Suburbanisation is the most typical characteristic of the spatial distribution of the population in many countries of central and eastern Europe. Furthermore, a characterisation of residents is of key importance in explaining the process of suburbanisation. The study contributes to an understanding of post-socialist suburbanisation by clarifying the motivations and groups behind the population shift to the suburbs. The analysis is based on an extensive survey of the Rīga metropolitan area, Latvia. The results show that suburbanisation is a socially polarised process and that those with high and low social status are more likely to move to the suburbs than those with middle social status. Similarly, the motivations behind suburban inmigration present a distinctive and complex portrait of the on-going suburbanisation processes. Housing choice was found to be a key motivation for suburban migrants.
Moving beyond the 'world-class' institutional model of international student mobility, this paper examines alternative narratives of distinction relating to place of study. Drawing on semistructured interviews with international students at universities in the UK, Austria and Latvia, we illustrate how students inside and outside mainstream reputable higher education institutions narrate and reconfigure markers of distinction to validate their international mobility and location of study, in part to compete with peers at other (more prestigious) institutions. We demonstrate the importance of lifestyle and experiential places within a global differentiated higher education landscape and argue that many students engage in comparative narratives of place of study to authorise the symbolic capital associated with international education. The findings also consider how experiential places and mobility capital are used for distinction not only during educational mobility but within post-study aspirations.
Taking mobility between Latvia and Western Europe as an empirical lens, this analysis explores the complex relationship between spatial disparities in earning potential and migration. The very dramatic shifts in the economic and political context against which migration from Latvia has occurred over the period 2004-2012 make it an especially apposite focus of research investigating the link between mobility and labour market circumstances. As an analytical starting point, conventional economic theory broadly explains the movement of workers from lower to higher wage regions. However this investigation seeks to contribute to understandings of the economic drivers of migration through consideration of the effects of the Great Recession on not only the volume of flows from Latvia to higher wage economies elsewhere in Europe, but also on the characteristics of the migrants themselves and of the processes that produce their mobility. This is undertaken through analysis of a large scale online survey of Latvian emigrants in five European countries. The findings point towards the Great Recession creating a distinctive cohort of reluctant 'crisis migrants'. Analytically the quantitative and qualitative attributes of this new phase of mobility raise a number of conceptually significant questions about understandings of the economymigration nexus.
This study is devoted to the research of human resources as a main source of sustainable regional development in Latvia. It is focused on two key concepts of human capital and migration. The aim of the study is to explore return migration geographies by looking at young return migrants as a resource and preconditions for sustainable regional development essential to Latvia.Return migration to the regions of Latvia is examined by two main research questions. What are the most recent return migrant characteristics in Latvia? How does return migration of young Latvians translates into regional geographies of return migration?Drawing on most recent available statistical data we elaborate on the return migration trends in Latvia, look at particular geographies of return migrants to the regions of Latvia. Findings show that return migrants are working age accompanied with their offspring’s, majority not married and return from another European country to the capital and other largest cities and surrounding municipalities. Even more, only ethnicity and country of previous residence serve as return migration predictor.
Migration processes are amongst the most relevant issues in the geography of the Baltic States. The authors analyse the changes in migration patterns from the early 1990s until today. The focus of the study is the recent trends of migratory movements in the case of Latvia. Due to the country's economic recession, migration has accelerated in the recent years. Empirical results show the response of the migration system to the changing internal factors and external influences in the times of transition and global crisis. Long-term emigration exacerbates the problem of demographic change in Latvia.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.