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Planning for Sustainability in Contested Landscapes: Exploring the Potential of Peri-Urban Spaces

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2020) | Viewed by 22424

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Alister J. Scott

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Geography and Environmental Sciences, University of Northumbria, Newcastle, United Kingdom
Interests: mainstreaming nature; ecosystem approach; spatial and environmental planning; green infrastructure: peri-urban spaces

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The spaces where rural and urban meet are ‘messy’ and complicated, providing a problematic arena within which future land use change is planned, contested, mediated and delivered as part of wider place-making agendas. However, these spaces are ill-defined, hidden and often incidental in place-making processes and decisions and, despite their growing significance spatially and functionally, they have received scant attention as places in their own right. Indeed, their identity is further obfuscated within a panoply of terms encountered in the academic and policy literature; peri-urban; rural-urban fringe; urban-rural fringe; exurbia. Whatever term is favoured, they have become reactive places, bolted on to urban-centric agendas based on densification and SMART growth with implicit rural subservience and protection. This dualism and prioritisation of urban and rural space are unhelpful and over simplistic, hindering more holistic considerations of the peri-urban as an opportunity space.

This set of papers explores and illuminates the potential of the peri-urban as an asset to placemaking and wider environmental, economic and social agendas signposting more positive, bold and experimental agendas for the improved management and planning of these neglected spaces.

Prof. Alister J. Scott
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Opportunity space
  • peri-urban
  • sustainability
  • placemaking
  • spatial planning
  • vision
  • experimental

