treechange

English

Etymology

From tree +‎ change, modelled after seachange. According to the Australian author and demographer Bernard Salt, the word was coined by “a subeditor” in 2003 and thereafter adopted by him.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹiːˌt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːtʃeɪndʒ
• Hyphenation: tree‧change

Noun

treechange (countable and uncountable, plural treechanges) (Australia)

1. (uncountable) A movement of people from cities to the countryside. [from 2003]

   Coordinate term: seachange

   • 2006, Bernard Salt, “Values and Mores”, in The Big Picture: Life, Work and Relationships in the 21st Century, Prahran, Vic.: Hardie Grant Books, published 2007, →ISBN, part 1 (Life), page 23:

     Treechange refers to the trend for baby boomers to seek out lifestyle property in country towns usually within a two–three hour drive of a capital city. The drivers of treechange and seachange are the same: people wanting a simpler life in a pleasant town with all the amenities not too far from their interests in the city.

   • 2007, Susan Thompson, “Planning for Diverse Communities”, in Susan Thompson, editor, Planning Australia: An Overview of Urban and Regional Planning, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 204:

     For example, the ‘seachange’ and ‘treechange’ movements have seen transitions in rural and regional communities, with the influx of wealthy city-dwellers increasing the price of housing and demanding the provision of particular services and facilities […].

   • 2010, Anna Krien, Into the Woods, page 138:

     She told me about a time she and a photographer were sent out to do ‘another treechange story’ – a feel-good piece, she explained, about mainlanders moving to Tasmania.

   • 2010, Philip Thomas, Profit from Property: Your Step-by-step Guide to Successful Real Estate Development‎^[1], Milton, Qld.: Wrightbooks; Richmond, Vic.: John Wiley & Sons Australia, published 2011, →ISBN:

     This is supported by consultant reports she found online, whose interpretations of ABS data point to the emergence of seachange and treechange towns that have increasing demand for services. (Seachange and treechange are terms used to describe people moving out of cities to coastal or rural areas.)

2. (countable) An act of relocating from an urban to a rural community.

   Coordinate term: seachange

Derived terms

• treechanger

Translations

movement of people from cities to the countryside

Further reading

• seachange (demography) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia