Residential Choice Research Articles

Do Consumers Care about the Energy Efficiency of Buildings? Understanding Residential Choice Based on Energy Performance Certificates

Disclosing the energy performance information for buildings has been expected to become an important policy for controlling energy demand and reducing CO2 emissions, but its effectiveness remains controversial. This study investigates the effect of energy performance information on consumer residential choice by using a discrete choice experiment in South Korea. The estimation results confirmed that the energy efficiency level of the given housing has a significant effect on consumer residential choice when the related information is actually delivered. Combined with evidence from the simulation study, we suggest that obligating the owners to provide energy performance information to potential buyers/tenants would be necessary for enhancing the use of the information during the consumer decision-making process. Additionally, the simulation result implies that the effectiveness of the policy can be underestimated by the price premium related to energy efficiency. Therefore, we suggest that the government should control the price premium for high-efficiency buildings at the early stage so that the policy related to disclosing the energy performance can be on track.

Hospital admissions and place of death of residents of care homes receiving specialist healthcare services: Protocol for a systematic review.

To synthesize the evidence relating to the ability of specialist care home support services to prevent the hospital admission of older care home residents, including hospital admission at the end-of-life. Systematic review and narrative synthesis. Ten electronic databases will be searched from 2010 - 31 December 2018 using predetermined search terms. All studies of specialist healthcare services to meet care home residents' physical healthcare needs which provide outcome data on hospital admission or place of death compared with usual care will be included. Two reviewers will independently assess studies' eligibility and methodological quality using the Effective Public Health Practice Project Quality Assessment Tool. Data will be extracted by one reviewer and checked by a second according to predetermined categories. Data will be synthesized in evidence tables and narrative. Funder: National Institute for Health Research School for Social Care Research, November 2016. Care of older people in care home settings is a key aspect of nursing nationally and internationally. This review will increase understanding of the extent to which different models of specialist healthcare support for care homes are associated with key resident outcomes. Standard healthcare support for care home residents is often inadequate, resulting in avoidable hospital admissions and lack of resident choice as to place of death. Although a range of specialist healthcare services are emerging, little is known about their relative effectiveness. This paper marshalls evidence of relevance to commissioners investing in healthcare provision to care homes to meet NHS targets.

Residential self-selection in the built environment-travel behavior connection: Whose self-selection?

Residential self-selection has been acknowledged as a key issue underlining the link between the built environment and travel behavior. Existing studies often implicitly assume that residential choice is a decision of an individual and the influence of intra-household interactions is not considered. In reality, residential choice is a decision often made at the household-level involving more than one household members. Similarly, car ownership is usually a household-level decision incorporating views of different household members. In both cases, the travel related attitudes of more than one household members may play a role in the decision making. In other words, there is an issue concerning residential self-selection (similarly car ownership self-selection): whose self-selection? This paper makes an attempt to probe into this question by examining the self-selection issues concerning residential location choice and car ownership decision from the perspective of households, by incorporating the travel attitudes and travel behaviors of two household heads into an integrated self-selection framework. Data are derived from a household sample survey involving two-day activity-travel diaries conducted in 2016 in Beijing, China. Multivariate modeling results show that household members play different roles in household decisions with travel implications: in general husbands’ travel attitudes have relatively more influence in residential choice and car ownership decision than wives’. Nevertheless, wives’ travel attitudes have more power than husbands’ in explaining the commuting distances of both husbands and wives. Some distinct features of the residential and car ownership self-selections in the Chinese context are also identified and discussed in this paper.

