Whose fringe is it anyway: prospects and opportunities for integrated management of the rural-urban fringe

relu Rural Economy and Land Use Programme Whose fringe is it anyway: prospects and opportunities for integrated management of the rural-urban fringe (RUF). Alister Scott Claudia Carter, Mark Reed, Peter Larkham, Nicki Schiessel, Karen Leach, Nick Morton, Rachel Curzon David Jarvis, Andrew Hearle, Mark Middleton, Bob Forster, Keith Budden, Ruth Waters, David Collier, Chris Crean, Miriam Kennet, Richard Coles and Ben Stonyer

Plan
The fringe context
Conceptualising the RUF research problem
Emerging narratives from 6 workshops
Discussion: Realising the opportunity space for RUF
Building interdisciplinarity across the rural domain

Faces of the Fringe
Innovative
Edgelands
Transitional
Fuzzy
Messy
Reactionary
Ad-hoc
Diverse
Dynamic
Neglected
Valued
Contested

Academic Commentary
Dominant space of 20C
(Mckenzie, 1996)
Misunderstood space (Gallent et al 2006)
A transition phase/edge ‘placeless’ (Qvistrom, 2005)
Fringe as a ‘weed’ (Cresswell 1997)
Battleground for urban and rural uses (Hough, 1990)
“ Landscape out of order” (Qvistrom 2007)

Multiple Identities
RUF as geographical identity; crossing boundaries
RUF as professional identity ; spaces for management/planning goods and services
RUF as stakeholder identity; imagined and contested space(s)
RUF as policy identity; a dynamic process shaped by macro drivers (climate change, recession)

The RUF problem
“ I find the idea of [the RUF as an area of] transition really useful. I don’t think I have come across a spatial definition [of the RUF].” A
“ You find it useful, but I am sure for a planner it is a complete headache.” B
“ Yeah, but I mean the planners have nice straight administrative boundaries” A

An interdisciplinary approach to the built environment
Improve theoretical lens through which we can view both the processes, drivers and dynamics of change in the RUF

Marriage of Spatial Planning and Ecosystem Services
Cross boundaries between planners and natural resource managers

Converging literatures
Individual team member reflective policy and practice contributions
Prioritise key problem areas
Addressing pro-activity and long termism
Increasing connectivity through Green-Grey- Blue Infrastructure planning
Assessing Values and Effective Decision making

Workshops
West Midlands Rural Affairs Forum Improving decision making for the sustainable management of the RUF; 25 participants
Green Economics Institute Long Termism and Valuation in the Built Environment: the RUF and Land Use; 65 participants
Birmingham Environmental Partnership Bridging the rural urban divide; 88 participants
Localise West Midlands Meeting L ocal needs with local resources in the rural urban fringe; 15 participants
BCU Learning the lessons from Strategic planning: resurrecting institutional memories; 14 participants
Forest Research Values and Decision making; 8 participants

“ Emergent” storylines from RUF workshops
Challenging institutionalised values and practices
Integrating and connecting across traditional sectors and different scales
Building effective stakeholder involvement
Taking a proactive, long term approach

1 Challenging Building interdisciplinarity across the rural domain

“ Evidence is seen too much in the quantitative and economic sense.....[For decisions]. numbers are more attractive than a complicated line of argument and debate ”. FR
Challenging Building interdisciplinarity across the rural domain

Challenging
“ How can we bring about a cultural shift to get away from taking it for granted that population and consumption per capita will continue to grow” BEP

Challenging
“ ..... Green Belt just protects now very affluent commuter belt settlements ........ This culture of negativity and restriction restricts freedom of manoeuvre for planners and the development industry”. WMRAF

Challenging
“ Flexibility is [currently] a one-way street: reducing open land and increasing development; but fringe is the chance to shape rural from urban within new patterns of viability”. LWM

Challenging
“ Land value is the main barrier to RUF being used for local food production and other innovative things ......” LWM

Key Messages
Economic System(s) is/are flawed - and main barrier to change
We value what we measure; as opposed to measure what we value
Green Belt is part of the RUF problem, not the answer
Where are the alternative visions?

2 Effective Stakeholder Participation Building interdisciplinarity across the rural domain

Effective Stakeholder Participation
“ You need to involve the public at the outset ....so building on their traditional knowledge as part of solutions rather than just asking them to endorse a professional solution” GE

“ Rather than ....so-called experts we need more creative ideas from school children...public .... mavericks .” GE

“ I was recently consulted on the local plan the council asked for views on “your plan”. I wrote back and said it was surely “our” plan.” GE

“ Important to .. develop tools ..... that enable people to realise and understand what the changes and actions might really mean” BCU

“ Often people might agree a concept but don't deal with the detail and the interlocking pieces .... Then they oppose what they originally supported. ......” BCU

“ How will [local communities] be heard and find ears in the existing power landscape [designations and institutional processes]....... We need to create new institutional arrangements” FR

Key Messages
Broadening of expertise
Role of local knowledge and ideas
Improve tools for iterative + participative strategies
Build collaborative approaches through institutional change

3 Long Termism Building interdisciplinarity across the rural domain

Long Termism
“ The importance of ...agriculture and forestry in the ruf is really important. With the current recession there is a very real risk of short termism via the selling off of farm land near urban edges” BCU

Long Termism
“ A lot of good information can be got from looking at the past and using that; we tend to overlook this. Learning from our historical knowledge and experience is important ....yet we tend to make the same mistakes”. BCU

Long Termism
“ How do we value what we don't know exists?”.....”You don’t get people investing when you don’t know what is going to happen”. GE

Long Termism
“ What about Ebenezer Howard and his visions these were long term; we don't have this kind of thinking anymore ... Why ?” BCU

Long Termism
“ There is a need for better skills training and capacity building amongst policy and decision makers at all levels....not just the public”. WMRAF

Key Messages
Visions are key tools
Adaptive management via demo projects
Markets rarely value the long term approach
We ignore past lessons at our peril
Move beyond spatial solutions to invest in social capital/skills

4. Integration Building interdisciplinarity across the rural domain

Integration
“ The RUF is ...... individual reflecting different needs and priorities according to local circumstances. ..... across all sectors from which a suitable model is developed”. BCU

Integration
“ Value of food growing in cities and green belts as a means of sustainable development ... Achievement of health ideals.... Education for school children .. Building the cultural links between rural and urban across divides” WMRAF

Integration
“ Green infrastructure planning across landscape scale areas crossing administrative boundaries.... The role of infrastructure planning is crucial but needs to be at the right scale”. BEP

Integration
“ Many agencies did not have a particular view on the fringe space except when it was part of an actual project.... Although some pieces of work and evidence were commissioned, they only addressed particular features of the fringe landscape” BCU

Integration
“ Interdependencies are very important and we should see to make the chain of connections more visible and more apparent” LWM

Key messages
The holy grail of integration
No one size fits all
Identify needs and priorities of the RUF
Identify connections and dependencies across boundaries and scales
Improve transparency and evidence in addressing ‘needs’ and ‘priorities’

Opportunity Spaces in RUF
CHAMPION : to articulate the RUF as a place in its own right
ADAPT : highlight different thinking and ideas to change institutional values and planning processes eg urban agriculture
SCALE : Work on the problem and opportunity at/across the right scale(s)
RECONSTRUCT: improve lens to view, tell and change the RUF story.

Whose fringe is it anyway: prospects and opportunities for integrated management of the rural-urban fringe

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