The Future of the Fringe

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The Crisis in Peri-Urban Planning

By: Michael Buxton, Andrew Butt

eBook - April 2020 - eRetailers

Explores the history, policy and practice surrounding peri-urban areas, as well as their value.

Peri-urban landscapes are some of the world’s most vulnerable areas. Although they are often thought of simply as land awaiting development, these landscapes retain important natural resources and make valuable contributions to agriculture, water use, biodiversity conservation, landscape preservation and human well-being. Billions of people use them and enjoy their natural values. Their continuing loss threatens to alter our relationships with nature and have a negative impact on the environment. + Full description

The Future of the Fringe first explores the history of peri-urban areas, international peri-urban policy and practice, and related concepts. It analyses internationally relevant issues such as green belts and urban growth boundaries, regional policy, land supply and price, and the concepts of liveability, attractiveness, well-being and rural amenity. It then examines a range of Australian peri-urban issues, as an extended case study. The book argues for a precautionary approach so that we retain the greatest number of options to adapt during rapid and unprecedented change.

- Short description

Reviews

"Urban ecologists will find this book useful in planning research relevant to the peri-urban landscape. It presents a review of the international and Australian literature about policy, planning and risks (to humans), as well as the history of green belts."
Ian Abbott, Pacific Conservation Biology 26(3) 2020

"This book is a useful resource for understanding the process of land-use transition, particularly within Australia. I would recommend it to a cross-disciplinary audience and those working at the fringe of a growing metropolitan neighbour"
Anna McKinlay, Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, November 2020

"I recommend the book as essential professional reading for Geography teachers interested in a relevant, contemporary issue."
Trish Douglas, Interaction Journal 48(3), September 2020

Details

Paperback | April 2020 | $ 59.99
ISBN: 9781486308958 | 184 pages | 245 x 170 mm
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Illustrations

ePDF | April 2020
ISBN: 9781486308965
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Available from eRetailers

ePUB | April 2020
ISBN: 9781486308972
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Available from eRetailers

Features

The first book to examine Australian peri-urban issues in detail.
Comprehensively reviews the international literature on peripheral urban ('peri-urban') landscapes and related issues.
Analyses contemporary debates on contentious peri-urban issues, such as the future of green belts and peri-urban agriculture.
Includes a section on international peri-urban policy and planning practice.
Presents a strong argument for the preservation of the traditional rural landscapes of peri-urban areas.

Introduction

PART I: Peri-urban concepts, policy and practice
1: Understanding the peri-urban
2: Conceptualising peri-urban regions
3: Planning and policy for peri-urban protection
4: Land markets, land supply and price and the peri-urban fringe
5: Regionalism and peri-urban development
6: Liveable peri-urban spaces

PART II: Peri-urban issues: an Australian context
7: Australian green belts
8: Population change in peri-urban Australia
9: Peri-urban agriculture
10: Biodiversity, natural resources and peri-urban regions
11: The practice of peri-urban planning
Conclusion: peri-urban futures

References
Index

View the full table of contents (PDF, 58 KB)

Authors

Michael Buxton is an Emeritus Professor at RMIT University and is former head of RMIT Planning and Environment. He has published more than 80 refereed papers, books, book chapters and monographs, including Planning Melbourne (CSIRO Publishing, 2016). He has led 20 major research projects, mainly on peri-urban issues and urban form. He formerly held senior positions in local, regional and state governments.

Andrew Butt is an Associate Professor in Sustainability and Urban Planning at RMIT University. His experience in planning practice, research and teaching has focussed on rural and peri-urban issues, including a PhD on approaches to planning for farmland protection in peri-urban Australia, as well as articles and book chapters exploring socio-economic transitions and planning systems in rural and peri-urban regions.