Peri-urbanisation, as a process of the physical expansion of settlement areas but also socioeconomic transformation, has been recognised as a major spatial development beyond the urban fringes. Agriculture, the main land use actor in the hinterlands of many urban areas is increasingly affected by urban encroachment, responds with adaptation strategies and farming activities to cope with the peri-urban framework conditions. Adaptation pathways encompass specialisation into horticulture as well as enhanced environmental and lifestyle orientation of farming-typical elements of multifunctional agriculture. However, due to the heterogeneity of the periurbanisation processes also differences in farming transition are expected. Based on a differentiation into displaced-urbanisation, ex-urbanisation, anti-urbanisation and hidden-urbanisation as main types of peri-urbanisation, variances of farming responses are elaborated for municipal entities in the Copenhagen region in Denmark using statistical census data. Under consideration of location determinants, regression models have been applied to analyse the interrelationship between different peri-urbanisation processes and multifunctional farming activities. Findings confirm that the differentiation of peri-urban processes is meaningful for the explanation of spatial distribution of farm adaptation strategies, particularly in the case of leisure and environmental oriented farm practices.

The PLUREL project (2007-2011) envisaged research on urban, peri-urban and rural interaction and strategies focusing on sustainable land use changes such as the preservation of green open areas, agricultural lands and other unbuilt areas under urbanization pressures. The research was done through close cooperation with the stakeholders from the case-study regions. For the purpose of better cooperation, a Board of Stakeholders was formed-to follow the research closely and recommend improvements in the way of communication between research and policy. The research addressed important issues for all the regions with urban cores, peri-urban edges and rural hinterlands. The stakeholders, representing planners, local politicians, NGOs, nature protection organizations or networks of relevant actors, took an active role in the discussions, analysis and choices on the way to the end results. The expectations were high on both sides. The stakeholders expected userfriendly recommendations, models, scenarios and interactive tools. The amount of work delivered in the end was impressive. The experience, through the interaction between researchers and policy makers, was highly valuable. The two worlds with different languages and perceptions came closer to each other. Ideas were freely exchanged and common strategies worked out. PLUREL offers a wide range of products which will indisputably have impact on policies. These products include analysis and recommendation on governance and sustainable peri-urban land use, planning and financial instruments in peri-urban areas that will enhance sustainable land use, strategies for growth management, urban containment by conservation and densification, development of consistent blue and green infrastructure, promotion of local production and short transport circles, development of eco-services, and ways of assessing impacts on quality of life. All these are numerous examples of successfully worked out recommendations for preserving and developing the peri-urban areas as open, green and vital areas. Three European regions from Western Europe, three from the former Eastern Europe and one from China-all with different traditions in planning and land use-learned a lot from each other in the process. The regions which are traditionally strong in planning-Montpellier, The Hague and Manchester could offer their v

Urban growth management has become a common term to circumscribe strategies and tools to regulate urban land use in metropolitan areas. It is particularly used to counteract negative impacts of urban sprawl but also to frame future urban development. We discuss recent challenges of urban growth in 6 European and 2 US American city-regions. The paper compares the urban development focusing on a quantification of drivers and effects of urban growth and a qualitative analysis of the applied urban growth management tools. We build our analysis on findings from the EU-FP6 project PLUREL. The cities have different success in dealing with urban growth pressure -some can accommodate most growth in existing urban areas and densify, others expand or sprawl. Urban growth management is no guarantee to contain urban growth, but the case studies offer some innovative ways how to deal with particular challenges.

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In recent decades, urbanisation in Europe has been characterised by the development and expansion of functionally integrated urban regions. Areas around Copenhagen, Denmark, have also experienced continuous urbanisation and a considerable in‐migration, which has contributed to the development of a wider metropolitan region. Most recently, however, a shift of migration towards the urban centre has occurred. Was the emergence of the urban‐rural region just an ephemeral phenomenon? Migration patterns are used to analyse urban‐rural relationships. Generally, in‐migration was concentrated in areas located at medium to long‐distances from the city centre from 1996–2005, while in the years since 2006, this trend has been reversed. However, a differentiated view on migration shows a very diverse and non‐linear development. We focus on three migration types, Ex‐urbanisation, Displaced urbanisation and Anti‐urbanisation and compare their development since 1986 in three time periods. Each type shows a different behaviour, partially unstable over time.

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