Anastasiou E., Regional Science Inquiry, Vol. XII, (1), 2020, pp. 75!86 75                 Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Thessaly evanastasiou@uth.gr ! The last decade economic developments affected to a large extend the demographic structure of Greece. The period 2001!2011 is characterized by a net slowdown of the intense urbanization trend, while in the context of crisis there have been identified counter!urban trends, revealing new attractiveness zones in the rural areas. These indications of mobility do not concern entirely the countryside as the newcomers settle only in specific rural spatial units. At the same time these areas have specific features that facilitate the establishment of a new population, such as population dynamics, tourism development, agricultural activity, services and structures, reduction of geographical isolation, low cost of living and habitation. The future of internal migration in Greece heavily depends on existing trends as well as future economic, social and political developments. Though, the lack of official data for the period after 2011 constrains our understanding for the development of internal migration and particularly counter!urban trends in Greece. The present paper raises the issue of the prospects of the establishment of the Greek population in the countryside, taking into account the pull factors of rural areas. Through Foresight and Strategic Thinking Methods, a longer!term framework is being developed to reflect the potential strategic choices of the internal migrants. This approach is based on a mainly qualitative analysis, scenario planning, in order to present the prerequisites for the further development of such a type of mobility. "#$%& foresight, scenario planning, internal migration, population, countryside ’( !)*!% J1, J6, J11, R23 +, %&-!% Recent studies concerning the internal migration (to a large spatial scale) show the Greeks’ population mobility trend from urban to rural areas as developing phenomenon, however of limited intensity compared to other European countries (Gkartzios 2013). The internal migrants’ search focuses on the added value, which the perspective place of settlement has to offer to the newcomers. The pull factors that make rural space attractive, focus on areas with population dynamics, tourism development, agricultural activity, services and structures, reduction of geographical isolation, low cost of living and habitation (Anastasiou and Duquenne 2019). Main purpose of the study is to examine the prospects of the urban population’s settlement in the countryside, in the horizon 2030.The period of the study coincides with the developing recession in Greece, therefore in the light of a more secure approach, the phenomenon is set to examination on a medium!term basis. Consequently, by analyzing the present, both the recession component and its duration will be taken into account to a great extent, since its presence actually increases the environment’s unsettledness under which the settlement to the rural is studied. The qualitative approach of the present is based upon the valuation of the conditions which prevail in the external environment (economic, social, technological, and political) in combination with the Greek countryside’s attractiveness factors. Through prospective methods and in particular Strategic Thinking, there will turn out a spectrum of possible scenario as far as the prospects of the Greek settlement in the countryside are concerned. On the one hand the alternative scenarios which will be raised will make it clear whether the settlement in the countryside constitutes a phenomenon which was founded in Greece under the circumstances of the financial crisis and what will be the trend of it in the post crisis era.