Housing circumstances and quality of life among local and immigrant population in Norwegian neighbourhoods

Ana Llopis Alvarez,Daniela Müller-Eie

doi:10.1007/s10901-021-09853-w

Ana Llopis Alvarez, Daniela Müller-Eie

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-021-09853-w

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Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between the concept of quality of life (QoL) and housing circumstances among the immigrant and local population of two neighbourhoods in Norway: Storhaug in Stavanger and Grünerløkka in Oslo. Objective data regarding housing circumstances, e.g., type of residence, dimension or overcrowding, is collected through spatial analysis and desktop-research. Inhabitants of these neighbourhoods are interviewed with the help of map-based questionnaires to collect both objective data regarding these housing circumstances as well as subjective data, e.g. reason of location and personal satisfaction with housing and QoL. The objective and subjective data is analysed geographically and statistically. This study finds that the immigrant group has less favourable housing circumstances than the local population. Circumstances such as type of residence, the reason of location and satisfaction with the residence are predictors for satisfaction with QoL between both groups. Being local or immigrant, as well as the study area, Storhaug and Grünerløkka, or the type of ownership were not significant predictors of satisfaction with QoL in this specific study. These findings provide a base for understanding the importance of housing circumstances for QoL. Due to the high percentage of the immigrant population and its projection in Norway, these investigations are expected to help practitioners identify housing features and design aspects that can impact on the overall satisfaction with QoL of both host and immigrant society.

Highlights

Quality of life, or quality of life (QoL), is a notion that has been discussed in many studies (Massam, 2002; McMahon, 2002) as a response to problems facing the urban areas, such as traffic, crime or social segregation (Myers, 1988; Young, 1999)
This study aims to identify the relationship between housing circumstances and Quality of Life of the local and immigrant populations in two Norwegian neighbourhoods
These areas have been worth of study due to their high percentage of immigrant population as well as the relevance of the migration concept when studying urban and social growth, especially in Norway

Summary

Introduction

QoL, is a notion that has been discussed in many studies (Massam, 2002; McMahon, 2002) as a response to problems facing the urban areas, such as traffic, crime or social segregation (Myers, 1988; Young, 1999). Norway performs very well in many measures of QoL in comparison to most other countries around the world, standing at the top of several indexes when referring to subjective well-being (Eurostat, 2016; Better et al, 2019; HDR, 2019). This fact positions Norway as a worldwide example in many domains for other countries. Immigration has become one of the key components of urban population growth, immigration in Norway has been the main contributory factor to population growth since the mid-2000s (Statistikkbanken, 2019c) This arrival of immigrants has played an important role in changing the size and geographical composition of Norway, where 17,7% of the population has an immigration background (Statistikkbanken, 2019c)

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