Elsevier

Journal of Rural Studies

Volume 18, Issue 4, October 2002, Pages 461-476
Journal of Rural Studies

Lay discourses of the rural and stated and revealed preferences for rural living. Some evidence of the existence of a rural idyll in the Netherlands

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0743-0167(02)00035-9Get rights and content

Abstract

Dutch rural areas have changed into a post-modern countryside and have become marketable commodities. The demand for rural space and rural amenities has increased, with concomitant tensions on the rural housing market, tensions which are enhanced by the restrictive spatial policy in Dutch rural areas. The demand for rural residential environments appears to be large. This paper reports the results of our research into the preferences of urban households for living in a rural residential environment. These preferences will be linked with images and representations of the countryside. It is assumed that individual images of the countryside (whether idyllic or not) affect residential preferences and these preferences have, in turn, their effect on migration behaviour. Empirical evidence suggests that perceptions, preferences and behaviour pertaining to rural residential environments are indeed interrelated. The Dutch countryside commands a very positive image and the demand for residential environments with rural characteristics is considerable. Consequently, a rural idyll can be identified in The Netherlands.

Introduction

In a time of increasing welfare, mobility and leisure time, rural areas in the Netherlands are transforming from an agricultural productivist countryside to a multifunctional consumption space and postmodern countryside. From both a land-use and a functional perspective, agriculture withdraws and consumption activities like recreation and tourism, nature conservation, landscape protection and residence have been introduced and extended. This commodification process can be identified throughout rural areas in Western urbanised societies and this process is immense, far-reaching and irreversible (see, for example, Cloke and Goodwin, 1992; van Dam and Huigen, 1994; Hoggart et al., 1995; Murdoch and Marsden, 1994; Urry, 1995). Rural areas have become marketable commodities themselves and the demand for rural space and rural amenities is large. This paper will focus on the demand for rural residential environments.

As in other European countries, increasing welfare and mobility have led to the disappearance of the contrasting functional, economic and socio-cultural distinctions between urban and rural areas in the Netherlands. Nevertheless, morphological differences still exist. Peace and quiet, space and greenness can be seen as intrinsic qualities of rural areas and as distinctive characteristics which distinguish rural from urban residential environments.

Several sources indicate that the increasing preference for living in a greener environment, away from crowded conurbation, is in line with recent population movements towards rural areas (van der Aa and Huigen, 2000; De Bakker, 1989; van Dam, 1996, 2000; Elbersen, 2001). Various reports suggest the existence of a significant demand for rural living in the Netherlands (see, for example, Ministry of Housing, 1997; Backx and Lever, 1999; van Zoest and Daalder, 2000). Furthermore, among planners and urban designers the concept of the ‘compact city’ is increasingly becoming a matter for debate (see Breheny, 1992; Ewing, 1997; Gordon and Richardson, 1997). The question which arises is whether it is wise to continue building new dwellings in densely urban areas, which lack the green amenities that residential consumers are increasingly looking for, while simultaneously enforcing a restrictive spatial development policy in rural areas. At present, only 5% of the total number of moves in the Netherlands is a move from an urban to a rural municipality, but this proportion may increase in the future (van Dam and Heins, 2000; Elbersen, 2001). In addition, it should be realised that although the size of population flows between urban and rural areas is still small in absolute terms, their net effect on the population development of a rural community can be far-reaching (see also Lewis, 1998).

The demand for rural residential environments is a complex and intriguing matter. To what extent do urban households have preferences for a rural residential environment? This paper provides an analysis of these preferences for rural living. Furthermore, this paper will address the role countryside images plays in these residential preferences. The starting point for our analysis is the assumption that individual images of specific environments or localities (i.e. the countryside, the ‘rural’) affect residential preferences and these preferences have, in turn, their effect on migration behaviour. Or, as Boyle et al. (1998, p. 142) argue: “the rural idyll may be an urban perspective on the countryside, refracted through various media and not based on direct experience, but it nevertheless can be a strong force guiding migration”. In human geography in general and in rural geography in particular it is recognised that it is important to analyse interpretations and constructed images of reality (i.e. rurality), as they form the basis on which people act (see also Cloke and Milbourne, 1992; Halfacree, 1994; Halfacree and Boyle, 1998; Short, 1991). The ‘rural’ is in the mind of people and therefore a reality which cannot be done away with (compare Hoggart, 1990).

