Multifunctional peri-urban agriculture—A review of societal demands and the provision of goods and services by farming

Peri-urban areas around urban agglomerations in Europe and elsewhere have been subject to agricultural and land use research for the past three decades. The manner in which farming responds to urban pressures, socio-economic changes and development opportunities has been the main focus of examination, with urban demand for rural goods and services representing a driving factor to adapt farming activities in a multifunctional way. Working within the peri-urban framework, this review pays particular attention to the relevance of multifunctional agriculture. Academic discourses and empirical insights related to farm structure and practices beyond conventional agriculture are analysed. Diversification, recreational and environmental farming, landscape management and specialisation, as well as direct marketing are all taken into consideration and discussed within the context of landscape functions. The provision of rural goods and services is contrasted with societal demands on peri-urban agriculture. This review finds that multifunctional agriculture has been commonly recognised in peri-urban areas – a phenomenon that includes a large variety of activities and diversification approaches within the context of environmental, social and economic functions of agriculture. In response to the post-productive, consumption-oriented requirements of the urban society, peri-urban farmers have intensified their uptake of multifunctional activities. Nevertheless, not all multifunctional opportunities are being fully developed when one considers the large and growing urban demand for goods and services provided by agriculture carried out near the city. This paper discusses policy and planning approaches to support multifunctional agriculture in peri-urban areas.     

Dynamics of youth access to agricultural land under the customary tenure regime in the Techiman traditional area of Ghana

This paper investigated youth access to agricultural land under customary land tenure in Ghana. Using Techiman Traditional Area as a case study, the study applied multiple sampling techniques in a multi-stage sampling process to select the study communities and respondents. A total sample of 455 youth respondents and 23 elders were covered in twenty peri-urban and rural communities. The study revealed that irrespective of whichever mode (market or non-market) the youth employed to access agricultural land, in rural or peri-urban areas, there were constraints to their land sizes. Majority of the youth, both indigenes and migrants, held small land sizes of 1–3 acres for farming purposes. The underlying causes were two-fold: demand-related such as high cost of accessing land and competition from residential developers and supply-related such as unwillingness of the elders to release land and increasing scarcity of productive family land, among others. It is thus the conclusion of the paper that more research should be conducted across the country into youth access to agricultural land under customary tenure as a means of formulating an evidence-based youth agricultural land access policy for the country. There is also the need for public education of customary authorities to sensitize them on the need for making land accessible to the youth for agricultural purpose.     

半城市化地区土地适宜性评价方法及应用——以厦门市集美区为例

研究目的:构建半城市化地区土地适宜性评价指标体系,促进农村与城市间过渡性区域的土地资源可持续利用。研究方法:将厦门市集美行政区域划分为农用地、建设用地和生态用地三种土地利用类型,选择合适的评价指标,基于遥感、地理信息系统、层次分析法、专家评分法等手段对每种土地利用类型的适宜性进行评价。研究结果:集美区适宜作为农用地、建设用地和生态用地的土地面积分别占总面积的11.7%、15.4%和1.6%,与当地土地利用实际比较吻合。研究结论:构建的土地适宜性指标体系和评价步骤可用于其他半城市化地区。     

Population-dynamics focussed rapid rural mapping and characterisation of the peri-urban interface of Kampala, Uganda

In developing countries, cities are rapidly expanding and urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) has an important role in feeding these growing urban populations; however such agriculture also carries public health risks such as zoonotic disease transmission. It is important to assess the role of UPA in food security and public health risks to make evidence-based decisions on policies. Describing and mapping the peri-urban interface (PUI) are the essential first steps for such an assessment. Kampala, the capital city of Uganda is a rapidly expanding city where the PUI has not previously been mapped or properly described. In this paper we provide a spatial representation of the entire PUI of Kampala economic zone and determine the socio-economic factors related with peri-urbanicity using a population-dynamics focussed rapid rural mapping. This fills a technical gap of rapid rural mapping and offers a simple and rapid methodology for describing the PUI which can be applied in any city in developing countries for wide range of studies.     

