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Forests play a crucial role in climate mitigation through carbon storage and the substitution of fossil-based materials, which increases the demand for biomass. Fast-growing broadleaves can help meet this demand. This study draws on a progressive sense of place and utilizes a multidimensional framework of place to examine private forest owners' intentions to plant hybrid aspen and poplar, two non-native broadleaved species, across land types (agricultural and forest land). Based on survey data, Forest-Only Owners (n = 315) and Agricultural Forest Owners (n = 686) in central and southern Sweden were analysed. Overall, intentions to plant the species were low, with some minor differences between owner groups, land types, and species. While physical, social, and relational place dimensions showed few significant effects on intentions individually, interactions between social and relational dimensions were significant for Agricultural Forest Owners. For example, a low flow of information is associated with higher intention to plant both species on agricultural land among certified owners, but the opposite was found for non-certified owners. Place-based experience, consisting of subjective knowledge and having seen the species, was the most consistent predictor of intentions. This multidimensional understanding of place offers valuable insights into the interconnectedness of place dimensions in shaping management decisions.

This chapter explores commuting strategies linked to counterurban migration and its intersection with labour mobility. Using survey data from Swedish families who moved from metropolitan to non-metropolitan areas between 2017 and 2019, the study investigates commuting outcomes. A desire to reduce commuting time may drive individuals to leave metropolitan areas for a more balanced daily life, while others are willing to accept longer commutes in exchange for a desirable living environment. Furthermore, remote working arrangements can enable rural living. The findings suggest that reduced commuting time is the most common outcome, with geographical variations depending on the destination. The chapter discusses how counterurban migrants might provide a valuable inflow of competence into smaller local labour markets but also how extended commuting or remote working strategies still require access to urban labour markets. These findings highlight counterurban migration as both a lifestyle and labour-mobility strategy, with significant implications for regional development and local labour markets.

A large body of research shows that parental unemployment has negative consequences for children's mental health. However, we know much less about the reverse pattern in intergenerational crossover effects. This study fills the gap by showing how unemployment among adult children is related to parents’ mental health, and how this relationship is moderated by the geographical distance separating parents from their children. We analyze longitudinal data from seven of the first eight waves of the SHARE survey for 16 European countries from 2004 to 2020. Our analytic sample consists of 299,755 distinct observations for 78,837 parent–child dyads. We employ correlated random-effects models, which control for unobserved fixed-in-time confounders and allow for interacting time-varying observed characteristics in an appropriate way. Our results show that, generally, adult children's unemployment affects parental mental health negatively. Adult children's unemployment has particularly strong negative consequences for the mental health of mothers who coreside with their children. Regarding fathers, relatively larger effects emerge in the group with children who live near enough to have regular interactions but not close enough to provide direct instrumental support. Our findings highlight the role of coresidence and distance in shaping the interrelatedness of economic well-being and health across generations.

In this paper we study the impact of firm relocations on commuting distance and the probability of married couples and cohabiting couples with children separating. We use Swedish register data for the period 2010–16 and select employees of relocating firms with one workplace and more than 10 employees. Focusing on this sample allows us to use plausibly exogenous variation in the commuting distance arising from the relocation. We extend the literature on the effect of commuting on relationship stability by reducing the possibility for unobserved time-variant factors to bias our estimates. While previous literature has focused on the difference between short- and long-distance commuting, we focus on changes in the commuting distance that are externally induced by firm management. We find a small but statistically significant negative effect of increased firm relocation distance on family stability. A 10 km change in commuting distance leads to a 0.09 percentage point higher probability of separation if the commuter remains with the firm for the next five years.

This paper examines counterurban migration among young families with children in Sweden and the extent to which these moves reflect return migration, recognising the role of family members and family roots at the destination from a life course perspective. Drawing on register data for all young families with children leaving the Swedish metropolitan areas during the years 2003–2013, we analyse the pattern of counterurban moves and explore how the families’ socioeconomic characteristics, childhood origins, and links to family networks are associated with becoming a counterurban mover and choice of destination. The results show that four out of ten counterurban movers are former urban movers who choose to return to their home region. Among them, almost all have family at the destination, indicating that family ties are important for counterurban migration. In general, urban residents with a background outside metropolitan areas are much more likely to become counterurban movers. Families’ previous residential experiences during childhood, particularly in rural areas, are found to be associated with the residential environment they choose to resettle in when leaving the big city. Counterurban movers making a return move are similar to other counterurban movers in relation to employment status, but tend to be better off economically and move longer distances than other counterurban movers.

In this paper, we study the impact of firm relocations on commuting distance and the probability of married couples and cohabiting couples with children separating. We use Swedish register data for 2010-2016 and select employees of relocating firms with one workplace and more than 10 employees. Focusing on this sample allows us to use plausibly exogenous variation in the commuting distance arising from the relocation. We extend the literature on the effect of commuting on relationship stability by reducing the possibility for unobserved time-variant factors to bias our estimates. While previous literature has focused on the difference between short- and long-distance commuting, we focus on changes in the commuting distance that are externally induced by firm management. We find a small but statistically significant negative effect of increased firm relocation distance on family stability. A 10 km change in commuting distance leads to a 0.09 percentage point higher probability of separation if the commuter remains with the firm for the next 5 years.

This paper makes two original contributions to research on young adults’ boomerang mobility. First, it reveals the magnitude and complexity of return moves by young people to their parental home and neighbourhood. Secondly, it shows that the determinants and associates of return migration vary significantly when analysed at two different geographical scales—the parental home and the parental neighbourhood area. Using longitudinal data (1986–2009) on four cohorts of young adults, we find that boomeranging to the parental home in Sweden has increased in times of economic recession and is associated with economic vulnerability, such as leaving higher education or entering unemployment, and partnership dissolution. While returning to the parental home can offer financial support in times of life course reversal, we found gender differences indicating a greater independence among young women than men. Returning to the parental neighbourhood is found to be a very different kind of mobility than returning to co-reside with one’s parents, involving the migration decisions of more economically independent young adults. Results also indicate that returns to the parental neighbourhood, as well as returns to the parental home, can be part of young people’s life course changes.

Whereas the significance of family networks for support and well‐being has been shown in previous research, few studies have analysed the income distribution within family networks. The aim of this study is to examine income distribution within family networks and how they have changed over time for women and men in different parts of the income distribution and if the incomes are more similar in the geographically proximate family network. The analysis is based on register data and by use of ordinary least squares (OLS) and quantile regressions. The results indicate that men in the lowest income group tend to have become more similar to their family network over time. Gender differences have decreased, possibly as an effect of women's higher labour market participation rate leading to decreased income disparity. This paper contributes by highlighting how the uneven distribution of economic resources in family networks adds to individual's own resources.

This paper seeks to contribute to the ongoing revitalisation of the counterurbanisation research within population geography by nuancing counterurban migration beyond the rural–urban dichotomy, including all moves downwards in the urban hierarchy. The focus is to explore counterurban migration patterns among families with children leaving Swedish metropolitan areas, and whether some groups of skilled professions are more likely to make a counterurban move than others. Using register data on all families moving out from metropolitan areas in Sweden during the period 2003–2013, we found a small but steady outflow of families, mainly to medium-sized or small towns. The highly educated are overrepresented among these families, thus providing potential for an inflow of competence to the receiving areas. Contrary to expected, the assumed flexibility in time and space among knowledge sector professionals does not seem to enable them more than others to pursue counterurban moves. Instead, public sector professionals characterise families making a counterurban move to all destination regions, while men with a profession within arts and crafts to a higher extent move with their family to more rural areas.