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Social science research gives rise to what we call the ‘refugee mobility puzzle’: While restrictions on the freedom of residence limit refugees’ socio-economic integration, those who do not face such restrictions often move to areas with high unemployment that similarly hinder their labor market prospects. This study addresses a central element of this puzzle: What draws refugees to high unemployment areas? We propose the spatial overlap hypothesis arguing that refugees in comparatively generous reception systems initially prioritize or are forced to prioritize non-labor-market resources such as affordable housing and proximity to social networks. Thereby they often settle in areas with general economic disadvantage as such areas frequently overlap with said resources. Based on the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees this study tracks residential histories of more than 2,400 refugee respondents across all German counties and postcodes. Discrete choice models show that preferences for cities, lack of affordable housing, the presence of small, service-oriented companies, and co-ethnic communities explain refugees’ gravitation to disadvantaged areas. These results support the spatial overlap hypothesis and suggest that recently approved refugees face trade-offs: area characteristics that are initially attractive tend to spatially overlap with such that likely inhibit longer-term integration prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commuting, the spatial mismatch between work and residential locations, necessitates integrated urban and transport policies to mitigate its societal impacts. While cross-border commuting (CBC) is increasing and governance of border regions is on the rise beyond national borders, no systemic review of this specific commuting pattern exists. We aim to consolidate the CBC literature accumulated over the years into a coherent and synthetic framework. Our systematic review assembles an inaugural comprehensive corpus of cross-border commuting literature. It reveals three transversal key topics (transport-oriented topic, qualitative approaches versus a lack of quantitative data, and a large majority of European papers) and four sub-topics (patterns, determinants, impacts and policies). Moreover, we consolidate findings through meticulous mapping of evidence, where most links are traced between the determinants and the level of flows across borders. Finally, the discussion offers directions for future research, with an exhortation to explicitly link policies to sustainability and social concerns, and the necessity for standardised datasets for methodological comparability across cases and in alignment with general commuting research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 prompted a significant number of employees to shift to remote work for the first time, potentially reshaping future work patterns. This study examines the post-COVID impacts on telecommuting, commuting behaviour, travel activities, and lifestyles in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. A multivariate nominal logistic regression analysis of 305 post-restriction survey responses revealed that home distance from the CBD, industry, occupation, and income significantly influence post-COVID telecommuting trends. Individuals living over 20 kilometres from the CBD, those in professional or managerial roles, and higher-income earners (>125k) are more prone to regular telecommuting, highlighting the impact of commute lengths, job flexibility, and financial resources on the ability to work remotely. The study revealed a higher adoption of telecommuting post-COVID, with more individuals working from home and telecommuting more often each week. This led to reduced usage of private cars and public transport, indicating a decrease in overall travel frequency. Respondents also adopted flexible work schedules, resulting in fewer peak-hour commutes, which would have resulted in lower congestion and emissions and led to more sustainable travel practices. The study also investigated future telecommuting perspectives, revealing a preference for remote work 3–4 days a week. Some respondents who initially could not telecommute have since considered it feasible and want to adopt it. Notably, about 25% of respondents would even change jobs for flexible, home-based work arrangements. The study's results suggest that remote work frequency may influence individuals' future house location preferences. These findings offer valuable insights for sustainable transport and urban planning considerations in the post-COVID era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article combines stated preference methods and graph-based landscape approaches to assess the possible synergy existing between households' residential preferences and biodiversity conservation in urban areas. We start by estimating household's residential preferences regarding different landscape attributes (i.e. green spaces and compactness of the neighbourhood) of chosen urban contexts applying the choice experiment method. Then, by integrating ecological indicators obtained by using a graph-based approach in our valuation model, we study the impact of the residential choice on biodiversity conservation. Our results suggest that the preferred neighbourhood also have landscape structure that are in favour of biodiversity conservation. The preference heterogeneity for green spaces and compactness will induce landscape-based sorting. Household's