The Reversal of the Migration Turnaround: Resumption of Traditional Trends?

Abstract

Cochrane and Vining's study of recent trends in core-periphery migration, while suffering from some weaknesses in methodology and interpretation, confirms very clearly that the reversal of the metropolitan migration turnaround is a widespread phenomenon in the developed non-Communist world. Evidence from the United Kingdom also supports this observation. An examination of the possible factors responsible for the rise and fall of counterurbanization over the past two decades suggests that two major forces—population deconcentration and regional restructuring — are operating simultaneously but relatively independently and that they both fluctuate in their nature and strength over time in response to prevailing demographic and economic circumstances.