Understanding population growth in the peri-urban region

One of the most striking developments in population geography over the last 20 years has been the emergence of the peri-urban region, which is neither solely urban nor rural. Throughout the Western world, population growth in the peri-urban regions of large metropolitan centres has been rapid since the population turnaround of the 1970s, and has continued to the 1990s. However, the distinctive population geography of this growth zone and its unique sets of problems and issues remain under-researched. This paper advocates a new approach to understanding peri-urban population growth. A conceptual model is developed that identifies four distinct growth processes (suburbanisation, counterurbanisation, population retention, and centripetal migration), each of which acts somewhat differently on particular population subgroups. These differences, in turn, will be reflected in variations in the spatial manifestation of peri-urban growth within the region. This is illustrated in the context of an Australian case study. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.