residential location choices affect biodiversity conservation differently which depend on their socio-demographic characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of female-headed households migrating into cities is increasing. Female-headed households compete for limited housing options with other households with varying socio-economic capacities. As a result, women have to choose from several housing pathways, utilising available social capital that occasionally covers inadequate financial resources. This may sometimes lead to social conflict and exploitation by landlords and brokers. This article seeks to understand the influence of women's social capital and networks on pathways that female-headed households pursue in Kampala city. Using a snowball sampling strategy, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and document analysis, the article explores female-headed households' pathways for housing options. Participants (n = 40) in this study were identified from the Katwe informal settlement of Kampala city. Findings indicate that the strength of social ties generated through; family attachments, friends, and socio-economic involvement influences female-headed household pathways. To a lesser extent, the use of informal brokers also may influence housing pathways. The article calls for specific legislation and guidelines to regulate the informal brokerage practice and professionalise the client-broker relationship. For adequate urban housing planning to ensue, responsible authorities could incorporate into government policy the unique preferences of residential pathways and networks that bond female-headed households together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well known that the racial composition of a neighborhood influences who chooses to live there. Less established is whether the political party mix of the neighborhood influences neighborhood choice. In this paper, we study racial and political neighborhood sorting, their interaction, and how they are changing over time. Our methodology involves the estimation of a conditional logit model with data on hundreds of thousands of homebuyers whose race and political affiliation are known. The neighborhood choices of homeowners categorized by race and party are explained by a typology that defines neighborhoods by their dominance of a particular party and race/ethnicity. We find that both Democrats and Republicans prefer living in a neighborhood that matches their race and political party, but both show an increased willingness to live in a non-matched neighborhood over the past decade. Our results are encouraging, suggesting that both political and racial/ethnicity neighborhood segregation may subside in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionLifestyle is one of the most popular concepts used to explore consumer behavior. In various fields, the lifestyle concept has been widely used to understand and explain certain consumer behaviors. Residential lifestyle is defined here as the way of life related to residence associated with the consumption of time, space and money. In other words, residential lifestyle is all of the lifestyle factors related to residence. The structure and components of residential lifestyles are comprehensive and complicated, with numerous influencing factors. Here, we propose the concept of residential lifestyles as two-sided properties as individuality and sociality, subjectivity and objectivity, actuality and ideality. Residential satisfaction, Residential environmental choice, and residential preferences are one of the most studied themes in the field of the residential environment. The purpose of this study was to identify the residential choice, satisfaction, and preferences as determined by their lifestyles. A total of 206 usable questionnaires were collected from ten regions in TABRIZ City. Six residential choice factors (Safety, Social, Spaces, and Economical and Education) were derived, and the respondents were grouped into four lifestyle clusters (Urban Cluster, Natural Cluster, Economical Cluster, and Social Cluster). Data and MethodIn this research, we analyzed the characteristics of residential preferential patterns with cluster analysis, residential choice with factor analysis and residential preference and relationship with preferences with factor analysis and hierarchical multi-attribute index system and variance analysis. For the data analysis, descriptive statistics (frequency tables, graphs, percentages, and variance) and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation, ANOVA, T-test) were used. Results DiscussionIn this research, on the basis of the understanding of residential lifestyles and its influence factors, we firstly aimed to interpret the concept through the approach of urban planning as the initial step. Among the factors, we focus on the residential preference, residential emphasis on housing selection, and residential satisfaction as well as the individual attributes such as age, housing ownership, household structure and living years, etc.ConclusionWe have studied residential lifestyles from the perspectives of residential choice factors, residential preference, and residential satisfaction. We have made clear the principal residential choice factors of samples from TABRIZ City. Three subjective residential preferences patterns were obtained: Pattern (1) is the urban preference pattern; (2) is the enjoying life and natural preference pattern; (3) is economical preference pattern and (4) is social preference pattern.

