Theorising Residential Relocations and Their Outcomes

Abstract

When relocating, individuals shift the centre of their action spaces to a new residential location for a considerable duration of time (Boyle, Halfacree and Robinson 1998: 34). Primarily, this raises two questions. Why do individuals relocate? What are the outcomes of these relocations? Outcomes of relocations are changes in the quality of the present compared to the last residential location. I define the quality of a location as the degree to which the location improves the chances for an individual to achieve physical wellbeing and social approval. Individuals living in low-quality locations will fare worse regarding these goals compared to individuals in high-quality locations on average, because they live in too small and unhealthy dwellings, in unsafe and polluted neighbourhoods and in economically stagnating regions. The quality of a location depends on its features. I use ‘features’ to refer to objectively observable characteristics of a location, e.g. the density of buildings in a neighbourhood. Features and quality of a location are closely associated and some features will result in better quality than others.