TY - JOUR
T1 - Youthification across the metropolitan system
T2 - Intra-urban residential geographies of young adults in North American metropolitan areas
AU - Moos, Markus
AU - Filion, Pierre
AU - Quick, Matthew
AU - Walter-Joseph, Robert
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by funding from a Province of Ontario Early Researcher Award and a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Insight Development Grant. The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments and detailed review that helped improve the paper. Any remaining errors or omissions are the authors' responsibility.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2019/10
Y1 - 2019/10
N2 - The youthification hypothesis posits that young adult geographies are highly centralized, particularly in metropolitan regions with gentrified, amenity-rich downtowns successful in the knowledge economy. While prior studies have empirically substantiated centralized young adult geographies, none have considered intra-urban variations and linked these empirically to metropolitan-specific characteristics. Focusing on young adults aged 25 to 34 across 57 metropolitan regions in the United States and Canada with populations over one million, this study investigates how the residential geographies of young adults vary within and between metropolitan regions. Young adult geographies are analyzed via generalized additive models with cubic spline smoothing. Economic, housing, urban form, and demographic characteristics are compared between regions with different types of young adult geographies. Results show youthification to be widespread; young adult clusters exist in the downtowns of 56 metropolitan regions, with 31 regions having one downtown-focused young adult cluster and 25 regions having a multi-cluster profile. Only one region had a scattered profile with no clusters. Regions with a single centrally-located young adult profile had greater employment in the quaternary sector, higher public transit mode shares, fewer single-detached homes, and lower employment in manufacturing than those with multiple clusters. The study contributes to understanding the ways in which the residential geographies of specific age groups are shaped by aggregate characteristics of cohorts and the existing urban structures.
AB - The youthification hypothesis posits that young adult geographies are highly centralized, particularly in metropolitan regions with gentrified, amenity-rich downtowns successful in the knowledge economy. While prior studies have empirically substantiated centralized young adult geographies, none have considered intra-urban variations and linked these empirically to metropolitan-specific characteristics. Focusing on young adults aged 25 to 34 across 57 metropolitan regions in the United States and Canada with populations over one million, this study investigates how the residential geographies of young adults vary within and between metropolitan regions. Young adult geographies are analyzed via generalized additive models with cubic spline smoothing. Economic, housing, urban form, and demographic characteristics are compared between regions with different types of young adult geographies. Results show youthification to be widespread; young adult clusters exist in the downtowns of 56 metropolitan regions, with 31 regions having one downtown-focused young adult cluster and 25 regions having a multi-cluster profile. Only one region had a scattered profile with no clusters. Regions with a single centrally-located young adult profile had greater employment in the quaternary sector, higher public transit mode shares, fewer single-detached homes, and lower employment in manufacturing than those with multiple clusters. The study contributes to understanding the ways in which the residential geographies of specific age groups are shaped by aggregate characteristics of cohorts and the existing urban structures.
KW - Generations
KW - Millennials
KW - Residential geography
KW - Young adults
KW - Youthification
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U2 - 10.1016/j.cities.2019.05.017
DO - 10.1016/j.cities.2019.05.017
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85066272345
SN - 0264-2751
VL - 93
SP - 224
EP - 237
JO - Cities
JF - Cities
ER -