Flexible land-use and undefined governance: From threats to potentials in peri-urban landscape planning

Densification of cities is presently one of the dominating strategies for urbanization globally. However, how densification of cities is linked to processes in the peri-urban landscapes is rather unknown. The aim of this paper is to highlight the potentials in of peri-urban landscapes to be recognized as complementary providers of urban ecosystem services when green areas in cities are reduced by densification. We suggest that the way forward is to change the perceptions of peri-urban areas from being defined as located between cities and rural areas with a specific population density or a geographical distance, to become recognized as a landscape defined by its functionality. By identifying and describing the functionality in peri-urban landscapes the existing governance gaps can be recognized and thus dealt with through adaptation of existing planning tools. Although not yet articulated, peri-urban areas should be used to facilitate integration of top down and bottom up approaches and thereby closing the governance gaps. We illustrate this reasoning by two examples; one of the establishment of green wedges in Stockholm, Sweden, and the other with the establishments of international Model forests. We conclude that further densification of cities will create a lack of ecosystem services in cities by putting an even higher pressure on the peri-urban landscape and not as suggested today that densification lower pressure on peri-urban landscapes. Rethinking and reframing the peri-urban areas by adapting existing platforms will potentially contribute to a more nuanced discussion on strategies for urban development generally.     

Values and attitudes of the urban public towards peri-urban agricultural land

Peri-urban agricultural landscapes around the world are undergoing rapid transformation due to urban expansion. While some landscape values are being protected by current land-use planning frameworks, we know little about the broader values and attitudes of the urban public shaping this transformation. The structure of the values assigned to peri-urban agricultural landscapes by residents of Melbourne, Australia was explored and related to stated landscape preferences and people's underlying values. Exploratory factor analysis was used to categorise assigned values in multifunctional, food and native biota groups, and stated preferences for photographs into four landscape categories: intensive landscapes, extensive landscapes, high tree cover and plantations. The structure of underlying personal values closely resembled other studies of environmental value orientations. Multiple regression analysis revealed that preferences for all landscape categories were predicted strongly by multifunctional assigned values. Significant relationships were also evident between all assigned value groups and the biospheric underlying value orientation. Attitudes towards residential development approaches were also related significantly to assigned but not underlying values. Assigned values appear therefore to mediate between underlying values and attitudes towards peri-urban landscapes. This research demonstrates that peri-urban agricultural landscapes are perceived as multifunctional systems by the urban public and are valued for a range of functions not typically included in land use policies. This study also suggests that in the context of rapid land use change, a variety of landscape types should be retained on the urban fringe for their benefit to the urban public, and synergies promoted between landscape functions.     

The “sowing of concrete”: Peri-urban smallholder perceptions of rural–urban land change in the Central Peruvian Andes

Policy makers concerned with the peri-urban interface find their greatest challenges in the rapid urban growth of developing mountain regions, since limitations caused by relief and altitude often lead to an increased competition between rural and urban land use at the valley floors. In this context, little attention has been paid to the affected agriculturalists’ perceptions of peri-urban growth—important information required for the realization of sustainable land use planning. How is the process of rural–urban land change perceived and assessed by peri-urban smallholder communities? Which are the major difficulties to be overcome? By what means are the affected people reacting and how are these adaptation strategies linked with the ongoing landscape transformations of the hinterland?By using the example of Huancayo Metropolitano, an emerging Peruvian mountain city, it is shown that rural–urban land change is intensively discussed within peri-urban smallholder groups. Although urbanization also leads to infrastructure investments by public institutions—an advantage perceived throughout the study area—the negative impacts of rural–urban land use change prevail. The perceptions’ analysis reveals that the decrease of fertile and irrigated agricultural land at the quechua valley floor is especially considered to threaten subsistence, food and income security. In order to compensate the loss of production capacities, many smallholders try to expand or intensify their land use at the suni altitudinal belt: an agro-ecological zone characterized by steep and nonirrigated slopes that can actually not be used for the year-round production of crops previously cultivated at the quechua zone.     

