Beyond the fringe: the role of recreation in multi-functional urban fringe landscapes

Abstract

This paper reviews some of the academic literature and policy documents that relate to and promote the need for urban design and the re-invigoration of the processes and practices of 'masterplanning'. Specifically, this paper concerns the implications for recreation in areas that have been conceptualised in a number of ways including 'urban fringe' and 'fringe-belt' and the ways in which these areas are being re-developed as multi-functional spaces in the planning process. The paper pays particular attention to the proposed development of the 'North Plymouth Community Park' examining the claims made for the sustainable characteristics of the development and questioning the absence of the cultural aspects of recreation.