Nudging people towards more sustainable residential choice decisions: an intervention based on focalism and visualization

There have been numerous behavior change studies focused on sustainable travel mode choices. In this study we focused on the residential choices that in turn influence travel habits. We designed and implemented two interventions, which we term the “focalism” and “visualization” interventions, based on literature in psychological economics. The focalism intervention was motivated by literature that suggests people make suboptimal choices when looking for a new home. While focus is given to immediately tangible features like the quality of the house, important but less tangible factors like access to transportation are relatively overlooked. The visualization intervention was based on literature showing that providing information at decision points when long-ingrained habits are vulnerable to change, such as at the time of a residential move, can be influential on choices. We designed both interventions to be interactive so that the intervention was “discovered” by respondents rather than presented directly as information. With the focalism intervention, we pointed out differences in how respondents ranked their search priorities for new housing and neighborhoods, versus how they ranked what they reported makes them happy. With the visualization intervention, we explained to respondents that moving is an opportunity to make changes in one’s life, and we prompted them to think through what they desired to change. We evaluated the influence of these interventions on residential housing decisions by surveying respondents about their priorities in residential search before and after the interventions, and by collecting information about their housing, neighborhoods, travel patterns, and reported well-being. The surveys were web-based, with one survey conducted before respondents moved and a second survey conducted afterward. Participants were randomly assigned to a focalism treatment group, a visualization treatment group, or a control group. 380 respondents answered the pre-move survey, and 184 of these answered the post-move survey. In the pre-move survey, we found that both the focalism and visualization interventions resulted in a significant increase in the fraction of people who planned to travel more sustainably relative to the control group. More importantly, we found that after the post-move survey, respondents in the focalism group, but not the visualization group, significantly reduced their travel time to work and increased their cycling, walking, carpooling, carsharing and transit use in comparison to the control group. Meanwhile, those in the visualization treatment group had significantly higher reported well-being after the move; those in the focalism treatment group also improved their stated well-being, though less significantly; and there was no change in the control group. These results suggest that it might be relatively easy to nudge residential choices towards both more sustainable travel and greater well-being.

Towards happy and healthy travellers: A research agenda

Well-being and health are two important elements contributing to people's quality of life. Although well-being and health have been analysed for many decades, an increased attention since the beginning of this century can be noticed, partly due to new ways of measuring people's subjective well-being and the rapid growth of obesity and obesity-related diseases. Over the past ten years studies have started analysing the link between travel and well-being, mainly focussing on aspects explaining people's satisfaction with travel. However, the role of travel satisfaction has not yet been fully explored, as it can also impact people's travel attitudes, travel behaviour and residential location choice. Previous studies on travel and health have mainly focussed on traffic safety, air pollution and recently also on physical activity. These studies have indicated that physical activity − and as a result overall health levels − are affected by people's residential neighbourhood and travel behaviour (e.g., mode choice). However, a clear picture on how physical activity, the built environment, attitudes and travel behaviour are linked to each other is missing. Furthermore, it is also possible that physical activity obtained by travel (e.g., by walking or cycling) can affect people's well-being and satisfaction with travel. In this paper, a research agenda aiming at a better understanding of the links between well-being, health and travel behaviour is presented. Three objectives can be distinguished: (i) the role of travel satisfaction in explaining travel behaviour, travel attitudes and residential location (choice), (ii) creating new insights into the link between travel and health, and (iii) linking well-being and health in a travel-behaviour context.

Changing travel behaviour and attitudes following a residential relocation

A considerable amount of studies have indicated that people to some extent select themselves in specific neighbourhoods allowing them to travel in their desired way. Although a lot of studies analysed the degree to which travel preferences affect the residential location choice, few studies looked at the effect of a residential relocation on people's travel behaviour and attitudes. A new residential context has the potential to disrupt previous travel choices and could potentially change people's attitudes. This study – using 1539 recently relocated residents in the city of Ghent (Belgium) – analyses self-reported changes in mode frequency and travel attitudes after a relocation, and uses a cohort approach to look at mode frequency and attitudes at different times after the relocation took place. Results suggest that (i) travel attitudes often influence the residential location choice, and (ii) both travel attitudes and travel mode choice change after a relocation, albeit in different ways depending on the current (urban versus suburban) and previous residential neighbourhood (more/equally/less urbanised). This study also suggests that a (possible) dissonance between travel attitudes and the residential neighbourhood is partly a temporal situation, as attitudes can gradually change in accordance with the new residential environment.

