Across the world, urban populations are growing, with cities sucking in people from rural areas in the search for jobs and a better life. Despite the supposed stampede away from cities during the Covid pandemic, it’s a trend that is likely to continue in the years ahead.
It’s a situation that has contributed to the increasingly polarized nature of modern politics, with sides divided as much along rural and urban lines as any other characteristic today. Indeed, populist movements, from Trumpism to Brexit, have been driven in large part by the sense that small towns and rural areas have been left behind by the globalization that has so contributed to the success of cities.
Reversing the trend
As well as diverging economic fortunes, there have also been clear differences in areas such as health inequality between rural and urban areas, prompting politicians to strive to “level up” prosperity more evenly across the country.
A particular challenge is that often young people leave rural areas in order to study or find work, and then seldom return, with this brain drain depriving areas of the talent needed to thrive. Research from Iowa State University explores how it might be possible to reverse this trend and attract people back to their hometowns.
The study suggests that graduates are more likely to return to rural communities if they had a strong attachment to their school, with this attachment driven by their involvement in the school community or connections with individual teachers. The researchers found that the size of the school was also important, with people whose school had over 350 students much less likely to return than those for whom the school catered for less than 125 students.
“We often hear that rural schools aren’t as good as their urban counterparts, but here is an example where they are in a unique position to foster strong relationships and a sense of belonging, which can have long-term impacts,” the researchers say.
Returnees were also seemingly more likely to towns with lower population densities and also fewer fellow graduates. The authors argue that this is perhaps because people feel that they can make a more significant impact in the communities of such towns.
“When people return to these rural communities, there are not only population benefits and economic benefits, but also an influx of new skills and knowledge,” they say.
Creating change
Innovation and creativity are often a case of applying habits and perspectives learned elsewhere into new contexts, which is one reason why immigrants are so often extremely effective entrepreneurs. People returning to their hometowns from cities have a similar potential to lead change because not only do they bring the fresh perspectives learned in the city but they also retain the connections and context from growing up in the community.
The researchers explored the kind of factors that might tempt graduates back to their hometown by examining data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which aims to track the health outcomes of young people as they enter adulthood.
The first wave of data collected through the study covered participants when they were in grades 7-12. A third wave then covered these people as they attended college, with a fifth wave exploring their lives from the age of 34 to 43.
The data showed that just over 23% of graduates had returned to their home county by the fifth wave, with a 66% increase in this likelihood of returning for each unit increase in school attachment.
“A lot of the previous research on the migration of college graduates looked at people right after earning their degree; our study focuses on people in their mid-30s to early 40s who are going to be more stable and financially secure,” the researchers explain. “During this life stage, they may also have a shift in priorities that would lead them back to their hometowns.”
Understanding motivations
Among older graduates, it’s possible that a safe space to raise children might be more of a factor, or affordable housing and good schools in a quieter, greener place. There may, of course, be other factors, such as the need to care for elderly relatives or the need to take over a family business that could also influence returnees.
If officials and policymakers are to promote more returns from urban areas then it’s important that they better understand the motivations and factors that drive returnees back to their hometowns. This could help them to better craft strategies to reverse the “brain drain”.
The findings also underpin the importance of investing in local schools, both to attract older returnees back and also to create a greater sense of belonging among young people in the first place. Schools and other partners could also create programs to introduce young people to the various careers in the area so they’re more aware of the possible opportunities later in life.
“Rural communities have a lot of assets that are hidden from the broader public. It’s important for all of us to look at those assets and understand how communities can draw people back home to create thriving, more equitable communities,” the researchers conclude.
