RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Return to the rural: Ambivalent place attachment among youth in rural Spain
A1 Carrasco Cruz, Alba
A1 Cruz Souza, Fatima Regina
K1 Youth
K1 Rurality
K1 Meanings of place
K1 Place attachment
K1 Mobility
K1 Return
K1 63 Sociología
AB Although the Spanish rural areas continue to face significant challenges of depopulation and demographic imbalances due to the selective exodus of young people, there has been a recent increase in return migration, where these young people choose to return to their places of origin after training and living in urban environments. This study aims to explore these return processes, with a focus on the meanings of place that shape the affective ties to rural territories. A qualitative methodology, based on 16 semi-structured in-depth interviews, was employed in two study areas, corresponding to rural mountain regions in central and northern Spain. The results reveal important ambivalences in the attachment to place among young returnees. While they associate the return with positive meanings of rurality, primarily linked to the natural environment and the community fabric, they also describe negative meanings related to perceptions of deprivation. These meanings are framed within the symbolic hierarchy typical of urban normative societies and are accentuated in the case of returnees, due to the expectations generated during their time in urban environments.
PB Elsevier
SN 0743-0167
YR 2025
FD 2025
LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/76991
UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/76991
LA eng
NO Journal of Rural Studies, 2025, vol. 119, p. 103724
NO Producción Científica
DS UVaDOC
RD 01-ago-2025