Peri‐Urbanization

Peri-urbanization refers to a phase of the wider urbanization process characterized by the dramatic growth of built-up areas between urban settlement areas and their rural hinterland. The expression originates from the French word périurbanisation put forward by scholars to describe the process of formation of peri-urban areas (or peri-urban rings) that has been taking place in European urban regions since the 1970s and the 1980s. Being located around (peri) a city rather than at its immediate boundary, the peri-urban area is normally considered a space without identity that combines some of the characteristics of the city with others of the countryside and to which it is difficult to give a definition. Nevertheless, some recurring features seem to characterize peri-urban areas and some general approaches to the conceptualization of the topic can be identified. This entry will provide an overview of these approaches by examining the conceptualization of the peri-urban as the periphery of the city, as a socioeconomic system, and as the interaction of rural–urban flows at the metropolitan level.