2018/01/02 by Yannis Tzaninis, Willem Boterman · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies #Urbanization and City Planning #Urban Planning and Governance
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/13604813.2018.1432143
openalex publication_date 2018/01/02 · openalex created_date 2018/03/29 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Suburbanisation has been a prevalent process of post-war, capitalist urban growth, leading to the majority of citizens in many advanced capitalist economies currently living in the suburbs. We are also witnessing, however, the reverse movement of the increasing return to the inner-city. This contradiction raises questions regarding contemporary urban growth and the socio-spatial production of the suburbs. This paper draws on the case of new town Almere in the metropolitan region of Amsterdam to cast light upon the changing suburban–urban relationship, by investigating the mobility to and from Almere for two decades through socio-economic, demographic data between 1990 and 2013. We demonstrate that Almere has developed from a typically suburban family community to a receiver of both international unmarried newcomers and families; its population has also become relatively poorer, yet the levels of upwards income mobility have remained stable. These trends emphasise alternative types of mobilities emerging in concert to the more typical suburban migration. The town’s transformation challenges the urban–suburban dichotomy, pointing to alternative explanations of contemporary urban growth and metropolitan integration.