Contested countryside - Owen J. Furuseth

All across North America the rural urban fringe has emerged as the quintessential land use battleground. The fringe is the 'Contested countryside' wherein different interests confront one another over the future of the landscape. Whether the fringe will remain largely devoted to agriculture and dispersed small towns, the new 'edge cities' of the globalizing economy, the sprawl so typical of North American suburban life/urban fringe the Northern American landscape will find its definition in the century ahead. This collection of original essays by planners, geographers, economists, sociologists and activists provides a rich overview as well as in-depth case studies of the issues and places in contest on the fringe. 'Contested Countryside' demonstrates the degree to which forces large and small, choices and policies, will shape the future of the North American community and landscapes.