Depopulation of Cities and Housing Decisions of University Graduates

Abstract

Predicting the population size of a city is one of the key tasks preceding the creation of city development plans, seeing as how urban space management should be adequate to current and forecasted economic and social trends, including demographic ones. In many cities of the world, apart from capitals and metropolises, the phenomenon of depopulation and shrinking has been observed, which is due to a decrease in the fertility rate and a negative migration balance. Apart from the inhabitants registered in the city for permanent residence, there are also people living there temporary, including students. Some graduates will decide to stay in the city, thus increasing the population of the city’s residents. The purpose of the study described in this article was to attempt to determine the extent to which new-coming students are able to alleviate the effects of the adverse phenomenon of city depopulation. The city chosen as the research area - Olsztyn - has been experiencing the loss of residents for 10 years and is also the largest university center in the province. Understanding settlement / migration plans required a broad survey. As a result, it was concluded that the impact of graduates on inhibiting depopulation is relatively small as most of them planned to move out to a larger urban center, and only every fifth one declared a willingness to live in Olsztyn. Retaining graduates would require the development of the labor market towards new, well-paid jobs.

European Union Housing Policy—An Attempt to Synthesize the Actions Taken

“…A dwelling fulfills increasingly more elaborate and complicated individual needs, which are regarded as needs of higher order needs [21] and [22] (pp. [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]. This is seeing as how it facilitates the creation of conditions for social and cultural development of a unit or group, stimulates professional activity and a creative attitude to the work being done, and triggers a desire to raise professional qualifications and aptitude for innovation.…”

“…In addition to social functions, a dwelling also serves economic functions, comprising a condition for constant development [23] (pp. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. A dwelling induces a complementary and substitutionary effect [22] (pp.…”

“…A dwelling induces a complementary and substitutionary effect [22] (pp. [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]. In the area of complementary effects, it gives birth to new needs and expenses, connected with its finish (floor covers, wallpapers, lighting, and technical-sanitary installations) and furnishing (furniture, home electronics, and household appliances).…”

Housing Tenure Preferences among Students from Two Polish Universities

“…We do this by conducting an online survey, which is based on the recent work of Rubaszek and Czerniak (2017), among a group of 315 students from two universities. Our analysis is related to the recent article by Źróbek-Różańska (2019), who conducted a survey among students from Olsztyn, a medium-sized Polish city, to learn about their plans to stay in the city after graduation. She found that the rental market is a viable choice as over three-quarters of the respondents were planning to leave the city.…”

“…The second one is more focused on factors that affect housing tenure choices, including economic and psychological factors (Henderson & Ioannides, 1983;Coolen et al 2002;Ben-Shahar, 2007;Drew & Herbert, 2013;Rubaszek, 2019). The third one is related to survey studies regarding the housing preferences of Poles (Rubaszek & Czerniak, 2017;Źróbek-Różańska, 2019;Palicki, 2020). We add to the above studies by showing that ownership is preferred to renting, predominantly because it is the only tenure that allows people to "feel at home".…”