Counterurbanization: The Changing Pace and Nature of Population Deconcentration by A.G.ChampionReview by: Elspeth YoungJournal of the Australian Population Association, Vol. 8, No. 1 (May 1991), pp. 67-70Published by: SpringerStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41110603 .

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housing policies points out that today, those old people who have never bought a home are most likely to be 'the very old, the working class, and women who have never married' and that housing tenure frequently makes the difference between poverty and an adequate standard of living. Here again, however, the subsequent discussion does not touch on the increasing numbers of single-parent (and single-person) households for whom a mortgage, and hence home-ownership in old age, may now be out of the question.

Kendig's introductory chapter does note that women make up three quarters of the disabled in health-care establishments and form nine out of every ten older people in the community 'who are in triple "jeopardy" as a result of being disabled, on a low income, and living without a spouse1. However, in the contributors' general enthusiasm for community-care policies the implications of the latter point are not explored. Nevertheless, an outstanding case-study by Victor Minichiello which looks at how, and how far, the changed rules on nursing-home admission actually work out, does raise a number of other issues about the practicalities of policy implementation. It provides a welcome indication of how far the common stock of ideas on ageing policy needs to be expanded and modified in the light of concrete experience.

Penny Kane Major's Creek

A.G. Champion (ed.). Counterurbanization: The Changing Pace and Nature of Population Déconcentration. London: Edward Arnold. 1989. xxii+266 pp.

Counterurbanization, Champion's edited collection of essays on the phenomenon of the 'population turnaround1 in selected countries of the industrialized world, is a timely and valuable book. Not only does it present a wealth of empirical evidence which highlights some important general themes in the counterurbanization debate, but through its comparative approach, it also provides good grounds for discussing differences in the characteristics of population turnaround at both national and regional levels.

Champion's opening essays provide a cogent discussion on existing debates about counterurbanization. Taking Berry's (1976:17) definition that 'Counterurbanization is a process of population déconcentration; it implies a movement from a state of more concentration to a state of less concentration' as a starting point, Champion pinpoints a number of important sources of confusion which have subsequently surrounded consideration of the topic. These include whether counterurbanization is a pattern or a process or both; whether its onset denotes a 'clean-break' from earlier processes of population concentration or is part of a continuity with the past; and how to incorporate problems such as defining counterurbanization in the context of spillover effects and suburbanization. The working definition for this volume, that counterurbanization is '... the prevailing tendency when the distribution of population is shifting from larger to smaller places, where "places" are

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defined in terms of relatively self-contained areas comprising an urban centre and its commuting and servicing catchment1 (p32) is a compromise designed to accommodate these complexities within the broad framework established by Berry.

The heart of the book consists of nine chapters discussing patterns and processes of counterurbanization in a wide range of industrialized countries: United States (Frey); Australia (Hugo); United Kingdom (Champion); Norway (Hansen); Denmark (Court); Federal Republic of Germany (Kontuly ahd Vogelsang); France (Winchester and Ogden); Italy (Dematteis and Petsimeris); and Japan (Tsuya and Kurode). These chapters follow a common approach. Each begins with a summary of major patterns which provide evidence for the existence of counterurbanization. This is followed by investigation of the reasons for the development of these patterns: to what extent they are a product of natural increase, of internal migration or of international migration; how they are differentiated by gender and age and what other characteristics, such as labour force restructuring, housing costs, or state policies fostering population decentralization, may have affected them. As with all volumes using a comparative approach, difficulties in data coverage are obvious.

The data presented are standardized as far as possible on a time basis, drawing particularly from population statistics from the early 1980s. They are not only complex but, inevitably vary nationally both in their utility for this discussion and in the exact time periods which they cover. Most chapters include a discussion on the data itself and hence clarify the methods which had been used to extract information on counterurbanization. Nevertheless the difficulties arising from these variations in data sources do cause some problems for national comparisons. Problems of the time coverage of statistical data, while also discussed in the chapters, were also considerable. Since the phenomenon of counterurbanization has in most cases been observed only since the late 1960s or early 1970s, the number of national censuses conducted during the relevant period is small. When it is also necessary to consider the recently observed 'turn-around of the turn-around', assumed to be largely a product of the 1980s, the difficulties of obtaining relevant data become even more obvious. Thus, on a national basis, the chapter on the United Kingdom discusses evidence for counterurbanization emanating from the 1950s, and hence with an historical background which allows for later trends to emerge; and in that on Australia the evidence is drawn from the mid-1970s onwards, and conclusions about later trends towards a slowing down in the process are necessarily based on rather limited evidence.

