilot and
demonstration projects for supporting integrated
 Advantages of this option: there are no subsidi-
arity problems, no need for direct approval by
the member states and relatively little EU money
planning and development in rural-urban regions. is needed.
 Potential barriers or risks: the results remain
 Pre-assumptions for this option: Community Ini- constrained as pilot projects, available Commu-
tiatives again become part of the EU policies and nity funding is small, and there is little overall
the budget. effect on the functioning of rural-urban areas.
 Similar tools already existing: the URBAN Commu-
nity Initiative was a very successful tool until 2006.

option (d): open method of Coordination (omC)

for Integrated Development

M ember states have to prepare National Action

Plans for integrated development planning.
NAPs have to be published, peer reviews organised and
 Advantages of this option: the OMC forces the
member states to deal with the topic to develop
their own mechanisms.
the Commission must prepare a critical evaluation.  Potential barriers or risks: critical remarks about
national programmes have no direct effect. The
 Pre-assumptions for this option: approval by the Commission – beyond commenting – has no
member states to extend the OMC to integrated power to influence the systems of the countries.
development in rural-urban regions. The OMC method in its present form is consid-
 Similar tools already existing: the OMC is applied ered to be highly bureaucratic.
in several sectors where the EU has no direct com-
petences (best known OMC for social inclusion).

option (e): EU Reference Framework

for Integrated Spatial Development

T he Commission prepares – with the help of the

member states – a Reference Framework with
guidance, tools and reference documentation about
 Advantages of this option: the goals of sustain-
able European development can be demon-
strated, allowing each country to refine the con-
integrated planning in rural-urban regions. crete tools by adjusting them to their own
circumstances.
 Pre-assumptions for this option: the Commis-  Potential barriers or risks: the Reference Frame-
sion and some member states take on the work work has no direct effects, its use is voluntary,
to prepare the Reference Framework. and the Commission has no power to control
 Similar tools already existing: Reference Frame- and influence its application in the countries.
work for European Sustainable Cities (under ap-
proval).

129
 The clash between EU policy at a time
conditionality and the of public deficit
subsidiarity principle

A s with all new EU initiatives – also in the case of

the above policy options – the subsidiarity
F ollowing the economic crisis and recession, there
may be some years of public sector financial defi-
cit and a shift from public sector towards private
question has to be addressed. There are some coun- sector investment. It is therefore relevant that inte-
tries where integrated thinking is already applied (at grated spatial development of the peri-urban be
least in principle). They might argue that there is no very important to the private sector from both the
need at all for the EU to intervene into government business and financial perspective. The inclusion of
and spatial planning issues with the goal of requir- the private sector is:
ing integrated planning. In many other countries A) a top-down agenda. EU policies should aim
however, integrated thinking is still lacking and sec- to secure the asset values and investments of major
toral, mainly economic development-oriented poli- institutions that are often in public-private owner-
cies dominate the agenda. The uncoordinated sectoral ship combinations, e.g. municipal funds, infrastruc-
policies create many externalities and contradic- ture firms, pension funds, large landowners and
tions, affecting the living conditions, the sustainabil- large investors etc. These are the organisations
ity of development and the level of social inclusion which can take a longer term view rather than a
on the local level. In a unified Europe, with the free quick profit from uncoordinated development;
movement of people and labour becoming full real- B) a bottom-up agenda. Individual firms, devel-
ity from May 2011 onward, this will create large mi- opers, entrepreneurs and landowners need to look
gration patterns towards those (richer) countries beyond short-term gains from property sales and
which apply integrated policies. development towards more long term asset value.
From this argument it follows that in a unified
Europe, a certain minimum of integrated territorial
planning should be made compulsory either as a di-
rective or as a condition to obtain EU money from
any of the available funds. Integrated cross-sectoral
and cross-territorial planning on the rural-urban re-
gion level has to be applied everywhere.
Without the compulsory requirement of inte-
grated territorial planning, the countries that will
suffer the most will be those that already apply this
approach, and simply reject the directive or condi-
tionality due to the subsidiarity principle. In the long
term, it is in the common interest of all countries in
the EU to make integrated planning a compulsory
requirement.

