The Counterurbanization Phenomenon and its Study

Abstract

The article deals with “counterurbanization”, the term proposed in 1976 referring to the phenomenon of the inversion in the urban growth begun in the seventies in several developed countries, consisting in lower rythm of increase in the larger cities with the opposite in the others and even the countryside. The article reviews in topic way the plentiful bibliography formed about the subject and through this literature questions like concepts, evaluation criteria, the geographic extension and evolution of the phenomenon and the causes of its occurence are examined. Finally, there is an overview of the essays of specific approach about the eventual occurence of counterurbanization in the Third World, where this happende only in very restricted cases. Key words: Urban evolution - Migrations - Polarization reversal - Decentralization - Deconcentration