<sec id="sec001"><title>Between the rural and urban: An agenda for the periurban interface

TERI has been engaged in a project on sustainable settlements in periurban areas with specific reference to the impacts of energy and transport. The project has sought to understand the needs and expectations of periurban dwellers, their livelihood opportunities, and the implications of the periurban interface for natural resources and sustain ability.

The word periurban defies a standard definition; however, it can be seen as referring both to a place and a process. As a place, periurban refers to rural fringe areas around cities. As a process, periurban refers to a transitionary stage between the rural and urban, characterized by the co-existence of rural and urban land uses, activities, and institutions.

Periurban is complex: institutionally, socially, and environmentally. Socially, it is complex since it comprises a mix of inhabitants with diverse, and sometimes, competing interests. Agriculturists, wage labourers, informal settlers, and industrial workers all struggle over limited resources. Environmentally, periurban areas serve as dumping grounds for urban waste and are often recipients of polluting industries that are relocated from larger cities, having been shifted to the periphery. Often common property resources get eroded either as they are taken over for urban land uses like brick kilns and factories, or because with out-migration of people there is a gradual loss of interest in maintaining them.

Institutionally, periurban is challenging since rural and urban institutions, laws, practices, norms, and codes of conduct co-exist. At the same time, for many problems, it is difficult to find a solution, since these problems fall neither in the jurisdiction of urban, nor of rural governments.

Addressing periurban challenges requires a two-pronged strategy: protecting periurban livelihoods, particularly by strengthening rural-urban linkages; and mitigating the adverse impacts of urban sprawl on the rural resource base. The 74th Amendment to the Constitution of India provides for the creation of district planning committees for an integrated view of planning for rural and urban areas. There is also a provision for nagar panchayats that can take special care of such areas in transition. It is important that state governments take this challenge seriously. It is also important to clarify the role and power of these organizations, and to devolve the required level of autonomy to enable them to act effectively. Worldwide, the balance of evidence points to a strong potential of local-level approaches in addressing periurban challenges. Wherever such approaches exist, it is important to provide an enabling policy environment to allow them not just to flourish, but also to replicate them steadily in their surrounds.

Editorial