Residential relocation and sustainable urban form: Statistical analyses of owner-occupiers' preferences

Abstract

This paper reports on analyses of the residential preferences of a sample of owner-occupier households moving house in the Cardiff region of Wales. These analyses were designed to examine the acceptability to relocating households of more sustainable residential alternatives, involving higher density living in mixed land use areas particularly in redeveloped dockland, inner urban and city-centre locations. The findings offer little comfort to those advocating urban intensification or compaction policies. City-centre services are a substitute for land for only a few. The dominant preferences remain, as they have been historically, for semi-detached and detached properties with their own private gardens in suburban areas. These preferences are further reinforced if households have young children or comprise persons of retirement age. The conclusion addresses the scope for achieving more sustainable suburbs.