130
 EU intervention in Conclusion and
content or process? next steps

T he strong concept of subsidiarity prevents the

EU from precisely defining either the delimita-
tion of the rural-urban regions or the content of in-
O verall, there is an urgent need for the EU to ad-
dress the territorial problem of development,
especially the rapid change and controversial devel-
tegrated development. Furthermore, the topic of opment in peri-urban areas.
sustainable and inclusive development is a con- Addressing this issue is urgent and necessary,
tested political issue, for which only multilevel sys- but will certainly not be simple. As with other spa-
tems of targets can be satisfactory. tial and territorial policy questions, the EU is not the
Thus the EU can only aim for the assessment body with the relevant legislative jurisdiction. There-
of plans prepared for functional rural-urban re- fore, a range of options regarding policy needs to be
gions in terms of the Territorial Cohesion agenda explored and tested for various levels of the prob-
above: (1) cross-border cooperation, (2) territorial pro- lem and multiple kinds of governance. In addition, it
gramming, (3) policy coordination and (4) the evi- has emerged that ‘soft’ informal modes of govern-
dence base. ance need to work in combination with formal
In each of these areas, there is some kind of structures and regulations. The peri-urban areas in
balance between ‘content’ and ‘process’. As found between urban and rural policy regimes may be es-
with the Environmental Assessment Directive, it is pecially suitable for this kind of approach.
not always practical to set fixed standards and ‘blue- One way to enable both soft and hard ap-
prints’ for these objectives. Instead, the procedures, proaches is to build up the evidence base, particu-
techniques, participation and evidence bases should larly on the peri-urban as a new form of territory
be focused upon. with special problems and opportunities.
The five briefly discussed options differ from We hope that the PLUREL project has made a
each other not only in their strength, but also re- contribution to this evidence base, which can sup-
garding their emphasis on the content or procedural port further debate on the most beneficial type of
side of the regulation. In table 14 the number of “+” policy responses.
signs indicate the strengths of the given aspect.
Of course, it is easier to require procedural than
topical sectoral factors as conditions. Further discus-
sions are necessary to analyse to what extent hard
factors, such as local taxation and public subsidies,
can be influenced in this way from the supra-local
(especially European) level. It is also an open question
as to what extent country-specific soft factors, such
as relational thinking in the UK and compromise cul-
ture in the Netherlands, can play a role in environ-
mentally and socially sustainable urban development.

Table 14: Strengths of different policy options for improved

steering of peri-urban development processes
Target of policies

Policy options Content Procedure

1. Framework Directive ++ +++
2. Conditionality +++ ++
3. Community Initiative ++ +
4. Open Method of Coordination ++
5. Reference Framework + +

131
132
Annex
PLUReL Models and Tools
for Rural-Urban Relationships
at eU – 27 scale

133
 Modelling the impacts of
urbanisation: The methods
behind the process

This chapter briefly explains the scientific

modelling procedure applied to generate the
maps and diagrams shown in this synthesis
report.

Scenario modelling

D ata related to artificial surface area, GDP and

population density have been used as the indi-
cators for urban growth or shrinkage, and were
each country of the EU-27. They result in projections
on changes in the key variables for urbanisation: an
increase or growth of artificial surface, GDP and
taken as the starting point of the modelling chain population density for the years 2015 and 2025. The
(Figure A1). The data source for artificial surfaces is projections have been downscaled, and take the
the Corine Land Cover data (CLC2000 (EEA 2010)) on specific situation of each NUTSX region into consid-
different land use and urban fabric classes, while eration.
data on GDP as the economic indicator and popula-
tion density are derived from EUROSTAT. Time-series
analyses of these data provide evidence on the Downscaling
trends of urbanisation from the commencement
year of 2000. Four scenarios of future trends have
been defined (see page 37). Accordingly, expected
changes in demography, migration, oil price devel-
T he downscaling procedure was carried out with
the RUG (Rural-Urban Growth) model. This is a
cellular automata model that distributes land use
opment and world demand for various commodities changes driven by urbanisation. It considers the sen-
referenced to EU policy assumptions have been en- sitivity of regions to climate change – for example,
tered into specific models for demographic change by defining particular spatial allocation rules for ar-
projections (Scherbov and Mamolo, 2007) and into eas at risk of flooding. The allocation approach con-
the macro-econometric NEMESIS model on eco- siders planning preferences (e.g. housing concentra-
nomic change (Zagamé et al., 2002; Boitier et al., tion and avoidance of flooding risk zones) and
2008). Simulations were run for the development of household preferences (e.g. accessibility of cities
32 production sectors and 27 consumption goods for and distance to the coast), whereas an index for the
accessibility of cities takes into account both the
probability of commuting to the city of that size,
and the travel time-cost along the transport net-
work (Rickebusch and Rounsevell, 2009).

