The Rural-Urban Fringe

Author(s): George S. Wehrwein

Source: Economic Geography , Jul., 1942, Vol. 18, No. 3 (Jul., 1942), pp. 217-228
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/141123

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 ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
VOL. 18 JULY, 1942 No. 3

THE RURAL-URBAN FRINGE

George S. Wehrwein

LAND problems appear in their ment," premature subdivisions, unwise

expansion of public utilities with in-
most acute form on three fringes
_ _ or transition zones: (1) the area creased expenditures for local govern-
between arable farming and grazing; ment have resulted in tax delinquency
(2) the zone between farms and forests; and suburban slums. Pathological con-
and (3) the suburban area lying between ditions of this kind focused attention
the built-up city and farms. In recenton this transition zone just as they
years much attention has been given did to the cut-over regions and the
to the two former "fringes"; the "Dust High Plains.
Bowl" and the "cut-over" areas are It is the purpose of this article to
familiar figures in land utilization examine the land use structure of the
litera-
ture. Much less has been done by rural-urban fringe which may be defined
research agencies and administrators in as the area of transition between well
the other twilight zone-the rural-urban recognized urban land uses and the area
fringe. Students of agricultural land devoted to agriculture. That this is not
problems stop when they come to "city a hard and fast, well defined area is
land" and urban land economists and evident from this description. The
planners usually stay within the city "built-up" city is not necessarily coter-
limits, unless they are studying the minous with the political city. In many
region and making regional plans. Mean- cases the economic and sociological city,
while residences are spreading into the the area within which people live the
fringe, industries are "decentralizing," urban way of life, has extended far
and commercial establishments in the beyond the city limits; in other cases
form of traffic-attracted industries are farms on which people live the rural way
locating themselves along major high- of life are found within the political
ways, reaching many miles beyond the boundaries of cities. The 1940 census
residential or the industrial invasion. reported almost 260,000 urban-farm
Urban problems, crying for direction, population. Likewise the city and the
planning, and social controls, are rural-urban
thrust fringe may or may not
upon rural governments, yet these cover the same area as the metropolitan
units
of government are not designed district
for or as defined by the United States
are incapable of furnishing direction,Census. The fringe area is much smaller
plans, or controls. Unguided "settle- than the trade area and usually smaller

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218 ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

first edition of von Thiunen's book was

published) the presence of a belt of
forests as the second zone was not so
incongruous as it might seem. Prac-
tically all building material, fuel, and
other bulky forest products had to be
brought to the city by wagons or even
on the backs of the peasants. Agricul-
tural zones reappeared beyond the
forest belt; gradually farming became
less and less intensive until grazing
merges into the wilderness which sur-
rounds the "state" and shuts it off from
the rest of the world.
In this oversimplified scheme of land
FIGURE 1.-Land utilization as determined byutilization there is no rural-urban fringe
location. Modified from diagrams in von as we know it today. The city boundary
Thiinen's Isolated State. (From Ely-Wehrwein,
Land Economics, Macmillan, 1940.) sets the limit of the "urban way of life"
-beyond it are farms and agricultural
than the commuting area of a given land uses. Nevertheless, the intensive
city. It can best be identified in terms use of land, small farms, high priced
of land uses or modifications of land land, dense population, and almost daily
uses than in any other way. contact with the city in marketing their
crops means a way of life for the farmers
VON THUNEN'S SCHEME OF
intermediate between that of the city
LAND UTILIZATION
dweller and the general farmer or
In reviewing the literature which forester. It is the kind of life and type
throws light on the land utilization of of agriculture that are often pictured
the fringe the student will find von as still existing on the outskirts of our
Thiinen's "Isolated State" a good cities but which have been meta-
beginning. Von Thiinen eliminated all morphosed beyond recognition by t
natural features, climate, soil, topogra- forces which have produced the "fri
phy or anything else which might affect problems." It is the kind of land
the utilization of land except the pres- utilization, way of life, and occupations
ence of a single city in the center of a hoped for in the "greenbelts" around
uniform plain with an agricultural the "Greenbelt Towns," a girdle of
economy. Given only wagon transpor- permanent open space intended "to
tation, with no well defined highways, protect the town forever from over-
the cost of bringing farm products to the crowding and undesirable building on
city is equal for all points equally distantneighboring land." This belt was de-
from the market. The result is a system signed to contain not only parks, play-
of concentric belts or zones about the grounds and the gardens of the urban
central city (Figure 1). inhabitants, but also full-time farmers
In the first zone only high priced, "who can bring their produce to market
perishable, and bulky products can by crossing their own fields." (Greenbelt
profitably be grown and marketed, such Towns: A Demonstration in Suburban
as milk, eggs, berries, and vegetables. Planning, published by the Resettlement
Under the conditions of 1826 (when the Administration, Washington, D. C.,

