Should I stay or should I go? International migrants in the rural town of Zittau (Saxony) and their potential impact on rural development

Given that migration studies mostly focus on rural-urban migration, the explanatory power of theoretic models is questioned for rural immigration. This paper aims at presenting results from a series of qualitative interviews with international migrants in the small rural town of Zittau and its surrounding villages in Eastern Saxony. It is suggested that the study of contrary flows of urban-rural migration needs specific models to better capture the migrants' motivations and situations in a rural context. Rationales to move to rural places as well as the everyday life in the hosting rural community differ strongly from patterns in the urban settings. Thus the central question is how both the migrants as well as the rural communities might benefit from rural immigration.