Scholarly Research Projects Benefit Medical Students' Research Productivity and Residency Choice: Outcomes From the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Many medical schools require scholarly research projects. However, outcomes data from these initiatives are scarce. The authors studied the impact of the Scholarly Research Project (SRP), a four-year longitudinal requirement for all students at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (UPSOM), on research productivity and residency match. The authors conducted a longitudinal study of non-dual-degree UPSOM graduates in 2006 (n = 121, non-SRP participants) versus 2008 (n = 118), 2010 (n = 106), and 2012 (n = 132), all SRP participants. The authors used PubMed for publication data, National Resident Matching Program for residency match results, and Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research for National Institutes of Health funding rank for residency-affiliated academic institutions. Research productivity of students increased for those completing the SRP, measured as a greater proportion of students with publications (27.3% in 2006 vs. 45.8% in 2008, 55.7% in 2010, and 54.5% in 2012; P < .001) and first-authorship (9.9% in 2006 vs. 26.3% in 2008, 33.0% in 2010, and 35.6% in 2012; P < .001). Across years, there was a significantly greater proportion of students with peer-reviewed publications matched in higher-ranked residency programs (57.0% with publications in the top 10%, 52.7% in the top 10%-25%, 32.4% in the top 25%-50%, 41.2% in the bottom 50%, and 45.2% in unranked programs; P = .018). Longitudinal research experiences for medical students may be one effective tool in fostering student publications and interest in extending training in a research-focused medical center.

Migration as an opportunity to register changing partisan loyalty in the United States

AbstractWe explore the connection between residential migration choices and political party identification by movers who change their political party registration. We find that an impressive number of migrants choose neighbourhoods that favor their new party of registration. The association between the party change of the migrant and the balance of local partisanship in their new neighborhood cannot be accounted for by a process of neighbourhood socialisation because the move is too recent for socialisation pressures to have operated. It is more likely that the migrant's political transition occurred well before the relocation and shaped the destination search. Relocation offered an opportunity to mark a previously transformed partisan preference on the voter rolls. In this sense, partisan identification is stable, but observing any large subset of migrants may make it appear unhinged, as this group collectively takes its opportunity to officially disclose their change in political party loyalty when they have a chance to relocate and must reregister.

Relationship between Citation-Based Scholarly Activity of United States Radiation Oncology Residents and Subsequent Choice of Academic versus Private Practice Career

Citation-based scholarly activity of physicians has become increasingly evaluated via the Hirsch index (h-index), which assesses the number of manuscripts (h) that have been cited at least h times. However, such evaluation involving Radiation Oncology residents is lacking in the peer-reviewed literature. The objective of this study was to assess h-index data and its association with resident choice of academic versus private practice career. A combination of internet searches, telephone interviews, and the 2015 Association of Residents in Radiation Oncology (ARRO) directory was used to compile a list of 2016 radiation oncology resident graduates (163 residents from 76 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-certified programs) and their post-residency career choice (academic versus private practice) as previously described (McClelland et al., Practical Radiation Oncology 2017). The Scopus bibliometric citation database was then searched to collect h-index data for each resident. Demographics included in analyses were gender and PhD degree status. The mean h-index score for all resident graduates was 4.15. Residents with a PhD had significantly higher h-index scores (6.75 versus 3.42; p<0.01), while there was no statistically significant difference in h-index scores between male and female residents (4.38 versus 3.36; p=0.14). With regard to career choice, residents choosing academic careers had higher h-index scores than those choosing private practice (5.41 versus 2.96; p<0.01). There was no significant difference in mean h-index scores between male and female residents regardless of private practice (3.15 versus 2.19; p=0.25) or academic (5.80 versus 4.30; p=0.13) career choice. Twenty-one of the 23 residents (91.3%) with an h-index of zero went into private practice, while 13 of the 18 residents (72.2%) with an h-index of at least 10 went into academics. Of the 17 residents with an h-index of one, 12 (70.6%) went into private practice. The average radiation oncology resident graduate has published a minimum of four manuscripts cited at least four times. Graduates with a PhD are significantly more likely to have higher h-index scores, as are residents who choose academic over private practice careers. Eighty-three percent of residents with an h-index score less than two chose private practice careers. There is no significant difference in h-index score between male and female residents regardless of career choice. These results offer up-to-date benchmarks for evaluating radiation oncology resident productivity and have potential utility in predicting career choices post-residency.