134
 data (maps)
Figure A1: Modelling
• Artificial surface e.g. impacts of urbanisation
• GDP Existing Existing • Employment rate
• Population density databases databases • Emissions
• Loss of agricultural area
PLUREL methodological
NUTSX NUTSX
Variables / Variables • Recreational value approach for EU-27 at
indicators for for impacts of NUTSX scale
H urban growth urban growth H

Scenario Response
Modelling • ∆ Artificial surface Function
GDP and pop Modelling
2015, 2025
• ∆ GDP E of Impacts
• ∆ Population density

• model future trends • model relationships of urban-

• downscale to NUTSX rural functions and sprawl
• allocate to urban, peri urban Scenario Urbanisation F • model impacts for each NUTSX
and rural areas E situations Impacts on • normalise results for integrated
NUTSX sustainability analysis (iIAT)
GDP and pop NUTSX • aggregate by typologies
G 2015, 2025 2015, 2025

RUR-typology E iIAT webtool

H
Particularity of peri-urban trends

Sub-regional delineation figure 35). The regression analysis resulted in “re-

sponse models” on specific impacts of urbanisation.

In the next step, the RUR (Rural-Urban Regions) ty-

pology was used for the spatial allocation into pre-
dominantly urban, peri-urban and rural regions
These models enable the assessment of the impact
in future scenario situations for each NUTSX region,
as the change of the endogenous variable (artificial
(Loibl and Köstl, 2009; Zasada et al., 2011). surface, population density or GDP) for each respec-
tive NUTSX region is known from the other part of

Sustainability analysis the modelling chain.

F or the analysis of impacts of urbanisation trends,

the EUI (European Urbanisation Impacts) model
has been developed within PLUREL. It comprises a
Result retrieval and
presentation
series of “response function models” developed by
different researcher teams, and follows a similar
methodology as follows: It analyses the impacts of
urbanisation trends starting with the analysis of
T he final point of the modelling chain is the visu-
alisation and result extraction tool iIAT-EU (inte-
grated Impact Analysis Tool). After a normalisation
data from European databases for each NUTSX re- procedure, all baseline and scenario-modelling re-
gion, and uses variables like employment rate, emis- sults from the EUI model are transferred into the
sions, loss of agricultural area or recreational value. iIAT database. The iIAT-EU is freely accessible on the
By regression analysis and similar statistical me- internet via the PLUREL XPlorer, and allows for result
thods, EUROSTAT data series have been related to retrieval in the form of spidergrams and maps at
the key trends of urbanisation, either by share of ar- various scales, according to user demands.
tificial surface and population density, or by GDP,
depending on the driver-impact relationship (see

135
 The PLUReL xplorer

An information platform for rural-urban

land use relationships

H ow might climate change affect land uses in the

urban-rural interface? What might be the fu-
ture pressures of peri-urbanisation? How might
Features of the
PLUReL xPlorer
people value agricultural farming in the rural hinter-
land? Will there be enough water for growing urban The PLUREL Xplorer front door (user entry) features a
agglomerations? What about biodiversity and eco- modular design similar to the apps system. Here,
system services? Are there example cases for sus- short and illustrated fact sheets guide the user
tainable peri-urbanisation? through the knowledge bits and allow for the im-
mediate download of sophisticated background in-

