When City and Country Collide: Managing Growth In The Metropolitan Fringe

TLDR: In this paper, the authors address problems caused by unplanned growth in the battlefield where urban meets rural - 10-40 miles outside of major urban areas where traditional rural industries of farming, forestry, and mining are rapidly giving away to residential and service-oriented development.

Abstract: As traditional rural industries give way to residential and commercial development, the land at the edges of developed areas - the rural-urban "fringe" - is becoming the middle landscape between city and countryside that the suburbs once were. The fringe is where America's struggles over population growth and the development of open space are most visible and bitter. The author addresses problems caused by unplanned growth in the battlefield where urban meets rural - 10-40 miles outside of major urban areas where traditional rural industries of farming, forestry, and mining are rapidly giving away to residential and service-oriented development. The fringe differs from the suburb in that the development is much lass dense and more sporadic. The implications for accommodating economic and population growth pressures, as well as issues of environmental quality and competitiveness in the global economy, are profound. But formulating and implementing solutions to sprawl and managing growth in the fringe have seemed elusive. As the nation's population and economy expand, the challenges of managing growth in the fringe will become more heated and complex. The author examines the fringe phenomenon and presents a workable approach to fostering more compact development. He provides viable alternatives to traditional land use and development practices and offers a solid framework and rational perspective for wider adoption of growth management techniques.