Long-term growth of small towns in Israel: Does location matter?

Abstract

The growth of small towns in Israel differs by location. Settlement pattern in a region is an important determinant: Isolated towns perform worse than those surrounded by other urban localities. The rates of growth of peripheral and centrally located towns converge in unfavourable economic years and diverge when the overall economic situation improves. This may be due to the interplay of two factors: the availability of employment and housing costs. In favourable economic years, migrants from peripheral towns move to central localities, attracted by employment opportunities. Concurrently, during periods of economic slow-down, when employment opportunities shrink, migrants may refrain from costly long-distance moves; some may even move to peripheral localities to minimize housing and other costs. The analysis covers 29 urban localities, most of which were established as new ‘development towns’ (DTs) in the late 1950s-early 1970s. The study focuses on three distinctive groups of development indicators – employment, population wealth, and migration, – and covers the period between 1970 and 1996. The findings lend support to the cluster-based strategy of regional development, according to which both the functionality and the growth potential of a small town may be enhanced by its location within a cluster of towns, situated within commuting distances from each other. Copyright Springer-Verlag 2004O18, O21, R11, R58,

What makes people stay in or leave shrinking cities? An empirical study from Portugal

“…Bonaiuto et al (2006) argue that a combination of spatial aspects (like aesthetics, accessibility and green areas), human aspects (including social relations), and functional aspects (such as welfare, and recreational, commercial and transportation facilities) can influence migration decisions by affecting the perceived environmental quality of urban areas. Amenities such as educational institutions (Ferguson et al, 2007;Brunner et al, 2012), hospitals Portnov & Pearlmutter, 1999) and transport accessibility (Garmendia et al, 2008;Royuela et al, 2010), as well as a city's location (Portnov & Pearlmutter, 1999;Portnov, 2004), have been shown to be determinants of people's decisions to stay in or leave a city. If the presence of certain types of amenities constitutes a way of bringing new inhabitants into the city, the existence of other amenities related to a lack of safety or to physical and/or social disorder constitutes a cause of individuals to move away (Blasius & Friedrichs, 2007;Elo et al, 2009).…”

Does City Location Determine Urban Population Growth? The Case of Small and Medium Cities in Korea

“…2007; Royuela et al . 2010; Scott 2010), and job opportunity or unemployment (Portnov & Pearlmutter 1999; Lutz 2001; Portnov 2004; Royuela et al . 2010; Scott 2010).…”

“…2007; Partridge et al . 2007), and the amount of new housing construction (Portnov & Pearlmutter 1999; Gans 2000; Portnov 2004). Generally, cities with more new houses and with more houses of a type that well reflects housing needs of the society show the sign of urban growth.…”

Urban Growth in Nepal: Does Location Matter?

“…The list of variables and the resulting model are reported in Table 4. 6 The variables in the analysis-distance to major highways, telephone proliferation, per capita incomes-had been shown to affect population growth (see inter alia Henderson, 1974;Allen and Sanglier, 1981;Clark, 1982;Sharma, 1989;Glaeser et al, 1992;Krugman, 1999;Portnov, 2004). In particular, we expected such growth in well-positioned municipalities and in wealthy ones (higher per capita incomes, proximity to major roads, rivers, etc.…”

“…According to this paradigm, the location of urban places (with respect to major population centres, physical infrastructures, water resources, etc.) causes development disparities, rather than simply expressing them (Portnov, 2004). In our view, if the geographical location of an urban place is unfavourable, it can neither attract economically strong residents and businesses, nor retain locally available human and economic resources.…”