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| Random blue door to a house Ikpro/Shutterstock.com citylab.com |
A new week and new subjects to write about.
Have you ever considered why you live where you do? There are the obvious reasons: work, school, family but could there be any other reason why you chose to live in one place over another. Like Richard Florida, the author of today's article "Why People Live Where They Do" for CityLab, yours truly firmly believes that where you choose to live is the single most important decision you make. A new report from the Centre for Cities (http://www.centreforcities.org), a London-based research and policy institute takes a detailed look at the this question.
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| House in Putney, South London, England rightmove.co.uk |
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| "The main reason why respondents chose to live in their neighbourhoods by age" YouGov, 2015 citylab.com |
No surprise, the main things that matter to people about the neighborhood they chose to live include such issues as housing costs, proximity to family and place of employment. Housing costs and nearness to friends was important to 28 percent of those surveyed, this was followed by size and type of available housing (22 percent), and closeness to their or their parents's workplace (21 percent).
Richard Florida has long argued that people make three big moves in their lives: in our mid-twenties following graduation and begin their careers (the age he says, "most likely to move"), when we start our families, and when the children leave the nest. The figure on the left is a breakdown, by age, why people chose to live where they do.
For college-age people-people 18 to 24-the main reason why they live where they do is the desire to remain in the neighborhood where they grew up. This is perfectly logical because many in this age group still live with their parents: specifically, "17 percent said they were studying in the neighborhood." This reason was followed closely by a need to stay close to friend and family (26 percent), while 17 percent wanted to stay near their job or their partner's place employment (in an aside "which makes sense, as fewer in this age group work"). However, living at home does have its downside. Beside the lack of autonomy and privacy, the young cohort cited the lack of available public transit (19 percent) and distance from restaurant and entertainment facilities were also cited by 17 percent of the 18 to 24 cohort as a negative of living at home.
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| Manchester skyline Manchester, England layoverguide.com |
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| Peace Gardens and Fountain Sheffield, England bound.com |
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| Brighton Marina Brighton, England en.wikipedia.org |
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| Swindon City Center Swindon, England swindonwebcam.com |
Now we turn our attention to why some people prefer the cities to the suburbs. The questions asked: "What kinds of people prefer these options, and at what ages? What is it about cities and suburbs that draw people in?"
Richard Florida reports, "The study notes that large cities have the biggest population growth in Britain over the past decade or so." Specifically, between 2001and 2011 large city center a little more than doubled in population (108 percent), while medium and small centers saw drastically smaller increases in population: 35 and 22 percent respectively. Students and young people were cited as the primary mechanisms that drove the growth of cities during the study period. Mr. Florida reports, "...more than half the overall growth from 2001-2011 attributable to an influx of students, and another third attributable to young grads under 35 years old. In fact by 2011, over a third of British residents in large city centers had a college degree..." While large city dwellers gravitated to high skilled professions, medium and small city residents tended to work in low skilled jobs, but typically had families and commuted to work in the suburbs.
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| "The main reasons why respondents chose to live in their neighborhoods" YouGov, 2015 city lab.com |
The chart on the left presents a summary of the key results for three cohorts of urban dwellers, suburbanites, and rural residents. Urban dwellers placed a higher priority on proximity to restaurant, entertainment and cultural venues, public transportation, shops, and living near their place of employment. Suburbanites and rural residents placed value on housing costs, the size and type of housing, safety and security, schools, green space, and closeness to friends and family. These same groups are more likely to live in the neighborhoods where they grew up and were less worried about being close to their place of employments.
Suburbanites and rural residents were also had fewer complaints about where they lived. They were more likely to cite the lack of access to public transit, distance from entertainment venues and other amenities as the things they least liked about their neighborhoods. Housing costs and distance from friends and family were also cited as the things they least liked about their neighborhoods.
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| "The least favourite things about the neighborhoods that respondents live in" YouGov, 2015 citylab.com |
The Case of London
London, England is one of the world's leading cities. In recent years, the capitol city has grown dramatically, pulling in young, talented, and skilled people (in an aside, Mr. Florida writes, "by 2011, 48 percent of its residents had college degrees..."), as well as becoming a destination for the fabulously wealthy. Simultaneously, the city "has developed a vibrant tech economy to complement its long-established finance and media clusters." All of these combined factors has created considerable pressure on the housing market.
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| "The main reasons why Londoners chose to live in their neighborhood" YouGov, 2015 citylab.com |
The chart on the left presents a breakdown of the reasons why Londoners chose to live in the neighborhoods do. The chief reason given for neighborhood selection was access to public transit. Richard Florida writes, "This makes sense, given that 90 percent of workers in central London either use public transit or walk or cycle to work and 30 percent of London's jobs are located in its core." The next factor was the cost of housing in a particular neighborhood. This was followed by closeness to friends and family, workplace proximity, and surprisingly having been raised in that neighborhood.
Changing priorities
In short, there are those of us how are life long urbanites or suburbanites, but our preferences and priorities can and do change over the course of our lives. This study demonstrates that while many young people prefer the big cities with all of the amenities it has to offer, older respondents and those with families have a different set of priorities when choosing a place to live. What this study tell us is "Ultimately we look for cities and neighborhoods that fit us best at the time." Priorities such as: access to transit, types and size of housing, housing costs, closeness to friends and family, and proximity to work are values across the board. Despite the fact that our neighborhood preferences may change over time, the things we tend value remain the same.
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