Many published papers have delved into the factors affecting the residential location choices of households using various logit models. Nonetheless, only a few pieces of literature have attempted to examine those associative attributes from a macroscopic view. Thus, this article investigates the factors that influence households' preference to reside in densely populated locations or regions with a wide variety of land-use types using ordered choice models (ORM). This study proposes three indicators that are reflective of residential areas, namely population density, housing density, and land-use mix index, based on prior research. Population density and housing density are modeled at census block and tract levels to explore households' sensitivity to different geographical scales. Regarding land use, this research classifies the diversity index into four categories: uniform, moderately diverse, more diverse, and the most diverse. Similarly, the study is predicated on 0.25-mile and 0.5-mile buffer zones. The findings are consistent with earlier research and highlight macro-level issues that influence residential location decisions. As for the residential preference for housing density, significant factors are the structure of households, the number of vehicles per household, and household income. Regarding the residential choices of population density, significant attributes refer to demographic characteristics, household income, and housing types. Concerning the residential choices based on land-use mix, the most influential factors turn out to be the interacting terms between demographics and housing-related index, household income, and housing-related indexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of inequalities inherent in regimes of mobility and the rapid transformation of Lisbon by increased tourism and transnational mobility, this paper seeks to foreground under-the-radar narratives of young working-aged middle-class migrants on their socio-spatial positioning in the city. Situated at the nexus of youth mobilities and lifestyle migration, our objective is to examine the stratifications and diversities present within lifestyle migration to the city by focusing on migration motivations and migrants' own reflections on their place-making strategies and privilege in the city. Based on 10 narrative interviews and participant observation in transnational hangouts, our results reveal how the creation of "alternative" lifestyles is hinged on both mobility practices and local moorings as young movers reinvent themselves professionally in the place of arrival. Our results show that they negotiate their place and social position through (i) balancing place-consumption practices between what is construed as the transnational and the local and (ii) by situating themselves outside of the subjective residential geography of privileged migrants. This is part of a moral code to appease their political conscience and justify their presence in a city that has been rapidly transformed by tourism and other transient populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migrant workers moving to urbanized areas constitute a floating labor pool that provides flexible and cheap labor for urbanization processes. The Thirteenth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China proposed the "acceleration of citizenization of rural migrant workers". Promoting the citizenization of migrant workers has always been a focus of the government and aca-demia as well as a fundamental part of China's new urbanization strategy. Based on the questionnaire data of 1 270 migrant workers of the Pearl River Delta in 2017, this paper adopts the multinomial Logistic regression analysis to explore the residential choice and influencing factors among four types of migrant workers' families, which are childless family (I), parents and minor children combined family (ii), unmarried children and their parents combined family (iii), and empty-nest family (iV), from the perspective of the family life cycle. The results show that: 1) The average age, the length of residence, the level of education, the average monthly income, and the per capita living area of the four types of families show regular differentiation. 2) The residential choice of 4 types of families is mainly in urban villages; Types I and IV prefer to select factory dormitories and affordable housing communities, respectively, while types II and III prefer to select commodity housing communities. 3) The main influencing factors of the residential choice of migrant workers in the Pearl River Delta are family type, individual factor, rural factor, migration factor, and location factor. Based on the results of this study, we put forward community-based policy suggestions for citizenization strategy [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Travel preferences are important in choosing to live in a car-reduced neighbourhood. • Residential self-selection is higher among individuals with strong car orientation. • RSS to car-reduced neighbourhood exists even in highly priced real estate market. • Living in a car-reduced neighbourhood leads to a decrease in car use. Car-reduced neighbourhoods are an urban planning tool to limit the increase in motorised traffic due to urban growth by making car ownership and use less attractive for the inhabitants. Since car-reduced living appeals more to some people than others, car-reduced neighbourhoods may be subject to residential self-selection (RSS). RSS indicates that individuals choose residential areas that support pre-existing travel attitudes and preferences, and, in consequence, that their travel behaviour is not solely the result of the built environment. Many studies on RSS operationalise self-selection effects using travel-related attitudes. In contrast, we assume that travel considerations in residential location choice (TCRC) are more precise for this purpose. While attitude refers to a mental state towards a travel mode, e.g. a personal affection for cycling, TCRC describes an actual desire to live in an area with, for example, street layouts that facilitate cycling. Drawing on a sample of 339 recently relocated inhabitants of a car-reduced neighbourhood in Darmstadt, Germany, we first identify the importance of TCRC in choosing this neighbourhood relative to other residential considerations. We find that TCRC have less influence compared to factors such as house size and price. However, a comparison of individuals with low and high