Changing locations: Central or peripheral moves of seniors?

Abstract

The increasing proportion of elderly in European populations has prompted debate about where and how they will reside. Our main hypothesis is that when moving in this phase of life the most common move would be one from a suburban location in owner-occupation to a more central location. This would be in line with the popular belief that older people, when they retire or when the children have moved out, want to take part in the culture of city living, such as concerts, theatres and museums in addition to enjoying a more convenient type of housing. This, we argue, is the assumed residential pattern during the third age and a possible part of a mobility cycle as described by Rossi (Why families move: a study in the social psychology of urban residential mobility. The Free Press, Glencoe, 1955). The aim of this study was to examine the local geographical mobility and tenure of older people. The analysis was made using a register database, Geoswede, comprising the total Swedish population. Moves of the cohorts born in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s were followed between 2001 and 2006. Using five distances to the municipal population core, a centralised mobility pattern could be observed. The two older cohorts made such moves, whereas the majority of the youngest cohort moved to peripheral destinations. From analysis of three case municipalities, it was shown that movers from owner-occupation in the cohort born in the 1940s moved within owner-occupation to a greater extent and made short distance moves. This type of knowledge will have an impact on planning issues.