Segregated urbanization: Urban-rural bordering in the Tel Aviv metropolitan fringe

Extending recent studies on the fragmented and uneven socio-spatial formations emerging through peri-urbanization, this article offers an in-depth, locally grounded, rural perspective on the spatial politics of land-use transformations at the urban-rural interface. Drawing on a case study of urban development and jurisdictional conflicts in the Tel Aviv metropolitan fringe, the article identifies five themes that explain the emergence of defensive rural subjectivity and the spatial agency exercised by exurbanites in response to perceived threats of urban encroachment and assimilation. By analyzing rural and exurban spatial practices and claims, the paper shows how these efforts cumulatively contribute to the production of segregated landscapes along the urban–rural interface, with the aim of protecting the material and symbolic assets of rural and exurban communities from urban assimilation. Hence, this study suggests viewing peri-urbanization not merely as a process that is reshaping land use, demographic patterns, urban-rural flows and governance arrangements, but also as a possible catalyst for the rearticulation of exurban and rural identities and the fostering of rural-urban bordering practices.