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 THE RURAL-URBAN FRINGE 219

September, 1936. The distribution of gives the farms adjacent to such roads
the land uses in a typical community locational advantage over those not so
was planned as follows: community and situated. Fruit, vegetable, dairy, and
store buildings, 100 acres; homes, 1000 poultry farms could be located farther
acres; parks, 1800 acres; farms, 2100 away from the city if situated on a
acres.) direct road to the city than if not so
Park and Burgess in their study of placed. Von Thiinen recognized this
city structure conceived of a similar when he introduced the river in his
system of concentric zones within the diagram and the circles became distorted
city itself, beginning with the commer- by projections following the streain
cial and industrial core and ending with (Figure 1B).
the dwellings of the wealthier "classes"
CHRISTALLER'S SCHEME OF
at the periphery of the city. Coupled
URBANIZATION
with von Thinen's scheme for the area
beyond the city, the two together form The von Thinen scheme of a single
an idealized scheme of land utilization city in a large uniform hinterland of an
which, however, has so many exceptions agricultural economy is of course highly
that it is sometimes difficult to theoretical
prove and is useful primarily for
the rule! This orderly arrangement isolating of the economic from the
rules out the influence of natural factors natural and other factors determining
which are often predominant. It also land utilization. More realistic is the
presupposes a static population, which, scheme of Walter Christaller. (Walter
indeed, was the basic assumption of Christaller, Die Zentralen Orte in Sid-
some of the Garden Cities. It is only deutschland, Jena, Gustav Fischer, 1933.)
with a static population that the green-
belt of parks, playgrounds, gardens, and
farms can be maintained against the
invasion of a growing city or, if the city
is permitted to expand, plans must be
made for the gradual expanding core,
the expansion of the residential area
and the shifting of the rural land uses to
urban land uses.
However, few cities have been static;
all of them expect to grow, and, with
this expectation in mind, they make
their plans accordingly whenever they
plan at all. Growth does not take
place equally on the periphery of the
city and probably never has in spite of
* MARKSTADT
the concentric circles of the Isolated
0 AMTSTADT
State. Transportation has always fol- ( KREISSTADT
PRIMARY RAILROAD

- SECONDARY RAILROAD
lowed definite routes; even the camel,
O BERSIRKSTADT LOCAL RAILROAD
pack horse, and ox cart followed certain
paths and entered the ancient and * GAUSTADT

medieval city at city gates. The

FIGURE 2.-Theoretical distribution of trade
"Isolated State" itself must have a
centers. (Based on diagrams made by James A.
system of "farm to market " roads which
Barnes, after W. Christaller.)

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220 ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

