Peri-urban areas (also called urban space, outskirts or the hinterland) are defined by the structure resulting from the process of peri-urbanisation.
It can be described as the landscape interface or ecotone between town and countryside,[2][3] or also as the rural—urban transition zone where urban and rural uses and functions mix and often clash.
[4] It can thus be viewed as a new landscape type in its own right, one forged from an interaction of urban and rural land use.
As examples: Despite these urban uses, the fringe remains largely open with the majority of the land for agricultural, woodland or other rural uses.
"Peri-urbanisation" is also sometimes used to fill the gap between suburbanisation and exurbanisation, and thus relates moreover to the movement of people in space.