The policy of the council at that period was to issue enough housing permits to enable the primary school to keep four classes. I pointed out that this wasn't actually a good model of sustainability, but they were doing their best with the worldview they had.

And I'm not sure about the reversal of urban flight. The city they left has lots of cheap housing available; and there are no jobs there.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}

Well, according to local tradition, the evil Baron des Adrets, the bloodthirstiest of Protestant generals in the 16th century wars of religion, won a pitched battle nearby, and our stream ran red with blood.  However, in this remote and eternally poor mountain region, 50km southwest of Lyon, there were no fertile lands to settle, nothing much to plunder, and it's completely unstrategic. The Loire plains to the immediate west, and the Rhone valley to the immediate east, yes, they have seen more than their share of great migrations, invasions etc... but no trace of significant population influx that I ever found.

As for people moving around a lot. Not. Genealogical research by my ex-wife demonstrated that your spouse came from an area within walking distance, for your basic peasants, until the early 20th century.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}