Re-urbanizing the European City: A Multivariate Analysis of Population Dynamics During Expansion and Recession Times

Abstract

After a long phase of suburbanization promoting economic decentralization and uneven expansion of urban rings, re-urbanization has been observed in an increasing number of European cities. However, a comprehensive analysis of demographic dynamics underlying spatial patterns-and factors-of re-urbanization is still lacking for the European continent. This study contributes to fill this knowledge gap by proposing a comparative analysis of population dynamics at two spatial scales ('inner cities' and 'large urban zones') in 129 European metropolitan regions under economic expansion (2000-2007) and recession (2008-2014). Nonparametric correlations, principal component analysis, and stepwise multiple regressions were used to identify different spatial patterns of population growth at continental and regional scale in Europe. The number of cities studied that showed a trend towards re-urbanization increased from 36 in 2000-2007 to 47% in 2008-2014. Positive rates of population growth in inner cities were found to be associated with high levels of disposable per capita income at the metropolitan scale. During recession, spatial differences in population growth rates were suggestive of a moderate rearrangement towards re-urbanization in northern and central

The end of urban sprawl? Internal migration across the rural‐urban continuum in Switzerland, 1966−2018

“…A second unexpected finding in the literature relates to the renewed population growth in central areas of urban agglomerations since the turn of the 21th century in a number of European countries (such as in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, etc.) (Dembski et al, 2021 ; Halbac‐Cotoara‐Zamfir et al, 2020 ; Kabisch & Haase, 2011 ; Salvati et al, 2019 ). 4 The drivers of this so‐called re‐urbanisation process are multiple, including market forces, the individuals' changing residential preferences and urban planning (Dembski et al, 2021 ; Rérat, 2012 ; Salvati et al, 2019 ).…”

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Changes of Spatiotemporal Pattern and Network Characteristic in Population Flow under COVID-19 Epidemic

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