Metropolitans are losing their charm, of course from the perspective of those who have to put up with big city chaos. The rate of immigration has risen to such a pitch that Istanbul has given the most immigration this year. We had an interview with people moving from urban areas to rural areas and discussed benefits of getting back to nature and the drawbacks of living in rural.
Dream of Getting Back to Nature
As far as we understood from the feedbacks, the motive of immigration is related to the desire of running away from the chaos, being in touch with nature and living a simpler life.
On the one hand, in cities, white collars standing up to the difficulties of stressful business life just for living in subsistence levels are looking ways of making their gateway to rural areas. On the other hand, those who realize their counter urbanization dream and start a new life should overcome lots of difficulties.
Being a manager of a restaurant, Elif Taşkın moved to her spouse’s hometown Rize and expresses what she’s been through as follows; Actually, I didn’t have an active social life in Istanbul and didn’t feel like living in a big city. (I didn’t take advantages of living in a big city) Vibrant life of a large city requires a great amount of money and time along with the limitless energy. In Istanbul, I used to live the best social moments at home where I spend quality time or at the places where I felt free such as picnic sites, coastline and parks. That’s why I settled down in a rural area to lead a simpler life and enjoy nature. Above all, the lovely couple stating the importance of being occupied with some business launched a coffee shop named Zua Coffee to keep their nose to the grindstone.
Running Away from Chaos
A retired lawyer Ayşen settling down in Urla states that the idea of moving to a rural idea comes up with the dream of living in a house with garden. My aim was getting away from the turmoil as we couldn’t be in touch with nature even at the weekends because of the traffic jam
Actually, there are two motives behind living in rural, one of which is being close to nature, the other one is that people prefer more sincere and simple relationships to the estranged ones. When taking decisions, Özge considers not only the importance of difference between dreams and realities but realizes the value of adapting herself to pre-existing conditions and states as follows; “We’ve believed that instead of raising expectations, accommodating to every circumstance should be the first step, that’s why all we needed was some fresh air, some quality food and a small coastal town giving the feeling of freedom. Having a faith in creating a social surrounding was also among the required conditions.
Consider the weather conditions
Elif draws the attention to the relation between the seasonality (changing weather conditions) and the population structure of rural areas. She also advices to take seasonal changes into consideration before deciding to immigrate. Despite not being close to centrum, we can easily reach facilities. We are frequenting the village, but we preferred living in a flat as it would be more comfortable. In summer, the population grows with the expats coming for a vacation. In winter, I feel more like living in rural as the population rate properly reflects the calming routine of rural. While men are hanging out at traditional street coffee shops, women spend their time at public education centers. There are also state officials and the peasants who make their living from livestock that lately decrease in number. Elif claims that she is having more quality time with her guests and that she gets the chance of building more sincere and real relations when compared to her city life in past.
To her surprise, Özge met lots of new friends of the same rank despite her concerns about the difficulties of socializing in a new environment. She describes her Daily routine with a great excitement as follows; “The first thing I do is taking the kids to the school. Coming back home, I have my breakfast at the garden and take a short walk and then I meet friends for a coffee. If I have works to do, I take my laptop, drive to the woods or seaside and clear the deck (finish them all). After lunch I attend a workshop (a pastime workshop) such as drama, canvas or jewelry design. By the way, I spare some time to do yoga. After dinner, I take the kids to the park and play games. Sometimes we meet friends when the kids sleep early, or we find someone to babysit for them so we could go to seaside to have a drink. On weekdays, we go trekking at least once. On Sundays we are exploring different picturesque places in Mugla. We also enjoy reading at the beach while kids are collecting stones.
More Productivity-Less Consumption!
A lovely couple and former film directors, Elif and Abdurrahman claim that their consumption habits (patterns) have totally changed after settling down in a small town and state as follows; “There are only 4 groceries, a superstore, a restaurant and a coffee shop. So, life in here is impossible to socialize but ideal to minimize the requirements. At first, lack of diversity was hard to adapt, however, later on we got used to it. In fact, we find it useful as our greedy desire for shopping disappeared in time. Above all, Abdurrahman admits that the more he produces, the less he consumes, and he starts to learn how to be patient thanks to the daily chores and the slow flow life.
The Other Side of the Story
“It is hard to be socialized for women when compared to men” says Elif and continues; “Men have the opportunity to spend time in local coffee shops and they can easily find one to sit, whereas women are not that lucky.” In winter, I attended some gatherings in public education center. Women try to stay away from political issues and they are just chatting. It was a kind of unfamiliar but sincere environment for me. To be honest, at first, it was hard to begin a conversation with the women with different social
Ayşe drawing the attention to the different communication styles of rural and city dwellers tells us a real-life incident; “I was taken aback when I first came to rural. There is a common parking lot in my new neighborhood. One day I parked my car in a wrong place and as a threat someone broke my windscreen wiper without any verbal warning. There is still an impact of archaic lifestyle on social life. Despite the hectic life, I have never experienced such an incident in Istanbul, but things are different in rural.
Answers vary from person to person when asked; “After living in a metropolis, what are the difficulties you face in small town?” For example; Elif calls the attention to the public transportation problems along with the conservatism of the society, and Abdurrahman admits that the attitudes and manners of peasants were very rude at first sight and adds that it was very dfficult to struggle with the prejudices. Even if you are familiar with the cultural background of the region you immigrate, there will still be conflicts between the former you adopt in metropolis and the latter in rural. As a tourist you would never realize such differences.
The impact of city-dwellers on rural
Ayşen shares her observations and claims that the fact that people moving from urbans to rural enliven the economy doesn’t change the reality that they cause a chaos and adds as follows; “City-dwellers invading rural are tipping the scales and changing the social dynamics. Some of them are trying to run a business as if they were living in a big city without considering the rural area and population dynamics, so lots of small-scale enterprises go out of business. For example, the rent prices were around 300TL two years ago, but now the landlords are putting high price tags such as 2.500 TL. However, in the long run both parties lose money as the financial opportunities are inadequate. Tenants can’t afford the rents, landlords are not regularly paid.
Özge admits that at first getting used laziness was hard in winter while rushing around in summer was tiring. Under these circumstances, financial burden is another problem for entrepreneurs as they are trying to compensate for twelve months rent with 3 months income.
The common trait of new rural settlers is that every dream has a price and that price is being away from the family and friends. But the abundance of communication and transportation means facilitate the decision-making process and invites insistingly all of us to settle down in rural.
