Residence duty as a planning tool in rural areas -- a bird on the roof or a cuckoo cub in the nest?

The residence obligation is a special Danish planning tool that has not previously been systematically studied and elucidated in a rural context. The project aims to analyse the effects of the wave of abolition of the residence obligation that swept across Denmark's rural municipalities after the financial crisis. The abolition of the residence obligation came about in response to evictions and increasing lay-times on a logic that it was better to ensure that houses were sold and maintained by a part-time resident/leisure occupant than for houses to stand empty and dilapidated. However, the situation has changed in a number of rural and catchment municipalities, which are now experiencing an increased influx of year-round residents. Year-round residents often look to the same attractive local areas that part-time residents also seek. Thus, at least in the most attractive areas, there is a concern that there is a lack of year-round homes for potential (full-time) newcomers. The question is whether the abolition of the residence obligation, which was supposed to be a planning tool to secure attractive local areas, will instead stand in the way of the desired relocation to the outermost regions and thus discourage longer-term population growth and labour attraction? And does the geographical abolition of the residence obligation create an unequal development within the municipalities that take advantage of this relief? What are the dynamics around access to housing and the local composition of residents that different abrogations of the residence obligation can create? These are important issues that have not previously been elucidated in a rural context. This research project will map changes in the regulation of the residence obligation in rural municipalities in Denmark, investigate the effects of such changes (quantitatively and qualitatively), including what they mean for inequality in rural areas, and what these changes say about the changes in the relationship between the country and the city and our understanding of what rural areas are.