The urban-rural interface as an area with characteristics of its own in urban planning: A review

Abstract In recent decades, urban dispersion has generated a distribution of interconnected urban developments in the territory, resulting in a network city. It is a new shapeless town design in which the growing interurban mobility blurs boundaries and builds diffuse spaces in an urban-rural interface (UR-I).Various authors argue whether there is an urban-rural gradient or if these areas have characteristics of their own, distinct from those of urban space and countryside. Therefore, a literature review is proposed, with the aim of understanding this reality in order to plan new UR-I spaces. Planning stands as the tool capable of responding to this problem. The first reference to UR-I is from 1964; since 1970, studies of this space began to increase, intensifying in 2000. Studies indicate that research on UR-Isis most often associated with the areas of health, sociology, environmental issues, ecology and urbanism, which are relevant areas in the field of territorial planning. The conclusion of this study is that UR-Is are areas with specific characteristics that must be included in urban planning. Therefore, in this study, we have systematically selected information that can help develop future planning tools for UR-Is as a separate and independent system of urban and rural spaces. Finally, this study highlights the need for further multidisciplinaryresearch on UR-Is.