Urbanization, Counterurbanization, and Rural–Urban Communities Facing Growing Horizontal Mobility

Abstract

This article examines contemporary forms of urbanization, suburbanization, and counterurbanization, exploring their many facets as the physical movement of populations and changes in lifestyle and values orientation, including the phenomenon of “downshifting.” Incomplete urbanization and the polarization of the socioeconomic space have given rise to two powerful opposite outpourings: the centrifugal seasonal flow from cities to dachas and the centripetal labor migration of Russian citizens from rural areas and small towns to major urban centers.