Counterurbanisation and the Rural Idyll: A Case Study of Lifestyle Blocks in Dunedin

Abstract

This study investigates a particular pattern of residential mobility in contemporary New Zealand, that is, the migration to live on lifestyle blocks. In particular it examines the context of, and motivations for, migrants' decisions to move to lifestyle blocks in Dunedin in relation to the concept of the rural idyll. A questionnaire survey sent to lifestyle block residents in the East Taieri and Pine Hill areas of Dunedin, and interviews with 15 residents, revealed that a variety of push and pull factors combined to contribute to residents' decisions to migrate to lifestyle blocks. Overall, the desire for privacy and space and the perception of the rural as a safe place to live emerged as the most powerful motivations given by respondents. Only two of the 15 fundamental elements of the rural idyll identified in the literature were not present in the Dunedin case study. It was concluded that the rural idyll features strongly in the narratives of lifestyle block residents in Dunedin. Interviews with key informants confirmed that the numbers of lifestyle blocks in New Zealand are growing. The increased development on the peri-urban fringe of many towns and cities, the introduction of the Resource Management Act (1991) and continual changes in regional district schemes have created many areas of contention for both lifestyle block residents and farmers alike. The study concludes by considering prospects for future research and the need to understand the motivations and frameworks of meaning held by consumers of the increasingly commodified rural spaces in New Zealand.