car orientation reveals that the former prioritise car-reduced designs more when selecting a neighbourhood. Second, we find that new residents' car use decreases after relocating, while carsharing use increases. Third, we find no significant difference between attitudes and TCRC when measuring RSS in our behaviour change models. In terms of policy implications, the further development of car-reduced neighbourhoods will (i) trigger an increase in the use of sustainable modes among new residents and (ii) make it easier for people who already rarely drive to maintain their car independence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential choice does not only depend on properties of the dwelling, neighbourhood amenities and affordability, but is also affected by the population composition within a neighbourhood. All these attributes are capitalised in the house price. Empirically, it is not easy to disentangle the effect of the neighbourhood on house prices from the effects of the dwelling attributes. We implement an agent-based model of an urban housing market that allows us to analyse the interaction between residential choice, population composition in a neighbourhood and house prices. Agents differ in terms of education, income and group affiliation (majority vs. minority). Whereas rich agents can afford to move to preferred places, roughly 13.01% of poor minorities and 8.02% of poor majority agents are locked in their current neighbourhood. We show that a preference to live among similar neighbours has a strong competitive effect on rich households and drives up their house prices. This is not the case with a preference for status. By introducing a policy that provides agents more access to credit, we find that all population groups denote higher satisfaction levels. Poor agents show the largest improvements. The general satisfaction level across all population groups increases. However, the extra credit accessibility also drives up house prices and leads to higher wealth inequality within the city. If agents have a preference for status rather than for similarity, the effect of the overall inequality is smaller, since agents become more satisfied living in areas with less similar agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 caused unprecedented changes in the daily lives of many people worldwide, with many working from home for the first time. This shift in working arrangement has the potential to have a lasting impact in future. This paper investigates longer-term impacts of COVID-19 on work-arrangements, specifically, individuals’ preferences towards work-from-home post COVID-19. This study utilizes data from a stated preference component of a travel survey conducted in the Central Okanagan region of British Columbia. A random parameter ordered logit model is developed to accommodate the ordinal nature of the preference variable and capture unobserved heterogeneity. One of the key features of the study is to confirm the effects of residential choice in-terms of location characteristics and dwelling attributes on work-from-home preferences after the pandemic. For example, individuals’ dwelling attributes such as larger sized dwelling, larger sized apartments are likely to have positive effect on frequent work-from-home. The model confirms significant heterogeneity, in relation to location characteristics such as commute distance and distance to urban center. For instance, initially, females were less likely to work-from-home. However, they showed significant heterogeneity with large standard deviation, specifically their preference was found to vary by residential location. For instance, females residing farther from urban centers prefer a higher frequency of work-from-home. Elasticity analysis suggests that part-time female workers, mid-age individuals, full-time workers with children, and full-time workers with longer commutes have a significantly higher probability to work-from-home every day after the pandemic. The findings of the study provide important insights which will assist in developing effective work-from-home strategies post-the-pandemic.

While it would be desirable to encourage people to live in places that are safer from natural disasters to minimize casualties and property damage, few studies have focused on people's relative preference for living in such places. The present study has sought to clarify the extent to which Tokyo residents consider safety from natural disaster to be more important than other factors relevant to the choice of residential location, as well as what personal attributes may be correlated with this perception. An online survey was conducted to collect 1554 valid responses from residents in the 23 city wards of Tokyo, Japan, and statistical analysis (a chi-square test and multivariable logistic regression analysis) was then applied to the collected responses. The results demonstrated that, on average, 45.1% of the respondents considered that "safety from natural disasters" was relatively important among twelve such factors related to the selection of a suitable residential location. It was also found that showing a hazard map to Tokyo residents or educating them to take more interest in their health and the surrounding natural environment could be effective to increase the number of people preferring to live in safer places. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Algeria, family’s residential preference for a single house is widely analysed and established in research works. However, families’ migration from single-family home to collective housing has been observed in recent years. This situation appears unusual in the sense that these dwellers have lived, at the first place, in apartment and then have made the choice to settle in a single-family house, so-called “villa”, which they considered as to be the final step in their residential movement. What is behind this turnaround?In this regard, this paper focuses on the assumption that the transformations in socio-economic context, family composition and lifestyles have reversed the tendency and brought a new penchant for the apartment. It defines the term “villa” and exposes the context of its emergence. Likewise, it examines the factors, which have influenced its large expansion then its decline in favour of the apartment in collective residence. The analysis method is based on a series observations and interviews with residents and real estate agencies in Maraval and Gambetta neighbourhoods in Oran.

