Relations between rural development projects and urban migration: the Koykent Project in Turkey

Abstract

In Turkey, migration from rural areas to the cities began in the 1950s. Although various rural development approaches were discussed in the 1960s and 1970s, none of them was successfully put into practice. In 2000, Koykent, one of these rural development approaches was started in the borough of Mesudiye. This study examines the effect of the Koykent Project on the migration from rural areas to cities. The results show that the project affected the migration in two ways. First, the tendency of rural residents to migrate to the cities decreased. Second, the tendency of urban residents, who had previously migrated from villages to cities, to return to their home villages increased.