The rural creative class: counterurbanisation and entrepreneurship in the Danish countryside

TY - JOUR

T1 - The rural creative class

T2 - counterurbanisation and entrepreneurship in the Danish countryside

AU - Herslund, Lise Byskov

PY - 2012/4

Y1 - 2012/4

N2 - The paper discusses why well educated urban dwellers choose to move to rural areas and start micro businesses, the problems they face, how they try to solve these problems and the implications for rural development. With a dwelling far from the city, the well-educated in-migrants start businesses which seek to combine a less stressful everyday life with a continued career. In the start-up phase, the majority of businesses is in the knowledge sectors, within media and business services, and is oriented towards the metropolitan market. Few businesses seek to private services for the local market. After some years in the countryside, however, the businesses evolve into 'regional lifestyle businesses'. They remain within the urban sector but have now adapted themselves to the regional market in order to minimise time spent on meeting customers in the city. These rural entrepreneurs combine a small number of well-established customers in the city with a broader array of services directed toward the regional market. Although their impact on the local rural area is minimal, they operate over a larger regional area, extending networks and providing 'organisational energy'.

AB - The paper discusses why well educated urban dwellers choose to move to rural areas and start micro businesses, the problems they face, how they try to solve these problems and the implications for rural development. With a dwelling far from the city, the well-educated in-migrants start businesses which seek to combine a less stressful everyday life with a continued career. In the start-up phase, the majority of businesses is in the knowledge sectors, within media and business services, and is oriented towards the metropolitan market. Few businesses seek to private services for the local market. After some years in the countryside, however, the businesses evolve into 'regional lifestyle businesses'. They remain within the urban sector but have now adapted themselves to the regional market in order to minimise time spent on meeting customers in the city. These rural entrepreneurs combine a small number of well-established customers in the city with a broader array of services directed toward the regional market. Although their impact on the local rural area is minimal, they operate over a larger regional area, extending networks and providing 'organisational energy'.

U2 - 10.1111/j.1467-9523.2011.00560.x

DO - 10.1111/j.1467-9523.2011.00560.x

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0038-0199

VL - 52

SP - 235

EP - 255

JO - Sociologia Ruralis

JF - Sociologia Ruralis

IS - 2

ER -