Motives of residential mobility in Braunschweig

What are the reasons for people to change their place of living within a city or to move to suburban areas?
First of all, to move from one place to another is a personal decision, which can of course be influenced or encouraged by the quality of the flat, the surrounding neighbourhood or the lack of adequate infrastructural offers. These aspects apply to many of the urban neighbourhoods from the 1950ies – 1970ies which have become shabby over the years and are therefore less popular.

In order to obtain in-depth explanations for this phenomenon the city of Braunschweig together with the ISOE is conducting a survey on the motives of moving house. Persons who left the urban areas “Weststadt” and “Südwestliches Ringgebiet” in the year 2008, or moved into one of these areas and people who generally decided to move away from Braunschweig altogether to one of the suburban villages are asked to participate in the survey. Besides data about the old and new housing situation and the surrounding area, the motives for relocation are investigated in detail. The results of this survey are expected to provide important advice for a demand oriented re-design of the two urban neighbourhoods in question.

Investing for the future
In many German cities, urban neighbourhoods which were built during the 1950ies to 1970ies comprise a considerable number of buildings which need to be technically modernised. Many of them also face a social restructuring of its inhabitants. The large potential of these urban areas – in the context of a “renaissance of the city” – can only be successfully put into effect, if houses and infrastructure are being invested into so that new residents are attracted to move into these districts.

The survey on motives for residential mobility in Braunschweig is part of the project “Demand driven life cycle management in urban neighbourhoods” (project). The objective of the survey is to pinpoint change processes at an early stage and to identify inhabitants’ demands concerning their residential situation thus initiating a foresighted transition management in order to reduce the demand for new housing settlement areas.

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