Against the backdrop of demographic change, more and more attention is being paid to the decisions taken both by the elderly and by families with children when they choose to relocate elsewhere. Well-serviced, higher-density residential areas offer various advantages for the elderly; families with children, on the other hand, are generally seen as the classic agents of suburbanisation. However, even for this group there are certainly also arguments in favour of central residential locations. This article investigates the relocation activities of both groups, in particular in terms of a potential trend in the direction of re-urbanisation. To this end, the authors consider patterns of migration within city regions on the part of both the elderly and families with children; they examine the criteria which they apply in deciding where to live, and the types of residential areas they select. The research questions are investigated in a comparative approach, focusing on two differently structured urban regions.The Bergisches Land is an example of a "shrinking" urban region; the Bonn region, by contrast, is fl ourishing. The study is based on four modules: a migration-fl ow analysis, which draws on offi cial statistics; a standardised questionnaire sent out by post; guided interviews with respondents who have completed relocation; and a highly localised classifi cation of spatial types. Analysis shows that the elderly account for only a small share of migration activity within city regions. They have ties of many kinds which stand in the way of relocation. Elderly people also have high and quite complex demands with regard to their future address. Although some of these demands may be met particularly by higher-density locations, it is not possible to detect any marked tendency in favour of urban neighbourhoods. However, the low migration rates which are found in this demographic group represent potential for the future which could well be mobilised if the right kind of accommodation were to be made available. Families with children account for a much more sizeable slice of migration activity within city regions. In respect of the criteria affecting the choice of location, this group is more heterogeneous. In the case of families
In the last two decades, German major cities have shown an impressive comeback as places to live and work. Using the case of Germany’s 33 largest cities in terms of population and employment and their functional hinterland, this study identifies cities characterised by above-average growth processes(“boom”) and how this “boom” effects the cities’ hinterlands. A distinction of these “spillover effects” is made between “slop over effects” in the sense of suburbanisation into the closer hinterland and “enrichment effects” in the sense of regionalurbanisation of the wider hinterland. The “spillover effects” are analysed using population and employment dynamics in the cores and the first and second ring of the hinterland. While population development continues to move into the hinterland,employment growth in the surrounding region is orientated towards existing centres and transportation axes. Theories of regional urbanisation developed in other geographicalcontexts, especially in North America, thus can only be transferred to a limited extent to the German urban context with its historically grown small-scale polycentric structure.
For some time now, there has been a lively debate about reurbanisation in Germany with regard to trends in spatial development. At the same time, the consequences of spatially imbalanced development can be observed in many regions. In large metropolitan areas in particular, the renewed appeal of cities has made living space scarce and expensive. There is extensive investment in residential construction and infrastructure, yet the first signs of a further shift in the trend are starting to emerge. It is against this background that this paper investigates migratory movements in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, covering a period of more than four decades. The resulting change in the distance between place of residence and the nearest major centre is calculated for each case of migration in the time period under investigation. By aggregating the individual values, an indicator is generated that can be used to identify different phases of spatial concentration and deconcentration. The results remind us that for a long time the predominant forces in migratory movements were centrifugal. This makes the transition to the spatial concentration phase that took place in the past decade, and that can be precisely traced from the values obtained, all the more striking. In the final years of the period under investigation, the results are significantly influenced by the handling of the publicly-directed migration of refugees and asylum-seekers within the state. If municipalities with admission facilities for these groups that exhibit anomalous migration data are excluded from the analysis, deconcentration processes appear in fact to be gaining the upper hand again in North Rhine-Westphalia. Renewed momentum in residential suburbanisation in the areas surrounding the major centres is behind this current development. Deceleration of the migratory losses from more peripheral municipalities can also be observed, however.
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