Inequality, educational choice, and public school quality in income‐mixing communities

AbstractWhy, in some urban communities, do rich and poor households cohabit while, in others, we observe sorting by income? Does income inequality impact residential choices and community segregation? To answer these questions, I develop a two‐community general equilibrium framework of school quality, residential choice, and tax decision with probabilistic voting. The model predicts that an equilibrium with income mixing in which households segregate across public schools and low‐ and high‐income households choose to live in the same community might emerge in highly unequal societies. In this particular equilibrium, income‐mixing communities perform lower public school quality than communities populated by middle‐income households. The effect of inequality on the quality of public schooling in the income‐mixing community is ambiguous and depends on the relative endowments of private goods, such as housing, in the two communities.

Neighbors and networks: The role of social interactions on the residential choices of housing choice voucher holders

The housing choice voucher program aims to reduce housing cost burdens as well as to enable recipients to move to a broader diversity of neighborhoods. Prior evidence shows voucher recipients still end up in neighborhoods with relatively high poverty rates and low performing schools. These constrained neighborhood choices can in part be attributed to landlord discrimination and the geographic concentration of units that rent below voucher caps. In this paper, we consider an additional explanation: the role of information and social influence in determining the effective set of potential housing choices. Using a strategy based on proximity of households in origin census tracts, we find evidence consistent with social influence effects being present in the neighborhood choices of voucher holders. Pairs of households living within the same or adjacent buildings are significantly more likely to relocate to the same neighborhood as each other than are more distant households within the same origin neighborhood. Further, we show that voucher holders who move to the same neighborhood as a nearby voucher holder end up on average in neighborhoods that have higher poverty rates, lower levels of labor market engagement, and higher exposure to environmental hazards—in both absolute terms and relative to other voucher holders from their same origin tract.

Are sustainable residential choice also desirable? A study of household satisfaction and aspirations with regard to current and future residential location

The desirability of sustainable residential choices, understood as satisfaction-with and aspiration-for, is a concern for policy-makers. Even though sustainable residential choices encompass both the built environment and the associated behaviors, it is mostly studied of its material components. This study emphasizes the behavioral component by examining the extent to which working households are satisfied with their residential choices sustainable to different degrees and aspire to make similar or different choices in their residential projects. This study used the database «Demain Quebec» that is an Internet quantitative cross-sectional survey of residents of the Quebec City metro area detailing their household, residence and mobility characteristics. 740 households with at least one full-time worker were analyzed. The results showed that it is possible to have residential choices that are at once sustainable and desirable. However, households who had made such choices were less satisfied with the trees and greenery, quietness, and ambiance, security and characteristics of neighbors. Also, sources of dissatisfaction are not necessarily associated with moving intentions. The main reasons for moving are often associated with the desire to become a homeowner or having access to a larger residence. On their residential choice decisions, households regard mostly the environmental features which are in accordance with their needs and goals at a certain stage in their life and also with their dominant activities. Though the built environment plays an essential role in the achievement of desirable sustainable choices, the households are the protagonist in enhancing sustainable prosperity.

Expatriates and the city: The spatialities of the high-skilled migrants’ transnational living in Moscow

The paper focuses on residential strategies and patterns of highly skilled migrants from Western countries in Moscow. During recent decades, transnational migration of highly skilled workers has grown and diversified; as a consequence, residential practices and socio-spatial behaviour of this kind of migrants (the so-called 'expatriates') in the destination city diversified as well. The spatial impact of highly skilled migrants on the destination city, however, is still rather underexplored (e.g., the analysis is limited to the upper strata of expatriates). The present paper fills this gap by focusing on the 'middling' group of highly skilled transnational migrants in Moscow. The research questions the view that expatriates tend towards socio-spatial clustering and homogenization, which are both commonly associated with the rise of transnational residential compounds. We argue that, on the contrary, the housing pattern of expatriates in Moscow has a multi-faceted spatial structure and is embedded in a heterolocal model of socio-spatial behaviour. The pulling factors of expatriate residential choices are similar to those choices of local people, while some elements—typically used to explain expatriate spatial preferences (e.g., localization of international schools or jobs)—are inconsequential. This dispersed and variegated settlement pattern seems to be linked to the 'middling' and increasingly heterogeneous nature of transnational migration and the cultural differences determining the host-home context divide.

