Seachange (demography)

A seachange (or sea change) is an Australian term, ultimately adopted from a term found in Shakespeare's The Tempest which describes a form of human migration that involves individuals abandoning city living in favour of a perceived 'easier life' in rural coastal communities. The term was popularised by the popular ABC TV television series SeaChange, which triggered the phenomenon of many city-dwellers mimicking the drama's protagonist's escape from urban life. The result of this phenomenon (known as the 'sea change effect') is a rapid boom in tourism and real estate development in coastal Australia, particularly in New South Wales. A similar term, treechange, describes the movement of urbanites to the countryside.