Internal migration and urban change in Poland

Is spatial mobility on the rise or in decline? An order-specific analysis of the migration of young adults in Sweden

The aim of this study is to investigate spatial mobility over time. Research on 'new mobilities' suggests increasing movement of individuals, technology, and information. By contrast, studies of internal migration report declining spatial mobility in recent decades. Using longitudinal register data from Sweden, we calculate annual order-specific migration rates to investigate the spatial mobility of young adults over the last three decades. We standardize mobility rates for educational enrolment, educational level, family status, and place of residence to determine how much changes in individuals' life domains explain changes in mobility. Young adults' migration rates increased significantly in the 1990s; although all order-specific migration rates increased, first migration rates increased the most. Changes in population composition, particularly increased enrolment in higher education, accounted for much of the elevated spatial mobility in the 1990s. The analysis supports neither ever increasing mobility nor a long-term rise in rootedness among young adults in Sweden.

Population decline in Polish and Czech cities during post-socialism? Looking behind the official statistics

The evolving debate on "urban shrinkage" mirrors an increasing interest in demographic phenomena on the part of urban scholars. This paper discusses ambiguous evidence about recent population decline in the large cities of Poland and the Czech Republic, with a particular focus on Łódz and Brno in general and their inner cities more specifically. By applying a mixed-method approach, the paper identifies indications of inner-city repopulation and socio-demographic diversification which are not yet apparent in register or census data. It is argued that there are indications of a silent transformation of traditional residential patterns and neighbourhoods in east central Europe. In the inner cities, this is reflected, amongst other things, by the presence of new households that may be called "transitory urbanites".

Investigating the effect of clustering of the urban field on sustainable population growth of centrally located and peripheral towns

In a previous study (Portnov and Erell, 1998a), an Index of Clustering was defined, which allowed an analysis of the combined effect of spatial isolation and remoteness of peripheral towns on the long-term patterns of their population growth. In the present paper, the analysis of the effect of clustering of the urban field on the patterns of population growth is extended to centrally located urban places, and the validity of this index is tested in two unevenly populated countries--Israel and Norway. In both countries, the effect of clustering of the urban field on the patterns of urban growth is twofold. In sparsely populated areas, the presence of neighboring towns appears to increase their chances of attracting potential migrants due to inter-urban exchanges, while in more densely populated areas, increasing clustering tends to reduce migration influx to a given locality due to inter-town competition. Following this conclusion, a strategy of "redirecting priorities" leading to the formation of urban clusters is proposed, which may enhance the potential of urban growth in geographical areas where this is desirable.