Assuming once more a uniform agri- and zones just as the central city does
cultural economy it is evident that not and the larger cities will tend to develop
all non-rural functions will be centralized "fringe areas." This was recognized
in one city. The farmer needs the by von Thiinen when he introduced
services of the blacksmith and other another city in his diagram (Figure 1).
craftsmen, the store, the church, More school,
important still is the fact that the
and a tavern, dance hall or other recrea- distribution of urban centers will deter-
tional centers depending on the customs mine the transportation system. Ac-
and mores of the people. Christaller cording to Christaller each hamlet is
suggests that these services would growconnected with the rural area it serves
up at certain centers and form hamlets and in turn it is linked with the village
evenly distributed over an area assumedor city next in rank, resulting in a
to be as uniform as that of the " Isolated system of primary, secondary, and local
State." Each hamlet tends to serve an roads and railways. This is indicated
area hexagonal in shape as shown in in Sector 4 of Figure 2. Thus a hier-
Sector 1 of Figure 2. However, the archy of highways is unfolded bearing a
hamlet cannot furnish all the services volume of traffic in proportion to the
the farmer wants, so some of the villages size of the cities connected. Moreover,
become the center for doctors, lawyers, the large urban centers are linked, not
hospitals, let us say, serving the rural only with the cities of a system such as
people in a larger area and those living this, but with other metropolitan centers
in the neighboring hamlets as well. and their "systems." Thus transporta-
This larger area is shown in Sector 2 oftion becomes channelized and certain
the same Figure. In this way Christaller railways, roads, waterways, and air
builds up a hierarchy of urban centerslanes become the main arteries for
of which the most important is the quick, uninterrupted traffic for passen-
"central" city of von Thiinen's Isolated gers and goods. Such railways are
State (Sector 3). double tracked and roads are made
The even distribution of cities of into two, three, or four lane highways
various characteristics, sizes, and to "hint-
carry the heavy traffic; in fact, som
erland areas" is disturbed by natural of these main highways are merely a
factors, locational advantages for manu-connection of "Main Street" of one
facturing and "through lines" of trans- city with the "Michigan Avenue" or
portation. Iowa, because of its agri- "Broadway" of another.
cultural economy might have come
RAILWAYS AS "DECENTRALIZING"
close to furnishing an example of
FACTORS
Christaller's principle. However, the
Missouri and Mississippi rivers on its Not only the agricultural zones but
borders, the three important rivers the city itself tends to follow the lines
within the state, and the transconti- of transportation. However, as long as
nental railways located and later in- animal power was the usual means of
fluenced the growth of the cities of Iowatransportation the city dweller who had
so much that their distribution is far business or sought pleasure in the
from uniform over the state. "downtown" part of the city was con-
Christaller's contribution has signifi- strained to live as "close in" as possi-
cance for the rural-urban fringe in that ble. (In 1866 New York had a well
every one of these urban concentrations organized system of coach, omnibus,
will become the basis for a series of belts and horse railway transportation yet

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 THE RURAL-URBAN FRINGE 221

their range was so limited that the of residences projecting from the city.
The early street cars rarely went out-
outlying districts were undeveloped while
the central streets were badly con- side of the city's limits but when these
gested. "The most desirable parts of were transformed into interurban elec-
the island, the sections abreast of and tric lines, projected into the rural areas
above Central Park, were largely given or connected with near-by cities, the
up to pigs, ducks, shanty squatters, andboundaries of the city were stretched
filth, while lower Broadway was so still more. Interurbans could be
jammed that a man in a hurry almost "flagged" at any crossroad, which
lost his reason." Allan Nevins, The tended to eliminate the islands of
Emergence of Modern America, 1865- residential areas and make the areas
1878. Macmillan. 1927. pp. 81-82.) linear in structure. This once popular
This tended to keep the city structure form of transportation is now almost
compact, and the competition for ac- forgotten, but Figure 3 shows that
cessible sites raised rents and site Indianapolis had almost as many elec-
values. "The expenses of living ininterurban
tric the railways as steam rail-
city are increasing every year. Rents ways in 1914. The map also shows the
are higher now than ever before and characteristic pattern of lines of trans-
there is no prospect of their coming portation radiating from a "central"
down for many years," has a distinctly city cutting the rural-urban fringe into
modern tone but was said of New York wedge-shaped tracts between the lines.
in 1865 by George E. and F. W. Wood-
HIGHWAYS AND THE
ward. (Woodward's Country HIomes by
"METROPOLITAN INVASION
George E. and F. W. Woodward, New
York, 1865, 5th edition, p. 12.) Rail- However, the real exodus of residences
ways were among the first decentralizersand of commercial establishments gen-
and levelers of urban rents and value. erated by traffic did not come until the
"The remedy for this," continue these automobile and hard-surfaced roads
writers, "is to go into the country. provided means of swift, unchanneled,
Along the lines of our railroads and individual transportation as compared
navigable waters there are localities with the previous channeled mass trans-
where land is abundantly cheap- portation. The rural-urban fringe then
beautiful healthy regions, where the became penetrated by streaks of urban
comforts of a rural home may be land uses also radiating from the center
secured. .. . We know of localities like the spokes of a wheel. The primary
which can be reached from Wall Street roads, carrying the heaviest traffic, were
in as many minutes as would be required most affected. This Benton MacKaye
to go to 50th Street. ... In the direc- termed the "metropolitan invasion"
(in his book, The New Exploration.
tion we have now specially in mind, there
are at least 20 railroad trains which Harcourt, Brace & Co., N. Y. 1928.)
stop at convenient stations between He noted the development of various
early morning and ten o'clock at night."traffic-attracted establishments-bill-
The fact that railway trains stop boards, "hot dog" stands, filling sta-
only at definitely located stations no tions, garages, stores, taverns, as well as
matter how "convenient" tended to the residences of people with jobs in the
produce settlements or agglomerations city, and part-time farmers. Farmers
of population strung along the railway and others found it profitable to sell
lines rather than a continuous band from wayside stands, build tourist

