摘要：Ouring the 19705, population growth in nonmetropolitan areas of the US. exceeded that of metropolitan areas, reversing a pattern that had predominated throughout US. history. While most attention has focused on the US., a similar reversa!, favouring growth in less urbanized areas, has been documented for Canada and other developed countries.1 This "turnaround" continues to prompt speculation and research into the nature of the phenomenon (for example, Kephart 1988; Wilson 1988). Much of the literature has focused on attempts ta identify the underlying cause of the reversa!, and on its implications for future growth differentials. Although U.S. metropolitan growth returned in the 1980s1 the question remains as ta whether migration patterns of the 1970s reflect merely an aberration or an enduring change in the demographic and economic structure of migration.
