Re-thinking commercial counterurbanisation: Evidence from rural Nova Scotia, Canada

In 2010, Bosworth coined the phrase 'commercial counterurbanisation' to describe the development of rural economies stimulated by inward migration. Although pointing to an increasingly important relationship, we argue here that this concept, in its present configuration, does not directly align with the 'demographic counterurbanisation' discourse that has permeated rural scholarship since the 1970s. We present and justify this contention, propose an alternative way to explore this relationship, and then apply this approach to a Canadian rural village (St. Peter's, Nova Scotia). We discover from our survey and narrative analysis that 'commercial counterurbanites' are active in the community; their business ventures enhance the village's dual identity and employment base; and their contributions are made possible by various passive and purposeful social, economic and civic connections. We conclude that the commercial counterurbanite cohort, rather than commercial counterurbanisation, is potentially fostering neo-endogenous development in rural Canada. This relationship warrants further investigation by scholars interested in understanding the drivers of rural economic change.