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222 ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

journey along each of the radiating

highways. The twenty rural villages
of our locality are penetrated one by
one. They are welded together into a
common suburban mass without form
or articulation; the integrity of each
former village (each former human unit)
is ironed away; its local government is
merged in general administration; its
'personality' evaporates. Beyond the
villages, the lines of flow, growing thin
and puddly, continue their inroad toward
the hinterland. In this wise the 63,000
souls become distributed in one con-
tinuous mass of straggling lines emanat-
- -- STEAM RAILWAYS ing from an overgorged center. These
---.- INTER-URBAN souls live all in a single environment:
0 5 10 not city, not country, but wilderness--
MILES the wilderness not of an integrated,
ordered nature, but of a standardized,
FIGURE 3.-Radiating pattern of steam rail-
unordered civilization. We have named
ways and electric interurban lines, Marion
County, Indiana, 1914. (From The Library this the metropolitan environment."
Atlas of the World. Vol. I. The United States.
Rand McNally & Co., 1914.) Almost as soon as railways became
established, industries began to "decen-
cabins, advertise "rooms for tourists" tralize" by seeking locations in the
or start a "soft drink" stand. The suburban areas. This has been accel-
metropolitan invasion not only erated engulfedby the modern highway and
the land adjacent to the main highways truck traffic. The availability of trans-
but transformed the outlying rural portation, cheaper land, lower taxes
villages. MacKaye deplored this inva- and less control over land uses in rural
sion and hoped to regulate it and confineareas, have been important inducements
it to certain areas so as to maintain the for industries to locate there or even
rural indigenous landscape everywhere to move from the city into the fringe.
else. He states, "This invasion would Thus another invasion of the metropolis
take its start from the central com- is generated more or less paralleling
munity. Its movements here as else- lines of transportation. Sometimes this
where we may liken to a glacier. It is helps to build satellite towns, in other
spreading, unthinking, ruthless. Its cases trailer towns, shack towns and
substance consists of tenements, bunga-slum-like residential areas accompany
railroads and industrial outthrusts.
lows, stores, factories, billboards, filling
stations, eating stands, and other struc- Summarizing, the structure of simple
tures whose individual hideousness and agricultural zones about the city has
been transformed. Wherever a railway,
collective haphazardness present that
unmistakable environment which we an interurban line or a highway enters
call the 'slum.' Not the slum of the city, residences, commercial estab-
poverty, but the slum of commerce.lishments and industrial plants follow
This substance, conceived as alike water flowing through a break in a
project-
reservoir,
ing, crawling glacial flow, makes itsan apt illustration used by

