The ‘peri-urban turn’: A systems thinking approach for a paradigm shift in reconceptualising urban-rural futures in the global South

Abstract

With the rapid pace of urbanization, urban sprawl has become a prevalent phenomenon, particularly in the global South, leading to the emergence of peri-urban spaces where rural-urban interfaces occur. These peri-urban areas exhibit dynamic and continuous interactions among social, economic, and environmental systems, offering valuable insights for fostering resilient futures. However, this aspect remains largely unexplored in current research due to a lack of innovative methodological approaches that effectively capture the complementarities, potentialities, and contestations inherent in the dynamics of peri-urban areas. We contend that peri-urbanisation needs to be reconceptualized as an alternative socio-spatial framework that extends the predominantly Eurocentric discourse on counterurbanisation, making it more inclusive of the emerging urban-rural transformations in the global South. By doing so, we can better understand and address the complex dynamics and challenges associated with peri-urban areas and develop strategies to foster resilience in these contexts.