Many of the most intense pollution and resource pressures originate in urban centres, and have their major impacts on the surrounding regions. Peri-urban zones are often far more environmentally unstable than either urban or rural settings. Rural–urban burdens can be especially difficult to accommodate within existing administrative systems/boundaries, particularly in countries where public authorities face severe financial difficulties. This paper provides a policy-oriented review of those environmental burdens in low-and middle-income countries that cross rural–urban boundaries but are not national or global in scale.