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 THE RURAL-URBAN FRINGE 223

MacKaye. Since these means of trans- but the 1940 census showed that while
the 92 largest cities of the United States
portation radiate in all directions when-
gained 1,600,000 people between 1930
ever physical features do not interfere,
and 1940, the remainder of the counties
the rural-urban fringe consists of rural
in which they are located gained almost
territory pierced by finger-like projec-
tions of urbanized land uses. It has the same, or 1,500,000 people. While
long been observed that cities have the central cities gained four per cent
become star-shaped. In between the the suburban areas of these cities gained
arms of the star, agriculture and otherfourteen per cent. Some of our largest
non-urban land uses continue but in cities, including Philadelphia, Boston,
more or less modified form. and Kansas City, actually lost popula-
tion.
RESIDENTIAL EXPANSION INTO
The wild expansion or "explosion " of
THE FRINGE
the cities has also produced wildcat
Motor transportation has released and premature subdivisions, over-expan-
man from the necessity of living in sion of residential sites, miles of side-
places where mass transportation is walks running through weed-covered
available. According to Automobile Facts vacant land, and clouded titles on
of March, 1941 (published by the thousands .of vacant lots. Moreover,
Automobile Manufacturers Association), much of this "developed" area has been
there are 2,130 places in the United supplied with streets and sidewalks,
States with a total population of water, sewers, gas, and electricity,
12,000,000 people, ranging in populationschools and other public facilities at
from 2,500 to 50,000, that depend ex- private or public expense. As long as
clusively on private cars. In other this land is part of a rural unit of
words, these cities have no street cars government, farms and other non-urban
or buses of any type. Added to these land are taxed as well as the "urban
are the millions in other cities, who land" for these services either by the
though mass transportation is available, regular taxing machinery or through
nevertheless depend largely upon private specially created districts. Unsold and
automobiles. These dwellers of the unused lots often failed to pay taxes,
city and the fringe are independent and then of
the burden for the support of
trains, street cars, and buses. As a unused facilities has fallen on the
result, cities have not merely expanded, remaining taxpayers. The rural land
they have "exploded." "Realtors " instead of gradually ripening into urban
began to lay out subdivisions. The uses has been "forced" into urban uses
open country features of suburban prematurely and "frozen" there. Only
rarely can such land be restored to
living, lower taxes, fashion, and prestige
not merely attracted the "surplus" agricultural use; thus we have created
population but began to invite and allurean "institutional desert." Land which
the established residents of the city according to its location should be
itself. This has tended to leave behind growing the crops of von Thiinen's first
empty houses, if not "blighted areas," zone is lying as idle as the cut-over lands
certainly lower and lower land values. on the farm-forest fringe. It is reported
This almost self-evident trend has only that a farmer wishing to establish a
recently attracted the attention of poultry farm in the New York-New
planners, lending agencies, and city Jersey area had to go 80 miles from the
officials. It was noticeable before 1930 city before he could find a tract of land

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224 ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

TABLE I

GROWTH OF POPULATION IN THE INDIANAPOLIS METROPOLITAN DISTRICT

AND MARION COUNTY, INDIANA, 1910-19401

1910 ce2 Per cent Per cent Per cent

Gain Gain Gain Gain

Indianapolis .................. 233,650 38.1 314,194 34.5 364,161 15.9 386,972 6.3
Incorporated Areas............ 3,024 -4.2 5,557 83.8 8,863 59.5 11,462 29.3
Unincorporated Areas .......... 22,709 9.6 24,117 6 2 44,661 85.2 56,923 28.9
Total Metropolitan District..... 259,383 34.4 343,868 32.6 417,685 21.5 455,357 9.0