Online information formation in the form of reports, figures, maps or

sketches. Interactive design elements support the
platform about peri- intuitive comprehension of causal interrelations be-

urbanisation
tween the knowledge bits. The user entry offers
three different perspectives on peri-urbanisation.
Principles and Processes is the holistic approach com-
A useful platform addressing these and other fore- prising all products, interlinked in an analytical
sight questions is the PLUREL Xplorer, a web-based chain. The Problems category is the thematic per-
online information platform. The PLUREL Xplorer spective, while Places displays spatially explicit re-
condensates and configures the knowledge and sults of PLUREL from the European down to the case
products of PLUREL to support planning and policy study level (Figure A3).
discussions on rural-urban land use interactions at The back door (supplier entry) is constructed in
European and regional level. It provides information the form of a web-based fact sheet and file upload
for planners, practitioners and professionals on system that collects content and meta-information
processes, problems and places of peri-urbanisation of knowledge produced in PLUREL in a consistent
in Europe and its regions (Figure A2). and standardised form. This standardisation also al-
lows for the extension to other knowledge sources
of rural-urban interactions in Europe, its sub-regions
or abroad.

Access to the PLUReL xPlorer

Visit the Xplorer at http://plurel.ait.ac.at/plurel/

xplorer and explore processes, patterns and
places of peri-urbanisation! No software installa-
tion is necessary.

136
Figure A2: The information platform PLUREL XPlorer

Source: ZALF, AIT

Figure A3: Organisation of the PLUREL XPlorer

Processes Problems Places

challenges

spatial
Analytical scales
Peri-urbanisation
cycle

issues problems

137
 The european integrated
Impact Analysis Tool (iIAT-eU)

This chapter introduces the new freely accessible web tool to

assess impacts of urbanisation in Europe on the sustainabil-
ity of regions – the integrated Impact Analysis Tool (iIAT-EU).
It is an easily accessible and applicable tool for decision support
in the context of spatial development politics and planning.

T he PLUREL integrated Impact Analysis Tool (iIAT-

EU) synthesises the results from the PLUREL mod-
elling of urbanisation and its impacts on various
picted in spidergrams and can be downloaded as
pdf files. Selection between sustainability indica-
tors, scenarios and different spatial units at different
functions into a multipurpose and interactive web scales is the main application principle (Figure A 4)
tool, the iIAT-EU and the iIAT-region (Piorr et al. 2010; (Piorr et al., 2011).
Haase et al. 2010). The iIAT EU has been developed to
make comprehensive and complex scientific model-
ling accessible and understandable for a broad range Selection of indicators,
of end-users, such as regional planners, European
policy-makers and stakeholders of all kinds. Users can
scenarios and spatial units
extract thematically and spatially targeted informa-
tion for different scales and for different types of re-
gions, and can carry out comparisons which are de- U sers can select a fixed list of sustainability indi-
cators or choose up to 12 indicators out of 28
(Table A1). Integrated result presentation is dis-
played in spidergrams, while maps can also be pro-
Figure A4: Functionality and graphical user interface of the PLUREL iIAT-EU duced for individual indicators.
Users can choose the baseline situation based
scenario regional regional region type name spider graph on EUROSTAT time series data or modelled future
selection typology typology (with map view diagram (with
selection name function) map view va- situations that are affected by urbanisation projec-
riable value) tions for the four PLUREL scenarios for the time
scenario
steps 2015 and 2025.
variable
value (with The iIAT-EU covers 543 NUTSX regions of the EU-
value display 27. Users can query indicator values for single NUTSX
target year
function)
regions, or average values relating to selected groups
minimum of regions, or national or EU-27 averages. To allow for
indicator
value (0) thematic comparisons, the iIAT offers eleven typolo-
selection
maximum gies. These act as a filter for the generation of grouped
Source: ZALF, AIT, PAS

pdf export value (1)

average indicator values of regions with similar at-
parameter tributes, for example, rural-urban-region type, spa-
display
tial-planning type, or the level of natural hazard vul-
nerability, innovation and accessibility.

