Cybergeo (Jul 2014)
Périurbanisation et durabilité : inverser la perspective
Abstract
This contribution proposes to throw off the shackles of the usual rigid European rationale, which presupposes a “natural” domination of the urban centers on peri-urban areas. The focus of this paper is guided by the following hypothesis: one of the major reasons why urban sprawl is unsustainable is because it is conceived and designed as an extension of the city. Such a supposition suggests two corollaries:-Peri-urbanization may turn sustainable when based on the former non-urban land uses space (agriculture or forestry, natural areas, wastelands).-Thus, such a sustainable peri-urbanization should lead to specific and original forms of social and spatial organization (multifunctionality, lifestyles, access to nature).Moreover, this position offers a new perspective, for planners, to understand the complex reality of what is an urban area. It also helps to renew urban design and urban management, which are both usually based on the bias of continuous areas, at least simplistic and largely inadequate to think the actual disperse cities. This paper tries to determine how to foster a periurban transition to sustainability with regard to local authorities and planners’ actions, in relation with local communities.
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