En búsqueda de lo rural: Migración de amenidad en los Valles Calchaquíes, Argentina

The acquisition of houses for recreational and lifestyle purposes has gained momentum in mountains areas of Argentina. This article analyses the origins and consequences of this residential-recreational economy for the case of the Calchaquí Valleys. Given the fact that the process is embedded in a global boom of amenity/lifestyle migration, the two respective concepts are introduced with a special emphasis on their discussion in the Latin American context. A categorization of amenity migrants is presented with the goal of differentiating between them and hence, elaborating national and regional particularities of the process. The results indicate that the ‘search for the rural’ leads to an increasing socio-spatial fragmentation in the Calchaquí Valleys.