Urban fringe belts: Development of an idea

The fringe‐belt concept, first formulated in Germany some 50 years ago, has its origins in the recognition by Louis of the long‐term significance of physical limitations on urban growth, notably city walls. Developed by Conzen in Britain in the post‐war period, it became the foundation for a morphological theory of urban growth and change. The concept was disseminated widely in the 1970s, although it has only been taken up by scholars outside the English‐speaking world in the 1980s. Significant developments have been the establishment of the relationship between fringe belts on the one hand and building cycles, rent theory, innovation, family life cycles, and social areas on the other. Interest in the fringe‐belt concept beyond the discipline of geography would seem to be only just beginning. Fringe belts present both opportunities for, and constraints on, town planning. This applies both where they have initially formed parts of town planning schemes and, as is more commonly the case, where they have developed in an essentially unplanned fashion.