The Evolution and Duplication of a Pattern of Urban Growth

T ~ >HE problems related to the appearance of suburban sprawl have fully engaged the attention of many planners in the last two decades, but few geographers have directed their attention toward a detailed analysis of the processes in action along the urban boundary. In 1942, Wehrwein1 gave a general outline of the ruralurban fringe, and emphasized the importance of some of the problems involved in the transition from agricultural to urban activities. There have also been attempts to delimit a fringe area and to study some of the elements which appear common to this fringe.2 However, this fringe area is essentially a zone of discord between two contrasting types of land-use, and though the whole area may be exposed to transitionary influences, it is characterized by local variety rather than regional unity. In a case where the urban area has a rapidly increasing population, the fringe is merely a zone in which agricultural activities are being swiftly eliminated as a result of vigorous urban expansion. Recent studies in California have