Urban proximity planning is foreseen as a solution to foster a "sustainable" city, including economic viability, environmental soundness and social inclusivity. This paper focuses on the inclusivity aspects by questioning the adoption of urban proximities: how far planning for urban proximities resonates or conflicts with current residential preferences and practices? Based on functional, social, and sensitive attributes, five latent residential preferences have been identified: spatial proximity, tranquility, elitism, social proximity, and conviviality. These aspirations form the basis for a longitudinal, spatial, and clustering analysis. The results of the analysis, conducted on 2200+ respondents in Geneva, reveal characteristics in residential preferences. Firstly, preferences are stable over time, but malleable to changing circumstances. Secondly, some preferences show clear spatial distribution patterns when regressed with residential location choice. Thirdly, the gap between preferences and actual residential practices varies across morphological attributes. As a main result, the clustering analysis shows that 43 % of the population aspire more to tranquility than to functional proximity; and those aspiring for proximities (32 %) are the youngest and wealthiest. This questions the relevance of models of urban proximities as an inclusive solution – raising issues of generational divide, territorial segregation, and injunctive and targeted planning. • 43 % of the population prefers tranquility over functional proximity. • Those aspiring for proximities (32 %) are the youngest and wealthiest. • The preferences for Spatial Proximity and Conviviality are oriented inward. • Elitism and Social Proximity are spread across the territory. • Residential preferences are stable over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Couples' residential decisions are based on a large variety of factors including housing preferences, family and other social ties, socialisation and residential biography, and environmental factors. This paper examines, firstly, to what extent people stay in, return to or leave their hometown. We refer to the hometown as the place where most of childhood and adolescence is spent. Secondly, we study which conditions shape a person's migration type. We mainly focus on variables capturing elements of the residential biography and both partners' family ties and family socialisation. We focus on the residential choices made at the time of family formation. We employ multinomial regression modelling and cross-tabulations based on two generations in a sample of families who mostly live in the wider Ruhr area, born around 1931 (parents) and 1957 (adult children). We find that migration type is significantly affected by a combination of both partners' places of origin, both partners' parents' places of residence, the number of previous moves, level of education and hometown population size. We conclude that complex patterns of experience made over the life course, socialisation and gendered patterns are at work. These mechanisms should be kept in mind when policy makers develop strategies to attract (return) migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the changing spatial and temporal patterns of residential choices across different waves of migrants from the mainland China between 1941 and 2011. Moran's I and GetisOrd Indices are computed to validate the spatial assimilation theory to identify the prevalence of spatial clustering of Chinese migrants at a local area level. The spatial autocorrelation indicates the spatial segregation of Chinese migrants during the first three migration waves. This segregation propensity, however, has marginally declined in the recent wave. Getis hotspot analysis nevertheless shows no significant locational shift in the spatial clusters of Chinese migrants. This indicates the existence of path dependency, whereby the recent wave of immigrants from China exhibits spatial segregation behaviour similar to those manifested by earlier waves. Key spatial migrant clustersaresustained over time. The mapped outputs show that Chinese migrants congregate at the higher end of the housing market, particularly in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. The analysis, therefore, rejects the conventional wisdom that migrants tend to spatially assimilate over time and they create urban ghettos or refuge for sheltering disadvantaged communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We draw on forty-six in-depth interviews with residents of Cerritos, California, a middle-class majority Asian suburb in Los Angeles County to explore the meaning of resurgent ethnicity and the ways in which a racialized identity informs residential preferences and choice among second-generation Asian Americans. Findings suggest that second-generation Asian Americans are choosing to reside in a place that offers cultural and class-based amenities that reflects a multiethnic sensibility. They also make residential choices based on family ties to strengthen and maintain intergenerational relations and share mutual social and economic resources. For second-generation Asian Americans, this racially dominant but ethnically diverse spatial settlement also provides a sense of belonging, signifying the continuing significance of race among middle-class, acculturated racial minority groups. As U.S. ethnic populations continue to grow and continue the trend of suburbanization and segregation, understanding such places and their implications will become increasingly important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many published papers have delved into the factors affecting the residential location choices of households using various logit models. Nonetheless, only a few pieces of literature have attempted to examine those associative attributes from a macroscopic view. Thus, this article investigates the factors that influence households’ preference to reside in densely populated locations or regions with a wide variety of land-use types using ordered choice models (ORM). This study proposes three indicators that are reflective of residential areas, namely population density, housing density, and land-use mix index, based on prior research. Population density and housing density are modeled at census block and tract levels to explore households’ sensitivity to different geographical scales. Regarding land use, this research classifies the diversity index into four categories: uniform, moderately diverse, more diverse, and the most diverse. Similarly, the study is predicated on 0.25-mile and 0.5-mile buffer zones. The findings are consistent with earlier research and highlight macro-level issues that influence residential location decisions. As for the residential preference for housing density, significant factors are the structure of households, the number of vehicles per household, and household income. Regarding the residential choices of population density, significant attributes refer to demographic characteristics, household income, and housing types. Concerning the residential choices based on land-use mix, the most influential factors turn out to be the interacting terms between demographics and housing-related index, household income, and housing-related indexes.

