What is the UrbanRural Fringe

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What is the Urban/Rural Fringe? The urban/rural
fringe is the expansive space between the open
countryside and the built-up cities and suburbs -
space in which the landscape is growing and
changing. This change and development results
from population and economic growth pressures,
which push out from the suburbs. This area is not
country and it is not city. It has been
characterized as a hybrid region no longer
remote and yet with a lower density of population
and development than a city or suburb where
strips of urban and suburban fabric have extended
into the countryside, creating a ragged
settlement pattern those patterns blur the
distinction between rural, urban and suburban.
It can be summarized as the zone of transition
between the built up area of the city and the
surrounding countryside. There are, however,
some distinctions. Unlike in suburbs, the
urban-rural fringe has a lower density and more
primitive planning of land-use. Furthermore, any
new development is more noticeable in the fringe,
and growth management challenges are greater
than in suburbs.
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• Land use on the urban-rural fringe may fall into
  these categories
• Urbanised complete urban development
• Distrubed the region is in the process of
  change, eg. Quarrying
• Neglected low intensity agriculture
• Traditional agricultural activities
• New agricultural activities, eg. Modern factory
  like buidlings
• Amenities
• However, the urban-rural fringe is
  becoming increasingly blurred. This is because
  the increasing trend of suburbanization has led
  to the introduction of new towns, commuter towns
  and increasing urban expansion which in turn
  attracts investment from the city in terms of
  further construction and infrastructure. What
  occurs is a gradual decrease in urban
  characteristics with distance from the city
  centers.

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pressures which are being placed on land at the
urban rural fringe
Continued development of the urban-rural fringe
is an obvious pressure placed on the urban-rural
fringe. As the supply of land decreases in the
city, demand for land will therefore increase and
buyers will look to undeveloped land as a source
of purchase. People will be attracted to the
urban-rural fringe due to cheaper land, a higher
quality of life and lower taxes than those paid
by city dwellers. Thus, residential construction
is a strong pressure placed on these lands. The
cheaper land may not just attract residents.
Businesses and industry pushed away from the city
due to high rents and regulations will be
attracted to the fringe. Furthermore, these
lands will have a considerable pressure placed on
them from the development of infrastructure, as
the fringe may lie between settlements. The
development of recreation, such as golf courses,
will be a further source of pressure, as well as
pressure from an expanding city which seeks more
land to develop.
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planning strategies that have tried stem
suburbanisation of the countryside
As public and private transport improved during
1919-39, British cities expanded into the
surrounding countryside rapidly. The 1947 Town
and Country Planning Act called into effect the
emergence of Green Belts. The purpose the green
belt was to restrict the construction of houses
and other buildings and to preserver and conserve
areas of countryside for farming and recreational
purposes. To further control rapid
suburbanization, newtowns were built to initially
accommodate new arrivals seeking work in the
nearby city and those forced to leave it due to
various redevelopment schemes. These towns were
designed to become self-supporting both
economically and socially.
Sha Tin
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The Conflict Over Land Use On The Western
Urban-Rural Fringe Of London
1938 saw the initiation of a green belt in order
to control Londons rapid, uncontrolled growth,
but it came too late to prevent the urban-fringe
intrusion into Colne Valley, found to the west of
London. Soon, sewage stations and landfill waste
sites were being constructed, but it did control
residential buidling. However, demand for out
of town housing, offices and industry during the
1960s-80s led to further substantial growth
immediately to the west of the green belt.
Further demand for the development of public
utilities and recreation along with the buidling
of the M25 motorway through the Colne Valley
increased the amount of pressure on the fringe.
Growing traffic via Heathrow and the motorways
led to an increase in air pollution whilst water
areas were affected by waste disposal seepage.
1965 saw the introduction of the Colne Valley
Regional Park which would redevelop 40sq miles of
land currently used for mineral extraction,
pipelines and scrap metal yards. The park was
opened in 1969, mostly under private ownership.
The park now offers recreational schemes from
walking to swimming, nature reserves and an open
air museum along with extensive commercial
farming. However, the introduction of the M25
has stimulated the demand for development, and
with the M25 seeing a future line of improvements
it will attract extensive gravel and aggregate
material workings in the area. Plans to build
the 5th Heathrow terminal may also come into
effect, along with a satellite station and a huge
parking terminal next to the M25. Thus, there
is conflict between the growing recreational
needs of the urban population, agricultural needs
and the need for environmental protection.
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Sai Kung
Current Housing

• Village development
• Low density housing in urban fringe obsolete area
  
• Medium density housing at Sai Kung Town
  industrial area

Further Development

• Gateway Centre at Sai Kung Town for visitor's
  information and services, enhanced parking
  facilities and transport hub (potentially
  including hotel development)
• Local streetscape improvement and enhancement of
  Sai Kung Town waterfront.
• Protection/enhancement of Sai Kung Old Town
  "cultural zone" and specifically the Tin Hau
  Temple as a cultural heritage site
• Enhancement of Lions' Nature Education Centre

• Further development of Sai Kungs watersport and
  recreation program at High Island Reservoir will
  interfere with existing waste-borne traffic and
  fishermen.
• A new water pipeline under construction from the
  Government is said to be destroying previously
  untouched land in Sai Kungs country park.
  Recreational hikers are against the new pipeline
  whilst villagers in Sai Kung require it to
  provide water to their village.