Êxodo urbano, gentrificação rural e o futuro da paisagem

Mestrado em Arquitetura Paisagista - Instituto Superior de Agronomia

Portugal is presently facing rural territories based in two main differences. One that is next to big cities and another, which is characteristically deserted and almost forgotten. In recent years, Europe has been growing with policies that attempt to refresh this space, due to the concern of rural development. The objectives of this dissertation are: to verify the existence of migratory trends, specifically the movement of urban population to rural areas; to identify the main reasons that are taking this people to move from urban to rural; to characterize the neo-rural population in Portugal; to know which is the knowledge of this situation by the local authorities and residents; and attempt to demonstrate what effects, caused by urban exodus and rural gentrification, might have in Urban Planning, Spatial Planning and Landscape. Since one of the main goals of spatial planning is to manage its occupation in order to use its human, cultural and natural resources, ensuring the respective sustainability, the use of migration trends may be a basis for promotion to a different and benefic space occupation. The methodology has shown in the national case, the existence of a current tendency to return to rural by the urban population, although with some specifications, this process of gentrification and urban rural exodus can be seen as an engine for rural development. The demand for a better quality of life and life close to nature, is an opportunity to refresh the rural identity, offering dynamism that attracts its residents and providing a major role in a country deeply marked by its rurality.