Growth in nonmetropolitan areas is expected to cause some of the most important land use debates of the 1980's. This volume is intended to provide professionals in the land use field with a better understanding of the extent and nature of population change in nonmetropolitan areas, the type of development associated with this change, and the difficulty of guiding this growth in a manner that enhances rather than damages the quality of the rural environment. Population data over the past 25 years indicates widespread migration reversals to nonmetropolitan areas; the fastest growing counties are now those containing no incorporated place of 2,500 or more persons. Factors associated with this turnaround include expansion of institutions of higher education, the interstate highway system, changes in agriculture, shifts in the economic base, emphasis on quality of life, and retirement migration. Changes in government of nonmetropolitan areas are resulting. Local governments are highly fragmented and have limited capabilities; state government deploys more controls and carries out more functions directly, and the federal government operates a complex system of direct aid. Growth management requires long range regional planning and cooperation, land use and zoning programs, impact assessment, and joint capital budgeting. In time, factors such as the energy shortage, water supplies, protection of agricultural land and the environment, a uniform national growth policy, and shifts in personal preferences could reverse this back-to-the-country movement. (NEC)