counter-urbanization

The movement of population and economic activity away from urban areas. The push factors include: high land values, restricted sites for all types of development, high local taxes, congestion, and pollution. The pull factors offered by small towns are just the reverse: cheap, available land, clean, quiet surroundings, and high amenity. Improvements in transport and communications have also lessened the attractiveness of urban centres, and commuters are often willing to trade off increased travel times for improved amenity. Furthermore, with the ageing of populations in the West, many no longer need to travel to work.

In advanced economies, there have been swings in the directions of net migration between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas, although the timing of these shifts varies spatially. The USA, for example, saw counter-urbanization the 1970s, and concentration in the 1980s, followed by further deconcentration in the 1990s (Lewis, Geography 85). The migration balance will also be affected by government policy which suggests that 60% of new housing should be on brownfield sites, and 40% on greenfield (Department of the Environment 1996 Household Growth).