Housing, inequality and the role of population mobility

• Maryann Wulff, Margaret Reynolds
• Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI)

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29 November 2010This study aims to bring the role of population mobility into contemporary academic understandings of socio-spatial polarisation. The term, ‘socio-spatial polarisation’ refers broadly to the growing gap between rich and poor households in both socio-economic position (‘socio’) and geographic location (‘spatial’). While an extensive literature exists concerning the ways in which housing and labour markets affect urban socio-spatial patterns, limited attention has been given to the fundamental role of household mobility in creating these spatial patterns. A substantial influx or out-movement of particular groups of households (e.g. high or low income; young students or retirees) from various parts of a city, for example, can potentially re-shape the socio-spatial structure.

During recent decades, the socio-spatial divisions that characterise Australia’s major cities have become more pronounced. In other words, not only has the income gap between rich and poor households widened, but this gap has played out spatially in differentiating the urban communities that house the rich and poor. Socio-spatial polarisation has become a recognised feature in Australia’s major cities.

For households, location within the city has become a crucial determinant of overall welfare, including outcomes associated with health, education, employment, real income, social well-being social capital and personal security (for an overview, see Maher 1999). These socio-spatial divides, therefore, are a matter of public concern. House prices and rent levels play a pivotal role in shaping the socio-economic landscape of the metropolitan area by determining where people can live based on their economic resources.

This study focuses on socio-spatial polarisation in Melbourne, the capital city of Victoria and Australia’s second largest city. Melbourne’s population of 3.9 million accounts for 73 per cent of the State of Victoria's population. A low-density sprawled metropolitan region, Melbourne covers 7694 square kilometres and runs approximately 116 kilometres north to south and 122 kilometres east to west. The analysis disaggregates Melbourne into sixteen ABS-defined Statistical Subdivisions (SSDs) and discusses them in terms of four broad housing market areas.