Neo-rural phenomena

Michel Chevalier

University of Paris-Sorbonne

ABSTRACT.— The movement of reflux from the city to the country which is typical of so-called post-industrial civilisation, presents among others two characteristics which are to be found mostly in the south of France. On the one hand, there are the "renovated villages" — villages which had been almost completely abandoned and were later restored by owners of second homes, old-age pensioners, executives and the likes; the author suggests themes of research into the evolution and problems of this new category of rural concentrations. On the other hand, neo-rural immigrants, among whom neo-artisans and

neo-peasants can be distinguished, are representatives of a movement which has developed since 1968 and has become a factor of major importance in some deserted regions. The evolution of the movement is examined here as well as the different categories of neo-rurals and the often unfavourable reactions of the rural community towards them.

France, marginal population, neo-rural population, rural renovation, rural sociology, rural space

The continual drift from the country to the towns — the only too well-known rural exodus, in short — quite legitimately represents one of the essential focal points of interest for geographers in France. It began nearly a century and a half ago and constitutes both the main factor of expansion of industrial and urban centres, and sometimes of the creation of viable agricultural concerns (through the elimination of the wretched masses of "humble countryfolk"); at other times it has produced just the opposite effect: loss of vitality and even population drain in wide stretches of countryside.

The opposite movement, the temporary or permanent emigration of city-dwellers to the country, is much more recent and is going on before our eyes, while the rural — or at least agricultural — exodus is far from over. Until now it has not received much attention from geographers except as

far as second homes are concerned. It is true that the latter phenomenon in France, though it only reached its peak in the last 25 years, reaches levels which are apparently unknown in the rest of Europe: there are about two million second homes, two thirds of them in rural areas.

There are other aspects of the reflux from city to country, however, all of them more or less connected with a growing refusal to put up with the nuisances and burdens of urban life. One example is that of old-age pensioners leaving cities to settle in the country. This movement, parallel to the well-known phenomenon of migrants of rural origins returning to their birthplaces after spending their working lives in town ("attachment" migration, according to sociologists), is part of the mainstream of second homes. Each year an appreciable proportion of such second homes become principal residences as people retire.

Michel Chevalier