This study investigates how disclosure of school quality information influences the behavior of students and parents. Using the event in which school‐level test scores were first disclosed in October 2014 in Matsue City, Japan, I estimate the change in the effect of test scores on housing rent and population in a school district between pre‐ and post‐disclosure. Following the disclosure of scores, the school catchment areas with higher scores witnessed a significant increase in the rents of apartments for families and the population of school‐age children. These results provide novel evidence that disclosure of school quality information significantly impacts people's school and residential choice behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper contributes to the analysis of the transformation of middle classes in Europe by linking the issue of spatialization of class at the transnational and urban levels with the question of mobility and skilled migration. We therefore analyse the migration motives and urban practices (lifestyle and residential choice) of about ninety mobile middle class French nationals in London and middle class British nationals in Paris. The respondents belong to various fragments of an emerging European transnational middle class, whose diversity is reflected in their reasons for moving and their experience in the new city. Drawing on the concept of elective belonging, we argue that both the transnational and urban levels are important for class making mechanisms. Our results illustrate the relevance of the transnational level, i.e. cross-border mobility, for the making and reproduction of middle-class status. At the same time, the urban level – both the city and neighbourhood – is a crucial element that facilitates or obstructs middle-class practices, e.g. related to lifestyle or residential choice. For our respondents, multicultural London presents the economic capital of Europe with abundant professional opportunities, while Paris is viewed as a provincial city, liked for its beauty and lifestyle, but economically far behind London. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty is a major determinant for pollution exposure, according to the US location choice literature. In this paper, we assess the impact of socio-economic status on location choices in the European context. Our analysis relies on an original dataset of 1194 households living in polluted and non-polluted areas in three European countries: Spain, Portugal, and France. We use instrumental variables strategies to identify the socioeconomic causes of location choices. We show that low education, wealth, and income are main reasons for living in polluted areas. We provide several robustness checks testing for the exogeneity of selected instruments. We observe that unobserved heterogeneity tends to understate the impact of socioeconomic status on residence location. Interestingly, we highlight that an important proportion of intermediate social groups (especially young couples) are living in polluted areas, probably because of place attachment and affordable housing facilities. Similarly, we show that middle-income households have lower move-out intentions than other income groups. These latter results contrast the linear vision of environmental inequalities found in the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While it would be desirable to encourage people to live in places that are safer from natural disasters to minimize casualties and property damage, few studies have focused on people’s relative preference for living in such places. The present study has sought to clarify the extent to which Tokyo residents consider safety from natural disaster to be more important than other factors relevant to the choice of residential location, as well as what personal attributes may be correlated with this perception. An online survey was conducted to collect 1554 valid responses from residents in the 23 city wards of Tokyo, Japan, and statistical analysis (a chi-square test and multivariable logistic regression analysis) was then applied to the collected responses. The results demonstrated that, on average, 45.1% of the respondents considered that “safety from natural disasters” was relatively important among twelve such factors related to the selection of a suitable residential location. It was also found that showing a hazard map to Tokyo residents or educating them to take more interest in their health and the surrounding natural environment could be effective to increase the number of people preferring to live in safer places.

