Go Home! Beyond the urban–rural divide in France: an analysis of how ‘mental proximity’ benefits territorial development
研究疫情期间城市居民外逃现象，分析城乡人群的心理表征差异，发现心理邻近性可促进区域发展，为城乡融合提供新视角。
This article calls attention to the role that mental proximity plays in driving organised proximity, alongside geographical proximity. We studied mental representations of urbanites and rural inhabitants during the city-dwellers flight during the COVID-19 crisis and found that press articles and readers’ comments were a relevant source for revealing mental proximity between rural inhabitants and newcomers. We analysed articles published during the first lockdown in France. Our results indicate that urban and rural dwellers have strongly opposed mental representations of people and spaces, on both the idyllic and infernal registers. However, verbatims also suggest potential pathways for working towards mental reconciliation.