Land use dynamics driven by rural industrialization and land finance in the peri-urban areas of China: “The examples of Jiangyin and Shunde”

As China experienced rapid economic growth, non-agricultural land, particularly industrial land, expanded significantly within its peri-urban areas. This paper takes two typical peri-urban areas: Jiangyin in the Yangtze River Delta and Shunde in the Pearl River Delta, as cases, and applies landscape ecology indices to analyze land use dynamics through overlay of their land use maps from 2001 to 2010. This research reveals that local cadres such as township governments and village collectives utilize land finance as a strategy to contest the reshuffling of central-local power brought about by the 1994 tax-sharing scheme. Meanwhile, under the stringent land quota system, local cadres allocated most quotas to the industrial sector in order to encourage economic growth. However, the fragmented governance regime, including county/city, township to administrative village and natural village, led to land fragmentation, which had adverse impacts on sustainable development. In general, the research on land use of peri-urban areas requires a comprehensive perspective of social, economic and institutional aspects.     

Of waste facility siting and relational geographies of place: Peri-urban landfills,community resistance and the politics of land control in Ghana

The siting of landfills in peri-urban spaces is seen as both a solution to land scarcity in inner cities and a development opportunity for rural hinterlands. Despite the widespread reliance on landfills for managing urban waste in Ghana, their operation tends to ignite land use conflicts at different scales. However, existing studies on the drivers of these conflicts have mostly failed to situate local resistance within the broader political economy of land control. Drawing on a longstanding landfill conflict in northern Ghana, this contribution shows how under the guise of landfills, the land question in peri-urban spaces is contested. While at face value the landfill struggle appears to be fuelled by the associated poor environmental conditions and health risks of waste from the inner city, our findings reveal the role of diverse incongruities including: (i) the crafty tactics deployed by state institutions in land acquisition for 'public interest', (ii) payment of unrealistic consideration, and (iii) diversion of designated public lands to undeclared uses. Amid these contestations, the notion of territorial belonging by peri-urban communities often runs counter to statutory ordering by the government who hold such hitherto private lands for ‘public interest’. Powerful local actors such as chiefs hide behind community agitations with hopes of controlling land if such contestations materialize. These dynamics have ramifications for the achievement of the New Urban Agenda of Habitat III, which focuses on secondary cities. A sustainable resolution of landfill-related conflicts must therefore begin with addressing the land question in peri-urban spaces.     

What is the most suitable methodological approach to demarcate peri-urban areas? A systematic review of the literature

Unexceptionally all metropolitan areas throughout the world are surrounded by peri-urban areas that are neither urban nor rural in the conventional sense. Peri-urban areas are transition spaces, where the changes in different land uses are incessantly occurring. Determining the boundaries of these areas are critical to develop appropriate policies to manage and preserve them. The perpetual transition in peri-urban landscapes makes the boundary demarcation of these areas highly difficult. This paper aims to answer the question of what the most suitable methodological approach to demarcate peri-urban areas is. In order to address this question, the study undertakes a systematic review of the relevant literature. The findings show that a generic method does not exist to demarcate peri-urban areas as characteristics of peri-urban areas are not uniform across the globe. This paper advocates that techniques for peri-urban demarcation should be geographically specific, and in every case the regional and local contexts–e.g., political system, institutional arrangement, societal characteristic, environmental qualities, and economic drivers that underpin the peri-urban development—should be considered. The study provides insights to policymakers in order to determine peri-urban boundaries by tailoring available peri-urban demarcation techniques to their regional and local contexts.     

Urban proximity,demand for land and land shadow prices in Malawi

We assess the spatial and intertemporal variation in farmland prices using per hectare minimum willingness to accept (WTA) sales and rental (shadow) prices in Malawi. We use three rounds of nationally representative farm household panel data from the Living Standards Measurement Surveys (LSMS), collected in 2010, 2013 and 2016. The sample is split in quintiles based on distance from the nearest major city, building on the land valuation and transaction cost theory, and agrarian political economy perspectives on global and national land transactions. Generally, farmland shadow prices decrease with distance from urban areas. However, farmland shadow sales prices increased more sharply between 2010 and 2013 in rural areas (+100 % vs +30 % in urban proximity). The results indicate that the sharp increase in demand for large-scale land transfers following the sharp increase in energy and food prices also affected rural smallholders’ land valuation, even in remote rural areas of Malawi. Conversely, by 2016 land shadow sales prices were again, like in 2010, about three times as high in areas near urban centres compared to remote rural areas. Even though sales prices declined in remote rural areas from 2013 to 2016, rental prices remained high. Using farm household-level population pressure variable, we show that local population pressure is a driver of farmland shadow prices, indicating land scarcity challenges, growing demand for land, and poorly developed land markets. With increasing land scarcity, land markets are becoming more important and need to be factored in when formulating development policies that aim to improve access to land in both peri-urban and rural areas.     

