Abstract

AVILA SANCHEZ, Héctor. Theoretical ideas and proposals on periurban territories: Country side-city relationships in some European and American countries. Invest. Geog [online]. 2001, n.45, pp.108-127. ISSN 2448-7279.

The periurbanization phenomenon has been studied in several countries under various contexts and fallowing different analytical approaches. Nevertheless, common situations and processes become evident. From transformations of the physical space, changes in production or the way in which social actors living and developing in periurban spaces adapt their thinking and day-to-day life, identify their territory and become identified within it. The origin of peri-urbanization relies in developed countries, where the process of counter-urbanization took place, especially In cities of the United States and some European countries. However, at an international level, causes and goals differ: whereas in industrialized countries this phenomenon results from the spatial relocation of productive activities and the improvement of habitat and leisure spaces, in poor countries peri-urban space expresses in a different way: its dynamics is defined by the interrelation of phenomena such as the uncontrolled expansion of urban space, countryside-to-city migrations, illegal land trade and urban poverty, among others.

Keywords : Peri-urbanization; counter-urbanization; urban expansion; mobility; urban crowns; hierarchical arrangement.