Other problems concern the scale of the analysis. The main theme is national, and inevitably counterurbanization is discussed in an overall frame- work. But, as Hugo points out in the case of Australia, the process often appears to be selective both in spatial terms and in terms of the socio- demographic characteristics of those participating, and these variations may be particularly important in explaining what is occurring underneath the surface. The influence of international migration, which, because recent overseas migrants tend to concentrate themselves in major metropolitan and

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urban centres, acts as a counter to the population turnaround, is another important component but its significance may be more readily observed on a regional rather than national basis. Here there are interesting comparisons between Australia and Norway, where international migration has recently accounted for a high proportion of annual population growth, Germany, where earlier migration of overseas guest-workers has now declined and France, where international migration is not a significant factor.

Another scale problem concerns the variations in sheer size of national areas, and how these affect population distribution and redistribution. In Australia, where vast spreads of lightly settled country contrast markedly with relatively high levels of population concentration in areas of limited extent, it may be relatively easy to delimit effective labour market areas; in countries like the United Kingdom or Japan the overall density of population makes this less simple.

A vital theme explaining these different national experiences of counter- urbanization is the setting within which population redistribution is occurring. Industrial restructuring, including the downturn in heavy industry, the relocation of industries with a higher degree of mobility, and the growth of service industries in both the public and private sectors, is obviously a major factor. On the whole it is effectively considered, but perhaps could have been more strongly highlighted if it had been presented earlier in the analysis of each chapter, rather than as an explanation following the presentation of statistical data.

To what extent does this book achieve its aims of disentangling some of the complexities of evidence for counterurbanization through detailed national comparisons and of using these to predict future trends? And how successful will it be in reaching its intended audience of undergraduate population- geography students as well as general readers in planning and related occupations? I think that, despite the problems of making meaningful national comparions, it does make an important contribution in the former case. However, while Champion's concluding chapter does summarize general points in the text, I feel that some of this information could have usefully been presented in tabular or diagrammatic form. Thus the main themes could have been clearly shown in their national contexts, and concepts such as change over time or whether the population turnaround represents a clean break in population trends or is part of a continuity would have emerged more clearly. For an undergraduate textbook, I think the volume is quite specialized, and suspect that it is more likely to be used for reference to particular national situations, or as a reference for detailed essays. And for the general reader, although authors have to a certain extent attempted to use non-technical language, some of the statistical presentation reaches a density which may be rather hard to absorb. Nevertheless Counterurbanization is undoubtedly ¿ useful volume and should provide a valuable platform from which to consider emerging trends in population redistribution in years to come.

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Reference Berry, B.J.L. 1976. The counterurbanization process: urban America since 1970. In BJ.L.

Berry (ed.) Urbanization and Counterurbanization. Beverly Hills, California: Sage Publications, pp. 17-30.

Elspeth Young Department of Geography and Oceanography

Australian Defence Force Academy

Australian Bureau of Statistics. 1990. Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. Catalogue No. 4107.7. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Based primarily on data from the 1986 Census, but drawing also on administrative data from other sources, this document provides a contemporary description of the Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory. There are sections on Aboriginal population counts, geographic distribution, population mobility, age and sex, marital status, fertility, mortality, health, housing, living arrangements, education and training, language, labour force and income.

Australian Bureau of Statistics. 1990. Births, Australia 1989. Catalogue No. 3301.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The number of births registered in Australia in 1989 was 250,853 compared with 246,193 in 1988. This was a 2 per cent increase on the number of births recorded in 1988 but reflects mainly an increase in the number of women of childbearing age in the population rather than a notable increase in the fertility rate. The crude birth rate remained at 14.9 per 1,000 population. The median age of mothers at birth of the first nuptial child increased to 27.3 years in 1989 from around 26 years in the early 1980s and 24 years in the early 1970s. There were 50,788 births to unmarried women recorded in 1989, representing 20 per cent of all births. This compares with 19 per cent in 1988 and continues the trend since 1971 of increasing proportions of ex-nuptial births. The median age of mothers at birth of ex-nuptial children has gradually increased. In 1989 it was 23.9 years compared with 23.7 years in 1988 and 21.1 years in 1971-75.

Australian Bureau of Statistics. 1990. Causes of death in Australia 1989. Catalogue No. 3303.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Heart disease was again the main cause of death, followed by malignant neoplasms, then cerebrovascular disease (stroke). The most notable increases were in the death rates for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and allied conditions (asthma, emphysema and bronchitis), and pneumonia and influenza. The number of AIDS-related deaths in 1989 was 392, a 70 per cent increase on the 231 AIDS-related deaths registered in 1988.

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