Spaces of well‐being and regional settlement: International migrants and the rural idyll

Regionalisation is a hallmark of Australia's approach to international migration, reflecting governments' growing concern with where new arrivals live. Residence in regional Australia is encouraged (mandated, for some visas) in response to urban population pressures alongside rural populat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Population space and place 2021-11, Vol.27 (8), p.n/a
Main Authors: Klocker, Natascha, Hodge, Paul, Dun, Olivia, Crosbie, Eliza, Dufty‐Jones, Rae, McMichael, Celia, Block, Karen, Piper, Margaret, Musoni, Emmanuel, Ford, Lynda, Jordan, Carly, Radford, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
counter‐urbanisation
humanitarian migration
Immigration policy
Migrants
Migration
Mobility
refugees
regional settlement
Rural areas
Rural population
Rurality
secondary settlement
Urban population
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Summary:Regionalisation is a hallmark of Australia's approach to international migration, reflecting governments' growing concern with where new arrivals live. Residence in regional Australia is encouraged (mandated, for some visas) in response to urban population pressures alongside rural population and economic decline. Parallel to regionally focused visa schemes exists a pattern of voluntary urban‐to‐rural migration among some international migrants. Such secondary mobility counters the policy logic that international migrants only live outside cities when required to do so. This paper explores 18 African migrants' motivations for ‘urban flight’: Australian cities have failed to sustain their well‐being and they consider rural life a remedy. Their preference for rural locations is not purely instrumental, it is shaped by deep‐seated affective connections. Given the challenges of regional population retention, settlement policies should be recalibrated to support the aspirations of international migrants who feel an affinity for rural places, rather than compelling the rural settlement of others who do not.
ISSN:1544-8444
1544-8452
DOI:10.1002/psp.2443