Gränsen mot omgivningen : hur formas stadens kanter?

Abstract: The edge or the fringe of the city is often the first part of the city we encounter, and our perception of it will probably color the image we make in our minds of the city as a whole. Even though the fringe of the city is important to the image of the cityscape it has not very often been the direct object of attention either in planning, building or even in the heads of the masters, when big ideas were formed. More often than not the fringe seems like something that just happened over time due to separate landowners, businesses or actions of other financially strong operators. The aim of this essay is to try to describe the history of the city edge in Sweden, from the very first town in the 10th century until today’s expanding mosaic of different ideas and styles as well as to bring some clarity and order into some of the different ideas and ideals in the planning of the edge in different eras and to review how the edge has been shaped and used. The essay also looks into the research made on the urban fringe today and tries to discuss why it is so hard to find literature on the issue. This essay does not use specific case studies or examples, but is based on the study of literature on the subject or on subjects related to it in order to describe the vastness of the field on a general level so that more wide-ranging conclusions can be drawn. The discussion also opens up to a number of new questions.