Modeling co-dependent choice of workplace, residence and commuting mode using an error component mixed logit model

This paper develops an error component mixed logit model to analyze the multi-dimensional residential, work and transportation mode choice. It expanse previous studies based on life-trajectory theory which predominantly only considered two life domains. In contributing to this emerging field of research, we design an integrated pivoted stated choice experiment considering the multi-dimensional choice of job, residence and transportation mode for the journey to work. The results of the estimated error component mixed logit model with panel effects indicate that most selected attributes of the residential environment, job profile and transportation mode are significantly related to individual differences in multidimensional choices. Moreover, the estimation of various sources of unobserved heterogeneity signals significant unobserved heterogeneity in selected taste parameters, and choice dependent heteroscedasticity in error component variance.

Role of Neighborhood Socio-Cultural &amp; Religious Homogeneity in Housing Choice at Dimapur Town, India

Background and statement of the problem: Apart from housing attributes like structural, locational and neighborhood attributes, choice for residential house is also influenced by socio-economic conditions such as income, education, employment as well as community or ethnicity of people and their neighbors. Choice for homogenous community or religion in the neighborhood would be due to convenience of cooperation, adjustment, verbal communication, family security and cultural affinity. Research methodology and data: This paper examines the impact of homogeneity of neighbors' religion and community on the residential housing choice in Dimapur town of Nagaland state, India. Chi-square test and independent sample T-test have been computed to check whether homogeneity of culture and religion significantly affect the demand for housing and its price or not. Cohen's d value has also been estimated to measure their effects. Truncated Regression Techniques have been used to examine the overall impact of religion or community of neighbor on the choice and house price (rent) paid by the individuals. Research findings: Across religious groups on an average Muslims have the lowest average family income in the study area and they pay the lowest average monthly rent. On the other hand, community wise Naga's earn the maximum and also pay relatively higher rent than any other community. Family income, family size and duration of stay are found to have significantly positive impacts on rent. Results of Chi-square test and independent sample T-test reveal that homogeneity of neighbors' religion does not significantly affect choice of location and willingness to pay of the sample respondents but homogeneity of neighbors' community with that of respondent's own community significantly influence choice of location and they are willing to pay even higher price (rent) for living near the people of same community. Policy implications: Despite cosmopolitan character of the town, the strong preference of residents to reside among the people belonging to their own community and higher willingness to pay would be due to security, convenience and psychological attachment. Differences in capability and willingness to pay have important policy implications for the construction of house and resource allocation. Thus, government may ensure security and take steps to remove cultural affinity in order to address this differential rent.

How Vehicle Access Enables Low-Income Households to Live in Better Neighborhoods

ABSTRACTTransportation influences residential location choices generally, but low-income households often face unique constraints because of a lack of access to automobiles. This article examines how vehicle access influences the type of neighborhoods in which low-income households are able to secure housing following a move to a new neighborhood. We rely on data from the Moving to Opportunity program to estimate locational attainment models, including a wide range of variables capturing various dimensions of neighborhood opportunity. Our findings suggest that auto access enables low-income households to secure housing in neighborhoods that exhibit a wide range of positive neighborhood attributes, including lower poverty rates, lower housing vacancy rates, higher median household income, higher labor-force participation, and higher adult high school graduation rates.

Military veteran residential location and risk for Lyme disease

Some research has shown that Lyme disease cases among U.S. military veterans have increased since the early 2000s. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether high concentrations of military veterans live in areas where Lyme disease is hyper-endemic. Lyme disease case-report data for 2015 were retrieved at the county-level from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Veteran population density at the county level was determined using data from the U.S. Census. County control variables, such as weather patterns, forestation, and socioeconomic conditions were retrieved from various sources. Multiple linear regression was used to examine associations between variables. After controlling for county-level environmental and social conditions, results showed that military veteran population density was positively associated with Lyme disease incidence rates. Military veterans, due to their choice of geographic residence and recreation, may be a population at risk for developing Lyme disease.

