Peri-rural populations in search of territory

In the last 30 years increasing numbers of city dwellers have chosen to go and live in the countryside. This housing migration has led to a social redefinition of country living. It has reinforced the individualisation of lifestyles, thus contributing to a social and spatial redistribution of rural populations. Our article aims to analyse how rural residents of all origins relate to their environment and particularly to the different places they frequent. Concentrating on the material and symbolic investments made by families residing in a village located near Toulouse, we aimed to clarify the processes of territorialisation at play and thus to raise anew question of the relations between city and countryside.