Today, peri-urban space is recognised to play a critical and increasing role in relation to urban expansion. Yet this role is still poorly understood and peri-urban areas rarely recognised in the different decision spheres, leading to the political and economic marginalisation of the (often poor) populations that live in these peri-urban spaces.
Two policy-relevant questions emerge from this:
- What can the resilience narrative, which is increasingly used in the context of urbanisation, offer to address this disconnect?
- What do policies that foster resilience in peri-urban spaces look like?
This project attempts to answer these questions. The study shows that promoting resilience in peri-urban contexts involves fostering adaptation, emphasising systems thinking that brings together urban and rural dynamics, and recognising that path-dependence matters.
