Migration Dynamics in Romania and the Counter-Urbanisation Process: A Case Study of Bucharest’s Rural-Urban Fringe

Romania is one of the eastern European countries to face a tumultuous history during the second half of the last century. The results of this experience are expressed in the current transformation processes at the macro and micro levels of the economic space. By 1989 with the change in regime, the new political and economic transformation of the country changed the direction and the intensity of the internal migration flows. This chapter presents the rates of the internal migration flows in Romania during the last two decades, concentrating on the counter-urbanisation process and its impact, particularly on the rural-urban fringe. The transition from dependence on farming to a more diversified economic base has transformed this belt into a space of mixed production and consumption. At present, the urban-rural flow of people from the inner parts of the metropolitan area is a dominant flow, where the upper and middle classes of urban dwellers are in search of new life idylls and enhanced amenities available at the fringe. Also, there is an increasing heterogeneity within the rural-urban fringe in economic and social terms. The different social structure is translated into modified residential land-use and its related demand for goods and services that induce the development of new functions.