8 Abstract Counterurbanisation research, which is a central topic of this thesis, represents an appropriate field where transformations of contemporary societies and their socio- spatial organization can be examined. The dynamics of social and societal changes creates a demand for developing new methods and tools which helps us to understand contemporary change. Counterurbanisation is a multi-faceted concept which has been controversial since its initial use. An introduction of the concept of counterurbanisation in the field of population geography provoked a general debate on new and emerging trends in development of settlement system. Different logics of concentration and deconcentration of human activities has been challenged. Counterurbanisation operationalized as a migration poses a challenge for many standard conceptualizations of migration. The logic of non-economically motivated migration from the centre to the periphery requires a search for alternative explanatory mechanisms. Impact assessment and the impact of counterurbanisation in rural communities are analogous to the classical social science studies evaluating the integration of immigrants from rural areas in the cities. The thesis is composed of two basic sections. The first section presents a broader theoretical and methodological...

This study investigates the relocation behaviours of out-movers of deprived areas in the region of Stockholm, Sweden. The research is motivated by the concerns raised by deprived and segregated neighbourhoods in relation to a social fragmentation and an unsuccessful socio-economic inclusion of all citizens. Some researches affirm that the out-movers of deprived neighbourhoods tend to be more integrated than the stayers or the individual moving in such neighbourhoods. And if some studies are concerned about their prospective, they have been restricted to their destinations’ socio-economic features and dismissed any spatial approach.This study aims to analyse flows’ direction and features as well as the areas of destination such as to identify processes of selective migration and how socio-spatial disparities are (re)produced. A specific attention is given to counter-urban movements and their possible correlation to “preservation” objectives: The possible migration of lower classes toward peripheries in order to access a better living environment and avoid a forced economic selective migration toward the urban most deprived neighbourhoods.Descriptive and inferential statistics with binary logistic regressions enabled to put into exergue the selective migration among movers, between the counter-urban and the others but also among counter-urban. If most movers remain in the urban core and in an almost deprived area, a substantial proportion seeks to combine to a move “up” the social ladder (a better suited neighbourhood), a “downward” migration on the urban hierarchy (a move toward the peripheries). And the regression confirms that among this population, a segment is statically significantly disadvantaged and remains in rental after the move.Scholars should consider such evidences by including a spatial dimension to their studies on segregation, neighbourhood sorting processes and selective migration. And most importantly, the results of this study invite them to reassess the traditional life-style and life-cycle explanations of counter-urbanisation in favour of an economic driven migration.

This thesis examines localities in the vicinity of cities, starting with Ekeby- Almby which is situated near Örebro. In the past twenty years, Ekeby- Almby has experienced vast sociodemographic changes. These lines of development give rise to a number of questions. For example, does the socioeconomic change of Ekeby-Almby reflect a general trend for this kind of locality? What are the perspectives and concepts that characterise the planning of these localities, and what is the significance of these suburban areas for the urban development as a whole? The purpose of this thesis is to examine the peri-urban localities, their role in, and their significance to, the development of cities. The thesis is made up of three empirical parts. Some of the main results are that the peri-urban localities can bedescribed as continuously growing, even during periods of shrinking towns and growing countryside (70s and 80s), and re-urbanisation (90s and 00s). Other results from the study are that layers of peri-urban localities with partially separatesocioeconomic profiles become apparent. Together these localities are, in various ways, part of the city’s socioeconomic differentiation. Finally, the result from the study indicates that the development of localities is shaped by a series of structures, and actors operating in relation to these. The development of the peri-urban localities can, theoretically, be seen as an urban counter- urbanisation, but perhaps primarily as a Swedish periurbia, and thus as an extension of the city, often described as an urban sprawl. This study also discusses the role of the peri-urban locality in the city’s social geography, where it among other things can be described as the ”hidden” space of the segregated city. Another aspect of the peri-urban locality is that it can be seen as a place which is important in an intermunicipal competition in population growth.