Le processus de « counter-urbanisation » (Grande-Bretagne) et la « péri-urbanisation » (France) : deux modèles de retour à la campagne

This article seeks to identify and explain the different counterurbanisation experiences of Britain and France and attempts to place these different experiences in the context of the two nations' varied rural traditions. While the most significant characteristic of recent British rural population expansion has been net demographic growth in those rural areas lying furthest from urban centres, French nonmetropolitan population growth continues to be most pronounced in rural areas lying adjacent or near to urban regions. A major reason for this difference, it is suggested, lies in the comparative lateness of French urbanisation though other factors, notably differing residential preferences and State land use policy contexts have undoubtedly helped distinguish the two national experiences. Ultimately however, one needs to look at the different importance and function of rural areas in each nation's overall composition if the process of urban to rural population shift is to be understood in any genuine individual national context.