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 663 KiB  
Article
Towards a Sustainable Landscape: Constructing Identities and Ambitions in a Citizen Initiative in the Making
by Wim Bosschaart, Noelle Aarts and Riyan J.G. van den Born
Sustainability 2020, 12(21), 9009; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12219009 - 29 Oct 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2621
Abstract
The recent proliferation of citizen initiatives that aim to contribute to sustainable landscape transition prompted us to study how members of such an initiative in-the-making try to position themselves in their environment in order to make a meaningful contribution. We use a single [...] Read more.
The recent proliferation of citizen initiatives that aim to contribute to sustainable landscape transition prompted us to study how members of such an initiative in-the-making try to position themselves in their environment in order to make a meaningful contribution. We use a single case study in the east of the Netherlands to study how members discursively construct identities and ambitions through the inclusion of people and ideas over time. We applied an interactional framing analysis to 20 audio-recorded and transcribed meetings of the citizen initiative. The results show that various actors and ideas were included over time, resulting in the construction of different ambitions and identities over time. Ambitions changed in response to new event and changing circumstances. To justify these changing ambitions, the members constructed new identities during their conversations, using different interactional framing strategies. The study reveals that the process of finding an ambition and identity continuously changed direction, paradoxically, due to a lack of direction that hindered the members in making coherent and sustainable decisions. We conclude that a citizen initiative should actively interact with their relation groups to find a direction that supports the process of effectively positioning their initiative and contributes to the shared goal of improving the quality of the living environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Planning for Sustainability in Contested Landscapes: Exploring the Potential of Peri-Urban Spaces)
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26 pages, 5666 KiB  
Article
Green Infrastructures in the Peri-Urban Landscape: Exploring Local Perception of Well-Being through ‘Go-Alongs’ and ‘Semi-Structured Interviews’
by Rocío Santo-Tomás Muro, Carlota Sáenz de Tejada Granados and Eva J. Rodríguez Romero
Sustainability 2020, 12(17), 6836; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12176836 - 23 Aug 2020
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 6235
Abstract
Providing conditions for health and well-being, especially for those most exposed to social and environmental inequalities, is a precondition for sustainable development. Green infrastructures in peri-urban areas have the potential to improve the quality of life of locals by fostering healthy practices, providing [...] Read more.
Providing conditions for health and well-being, especially for those most exposed to social and environmental inequalities, is a precondition for sustainable development. Green infrastructures in peri-urban areas have the potential to improve the quality of life of locals by fostering healthy practices, providing views, or bringing nature closer to the city. This work explores the local perception of well-being within urban green infrastructures (UGI) in the peri-urban fringe of Madrid (Spain) through a combination of qualitative methods: “go-alongs” and “semi-structured static interviews”. The grounded-theory based codification of the data using NVivo software and their subsequent analysis results in the identification of social, natural, and perceptual elements that prove to play a relevant role in locals’ perception of well-being. Among these, connectivity with other green spaces, panoramic views and place-based memories are aspects that seem to make UGI serve the community at its full potential, including perceived physical and psychological well-being. We identify in each case study both positive characteristics of UGI and dysfunctional aspects and areas of opportunity. Lastly, a methodological, geographical, and theoretical discussion is made on the relevance of the case studies and pertinence of the two interview methods as valuable tools for analysis and intervention in the peri-urban landscape. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Planning for Sustainability in Contested Landscapes: Exploring the Potential of Peri-Urban Spaces)
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28 pages, 6750 KiB  
Article
Towards Sustainable Urban Planning for Puyo (Ecuador): Amazon Forest Landscape as Potential Green Infrastructure
by Thony Huera-Lucero, Adela Salas-Ruiz, Daysi Changoluisa and Carlos Bravo-Medina
Sustainability 2020, 12(11), 4768; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12114768 - 11 Jun 2020
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4753
Abstract
The peri-urban area of Puyo, where agricultural, urban and conservation logics are mixed, is a contested area in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Rapid urban growth and agricultural activities are the main threats to the conservation of its biodiversity. To promote the conservation of natural [...] Read more.
The peri-urban area of Puyo, where agricultural, urban and conservation logics are mixed, is a contested area in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Rapid urban growth and agricultural activities are the main threats to the conservation of its biodiversity. To promote the conservation of natural spaces in urban planning instruments, it is necessary to first demonstrate their environmental and ecological value. In this paper, such value was analyzed by quantifying biodiversity value and carbon storage capacity in situ. The results show that Puyo’s periphery (a 4 km radius) is an opportunity space, where the conservation of its biodiversity is a key factor in strategies to promote sustainable urban development. Firstly, there are natural areas of high environmental value (secondary forest, gramalote pastures with trees and gramalote pastures) that all together fix 1,664,683 Mg CO2 and control hydrological risks (with 80% of the green areas linked to flood areas)—valuable ecosystem services. Secondly, the conservation of biodiversity brings associated economic activities that can promote local sustainable development. Despite this, the results reveal that the conservation of peri-urban natural ecosystems is not a goal in Puyo’s urban planning strategy. Therefore, future research should be focused on urban planning tools that promote environmentally, economically and socially sustainable urban development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Planning for Sustainability in Contested Landscapes: Exploring the Potential of Peri-Urban Spaces)
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21 pages, 34634 KiB  
Article
Morphological Characteristics of Informal Settlements and Strategic Suggestions for Urban Sustainable Development in Tanzania: Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, and Kigoma
by Jiaqi Zhang, Sophia Shuang Chen, Qun Gao, Qiushi Shen, Ismael Aaron Kimirei and Damas William Mapunda
Sustainability 2020, 12(9), 3807; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12093807 - 7 May 2020
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 8237
Abstract
Rapid urbanization in developing countries has been accompanied by the spread of informal settlements, which is particularly prominent in sub-Saharan Africa. These settlements have become an important supplement to the inadequate formal housing supply in cities, and their spontaneously formed spatial patterns have [...] Read more.
Rapid urbanization in developing countries has been accompanied by the spread of informal settlements, which is particularly prominent in sub-Saharan Africa. These settlements have become an important supplement to the inadequate formal housing supply in cities, and their spontaneously formed spatial patterns have important influences on sustainable development. In this study, qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to examine the morphological characteristics of informal settlements in Tanzania and the associated influences on urban development. Geographic spatial analyses, landscape pattern indices, and mathematical statistics, along with quick assessments, group discussions, and key informant interviews, were used to obtain detailed information on the spatial forms of informal settlements. The results indicate that the form of the settlements does not conform to the social, economic, or environmental characteristics of sustainable development. The disordered expansion of single-layered buildings with a single function, irregular road networks in poor condition, and a lack of consideration and protection of the ecological environment were found to negatively impact urban function and sustainable development. However, the structure and form of informal settlements could, in addition to formalization projects, be optimized to drive sustainable and socioeconomic development goals as well as environmental conservation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Planning for Sustainability in Contested Landscapes: Exploring the Potential of Peri-Urban Spaces)
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