The role of the social and residential contexts in the dwelling change of housing in Europa. A first approximation from the European Community Household Panel

Abstract

This paper is based on the results of an investigation carried out by the Centre d’Estudis Demogràfics by the assignment of the General Direction of Employment and Social Matters of the European Commission. It aims at analyzing the social dimensions of the residential mobility using de data from the European Community Household Panel, in order to evaluate his potential for this type of studies. The suitability of this source comes determined by the structure of his data, which it allows, apart from underlining the regional differences between the different countries that compose it, realizing a temporary analysis of the analyzed processes and, consistently, to establish a possible relation of causality between them. Two are the basic aspects that have been analyzed in relation by the residential change: first, the social insertion of the individuals, understanding as such so much the formal participation in clubs, associations, etc., as the daily relations of friendship and vicinity; and, secondly, the quality of the residential environment measured by the presence or not of dysfunctions like the delinquency, the noise or the pollution.