Edgelands
{{short description|Liminal spaces at the edges of populated areas}}
{{redirect|Edgeland|the album by Karl Hyde|Edgeland (album)}}
Edgelands is a term for the transitional, liminal zone of space created between rural and urban areas as formed by urbanisation.{{cite book|first=Andrew|last=Walker|title=Aspects of Lincoln: Discovering Local History|publisher=Wharncliffe Books|date=14 June 2002|isbn=978-1903425046|page=134|quote=THE TERM 'EDGE-LAND' has been coined recently for the concept of a neglected area on the fringe of a city.}} These spaces often contain nature alongside cities, towns, roads and unsightly but necessary buildings, such as power substations or depots, at the edge of cities.{{Cite web|last=Macfarlane|first=Robert|date=2011-02-19|title=Edgelands by Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts - review|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/feb/19/edgelands-farley-symmons-roberts-review|access-date=2021-12-10|website=the Guardian|language=en}}
History
The concept of edgelands was introduced by Marion Shoard in 2002, to cover the disorganised but often fertile hinterland between planned town and over-managed country.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/our-beautiful-edgelands-a-dark-light-on-the-edge-of-town-2217071.html|work=The Independent|title=Our beautiful 'edgelands': A dark light on the edge of town|first1=Paul|last1=Farley|first2=Michael Symmons|last2=Roberts|date=17 February 2011}} However, a century and a half earlier, Victor Hugo had already highlighted the existence of what he called "bastard countryside ... ugly but bizarre, made up of two different natures, which surrounds certain great cities";{{cite book|first=Robert|last=Macfarlane|author-link=Robert Macfarlane (writer)|title=Landmarks|date=5 March 2015|page=231|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0241967874}} while Richard Jeffries similarly explored the London edgeland in Nature near London (1883).
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- Richard Mabey, The Unofficial Countryside (1973)
- Marion Shoard, Edgelands (2002)
- Paul Farley and Michael Roberts, Edgelands (2012)
External links
- [http://www.alluvium-journal.org/2015/06/26/towards-a-taxonomy-of-edgelands-literature/ Towards a Taxonomy of Edgelands Literature]
Category:Environmental humanities
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