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Strategies for Sustainable Urban Development and Urban-Rural Linkages

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Abstract

An important driving force behind urban expansion is the growth of the urban population. But for Europe, this is not a sufficient explanation. The major trend is that European cities have become much less compact. Since the mid-1950s European cities have expanded on average by 78%, whereas the population has grown by only 33%. In the PLUREL project - an integrated project within the EU’s 6th Research Framework Programme - more than 100 researchers from 15 countries analysed the impacts of urban land consumption at a pan-European level and, through six European and one Chinese case studies, identified how land use conflicts and the pressure towards periurban areas can be strategically managed in different development and regulatory contexts. To summarise, the following strategies were identified as important steps towards more sustainable urban-rural futures: (i) better coordination of transport, land use and open space planning; (ii) urban containment and densification – development of a green compact city; (iii) preservation of blue and green infrastructure; and (iv) preservation of agricultural land and the promotion of local production. The need also remains to strengthen governance at the regional level while at the pan-European level there is clearly a need for more policy attention to be given to urban-rural linkages.

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Authors

Kjell Nilsson - Nordregio

Thomas Sick Nielsen - Technical University of Denmark

Carmen Aalbers - Alterra, Wageningen UR, The Netherlands

Simon Bell - University of Edinburgh

Baptiste Boitier - ERASME, Ecole Centrale Paris and University of Paris 1 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0589-4894

Jean Pierre Chery - CEMAGREF Agricultural and Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Montpellier

Christian Fertner - University of Copenhagen

Miroslaw Groschowski - Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw

Dagmar Haase - UFZ Helmholtz Zentrum für Umweltforschung, Leipzig

Wolfgang Loibl - Austrian Institute of Technology

Stephan Pauleit - Technische Universität München

Marina Pintar - University of Ljubljana

Annette Piorr - Institute of Socio-Economics, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF)

Joe Ravetz - University of Manchester

Mika Ristimäki - SYKE, Finnish Environment Institute, Helsinki

Mark Rounsevell - University of Edinburgh

Ivan Tosics - Metropolitan Research Institute, Bupapest

Judith Westerink - Alterra, Wageningen UR, The Netherlands

Ingo Zasada - Institute of Socio-Economics, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF)

How to Cite
Nilsson, K., Nielsen, T. S., Aalbers, C., Bell, S., Boitier, B., Chery, J. P., Fertner, C., Groschowski, M., Haase, D., Loibl, W., Pauleit, S., Pintar, M., Piorr, A., Ravetz, J., Ristimäki, M., Rounsevell, M., Tosics, I., Westerink, J., & Zasada, I. (2014). Strategies for Sustainable Urban Development and Urban-Rural Linkages. European Journal of Spatial Development, 12(3), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5079562