138
 Thematic integration Figure A5: Selection of indicators and map viewer

A ll indicator values for all variables and all regions

in all projections have been normalised to make
them comparable, so that users can compare inten-
sity and dynamics of response to urbanisation, even if
they address different spatial units in their compari-
sons. Each European region has a specific profile that
determines its response to global drivers, urbanisa-
tion trends, related land use changes and the impacts
of these. Therefore, it is important not only to allow a
broad view over various sustainability indicators, but
also to permit a better insight into the combined
trends and their effects that differ, depending on

Source: ZALF, AIT, PAS

which spatial scale is considered. A tool-tip function
supports users in their selection procedure. It pro-
vides a map visualisation of the value distribution of
indicators and typologies across the EU-27 (see figure
A5). By applying the three selection steps, users can
conduct an integrated analysis. Up to three analyses Table A1
can be compared and visualised in one output pres- Indicators of the iIAT-EU
entation as spidergrams. Environmental
Density of Natural Habitats

A novel interface Endangered Bird Species

Landscape Interspersion
between science and Landscape Patchiness

policy-making Landscape Fragmentation

Soil sealing

T
CO Emissions
he application principles, the functionality and HC Emissions
the graphical user interface of the iIAT-EU have NOx Emissions
been developed in close collaboration with planners, Heavy Metal Emissions
administration, policy makers and stakeholders. Economic
Combining thematic broadness of projections with Agricultural Area
spatial flexibility is the new quality of the iIAT-EU, Farm Productivity
thereby facilitating knowledge integration for dis- Part-time farming
cussions and decision making towards sustainable Gross Domestic Product per Capita
solutions for urban-rural relationships. High Education
Share of Active Population
Social
Aging
Access to the PLUReL iIAT-eU Employment Agricultural Sector
Employment Administration/ Finances Sector
Visit the PLUREL iIAT-EU at http://plurel.ait.ac.at/ Employment Industrial Sector
plurel/iiat. It is easily accessible without any re- Employment Service Sector
strictions and no software installation is necessary. Employment Total
You only require an available internet connection Large Family
and a JAVA runtime environment (freeware) to be Children and Adolescence
installed on the client computer. Social Individualisation

139
 References
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 List of Authors

Dr. Simon Bell Dr. Annette Piorr

OPENspace ZALF Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural
Edinburgh College of Art Landscape Research e.V.
Lauriston Place Institute of Socio-Economics;
Edinburgh EH3 9DF Institute of Land Use Systems
United Kingdom Eberswalder Str. 84
Email: s.bell@eca.ac.uk 15374 Müncheberg
Germany
Email: apiorr@zalf.de
Regine Berges
ZALF Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural
Landscape Research e.V. Dr. Joe Ravetz
Institute of Socio-Economics UOM University of Manchester
Eberswalder Str. 84 Centre for Urban and
15374 Müncheberg Regional Ecology
Germany Manchester, M13 9PL
Email: regine.berges@zalf.de United Kingdom
Email: joe.ravetz@man.ac.uk

Dr. Katharina Helming

ZALF Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Mika Ristimäki
Landscape Research e.V. SYKE The Finnish
Directorate Environment Institute
Eberswalder Str. 84 Mechelininkatu 34 A
15374 Müncheberg PO Box 140
Germany 00251 Helsinki
Email: khelming@zalf.de Finland
Email: mika.ristimaki@ymparisto.fi

Prof. Dr. Piotr Korcelli

PAS Polish Academy of Sciences Dr. Ivan Tosics
Stanisław Leszczycki Institute of MRI Metropolitan Research Institute
Geography and Spatial Organization Lónyay Street 34
Twarda 51/55 1093 Budapest
0018 Warszawa Hungary
Poland Email: tosics@mri.hu
Email: korcelli@twarda.pan.pl

Ingo Zasada
Dr. Wolfgang Loibl ZALF Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural
AIT Austrian Institute of Landscape Research e.V.
Technology GmbH Institute of Socio-Economics;
Donau-City-Straße 1 Institute of Land Use Systems
1220 Vienna Eberswalder Str. 84
Austria 15374 Müncheberg
Email: wolfgang.loibl@ait.ac.at Germany
Email: ingo.zasada@zalf.de

Dr. Kjell Nilsson

KU University of Copenhagen
Danish Centre for Forest,
Landscape and Planning
Rolighedsvej 23
DK-1958 Frederiksberg C
Denmark
Email: kjnj@life.ku.dk

