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The rapid urban population growth in Ethiopia is causing an increasing demand for urban land, which primarily tends to be supplied by expropriation of peri-urban land. The process of urban development in Ethiopia is largely criticized for forced displacement and disruption of the peri-urban local community. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to introduce how Ethiopia’s urban development system could be built on the participatory and inclusive approaches of land acquisition.

The study has employed questionnaire survey results, focus group discussion with panel of experts and previous research reports to examine the peri-urban situations and then to show why an alternative land development approach is needed to be introduced in the urban land development system of Ethiopia. Desk review on land readjustment was also made to explore best lessons from other countries applicable to the peri-urban contexts of Ethiopia.

This study has explored that land readjustment is potentially an appropriate land development tool to alleviate peri-urban land development limitations in Ethiopia.

Researchers, policy makers and government bodies that are interested in peri-urban land would appreciate and consider implementing the adapted land readjustment model as an alternative land development tool. Consequently, the local peri-urban landholders’ rights would be protected and maintained in the process of urbanization.

Although land readjustment has the potential to achieve participatory peri-urban land development, awareness of the method in the Ethiopian urban land development system is inadequate. This study contributes to fill this gap and create an insight into the basic conditions for the adaption of the tool.

In urban planning, peri-urban areas are often addressed with an urban-centric view on development, disregarding the multifunctional and dynamic opportunities that these spaces offer. As a consequence, we argue that land use functions such as agriculture do not reach their full potential, despite the increasing enthusiasm for peri-urban and urban agriculture. This chapter has a twofold structure: first it explores the opportunities and challenges for agriculture in peri-urban areas; and second, it studies success factors for envisioning processes promoting peri-urban agriculture in urban policy and planning.

Through action research, we gather and compare data from two envisioning processes in the Flemish cities of Ghent and Kortrijk. Both processes were initiated by the local authorities, with the purpose of developing a spatial vision for agriculture in peri-urban areas.

Results show that in both contexts, pressure on farmland is a key issue. In addition, we highlight that multifunctionality is rather complex, both in practice and from a governance perspective, but nevertheless promising as a territorial concept in envisioning processes. Regarding the envisioning process itself, the analysis shows that clarity and consensus on the objectives of the process, delineation of the study area, policy support, clear leadership, and inserting sound and reliable data into the process are important success factors.

This chapter provides insight into the visions, plans and strategies needed to embrace the potential of agriculture in peri-urban areas, through the exploration and valuation of participatory envisioning processes. Future research is needed to explore the implementation phases of envisioning processes in urban planning.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the importance of peri‐urban forests to the process of urban growth. The article aims at providing a brief description of peri‐urban forests' contribution to the improvement of people's prosperity in urban centres by means of reducing the negative effects due to urbanisation and improving the standard of living. Design/methodology/approach – The article adopts a descriptive approach and not a specific methodology. It focuses on providing a general review about the usefulness of peri‐urban forests in relation to urban development. In addition, there are presented figures about the number of peri‐urban forests in Greece as well as forest management issues. Findings – The environmental importance of peri‐urban forests is highlighted as well as their contribution to the reduction of soil erosion and the protection of inhabited areas. It also presents their importance to social growth and to the change in land prices in areas adjacent to peri‐urban forests. Practical implications – The appointment of the usefulness of peri‐urban forests for the improvement of the standard of living in urban regions can influence peri‐urban forests' preservation and protection perspectives. Originality/value – This paper provides a general review of the points of view concerning the importance of peri‐urban forests for urban development and the difficulties in managing and protecting them related to administrative and institutional issues in Greece.

This study aims to provide descriptive analysis on urbanization pattern in Sukoharjo Regency and also its correlation to land use and cover change (LUCC) issue. This becomes more relevant because the authors find that there are few studies conducted regarding the topic. Consider again the importance role of Sukoharjo Regency as an area that provides supporting food supply, LUCC particularly in agriculture land became even more crucial.

This study uses literature reviews and descriptive analysis. Data for this study are obtained from previous studies and statistical data from Central Statistical Bureau.

Sukoharjo Regency proved as an interesting migration destination for some group of population. The population group particularly come from Surakarta city (growth core) as a form of urban sprawl or urban expansion. Migrant population live in Sukoharjo Regency are mostly a population group with a productive age range and generally with high-school or vocational school level. Moreover, their main reason to migrate is the availability of job opportunities. Regarding LUCC, migrant populations that come to Sukoharjo Regency apparently have property with ownership certification. Housing area development, particularly concentrated in the district, was located close to the borderline Surakarta city.

This research contributes to the analysis of land use change trends in peri-urban areas caused by migration. The results of this study can be used for further policy making to overcome the dilemma of land use change, especially those that occur on agricultural land.

Over the centuries cities have undergone various types of urbanizations, thereby changing the lives of the urban residents. At the same time our earth has undergone a damaging transition called climate change that is threatening the lives of millions of people across the globe. The threat is even more in cities and their adjoining regions, as they have higher concentrations of people, including the most vulnerable urban poor. Moreover, the cities and their administration are either oblivious to the emergence of such threats or have taken inadequate measures to counter the effects of the change. Besides, the focus has been predominantly on urban areas rather than urban systems.

Swaziland is one of the countries with the highest Human Immune-deficiency Virus (HIV) rates in the world. Consequently, the increased need for care and support for people living with Acquired Immune-deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), as well as orphaned and vulnerable children, is unprecedented. The response to combat the HIV epidemic has been evident in many areas as the country continues its fight against the HIV epidemic. However, efforts to provide care and support - including Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART), management of opportunistic infections, and community home-based care - have, so far, largely stemmed from the health sector. Housing care and other non-medical support is continuing to lag behind. Lack of proper housing is one of the deprivations suffered by orphaned children and people living with AIDS, which predisposes them to attacks by opportunistic infections and other vulnerabilities and disrupts the continuum of care, whilst at times denying occupants the required privacy.