Residential location of people with chronic spinal cord injury: the importance of local health care infrastructure

BackgroundPeople with spinal cord injury (SCI) suffer from complex secondary health conditions and rely on specialized health care services, which are often centralized and difficult to reach for individuals living in remote areas. As a consequence, they might move to regions where they expect better access to care. The aims of this study were: 1) to identify regions where people with SCI live compared with the general population, 2) to examine whether their choice of residence is related to the availability of local health care infrastructure, and 3) to ascertain determinants of their consideration to change residence when aging.MethodsThis study used information from a nationwide Swiss SCI cohort and inpatient hospital discharge data. To detect clusters in the distribution of people with chronic SCI in Switzerland, a spatial cluster detection test was conducted using the normative population of a region as offset. To identify associations between the residential location of people with SCI and infrastructure variables, a negative binomial model was set up at a regional level with the frequency of people with SCI as outcome, geographical indicators as explanatory variables, and the normative population as offset. Determinants of the consideration to change residence when aging were investigated using logistic regression models.ResultsPeople with SCI were not living equally distributed among the normative population, but clustered in specific areas. They were more likely than the general population to reside close to specialized SCI centers, in areas with a high density of outpatient physicians, and in urban regions. People with SCI living in rural areas were more likely to consider relocating when aging than those living in urban areas. However, only a few people with SCI considered moving closer to specialized centers when such a move required crossing language barriers.ConclusionsGood access to appropriate health care services and amenities of daily life seems to play such an important role in the lives of people with SCI that they are willing to choose their residential location based on local availability of appropriate health care services.

A mixed logit model analysis of residential choices of the young-elderly in the Montreal metropolitan area

The residential choices of seniors are an important issue to be considered in both social sciences and in urban planning. In this study, we aimed to analyze how the young-elderly in the Montreal metropolitan area deal with the duality opposing a dwelling's characteristics with those of the neighborhood in their residential choices. Therefore, those who move need to make choices within the constraints of both dwelling and neighborhood characteristics. We employed a statistical approach combining both dwelling and neighborhood characteristics from the 2011 National Household Survey (2011 NHS) and geospatial data, first in separate models and then in a joint model. Our results revealed that the general characteristics of an ideal home of retirees are 3 to 4 rooms, a high-rise building, and a low-density neighborhood. We noted that the geographical location of the previous dwelling is an important determinant of the geographical location of the new one, suggesting a strong territorial attachment among the young-elderly. By stratifying the model with the income quintile, we noted that choices varied widely according to the socioeconomic profile. Thus, for the lower-class of young-elderly, housing costs are a predominant factor, while condos are the preferred housing tenure of the upper class, who also sought to live in a wealthy neighborhood. This segregation dynamic may lead to territorial segmentation, where the upper class seeks to live apart from the rest of the population.

The Impact of Step 1 Scores on Medical Students’ Residency Specialty Choice

Various factors have been found to affect medical students’ choice of residency specialty, but there is little quantitative evidence describing students’ perception of the impact of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 score. We sought to assess whether students at our institution self-reported changes in their specialty choices based on Step 1 score, and to investigate the relationship between students’ scores and their ultimate match fields. Medical students taking the USMLE Step 1 exam in 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2015 were surveyed after they received their scores regarding whether their residency specialty choices had changed. National Residency Match Program (NRMP) data was paired to these students’ Step 1 scores to stratify the students by their eventual matched specialty. A total of 472 students responded to the survey (60% response rate), of which 376 (80% of respondents) had matched NRMP data, between 2011 and 2015. 27.5% of respondents reported that their Step 1 scores influenced a change in residency specialty choice. Students in the upper and lower third of Step 1 scores were more likely to change their choice than those in the middle third (p = 0.03). The majority of students report that Step 1 scores do not affect their specialty choices at the time they receive their scores. However, students in the upper and lower third of Step 1 scores are more likely to change their residency choice.