The narratives of new rural residents in the configuration of the peri-urban area: from circumstancial constraints to openness

Abstract

European peri-urban areas keep growing in terms of land, population and socio-spatial complexity. This article looks at the role of new residents in the ongoing reconfiguration of peri-urban space, by focusing on how their narratives make sense of their residential choices and experiences. The analysis is based on the case of the peri-urban area of Pamplona, an intermediate city in northern Spain surrounded by a peri¿urban space characterised by a disperse habitat of single and collective rural¿like settlements in a clear process of population growth. The discussion is grounded in a series of semistructured interviews conducted with key informants and new residents. The results reinforce the relevance of the residential lure of these territories as well as of the housing policies adopted. They also show three key elements to understand better the complexity and internal heterogeneity of this process: the different motivations supporting the residential choice; the links established with the place and its population and the experiences within the territory. Finally, the article concludes by suggesting that the different profiles of the new residents and their different orientations regarding the way of residing and experiencing the residence generate different territorialities through which they form new and coexisting ruralities, as well as a hybrid identity construction with the place.