IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i22p12895-d684647.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Escape to the Country: A Reaction-Driven Rural Renaissance on a Swedish Island Post COVID-19

Author

Listed:
  • Hanna Elisabet Åberg

    (Department of Architecture, Alma Mater Studiorum—University of Bologna, 40100 Bologna, Italy)

  • Simona Tondelli

    (Department of Architecture, Alma Mater Studiorum—University of Bologna, 40100 Bologna, Italy)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic could be driving more households to migrate out of cities and to the countryside, but this might result in an increased demand for access to green space which, in the long run, may cause a widening of social inequalities in rural areas. On the contrary, if planned for, it could provide an opportunity for repopulation and regeneration. This article explores the underlying causes and impacts of current rural in-migration, and further, it touches on how planning can balance development while supporting communities for a rural renaissance. By using a case study area in Sweden, it examines evidence of amenity-driven in-migration flows before and during the pandemic. The findings show an increased usage of part-time housing as a result of demand for space and nature; however, this was made possible through already well functioning infrastructures. Acknowledging that it is crucial to maintain and enhance natural capital, this study suggests that the supply of services and infrastructure is essential to achieve a rural renaissance beyond temporary tourism. As people are increasingly dividing their time between their urban permanent home and their rural second home, this may further suggest that there is a need to improve the connections between urban and rural areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Hanna Elisabet Åberg & Simona Tondelli, 2021. "Escape to the Country: A Reaction-Driven Rural Renaissance on a Swedish Island Post COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-16, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:22:p:12895-:d:684647
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/22/12895/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/22/12895/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eliza Darling, 2005. "The City in the Country: Wilderness Gentrification and the Rent Gap," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 37(6), pages 1015-1032, June.
    2. Valentina Cattivelli & Vincenzo Rusciano, 2020. "Social Innovation and Food Provisioning during Covid-19: The Case of Urban–Rural Initiatives in the Province of Naples," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-15, May.
    3. Rattan Lal, 2020. "Home gardening and urban agriculture for advancing food and nutritional security in response to the COVID-19 pandemic," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(4), pages 871-876, August.
    4. Line J. Gordon, 2020. "The Covid-19 pandemic stress the need to build resilient production ecosystems," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(3), pages 645-646, September.
    5. Manganelli, Simone & Piras, Francesco & Agnoletti, Mauro, 2020. "Covid-19 and rural landscape: the case of Italy," Working Paper Series 2478, European Central Bank.
    6. Matthew R. Sanderson, 2020. "Here we are: Agriculture and Human Values in the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(3), pages 515-516, September.
    7. Matthew A Cole & Ceren Ozgen & Eric Strobl, 2020. "Air Pollution Exposure and Covid-19," Discussion Papers 20-13, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Natalie Nitsche & Aiva Jasilioniene & Jessica Nisén & Peng Li & Maxi S. Kniffka & Jonas Schöley & Gunnar Andersson & Christos Bagavos & Ann Berrington & Ivan Čipin & Susana Clemente & Lars Dommermuth , 2022. "Pandemic babies? Fertility in the aftermath of the first COVID-19 wave across European regions," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2022-027, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    2. J. Javier Serrano & Félix Fajardo, 2023. "Impact of COVID-19 on the Territory and Demographic Processes: A View from Spanish Rural and Urban Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-27, May.
    3. Yaobin Wang & Ruitao Zhao & Ying Li & Rong Yao & Ruoxue Wu & Wenlin Li, 2023. "Spatial and Temporal Heterogeneity of Rural Habitat Level Evolution and Its Influencing Factors—A Case Study of Rural Villages in Nature a Reserve of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-25, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cattivelli, Valentina, 2022. "The contribution of urban garden cultivation to food self-sufficiency in areas at risk of food desertification during the Covid-19 pandemic," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    2. Grigorescu, Ines & Popovici, Elena-Ana & Damian, Nicoleta & Dumitraşcu, Monica & Sima, Mihaela & Mitrică, Bianca & Mocanu, Irena, 2022. "The resilience of sub-urban small farming in Bucharest Metropolitan Area in response to the COVID-19 pandemic," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    3. Tomas Baležentis & Mangirdas Morkūnas & Agnė Žičkienė & Artiom Volkov & Erika Ribašauskienė & Dalia Štreimikienė, 2021. "Policies for Rapid Mitigation of the Crisis’ Effects on Agricultural Supply Chains: A Multi-Criteria Decision Support System with Monte Carlo Simulation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-31, October.
