World Cities: magnets for the young – but seen to repel young families?

A recent study has shown how cities such as London, a World City in terms of financial, commercial and cultural importance, can be attractive for young migrants looking for their first steps on the career ladder. But spiraling housing costs and long commutes to work are causing those who may be ready to start a family or simply want an improved quality of life to look at alternative, cheaper cities for home-making.

A report by the Office for National Statistics is reporting an out-migration of thirty-somethings from London to smaller British cities such as Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow. In the year to June 2013 there was a 10% increase of people in their thirties leaving London than in 2010, with a net loss of this age-group from the capital.

The main reason is thought to be the rapidly increasing cost of accommodation in London, with average house prices more than three times the UK average. But it’s also other elements that add to an improved quality of life as many seek work in the cities they were at university in their early twenties. Less congestion, shorter commutes and more neighbourly communities have all been suggested as additional reasons to head out to more peripheral cities beyond the capital.

The sympathetic redevelopment of many city centres over the past twenty years along with regeneration of abandoned warehouses into attractive loft-style living and the revival of derelict canals and docks into culturally-interesting theatre, museum and live-performance centres adds an attraction that many young professionals find enticing. The Cardiff Bay area, Salford Quays and the imposing Beetham Tower in Manchester and - as pictured - the canal wharves of Birmingham are all finding a new lease of life as gentrification brings investment and affluence into what were, until relatively recently, derelict industrial inner-cities of many UK urban conurbations.

This is not so much ‘counter-urbanisation’, (a move from a city to the semi-rural fringe around the urban area) or ‘re-urbanisation’ (moving back into city centres from suburban or fringe locations) as a move to alternative cities which are seen to offer quality employment, housing and cultural amenities, but within a more accessible and affordable urban context. If there was a term for it, maybe it should be ‘Re-citification’ – a relocation from one city to a regenerated and rapidly gentrifiying area in an alternative city.

photo:creative commons