Why is determining peri-urban area boundaries critical for sustainable urban development?
Md. Golam Mortoja, Tan Yiğitcanlar
Abstract
In the age of climate change, for many cities around the globe seeking sustainable urban development is a key necessity. Nonetheless, many fail to develop effective policies when it comes to peri-urban growth, where these areas experience rapid land use transition, and become urbanized in a short period of time. Such transition poses a risk to sustainable urban development. This study provides evidence on the consequences of not clearly determining peri-urban area boundaries by placing a metropolitan region under the microscope. The study uses a remote sensing approach to determine peri-urban growth in the Brisbane Metropolitan Region, Australia. The changes that took place for a period of 30 years (1989–2019) are undertaken to map the level of peri-urbanization of the case study region, and the peri-urban area boundary is compared with the regional plan’s growth boundaries. The study findings inform that: (a) There exists a significant contrast between the actual peri-urban area boundary and the boundary estimate upon which the regional plan bases its policies; (b) The lack of a clearly demarcated peri-urban area boundary caused the transition of significant size greenfield sites to urban uses, and; (c) Not clearly determining peri-urban area boundaries jeopardized achieving the region’s sustainable development goals.