Are Local Places in Britain Becoming More Age Segregated (and What Does Internal Migration Have To Do With It)?

Nissa Finney , University of St Andrews
Elspeth Graham, University of St Andrews
Jo Mhairi Hale, University of St Andrews

This paper engages directly with the notion that all-age communities are vital for intergenerational connection and for tackling the causes of intergenerational unfairness (House of Lords 2019); and the idea that the development of ‘age friendly environments’ supports the wellbeing and participation of older people (WHO, 2017). It addresses the dearth of recent empirical evidence on these topics by answering the questions: What is the extent of intergenerational residential mixing at a local level in Britain? How is this changing over time? How is residential mobility shaping age mixing/age segregation? The paper uses 2021/2022 Census data (Aggregate level tables and interaction/flow data) for small areas of England and Wales/Scotland, compared with 2011 and 2001, to calculate residential age segregation and mixing; and age-specific migration rates between neighbourhoods. Associates of neighbourhood type (e.g. age polarising, youth in-migration, age mixed) will then be modelled. Persistence of trends of neighbourhood residential age segregation is expected, and particularly for areas of economic decline and tight housing markets. Our contention is that the divergence in the internal migration (residential mobility) patterns of older and younger populations is driven not by a desire to live separately but by different opportunity structures (affordability) that stratify the population spatially along lines of age. This raises policy implications about housing provision if we are to achieve age sustainable neighbourhoods.

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 Presented in Session 25. Migration and Spatial Aspects of Ageing