Fringes of a city (9)
I believe the answer is:
outskirts
'fringes of a city' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
This is the entire clue.
(Other definitions for outskirts that I've seen before include "Edges (of town)" , "Suburbs" , "Outer regions (of town)" , "surrounding area" , "area away from town centre" .)