This paper focuses on creating an understanding of why housing care and support for HIV and AIDS affected is lagging behind in Swaziland. It suggests cultural, economic, political and policy issues as the underlying reasons for this, and, therefore, concludes that there is need for bold policy reforms in these areas. In order to create a proper framework for such reforms, the paper reviews the following:

1. The national housing policy's implications on the care and support for people living with HIV and AIDS and the orphaned and vulnerable children; and

2. The current human settlements related responses to HIV and AIDS in Swaziland's rural, peri-urban and urban areas.

In this context, urban development planning paradigms and the extent to which HIV and AIDS is being integrated into the development plans are discussed.

The aim is to depict the effects of the rural-urban transformation visible in most western societies during the last few decades by examining the Swedish-speaking part of Finland, a geographically divided region kept together by a common language and culture. Everything from the remotely rural to the very central urban is represented here, as well as all possible types of outcomes of the post-industrial urbanization process: growing metropolitan centres, suburbs and commuting areas, declining smaller regional centres, counter-urbanization, and both viable and declining rural areas.

Population mobility may upset the formation (or preservation) of communities, and while these are vital for any sound and well-functioning society, we see a sense of community as especially crucial for the survival of minority populations. The empirical study consists of an overview of demographic trends during the time period from 1980 onwards to 2012, and in parallel, an overview of mobility patterns between urban and rural areas as well as of commuting.

The late modern trend of counter-urbanization is visible in our material, but still, while this does not extend outside the narrow commuting area, counter-urbanization may not be comprehended as a major trend in the Swedish-speaking regions. The main finding is the effect on communities of urbanization and counter-urbanization depicted by the ability to ‘live in Swedish’ in the different types of areas on the rural-urban scale. The study shows that while an area seemingly thrives, with evidence of population growth and in-migration, a high level of mobility may still hurt the prerequisites for community formation.

This paper aims to analyse the implications in terms of economic promotion and local development that ensue from the implementation of a strategy of agrarian branding in five municipalities in the Baixa Tordera region (Catalonia, Spain).

The research follows a case study logic. First, five focus groups were designed and distributed by sectors of activity. Second, six in-depth interviews were scheduled with opinion leaders from the region. Finally, a survey open to all inhabitants was set up on the town councils’ websites.

The brand understood as a device removed from the connotations of indiscriminate marketing should guarantee the following elements in its deployment and implementation: knowledge, recognition, complicity, development and denomination of origin.

This research contributes to improve the management models of agrarian spaces, but it also helps expand the research background on studies on agrarian branding.

The place brand must become something close to a denomination of origin that, informally, invites us to define the future of this agrarian area. It therefore also affects the complexity of the planning and development of this area which, from now on, must necessarily be supramunicipal. In this way, the brand needs to offer a holistic vision of the region to all the agents that work in the strategic and urban planning of the five municipalities under study.

The spatial development of urban areas affects the characteristics of landscape as well as people’s aesthetic perception of it. Specifically, sprawl results in an urban morphology which is diametrically opposed to the compact city model and which assumes several kinds of patterns: for example “striped”, “ribbon” or “leapfrogged” urban development. Assessing urban morphology in spatial terms is crucial to urban policy, while landscape metrics are the key to a comprehensive understanding of different urban development patterns. The purpose of this paper to design and test an urban morphology indicator (UMI) for the Lombardy Regional Landscape Plan.

The paper describes an UMI that can be used to identify the heterogeneity of built-up patterns according to urban porosity, fragmentation and patch shape. This UMI is a result of Esri ArcGIS 10.3 “grouping analysis” which works by applying a spatial statistical metric for clustering geometries in a given geographical area.

Morphological analysis was used in regional urban development policies with a view to minimising impact on surrounding ecosystems and preserving the natural environment and landscape. It defines 28 different urban morphology patterns in the region, which are divided into systems, polarities and urbanised units.

The proposed methodology differs from those traditionally used in qualitative/descriptive landscape planning and supports the identification of morphological features with quantitative statistical and spatial data, allowing a fine-scale assessment of complex metrics.

Urban agriculture is increasingly recognized for its potential contribution to more sustainable urban development. Urban agriculture includes the cultivation and raising, processing and marketing of food and non-food crops, medicinal and aromatic herbs, fruit trees, as well as animal products within urban and periurban areas. Urban agriculture positively impacts urban food security, local economic development, environmental management and community building. To reconcile the demands posed by urban growth with urban agriculture activities of high social and economic value, urban agriculture however should be included into land use planning and design, and regulated by municipalities, assuring its proper management and avoiding potential health and environmental risks. Open and green urban spaces could be designed for multifunctional urban agriculture and combine natural habitat, food production, educational, recreational and leisure activities. Such design processes would benefit from broad participation of urban planners and architects, urban farmers, citizens and slum inhabitants as to enhance ownership and engagement, more effectively use available local resources and give the process a higher credibility and wider outreach. This article shares the experience of Rosario, Argentina where the city planners and University staff collaborated with two low-income communities in the design and implementation of a multifunctional neighborhood park, public square and road reserve. A step-by-step participatory design process was followed: starting from initial visioning, defining and relating the various existing and multi-functional land uses desired, to elaborating the site plan, and agreeing on implementation procedures. The article briefly contextualizes the site and its inhabitants, illustrates the design process and the results achieved and highlights some of the problems encountered. Participatory design of open spaces for urban agriculture in Rosario- though a complex process- proved to have contributed to improving socio-economic and environmental conditions in the city, while also serving as a source of inspiration to other cities in the region.