1 Metropolitan Districts, Bureau of the Census, 1932 and other U. S. Census publications
2Gain or loss 1900-1910.

not blighted by tax delinquency and tional system of the fringe. The
clouded titles. relations of the urban residents living
Residential developments in the fringe in the fringe (whether living in the
area must rely on rural form of govern- unincorporated places or in incorporated
ment to furnish urban services such as villages and cities) to the central city,
streets, sidewalks, fire protection, water,are very complex and must be omitted
and sewage disposal. Usually rural from a discussion limited to the physical
towns, counties, and precincts have no structure of land uses in the fringe.
legal powers to do so. Sometimes the
THE RURAL-URBAN FRINGE AROUND
statutes are amended to give these
rural units of government, unincor- INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
porated villages, or special districts the The metropolitan district of Indianap-
necessary authority to cope with these olis may be used to illustrate many of
problems. In most cases, however, these points. The district consists of
whenever residential areas have suffi- seven of the nine townships which make
cient population they incorporate as up Marion County (Figure 4). The
separate villages or cities in order to metropolitan district includes "the cen-
handle their own affairs and to raise tral city or cities, all adjacent and con-
and 'spend their own tax money for tiguous civil divisions having a density of
services they need and desire. In this not less than 150 inhabitants per square
way satellite and neighboring villages mile and also, as a rule, those civil
and cities arise in the fringe. Some of divisions of less density that are directly
them are of the manufacturing type with contiguous to the central cities, or are
residences surrounding a factory, others entirely or nearly surrounded by minor
are simply residential, "bedroom," or civil divisions that have the required
"dormitory" cities where people live density." Using the same area for
who work in the city. These villages previous census periods the change in
and cities depend not only on the main population of Indianapolis, of the other
city for jobs but for most of their shop-incorporated places, and of the un-
ping, pleasures, and educational facili- incorporated area may be traced as
ties, thereby generating a daily stream shown in Table I.
of traffic between the central city and In 1870 Marion County had only one
its satellites in the fringe area. Thus incorporated place-Indianapolis, a city
another set of urban centers is created of 48,000, located in Center township.
not contemplated in von Thiinen's or (Indiana incorporated places are called
Christaller's schemes but definitely mod- towns or cities; unincorporated area is
ifying the land uses and the transporta- divided into townships.) By 1880 four

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 THE RURAL-URBAN FRINGE 225

IINCORPORATED PLACES COVERING EXACT AREA

* OTHER INCORPORATED PLACES
O UNINCORPORATED PLACES

FIGURE 4.-The metropolitan district of Indianapolis, Indiana. The district embraces all of
Marion County except Pike and Franklin Townships. The highly irregular boundary of Indianapolis
and projections, such as the one into Perry Township, indicate the manner in which the city has
annexed territory from the rural-urban fringe. The municipal airport is a legal part of Indianapolis.
The area of some of the incorporated places is so small as to be lost on a map of this size; they are
indicated by circles. The larger towns and cities are shown by the areas occupied; unincorporated
places are shown by open circles, except Mars Hill. Only the main highways are placed on the map.
(Based on the "Map of Marion County, Indiana" by Paul R. Brown, County Engineer, March 1,
1941, who also furnished information on the boundaries of incorporated areas.)

other places had incorporated, includingolis; all of them have grown rather
Woodruff Place, situated in the heart of slowly. Southport had 388 people in
Indianapolis, which has maintained its 1880 and 549 in 1940. Most of the
separate existence to this day. The incorporations, however, took place in
other incorporation of this period, South- the immediate rural-urban fringe, and
port, is typical of several other towns since 1890 Indianapolis has annexed an
located some distance from Indianap- absorbed seven of them. Eleven incor-

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226 ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