Images and representations of the rural, preferences for living in rural residential environments, and urban–rural migration are, in our opinion, strongly linked. Moreover, migration behaviour can, on an aggregated level, lead to rural change, to changes in rural spaces and rural structures. This line of thought parallels the view of Liepins (2000a), Liepins (2000b) that meanings, practices and spaces and structures are reciprocally interconnected. This also implies that representations (meanings) of the rural are dynamic, partly as a result of changing practices, spaces and structures.

In this paper we will address these three aspects (images, preferences, behaviour) respectively. The next section addresses some theoretical considerations related to these aspects. In Section 3 the focus is on countryside images of Dutch urbanites. In Section 4 stated preferences for rural residential environments of these same respondents will be investigated and linked with images of the countryside and individual and household characteristics. Section 5 discusses actual behaviour in terms of urban–rural migration in the Netherlands and addresses revealed preferences for rural living of those urbanites who have left the city and have moved to a rural area.

The empirical results presented in this paper are based on two different studies: 3 Images of the countryside: empirical evidence, 4 The ‘wannabe’ rural: stated preferences for rural living, on images and preferences, are based on a survey among Dutch urbanites with a propensity to move; Section 5, on actual behaviour (revealed preferences), is based on a survey among former urbanites who have recently moved to a rural residential area (see Elbersen, 2001; Elbersen and van Dam, 2000). In other words, through our research discussed in 3 Images of the countryside: empirical evidence, 4 The ‘wannabe’ rural: stated preferences for rural living, 5 The newly rural: revealed preferences for rural living we will determine the existence of a ‘rural idyll’ in the Netherlands.

Section snippets

Images of the countryside

In recent years, research on individual images and representations of the countryside has increased, especially in the United Kingdom (see Gruffudd, 1994; Halfacree (1993), Halfacree (1994), Halfacree (1995); Jones, 1995; Palmer et al., 1977; Phillips, 1998; Phillips et al., 2001; Pratt, 1996; but see also Hopkins, 1998; Willits et al., 1990). But also among Dutch researchers there is an increasing interest in countryside images and representations and discourses of the rural (see Frouws, 1998;

Images of the countryside: empirical evidence

This paper focuses on the questions of whether a rural idyll exists in the Netherlands and the role which countryside images play in the rural living preferences of urbanites. To answer these questions a survey was conducted among urban residents of four municipalities, each of which has a different character: a medium-sized city in the Randstad area (Utrecht) and a neighbouring suburban town (Maarssen), a medium-sized city in the south of the country, outside the Randstad area (Den Bosch) and

The ‘wannabe’ rural: stated preferences for rural living

The results of the second part of the survey show that there is a strong interest in and demand for rural living. In the second part of the survey we asked the respondents considering a move: “would you like to move to a residential environment with rural characteristics such as you mentioned earlier?” Of the nearly 15% of the urban residents who were considering a move nearly 70% stated that they would like to move to a residential environment with such rural characteristics.

As already

The newly rural: revealed preferences for rural living

As already indicated, urban–rural migration is of relatively modest importance in the Netherlands (Atzema and van Dam, 1996). Nevertheless, there is a fairly constant influx of former urbanites into rural municipalities. Whether this reveals “an anti-urban, ruralist undercurrent” (Jones et al., 1984, p. 442) in the Netherlands remains however to be seen. In order to assess the existence of such a ‘rural idyll’, the migration pattern has to be disentangled into its various constituting

Conclusion

Conclusions on migration behaviour derived from urban–rural migration analysis should take account of the fact that migration is preceded by a cognitive process in which, apart from triggering events and changes in the household or employment situation, desires and preferences for particular residential environments play an important role in the decision to move from one specific residential environment to another. Hence, the analysis of moves to rural residential environments has to involve

Acknowledgments

Part of the research for this paper was funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Preservation and Fisheries and by the Netherlands Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (NETHUR-DGVH Partnership).

The authors would like to thank Frans Dieleman and Jan Groenendijk for their comments on an earlier version of this paper.

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