Does scale affect the presence of the urban-rural interface? Managing this interface on a small island state : the case of Malta

Abstract

The Maltese Islands offer an interesting, albeit complex, urban scenario. As settlements and their older inner cores spread outwards (at times sporadically and, more recently, speculatively), neighbouring localities fused together. Rampant post-war development changed the face of the urban-rural fringe that had existed up till then, and contributed to establishing Malta as one of the densest countries worldwide. Today, these fringes have almost disappeared; rural areas have become peri-urban areas and it has become almost impossible to distinguish the different scales and interfaces that compose the urban-rural spectrum.