“Phasic” metropolitan settlers: a phase-based model for the distribution of households in US metropolitan regions

Abstract

In this article, we develop a model for explaining spatial patterns in the distribution of households across metropolitan regions in the United States. First, we use housing consumption and residential mobility theories to construct a hypothetical probability distribution function for the consumption of housing services across three phases of household life span. We then hypothesize a second probability distribution function for the offering of housing services based on the distance from city center(s) at the metropolitan scale. Intersecting the two hypothetical probability functions, we develop a phase-based model for the distribution of households in US metropolitan regions. We argue that phase one households (young adults) are more likely to reside in central city locations, whereas phase two and three households are more likely to select suburban locations, due to their respective housing consumption behaviors. We provide empirical validation of our theoretical model with the data from the 2010 US Census for 35 large metropolitan regions.

Household Structure and Suburbia Residence in U.S. Metropolitan Areas: Evidence from the American Housing Survey

“…In other words, this perspective uses life-cycle changes and life course approaches to understand why household structures play a role in residential attainment. Households move due to changing housing needs created by different family composition throughout the life cycle [37,38]. …”

A Reproducible Framework for Visualizing Demographic Distance Profiles in US Metropolitan Areas

“…Notable examples include the work of Estiri et al (2015) and Estiri and Krause (2016), whose papers examine the relationships between residential location within metropolitan areas and the life course. In both papers, they find that younger households are more likely to reside near to the urban core, whereas older households are more prevalent on the fringes.…”

Evaluating the Age-Energy Consumption Profile in Residential Buildings

“…Previous research has shown that older [5,14,28,9,10,18], larger [19,29,12,9], detached housing units [12,18,16,7,28,3] consume more energy than newer, smaller, multifamily housing units. These physical factors, however, work in tandem with households' sociodemographic characteristics [8,9,11].…”

“…Like most other sociodemographic determinants of energy consumption, the effects of income and age on energy consumption are intertwined with other factors such as housing characteristics [19,30,26,1,9,11]. The elderly show different attitudes in the use of appliances and housing choices (e.g., they may live in old owned homes) than the younger households, and therefore their energy consumption is different [43].…”