Planning the horticultural sector: Managing greenhouse sprawl in the Netherlands

Greenhouses are a typical example of peri-urban land-use, a phenomenon that many planning systems find difficult to address as it mixes agricultural identity with urban appearance. Despite its urban appearance, greenhouse development often manages to evade urban containment policies. But a ban on greenhouse development might well result in under-utilisation of the economic value of the sector and its potential for sustainability. Specific knowledge of the urban and rural character of greenhouses is essential for the implementation of planning strategies. This paper analyses Dutch planning policies for greenhouses. It concludes with a discussion of how insights from greenhouse planning can be applied in other contexts involving peri-urban areas.     

集体林区农村居民闲暇时间配置及其对公共文化服务供给满意度分析

基于浙江省集体林区4个县(市)192户农户调查数据,采用统计描述和满意度评价等方法对样本农户闲暇时间配置状况、特点,农村公共文化服务供给状况进行分析,同时分析农村居民对公共文化服务供给的满意度情况。结果表明:集体林区农村居民闲暇时间较为丰富,闲暇时间以易获性、便捷性较强的娱乐消遣类活动为主;不同地区、年龄、性别和教育水平的农村居民闲暇时间配置有较大差异;不同地区农村公共文化服务供给及农村居民对农村公共文化服务满意水平也存在一定差异。最后,针对农村公共文化服务供给和提高农村居民满意度等方面提出了相应的政策建议。     

Valuation of environmental and social functions of the multifunctional Cypriot agriculture

The multifunctional farming sector in Cyprus poses threats on the island’s water resources, but highly contributes to the protection of the cultural identity and to the provision of incomes and employment in its rural areas. These services are externalities, as farmers are not remunerated in markets for the environmental and cultural services they provide, nor for the fact that they maintain vivid rural areas. This paper presents an application of the Choice Experiment method, in order to evaluate these non-traded outputs of Cypriot agriculture. The results of the empirical analysis demonstrate that the Cypriot public is in favor of a less intensive pattern of agriculture. Furthermore, Cypriots are willing to pay in order to mitigate adverse environmental effects of agriculture, to improve cultural heritage and to safeguard the continuation of farming trade on the island. The estimated benefits often exceed income losses from changes in the cropping pattern towards extensification, which verifies that EU rural development policies are regarded as beneficial by the public.     

宅基地多功能识别及其空间分异研究 ——基于嘉兴、义乌、泰顺的典型村域分析

研究目的:基于宅基地多功能识别结果,构建多功能量化评价体系,揭示不同地区不同区位宅基地功能分异规律。研究方法:基于可达性划分宅基地类型,构建基于宅基地利用的多功能量化评价体系,引入产业区位熵测算宅基地功能优势度。研究结果:(1)生产功能以嘉兴城中村、义乌城中村及近郊具有突出优势;(2)资产功能呈现城中村近郊远郊边远的分异特征;(3)生态功能呈现出山区平原丘陵盆地和城中村近郊远郊边远的分异规律;(4)心理功能与保障功能未呈现显著性差异。研究结论:不同区位宅基地功能结构具有显著差异,在宅基地退出时应对其进行差别定价与补偿。     

天津市“以宅基地换房”的农村集体建设用地流转新模式

研究目的:探索农村集体建设用地制度改革的新模式。研究方法:案例分析法。研究结果:天津市"以宅基地换房"模式实现了农村土地和资金的"双闭合",提高了土地的利用效率,构建了新的投融资体制。研究结论:天津市"以宅基地换房"模式在城郊结合部具有一定的推广意义。     

