Dear Colleagues,

Peri-urbanization processes involving urban expansion through land take and soil sealing are massive, often taking place beyond any regulations, threatening the performance of ecosystems and the provision of ecosystem services, and are becoming one of the most unsustainable forms of urban development. Those transformations lead to emerging of peri-urban landscapes (PULs), which are transition territories connecting cities with their surrounding environment, where urban, rural and natural or semi-natural characteristics are mixed.

Vertically and horizontally fragmented management and planning, increasing pressure of market forces, speed of peri-urbanization processes, and lack of awareness about the potential consequences of peri-urbanization are just a few different challenges related to the governance of PULs. The governance of PULs needs to address urban, regional and (cross-) national development goals such as air pollution reduction, integrated watershed management, infrastructure planning and management, biodiversity conservation, provision of and accessibility to ecosystem services.

To foster sustainable development, PULs can be approached as interfaces that, beyond many conflicts, can also create opportunities for governance experimentation and thus, for new governance mixes to emerge. In our Special Issue, we are interested in spatial planning-oriented governance mixes which do not refer to a particular type of governance. Governance mixes in our understanding are broader than a combination of different policy instruments and indicate a thoughtful mix of different top-down and bottom-up governance approaches, which are introduced at different administrative levels, bringing different formal and informal outcomes, discussed and implemented by the wide range of governance actors.

With this Special Issue, we welcome innovative research concerning governance mixes oriented towards a more sustainable development of PULs. We encourage contributions that address case studies, exemplary applications, theoretical frameworks and perspectives, as well as proposals of innovative planning processes, methods, and tools.

Research questions:

• How should future peri-urban development pattern be governed for contributing to more sustainable development?
• What governance mixes could increase the sustainability of PULs, and how?
• What are the good practices related to the successful implementation of governance mixes in PULs?
• What are the challenges for implementing governance mixes in PULs?

Dr. Marcin Spyra
Dr. Silvia Ronchi
Dr. Chiara Cortinovis
Guest Editors

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• Peri-urban landscapes
• governance
• land-use policy
• sustainable development
• ecosystem services