The authentic place in the amenity migration discourse

The amenity migration movement has garnered significant interest across the wider academic community. In recent works, the emphasis on the investigation into this phenomenon has centered on the aesthetic attractiveness, both culturally and environmentally, of regional locations. This article follows this theme and explores the role of place in the amenity migration discourse. Using a theoretical framework emerging from the cultural sociology of Smith, it is shown through various metanarratives that authenticity plays a major role in the promotion and protection of amenity migration places. Specifically, natural landscape, cultural heritage, and community are discussed as significant contributors to this aura of authenticity. Maintaining this, however, is somewhat problematic as the phenomenon continues to gather momentum. Keywords amenity migration, authenticity, place, cultural sociology Across Western culture, the phenomenon known as amenity migration1 (Moss, 2006) has gar-nered significant public and academic interest. In particular, demographers and geographers have delved deeply into the movement seeking to expose the fundamental motivations tha