Beyond & between – launching the global compendium of Peri-Urban-Rural Linkages

From space, the human impact on the planet can be seen with the spread of cities – but cities themselves are spreading into much larger areas – ‘beyond, around and between’. Most peri-urban sprawl consumes land and resources, and amplifies flood and fire, along with inequality, exclusion, and expropriation of local livelihoods. The crucial peri-urban interface is often a site of conflict and destruction, alongside innovation and enterprise. In both global south and north the ‘peri-urban-rural-linkages’ (‘PURL’) face huge challenges, but also new synergies and opportunities.

This Compendium contributes into the UN Habitat series of URL (‘Urban Rural Linkages’). Building on the global perspective of the Peri-cene project, this provides insights from a Policy Lab of 21 city-regions, from global south to north, with in-depth studies from India and the UK. The findings show how urban and rural areas are linked and inter-dependent through the intermediate zone of the peri-urban – in resources, infrastructure, housing, travel, food, material flows, human flows and ecosystem services. 

Click the link to the site