Review of peri-urban agriculture as a regional ecosystem service

Abstract

The peri‑urban area possesses mixed characteristics of rural and urban areas, i.e., agricultural, and built-up land. This review explains various themes and concepts of peri‑urban areas and the importance of peri‑urban agriculture (PUA) as an ecosystem service (ES) for their surrounding areas. The methodological approach is a systematic literature search and explanatory review of books and journal articles. The focus of the discussion is as follows: (1) quantification of review results, (2) urbanization pressures, peri‑urban, and governance, (3) two different concepts about the peri‑urban area, (4) protection of PUA and their resilience, and (5) role of PUA in providing ESs to other regions. The review shows that PUA is more crucial in urban areas than in rural areas in terms of food supply, ecology and biodiversity preservation, disaster mitigation, and recreation. One of the primary causes of PUA loss is massive urban expansion, which entails the conversion of agricultural land in peri‑urban areas into built-up land. Hence, we suggest that every country should develop a peri‑urban management policy. We argue that sociocultural biases in PUA have resulted in many institutional constraints on peri‑urban management being incorporated within existing political and regulatory frameworks, including planning practices and longstanding laws and regulations.