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Stage 1: Before you start

Stage 1: Background information | Questions to investigate | Choosing a fieldwork location

What is counter-urbanisation?

Is rural Britain facing a future without young people? Nearly one third of homes bought in 2005 were paid for in cash (i.e. without a mortgage).

Since the 1970s, the number of people migrating from cities to the countryside in Britain has rapidly increased. Improvements in the speed of road transport (with the growth of new roads) has allowed many people to move away from what they perceive as a less desirable urban environment into the more desirable rural environment. Increasingly jobs in industry and services are located in urban fringe or rural locations. These changes mean that country villages are becoming increasingly suburbanised.

Counter-urbanisation is the migration of people from an urban area into the surrounding rural area.

In some locations, particularly more scenic areas of the countryside such as National Parks, there has been an increase in the number of second homes. In this case, people buy an additional property for use as a holiday home, but do not move there permanently. Some second homes are rented out as holiday cottages.

What are the characteristics of a suburbanised village?

The first large scale urban-rural migration involved high earners buying and renovating old properties within the village. More recently, large housing estates have been built on the edge of many villages to take advantage of the high demand for houses in the countryside. In both cases, the village acts as a dormitory settlement; wage earners are generally only present in the village outside of working hours.

One way in which you can investigate the effects of counter-urbanisation is to map current land-use in each village. The diagram shows a model of the ideal suburbanised village.

The original village core of older buildings and, perhaps, a church and village green, is the focus of the settlement. In places, older buildings will have been demolished and infilled with newer developments. It is surrounded by a small zone of buildings constructed between the wars; typically these may include a small estate of council houses (which may now be private), a school, and a village hall. In this period a large proportion of the population would have been employed in agriculture. Ribbon development along roads will have developed from the 1920s, as cars became more common. Since 1950, larger estates will have been built on the edge of the village. Private estates, intended for commuters, were built from the 1970s onwards. Finally, the settlement will be surrounded by separate isolated buildings, which may include old farms and cottages, and new buildings.

Questions to investigate

There are many aspects of counterurbanisation that you can investigate with fieldwork. Here are just a few possible questions...

(a) To what extent is village X a suburbanised village?

(b) What is the impact of second homes on village X?

(c) Is there a shortage of affordable housing in village X?

(d) What percentage of land use around village X is agricultural?

(e) How has the population structure of village X changed since 1975?

(f) Is village X growing or declining?

You could also compare 2 or more rural settlements. You will need to do some desk research or visit beforehand, as there is little point in comparing two villages unless you suspect that there are differences in levels of counterurbanisation between them.

Choosing a fieldwork location

Choose an appropriate rural settlement to study. If you are investigating whether a settlement is a suburbanised village, choose a settlement which is within commuting distance of an urban area (perhaps up to 1 hour's travelling time). For illustration, a suitably sized and located settlement for study is Henley-in-Arden in Warwickshire (see map which opens in a new window).

If you are investigating the impact of second homes, choose a settlement in a scenic area (such as a National Park).

The settlement needs to be of a manageable size for you to investigate. If you are intending to map land-use by walking along every road and street, choose somewhere that you can get round in 2-3 hours.

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