Whether families with children choose to live in the suburbs to benefit from cheap land or do so to avoid decaying socio-economic conditions of central neighbourhoods remains a central question for public policy. To explore that question, this article investigates the characteristics of communities within the Montreal metropolitan area where families with children have chosen to live (108 communities). Three different analyses are undertaken. The first analysis is a community-based estimation of the Alonso model. It shows that the average price of a single-family house within a community varies with distance to the Central Business District (CBD), and that space per household for housing grows in relation with distance. The second analysis is inspired by life-cycle arguments. It shows that housing space is not as significant as new housing development or poverty to explain the proportion of families with children in communities of the metropolitan area. The third analysis, using data pertaining to families with children only, shows that communities closer to the CBD have a higher proportion of low-income families as well as high-income ones. These communities also have a higher proportion of families with parents that are immigrants, have university degrees, are single (divorced), and are under 35 years old. Mothers are also more likely to be active in these communities. We conclude that developing homogenous neighbourhoods designed for upper-middle-class households and knowledge-based workers may better contribute to the attraction of families with children in Montreal’s central neighbourhoods than building affordable housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impending retirement of the Baby Boomers, in majority homeowners, raises the question of the elderly people’s position in the residential real estate market. The asset-based welfare discourses are based on Life Cycle Hypothesis (LCH) models which predict a decumulation of housing equity by older people. Although particularly modest in the case of France, the decumulation is empirically valid [Laferrère, 2008]. However, these works are confined by an insufficient distinction between rental and owner-occupied houses. A study of the real estate transactions conducted in the Grand Lyon between 2006 and 2015 highlights the selective aspects of real estate decumulation. This paper first explores the differential treatment of houses depending on the housing occupation status. Rental properties and assets are managed in a comparable way through a precautionary decumulation. In contrast, the householders are way more attached to the owner-occupant status, therefore are more likely to retain their main residences. The decumulation selectivity also takes on a spatial dimension. The Grand Lyon real estate market can be segmented into three submarkets. Whereas the central area is driven by a financialisation of housing behaviours, the Western and Northern territories are predominantly marked by residential logics. The Eastern and Southern areas occupy an intermediate position while involving lower-value assets. This observed diversity in the forms of decumulation puts forward a spatially varying validity of behavioural models.

Walkable communities are increasingly promoted for their health, social, and environmental benefits. However, the extent to which the demand or preference for walkable communities accords with various other housing demands across different populations is still questionable. Using data sets from two research projects focused on nonmetropolitan communities in Texas, this study examined to whom neighborhood walkability and safety are important when selecting a residence. It further explored environmental attributes that explained the differences in neighborhood preferences of older versus middle-age and urban versus rural home buyers. Multivariate logistic regressions showed that race/ethnicity, adiposity, personal attitudes, regional home locations, and residential experiences explained the odds of considering walkability and safety in residential selection. Environmental characteristics such as land uses, destinations, and perceived safety were differently valued among the subgroups of home buyers. Further efforts are needed to better understand diverse residential demands within the larger context of the community environment and demographic shift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the international competition for talent, local and national policy makers are keen to better understand the location choices of highly skilled workers in order to design more effective policies geared towards the group's attraction and retention. In this study, we explain whether and to what extent the local living environment, in particular characteristics at the neighbourhood and urban regional level, affect the residential choices of foreign highly skilled workers. We make use of register data from Statistics Netherlands on the residential locations of all of these migrants who entered the Netherlands between 2000 and 2009. We combine this dataset with data on relevant characteristics at the neighbourhood level as well as with relevant amenities and labour market characteristics at the regional level. We estimate a negative binomial regression model to test which characteristics of neighbourhoods and urban regions are associated with high inflows of foreign highly skilled workers at the neighbourhood level. We find that, besides labour market characteristics, the characteristics of the local environment do matter for location choices of foreign highly skilled workers in the Netherlands. This group tends to settle in higher income, inner city neighbourhoods that offer a high degree of urban vibe. Furthermore, residential choices differ between single and multi-person households and change with duration of stay in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The desirability of sustainable residential choices, understood as satisfaction-with and aspiration-for, is a concern for policy-makers. Even though sustainable residential choices encompass both the built environment and the associated behaviors, it is mostly studied of its material components. This study emphasizes the behavioral component by examining the extent to which working households are satisfied with their residential choices sustainable to different degrees and aspire to make similar or different choices in their residential projects. This study used the database «Demain Quebec» that is an Internet quantitative cross-sectional survey of residents of the Quebec City metro area detailing their household, residence and mobility characteristics. 