The Urbanization of the Countryside: A Framework for Analysis

This paper seeks to examine the ways in which the process of social change is affecting the countryside and is suggesting a framework through which the spatial order involved might be viewed. An attempt is made to break away from the more traditional frameworks as exemplified by the rural-urban dichotomy and continuum models. In contrast to the more familiar morphological and landscape approach emphasis is placed upon socio-economic structure, behaviour, and value systems. Changes in these systems manifest themselves through the concepts of population, depopulation, and repopulation. Although these are universal the differences that do exist from place to place are a reflection of both social and spatial selectivity.