porations took place between 1920 and fact actually decreased from 1900 to
1930 and two in the last census decade, 1910. Figures of this type are deceptive,
practically all of them just outside of the however. As soon as an agglomeration
city limits. According to Figure 4 of people appears they may incorporate
several more places have incorporated as a town or may be annexed to an
since 1940. Some of them are very existing town or city and the remainder
small, having in 1940 as few as 19, 21,of the area is left with fewer people
or 30 people. (Small areas and popula- than at the previous census enumera-
tion groups may no longer incorporate. tion. Indianapolis has consistently an-
The 1941 legislature of Indiana in nexed unincorporated territory, at first
Chapter 69, Section 1, now provides only from Center Township, but as
that not less than 250 people with at Figure 4 shows the city has invaded
least one person for each four acres may every bordering township. In spite of
incorporate.) Because of annexation to losses by annexation or incorporation
Indianapolis incorporated places actu- the result of decentralization into the
ally lost population from 1890 to 1910; unincorporated area has been remark-
after that the gain was remarkable- able since the last World War. Popula-
84 per cent from 1910 to 1920, over 59 tion increased 85 per cent between 1920
per cent in the next decade, and 29 per and 1930 in the unincorporated area and
cent between 1930 and 1940. 29 per cent during the next decade.
However, these figures do not give Even the two townships not included in
a complete picture of urbanization of the Metropolitan District, which in
the District. Many people are living 1920 actually had fewer people than in
in densely settled but unincorporated 1870, gained appreciably in the past
places as shown in Figure 4. Traffic 20 years. The unincorporated places,
maps prepared by the Indiana Highway subdivisons and single residences strung
Commission in cooperation with the along the highways are responsible for
United States Bureau of Roads in 1937 most of the increase.
list 15 unincorporated places with a The urbanization of Marion County is
total population of 12,738, 2,806 dwell-interestingly indicated by the fact that
ings, and 241 business places; also, in Warren Township the east and west
18 subdivisions with 1,297 dwellings. country roads all bear the name of those
Some of these unincorporated places streets of Indianapolis with which they
have more population than the incor- connect, while the north and south
porated towns and villages. Mars Hill, roads in the eastern part of the town
for instance, had 2,580 people in 1937, still bear rural names such as the
more than any town or city except Mitthofer, German Church, and Fort
Beech Grove and Indianapolis. These Roads. City street names are found in
figures are not complete. In a few the unincorporated areas of most of
cases either the population or number Washington,
of Wayne, and even in Pike
dwellings was not given. Only dwellings Township but to a less extent in the
were reported for the subdivisions. All three southern townships.
subdivisions within Indianapolis or other
RECREATIONAL FEATURES IN THE
incorporated places and the two town-
"FRINGE"
ships not in the metropolitan district
are not included in the above. The land uses of the fringe are also
The unincorporated area increased conditioned by the recreational needs
but slowly in population until 1920, in of the urban people and by the people

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 THE RURAL-URBAN FRINGE 227

living within the region as a whole. within easy driving distance of the city.
Planners envision parks, playgrounds, Nowhere are the conflicts between land-
beaches, parkways, golf grounds, andowners and the alleged rights of the
public more acute than in the areas
forests within driving distance from the
central cities to provide part of the adjacent to our cities. Farmers have
indigenous environment contemplated posted their lands and towns and coun-
by Benton MacKaye. The Forest Pre- ties have found it necessary to prohibit
serves of Chicago are a modern adapta- shooting entirely.
tion of von Thilnen's forest zone but for
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS CONDITIONING
recreational purposes entirely. "It has
FRINGE LAND USES
been suggested that an area equal to
that occupied by urban developments Finally, the land uses in the rural-
should be accessible for public recrea- urban fringe are also the result of insti-
tional activities within 100 miles of tutional and legal factors. It has long
each great city," or a total of over been the practice of cities to "dump"
nine million acres for the United States,
unwanted yet necessary industries into
"part of which is already available in rural territory by ordinances excluding
city, metropolitan, and state parks orthem from the cities per se. Slaughter
reservations." houses, wholesale oil storage, noxious
To carry out this ideal means large industries of all sorts, junk yards,
scale metropolitan regional planning trailers and trailer camps, taverns and
and the allocation of land to public dance halls, substandard dwellings, car-
recreational uses, most of it lying in nivals, and the sale of firecrackers have
the near-by fringe area so as to be all been the subject of restrictive city
accessible to people who can afford only legislation at one place or another.
a few hours' or a day's outing. How- Such establishments or land uses escape
ever, land available for this purpose urban restrictions by locating in the
lies in the jurisdictions outside of the country where rural governments are
cities, and the rural governments are too feeble, or too apathetic to do any-
in no position to furnish and maintain thing about it. Some of the city's own
public recreational facilities for the public utilities are likewise placed in
benefit of the hordes from the cities. the fringe area or beyond; recreation,
Metropolitan districts, counties, water
the supplies, radio towers, sewage
state, and perhaps even the federal disposal plants, airports, cemeteries are
government must share in providing among urban necessities found in the
these recreational lands. suburban areas. There is a bit of
Unfortunately most of the natural poetic justice in the Jefferson County
features suitable for recreation within Wisconsin, zoning ordinances which
the fringe area have long been pre- prohibit most of these uses in the "con-
empted for private use. Riparian land servancy districts" and some of them
along lakes and streams is covered with even in the "agricultural districts."
summer cottages, resorts, taverns, dance The only place left for them is in the
halls, and "Coney Islands." Roads incorporated places without zoning ordi-
leading to such resort areas are lined nances of their own! Using such maps
with the same type of amusement as were available the writer noted 43
places. Private farm land is overrun by "facilities" of various types in the
city "sportsmen" who claim the rightIndianapolis metropolitan district lo-
to roam over the farms in the fringecated in the unincorporated area, most

