Explanation: Rural – Urban fringe:

• Rural-Urban fringe (R-U fringe) is a transitional zone and could be recognized recently on social grounds by the presence of rural and urban groups.
• The city does not grow outwards in well-defined patterns. It sprawls haphazardly, making rapid advances at one point, and hardly moving at all at another.
• This results into incoherent landscape which is the characteristics of the fringe.
• Another characteristic and a unique quality is a wide mix of land uses ranging from a variety of commercial developments, including out-of-town shopping centers’, to the city services and industries which are conveniently located at the margins.
• Urban fringe of the modern city is a significant area because it signifies both urban as well as rural characteristics. This should not be treated as two distinct zones as the city merges perceptibly into rural countryside by way of mixed land uses.

Source: NCERT