740 households with at least one full-time worker were analyzed. The results showed that it is possible to have residential choices that are at once sustainable and desirable. However, households who had made such choices were less satisfied with the trees and greenery, quietness, and ambiance, security and characteristics of neighbors. Also, sources of dissatisfaction are not necessarily associated with moving intentions. The main reasons for moving are often associated with the desire to become a homeowner or having access to a larger residence. On their residential choice decisions, households regard mostly the environmental features which are in accordance with their needs and goals at a certain stage in their life and also with their dominant activities. Though the built environment plays an essential role in the achievement of desirable sustainable choices, the households are the protagonist in enhancing sustainable prosperity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper examines the relationship between the February 2012 New York City teacher quality data release, the racial and ethnic composition of elementary and middle public schools and their neighborhoods, and housing prices. A unique dataset that links teacher quality to school characteristics, housing prices and characteristics, and Census data is used to estimate a difference-in-difference model to estimate the impact of the teacher quality release on housing prices. These results are then used to estimate the impact of the data release on residential and school demographics. The results in this study provide the first evidence of the effects of teacher quality measures on the housing market in New York City and the demographic shifts in residential and school mobility patterns as a result. The data suggests that the housing market responds significantly to the new information that was provided by the release of the teacher quality information, even when taking into consideration the school grades and other variables that may influence teacher quality measures. The magnitude of how much housing prices increase is greatly impacted by certain neighborhood demographics and the results show that Hispanic neighborhoods with a high proportion of free and reduced price lunch students are among the neighborhoods that had the highest increase in housing prices due to the teacher quality release. Not only that, but the areas that had the highest increase in housing prices due to the teacher quality release have experienced increases in the proportion of white students and the neighborhoods are becoming more racially diverse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Households’ residential choices partially explain urban sprawl and its related issues, but the reasons for these choices are rarely analyzed through to the reality of residential facilities. To better understand these reasons, we propose to synthesize the offer of residential facilities into two antagonistic housing/environment dyads: individual housing in periurban area (T1) and collective housing in the city center or its near periphery (T2). We then confront these dyads to an alternative hypothesis, which associates the characteristics of individual habitat with those of urban centers, according to an innovative and relatively unprecedented architectural typology (T3). A photo-elicitation survey then confronts 650 respondents to these three housing/environment possibilities, and to the associated mobility practices. The survey aims to identify the determinants of residential choice (individual or collective housing, central or periurban spaces), to define the cognitive dimension expressed for each of these components, to identify links between the socio-professional characteristics of individuals, their housing preferences and their current mobility practices, and to evaluate the housing alternatives in terms of built typologies and geographical location. The results confirm the hypothesis that residential demand is mainly focused on individual housing in town centers or in their near periphery (T3). They invite to enlarge the classical analysis of urban spaces, by explicitly integrating a typo-morphology of built-up areas and mobility as a determinant of residential choice.

This paper aims to examine gentrifiers’ motivations behind their residential choice in newly built housing estates in the city center and what kind of capital they aspire to gain through such decisions, specifically in the context of Beijing, China, a non-Western metropolis undergoing market transition. Based on household surveys of residents in a new-build gentrified neighborhood in Xuanwumen, Beijing, a new finding has been uncovered that the main reason for gentrifiers’ residential choice in Beijing is to increase and reproduce their spatial capital and institutionalized cultural capital, which differs from the facts in Western metropolitan areas. In particular, gentrifiers in newly built housing estates highlight the importance of factors relating to proximity, accessibility and convenience of life, irrespective of their household type. These factors help to reconcile the trade-off between a professional career and daily life in a wide time-space zone, acquiring a high capacity to be mobile and thus increasing their spatial capital. Moreover, family households, the biggest grouping in this study, highly value education and schooling, which will enable them to increase and reproduce their institutionalized cultural capital. In doing so, these gentrifiers can consolidate and increase their high social status and at the same time distinguish themselves from other groups in Beijing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]