    4. Dionysis Bochtis & Lefteris Benos & Maria Lampridi & Vasso Marinoudi & Simon Pearson & Claus G. Sørensen, 2020. "Agricultural Workforce Crisis in Light of the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-13, October.
    5. Gheorghe Cristian Popescu & Monica Popescu, 2022. "COVID-19 pandemic and agriculture in Romania: effects on agricultural systems, compliance with restrictions and relations with authorities," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(2), pages 557-567, April.
    6. Marion Davin & Mouez Fodha & Thomas Seegmuller, 2021. "Environment, public debt and epidemics," AMSE Working Papers 2128, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    7. Brandily, Paul & Brébion, Clément & Briole, Simon & Khoury, Laura, 2021. "A poorly understood disease? The impact of COVID-19 on the income gradient in mortality over the course of the pandemic," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    8. Hillary Angelo & David Wachsmuth, 2015. "Urbanizing Urban Political Ecology: A Critique of Methodological Cityism," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 16-27, January.
    9. Dang, Hai-Anh H. & Trinh, Trong-Anh, 2020. "Does the COVID-19 Pandemic Improve Global Air Quality? New Cross-national Evidence on Its Unintended Consequences," GLO Discussion Paper Series 606, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    10. Christina Kakderi & Nicos Komninos & Anastasia Panori & Eleni Oikonomaki, 2021. "Next City: Learning from Cities during COVID-19 to Tackle Climate Change," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-21, March.
    11. Fabrizio Natale & Stefano Maria Iacus & Alessandra Conte & Spyridon Spyratos & Francesco Sermi, 2021. "Territorial differences in the spread of COVID-19 in European regions and US counties," Papers 2103.08321, arXiv.org.
    12. Hossein Esfandyari & Shahla Choobchian & Yadgar Momenpour & Hossein Azadi, 2023. "Sustainable rural development in Northwest Iran: proposing a wellness-based tourism pattern using a structural equation modeling approach," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-15, December.
    13. Anne Goujon & Fabrizio Natale & Daniela Ghio & Alessandra Conte, 2022. "Demographic and territorial characteristics of COVID-19 cases and excess mortality in the European Union during the first wave," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 533-556, December.
    14. Nan Li & Muzi Chen & Difang Huang, 2022. "How Do Logistics Disruptions Affect Rural Households? Evidence from COVID-19 in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, December.
    15. Reddy, A. Amarender & Bhattacharya, Anindita & Reddy, S. Venku & Ricart, Sandra, 2021. "Farmers’ Distress Index: An Approach for an Action Plan to Reduce Vulnerability in the Drylands of India," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 10(11), pages 1-1.
    16. Nanna Meyer & Mary Ann Kluge & Sean Svette & Alyssa Shrader & Andrea Vanderwoude & Bethany Frieler, 2021. "Food Next Door: From Food Literacy to Citizenship on a College Campus," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-24, January.
    17. Hemant G. Tripathi & Harriet E. Smith & Steven M. Sait & Susannah M. Sallu & Stephen Whitfield & Astrid Jankielsohn & William E. Kunin & Ndumiso Mazibuko & Bonani Nyhodo, 2021. "Impacts of COVID-19 on Diverse Farm Systems in Tanzania and South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-16, September.
    18. Serdar Aydın & Betina Assumpta Nakiyingi & Cengiz Esmen & Sinan Güneysu & Meena Ejjada, 2021. "Environmental impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) from Turkish perceptive," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 7573-7580, May.
    19. Syed Abul Basher & A. K. Enamul Haque, 2021. "Public policy lessons from the Covid-19 outbreak: How to deal with it in the post-pandemic world?," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 23(2), pages 234-247, September.
    20. Wiśniewska-Paluszak, J. & Paluszak, G. & Fiore, M. & Coticchio, A. & Galati, A. & Lira, J., 2023. "Urban agriculture business models and value propositions: Mixed methods approach based on evidence from Polish and Italian case studies," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:22:p:12895-:d:684647. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.