Households in a disperse habitat. residence localisation strategies and characteristics. the case of the metropolitan region of Barcelona

Cristina López, Universitat de Barcelona

The choice of a home by a family is governed by the latter’s preferences, needs and possibilities. None of these elements is static and hence residential changes occur frequently. Moreover, in metropolitan regions, different kinds of homes tend to be concentrated in specific spaces, giving rise to, or reinforcing, territorial specialisation. Small homes, consisting of one or two members, predominate in urban centres and compact cities, while homes with more members tend to leave the more congested areas and to seek other locations in the peri-urban areas . This poster proposes: 1) To compare the structure and composition of homes where residential migration to low-density peri-urban settings has occurred, with those of homes in the compact city. 2) To demonstrate the characteristics of housing of families that have opted for a change of residence, moving to low-density housing developments, and to compare them with those of homes in the city centre. 3) To suggest a possible theoretical explanation of these mechanisms on the basis of the relations existing between needs-possibilities-preferences and satisfaction. In its applied dimension, the paper focuses on studying the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona (164 municipalities, 4,200,000 inhabitants and 3,236 km2). The sources of information are, on the one hand, census data, municipal and electoral registers and population movements and, on the other, data obtained from a survey carried out on a sample of 600 residential migrant households, presently living in housing estates situated in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, which means having recollected information on 1,943 people. This study is being carried out within the framework of a larger research project Mobility, Family Solidarity and Citizenship in the Metropolitan Regions which has been financed by the Ministry of Science and Technology.