促进农村经济持续发展的资金问题思考

研究目的:通过对土地出让收益回流农村的探讨,力求拓宽农村发展的资金渠道,促进农村可持续发展。研究方法:定性分析方法。研究结果:(1)土地出让收益应返还农村,资金回流方式采取农村发展基金的模式;(2)"城乡建设用地增减挂钩"的跨区域挂钩与农村发展基金相结合,解决土地收益不平衡问题。研究结论:农村集体用地土地出让收益返还农村,可实现发达地区与欠发达地区的互惠共赢和发达地区对欠发达地区经济发展的支持。     

Agriculture and the city: A method for sustainable planning of new forms of agriculture in urban contexts

Contemporary cities are threatened by urban development decreasing the overall environmental quality and fragmenting natural and agricultural landscapes. As a result of this fragmentation the number of Non Urbanized Areas (NUAs) present in urban contexts is dramatically decreasing. These areas include cultivated land, Abandoned Farmlands, Grassland, Woods and Shrubs that are often located at the peri-urban cities’ fringes. Among NUAs, farmlands and other forms of urban and peri-urban agriculture provide all three major categories of ecosystem services, provisioning, regulating and cultural services. Recently, New Forms of Urban Agriculture (NFUA) have gained increasing attention from researchers for their promising multifunctionality. Incorporating NFUA into the urban environment will thus improve the sustainability of cities, taking advantage of the multiple benefits and services they can provide.This paper presents a method for the characterisation of NUAs in terms of their physical, ecological and social features. These areas are analysed with different criteria and related indicators structured according to a GIS-based Multi Criteria Suitability Model. The proposed model checks the suitability of transformation of the NUAs toward NFUA, thereby enhancing their ecological and social function as well as accessibility and overall connectivity. Different scenarios of spatial configurations for NFUA have been explored with a sensitivity analysis on the values of used indicators. The method was tested for the municipality of Catania, south Italy, an urban context characterised by a relevant shortage of public green spaces and services.     

构建城乡土地自由流动的政策工具——以换地权益书保障土地要素返流的探索

研究目的:探索如何以换地权益书作为土地要素返流的保障手段,以期构建城乡土地自由流动的政策工具.研究方法:政策分析法和规范分析法.研究结果:当前统筹城乡发展中的土地要素流动存在诸多困境,不仅包括土地多重负担造成流动困难,还包括土地单向流动为主、缺乏双向流动的保障,以及土地规模化经营和流动中面临的空间和位置障碍.研究结论:要大胆创设新的政策工具,采用"换地权益书"的形式来构建土地要素自由流动的保障,这在当前既是必要的,也是可行的.     

基于乡村地域功能导向的土地整治分区*——以北京市平谷区为例

[目的]随着土地整治工作的发展和深化,以补充耕地面积为核心的单目标土地整治已不满足社会发展需要,地域功能在土地整治中的引导作用愈发重要。[方法]以北京市平谷区为例,以行政村为基本评价单元,结合平谷区乡村地域特色,拟从经济生产、生活消费、生态保育、社会保障四大功能角度出发,构建土地整治分区指标体系,通过熵值法确定各指标的权重,对275个乡村地域单元进行了分析和评定。[结果]根据乡村地域功能和实际情况,将研究区划分为经济生产型综合整治区、生活消费型土地整治区、生态保育型土地整治区和社会保障型综合整治区。[结论]在明确各区域主导功能定位的基础上,结合实际情况、现有研究成果和相关理论体系探索了乡村土地整治方向和发展路径:经济生产型综合整治区应按照集约高效的发展模式,打造全区新兴产业集聚区和现代化都市型农业产业基地;生活消费型土地整治区应适度开发历史文化和自然旅游资源,发展以山水游览、休闲度假和文化体验为主的乡村旅游产业;生态保育型土地整治区应以水源保护和生态养护为前提,扩展林果业生产规模,促进经济、生态共同发展;社会保障型综合整治区应大力开展村内旧宅基地、闲散地、废弃工矿用地的复垦和环境治理,加强农村基础设施建设,完善社会保障机制。由于乡村地域功能处在变化的动态之中,各评价指标也随之变化,因此各乡村的发展路径还有待深入探讨和研究。