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Abstract
Peri-urban areas transition zones. With urbanization and increase in population, people are migrating to cities, thereby causing urban sprawl. Peri-urbanization has brought some important changes such as land use changes, contest for natural resources such as water and land, environmental degradation etc. Land use and land cover change is a major challenge of the periphery. Land use in urban and peri-urban areas has grown with increasing population and urbanization. Prior to industrialization, cities and towns were not developed. However, the modern cities of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries sprawled into the countryside, resulting in structural changes due to the demands of urban dwellers. The peri-urban areas exhibit an intimate relationship between the city and its surroundings. Peri-urban definitions and land use changes and challenges to the development are the focus of this review.
Keywords: Peri-urban, Definitions, Land Use Changes, Challenges to Development
1.Introduction
Peri - urban areas are the interface between rural and urban areas that are subject to rapid and profound changes in their built environment, population and socio economic activities. The question of - peri urban development cannot be addressed outside the framework of balanced development of both rural and urban areas (Kumar,2002)1. The simple dichotomy between "rural" and "urban" has "long ceased to have much meaning in practice. (Simon et al. 2006). These areas can be seen as rural locations that have "become more urban in character" (Webster, 2002)2. The conversion of land from agriculture to urban and industrial development is a critical process of change witnessed in the peripheries especially in the developing countries with rapid population, urbanisation and industrial development. The response of land use to rapid urbanisation and fast growth of commercial activities is leading to a gradual change in the land use and structure of many cities across the globe. Land use change is considered as the outcome of economic growth and structural change, this argument aligns itself with the neoclassical growth model in which land plays a decreasing role in economic growth. Conversion of cultivated land to non-agricultural uses is shown to contribute to economic growth, particularly in cities with more than 5 million people, strong agricultural land constraints, and secondary industrial or service dominance (Canfei He, 2012). Industrial land expansion also contributes significantly...