Changing residential patterns in metropolitan subareas in the Netherlands during the eighties

Abstract

Metropolitan subareas and types of households are mutually related. The areas differ in terms of their site and situation. That is, the characteristics of the place itself (the site) are specific; these site characteristics include the service level or the social composition, for instance. In addition, the relative location (situation) is specific; this refers to the location relative to the city centre or other places of attraction. Therefore, each subarea offers a set of conditions. This set will be more appropriate to or attainable by some types of households than others. As a result, sorting and shifting processes are continually going on. Of course, these processes cannot be described simply in terms of choice and orientation of the households. To do so would result in some sort of congregation and produce a nicely differentiated urban mosaic. Involuntary spatial processes also occur. Sometimes constraints dominate the processes, resulting in segregation or perhaps even social polarization in the urban area. The relation between types of household and specific urban subareas implies a continuing process of voluntary or involuntary adaptation. Changing positions as far as household type is concerned and change in the physical and social urban fabric may trigger residential mobility and urban change. It should be kept in mind that the changing structure is also influenced by immobile but changing households. To explain the changing positions of households and the changing fabric of urban areas, short-term and long term shifts in (sub)areas and in society at large have to be taken into account.