142
143
 Imprint

Peri-urbanisation in Europe: Piorr A, Ravetz J, Tosics I (2011) Peri-urbanisation Cover design, Layout and Production
Towards a European Policy to Sustain in Europe: Towards a European Policy to sustain Dorén + Koester, Berlin
Urban-Rural Futures Urban-Rural Futures. University of Copenhagen / www.doren-koester.de
A Synthesis Report Academic Books Life Sciences. 144 p. ISBN: 978-
87-7903-534-8 Language proofreading
Editors and responsible authors and a copy is sent to the PLUREL project Tint Linguistic Services, Berlin
Annette Piorr, coordinator and the editors of this synthesis
Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape report Printing
Research (ZALF), Muencheberg, Germany. H. Heenemann, Berlin
Email: apiorr@zalf.de PLUREL Project Coordination
Kjell Nilsson (project coordinator) Environmental production
Joe Ravetz, Danish Centre for Forest, This publication is printed according
University of Manchester, United Kingdom. Landscape and Planning to high environmental standards (FSC certified)
Email: joe.ravetz@manchester.ac.uk University of Copenhagen Printed in Berlin, March 2011
Rolighedsvej 23
Ivan Tosics, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C PLUREL is an Integrated Project partially funded
Metropolitan Research Institute, Budapest, Tel.: +45 2120 5153 by the European Union under the theme
Hungary. Email: tosics@mri.hu E-mail: kjni@life.ku.dk “Sustainable Development, Global Change
and Ecosystems” of the Sixth Framework
Legal notice Publisher Programme (Grant Agreement number 036921).
The contents of this report is based on the Forest & Landscape http://www.plurel.net
results of the EU FP6 Integrated Project PLUREL University of Copenhagen
by researchers listed in the Annex. Rolighedsvej 23
The views expressed in this publication are the DK-1958 Frederiksberg C
sole responsibility of the authors/ publishers Tel. +45 3533 1500
and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sl@life.ku.dk
funding bodies. Neither the Editors nor the www.sl.life.ku.dk
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Picture credits

Regine Berges – 121

dpa-Bernd Settnik – 45
dpa-Jens Büttner – 37
dpa-Celik Erkul – 108
Reinhard Köster – Cover, 2, 6, 7, 12, 16, 23,
35 bottom, 42, 54, 56, 57, 60, 67, 69, 72, 73,
78, 80, 83, 87, 89, 90, 98, 102, 112, 117, 119,
122, 124, 126, 127, 128, 130, 143, C3, C4
Piotr Korcelli – 48
Thomas Sick Nielsen – 84, 86, 92, 93, C4
Kjell Nilsson – 94, C4
picture alliance-Paul Mayall – 71
picture alliance-Patrick Pleul – 14, 88, 110
picture alliance-Simon Shepheard – 64
picture alliance-Therin-Weise – 51
picture alliance – 10, 18, 19, 26, 31, 32, 39, 41, 103
Annette Piorr – 2, 22, 35 top, 70, 101, 120, 132
Ingo Zasada – 2, 8, 75, 76, 85

145
 The peri-urban – the space around urban areas which
merges into the rural landscape – is growing across
Europe. The peri-urban is a zone of innovation, know-
ledge based and globalized enterprise. It is also the place
which attracts new types of housing, transport infra-
structure and multifunctional agriculture, with a diverse
range of recreation sites and ecosystem services.
Urban development, by far the most rapidly expan-
ding land use type in Europe, puts peri-urban areas
under particular pressure: the growth of built develop-
ment in peri-urban areas is likely to be up to four times
as fast as in urban areas. The risk is urban sprawl, with its
many societal and environmental problems.
A more balanced and sustainable pattern of deve-
lopment needs a better policy focus, not only on peri-
urban areas, but on the wider rural-urban region which
surrounds them. A more integrated EU level policy and
funding system can enable and encourage integrated
development at the local, regional and national levels.
This synthesis report, based on new research from
the EU Integrated Project PLUREL, quantifies the trends,
risks and opportunities for peri-urban areas, sets out
new concepts for urban- rural linkages, and provides
recommendations for targeted policies for rural-urban
regions across Europe.

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