Lifestyle migrants or “environmental refugees”?—Resisting urban risks

Abstract

A relatively large group of immigrants to rural parts of inner Scandinavia are of German and Dutch descent. Many are families with young children having moved to unpopular areas, characterised by declining populations and services. Seven households of Dutch and German descent were interviewed with a narrative approach to explore their decision to migrate. It is revealed that they do not fit the common explanations of lifestyle migration. A “tale” of escape emerges as they describe what they wanted to leave behind, primarily risks associated with a neoliberal urban environment such as stress, aggression, and competition. The rural is described as a restful and safe space, like Hobbiton, where urban environmental refugees can exhale and live life a bit more lugnt. Drawing on Focaults “care for the self,” their experiences of the negative effects, of the individualisation of risks, neoliberal competition, and an accelerating society render evasion to a new environment into a means of risk avoidance.

Talking population geographies and a ‘love letter’ to the journal

“…But I think that what's surprising is that you don't have many papers, for instance, on climate refugees: I think three or four, I thought it would be more (e.g., Leyk et al, 2017; Liu & Balk, 2020; Nawrotzki & Bakhtsiyarava, 2016; Safra de Campos et al, 2016). There was a paper on ‘environmental refugees’ (Persson, 2019), but actually the authors took at that as people fleeing from Scandinavian cities to the countryside: it's another counter‐urbanisation paper. So where is population and the Anthropocene?…”

Tourism and Counterurbanization in a Low-Amenity Peripheral Island: A Longitudinal Study at Yakushima Island in Kagoshima, Japan

“…In addition to nature, connection with people in Yakushima was found to be another key factor attracting some in-migrants to the island. In previous studies, property prices [7] and natural features [17,18] have been identified as the motivations for migrating to a tourism destination. However, the aspects of communication and human relations have not been studied thus far.…”

“…Rural communities characterized by socio-economic downturn, a scarce population, and a relative deficiency in services and infrastructure are called low-amenity rural areas [10,17]. Despite their limited resources, they offer a quality of life that in-migrants seek, which is associated with a combination of material and intangible aspects, including lower property rates [7], better environmental conditions [7], rural environments, and places that offer slow and simple lives or that are safe and free from any external constraints [18]. They often provide natural and aesthetic assets that allow in-migrants to live their desired lifestyles [16].…”

Resisting the rat race

“…Sweden also sees a number of migrants from other parts of europe who move to the Swedish countryside in order to escape stress, overcrowding and environmental risks. Persson (2019) understands this as a form of resistance, but her German and Dutch informants' desire to get away from something is more clearly stated than what they want instead. Persson's informants emphasized the normality of their lives -they live in "normal homes" and have "ordinary jobs", and in this respect, they are very different from the authors of the letters analysed here.…”