Residential Mobility, Life Cycle Stages, Housing and the Changing Social Patterns in Reykjavik, 1874 to 1976

Reynarsson, Bjarni

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Description

Title

Residential Mobility, Life Cycle Stages, Housing and the Changing Social Patterns in Reykjavik, 1874 to 1976

Author(s)

Reynarsson, Bjarni

Issue Date

1980

Department of Study

Geography

Discipline

Geography

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

Urban and Regional Planning

Language

eng

Abstract

• The main objective of this research is to explain the complex residential mobility pattern in Reykjavik, Iceland, a medium sized city, using the life cycle model. The period under study is 1974 to 1976 and the basic research approach is ecological. The main data source is all change of address forms for the Reykjavik area in 1974. The aggregated zonal flows of all moving households are broken into life cycle groups and related subsets. The spatial patterns of these flows are analyzed and the association with the social mosaic of the city. The family life cycle model was chosen as the main theoretical base for the research, because it has been proven in numerous studies to be the single most powerful model developed to explain residential mobility. It is hoped that this research will be a contribution to residential mobility theory in at least two ways: by testing the usefulness of a modified life cycle model in explaining residential mobility outside the United States and demonstrating the importance of including non-family type households in relation to the model, and by the comprehension of the role residential movements have on changing the social-demographic patterns of cities.
• In general, the modified household life cycle model is a much better tool for explaining the complex mobility pattern in the Reykjavik area than expected. The only serious residual from the model is a low turnover rate in a new suburban apartment house area in 1974, but when the mobility rates for that area were calculated for the next four years a rapid increase in turnover was evident as expected. The turnover rate of neighborhoods is found to go in cycles based on age and type of houses.
• Other findings include the following: (1) Households in the Reykjavik area are relatively mobile even by North American standards, which can be seen from the fact that 13 percent moved within the Reykjavik area in 1974. (2) New housing is the single most important factor explaining the total mobility pattern. (3) Nonmarried households are 52 percent of all moving households and single individuals 44 percent; much higher figures than reported for North American cities. The need of including nonmarried households in a life cycle model is without question. (4) An unexpected finding from the life cycle group mobility pattern is the relative magnitude of nonmarried households 30 years old and older moving from the central city area to invest in flats in suburban areas. (5) There is an indication of increased gentrification in Reykjavik as the social status of centrally located neighborhoods is increasing, but the social status of the apartment house areas in the suburban zone is declining rapidly.
• It is obvious from this research that municipal governments in the Reykjavik area which control the building rights allocations and can have influence on the state housing loan system, can guide and control the mixture of social groups in new housing areas according to a perioi set goals. It is argued that the future research on residential mobility should be centered around two research themes: first, to explore further the mobility behavior of different types of nonmarried households, and second, to comprehend the role different agencies, both public and private, are having on the housing market filtering the residential mobility pattern.

Graduation Semester

1980

Type of Resource

text

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/67501

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