Urban mental maps and housing estate preferences of council tenants

Abstract

This paper offers an exploratory examination of the urban mental maps and housing estate preferences of council tenants. The study area is the council housing market of the city of Birmingham. The data are based on an interview survey of transfer applicants on six Birmingham ‘study estates’ which provide contrasts in terms of age and location. The findings generally offer support for J.S. Adams' sectoral mental maps hypothesis, although important differences are disclosed among the familiarity spaces of tenant groups defined on the basis of the study estates. The results are also suggestive of a general sharpening of preferences for council estates located inside the home sector, with tenants expressing a net preference for older suburban housing areas. Conversely, the least popular estates are located in the inner/middle rings of the city and characterized by relatively large concentrations of New Commonwealth immigrants.