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228 ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

of which are associated with the activi- thought of and planned as a unit.
ties of those living in Indianapolis, Within this region there should be a
although some are state institutions proper place for every structure and
such as the Indiana School for the Blind,land use needed by people living therein.
or federal, as Fort Benjamin Harrison. The lowly and despised junk yard has
The most numerous were country clubs, become a vital element in national de-
schools, airports, cemeteries, and "insti-fense and deserves a place in the regional
tutions." Eleven were situated right on plan just as much as the "high class"
the edge of Indianapolis, nine within residential area. This place is not
one mile, eight within one to two miles, found by zoning it out of "higher" land
another eight were located more than use districts. Much of our planning and
two but less than four miles from the zoning has been inadequate because it
city limits and the others were "farther sets up a hierarchy of land uses leaving
out." It was interesting also to find farm land and other non-urban land as a
eighteen institutions, golf courses, parksresidual or as an unrestricted area upon
and cemeteries just inside of the present which everything may be unloaded.
boundaries of the city absorbed from County zoning has made a beginning
the rural-urban fringe by annexations.in directing and controlling the land
The Indiana State Fair Ground is an uses of the rural-urban fringe; in fact,
example. In some cases such factors the first enabling acts were designed for
become the nucleus for urbanization. this particular purpose, notably in
The famous Indianapolis Speedway is California and Wisconsin. In the latter
now part of Speedway City, incor- state the zoning statute has been
porated in 1921. amended to permit the restriction of the
In conclusion, the rural-urban fringe use of land for agriculture, forestry, and
is really an extension of the city itself,recreation and the control of all forms
actual and potential. It is an area of riparian land. Twenty-five counties
where most of the land uses are in a flux have "rural zoning" ordinances of this
and therefore subject to planning, direc- type. Planners have felt that this was a
tion, and control. A considerable pro- distinct contribution to the zoning of the
portion of the land in the built-up city rural-urban fringe since it gives power
is already dedicated to various uses over all types of land and not only the
urbanized forms of land use. Combined
and planning can be little more than
with other directional measures, such as
replanning, and zoning must recognize
subdivision control, platting control,
the existing industrial, commercial, and
health and sanitary codes, many of the
residential districts. Unfortunately
cities and counties of the United States
much of the land in the rural-urban
now have the power to prevent hap-
fringe is already "frozen" with lot
hazard, unharmonious, and incompati-
sizes, streets, and public utilities the ble land uses in the rural-urban fringe.
result of haphazard growth or the However, mere power does not carry
decision of a speculative subdivider. with it the desire, courage, or the wis-
Since the city or cities of a metro- dom necessary to make for a well
politan area and the suburban or fringe planned rural-urban region and the
area are a unit economically and so- proper structure of land uses in this
ciologically, the entire area should be transitional area.

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