What makes people stay longer in the densifying city? Exploring the neighbourhood environment and social ties

Figures & data

Figure 1. Map showing the location of the four neighbourhoods in Oslo.

Figure 2. Aerial view of the four neighbourhoods.

Figure 3. Urban spaces in the four neighbourhoods. Source: authors’ collection.

Table 1. Characteristics of the case neighbourhoods.

	Neighbourhood type	Area size (hectares)	Population	Population density (persons/hectare)	Low-income households with children (%)	Low education for ages 30-59 (%)	Crime rate (offenses/per 1000 inhabitants)
Sørenga	New and densifying	14	1957	140	10 %	13 %	247
Ensjø	New and densifying	125	6341	51	9 %	14 %	65
Grønland	Old and compact	39	9522	246	36 %	27 %	308
Tøyen and Kampen	Old and compact	86	17067	198	28 %	21 %	132

Notes: Sørenga’s statistics on crime rate, low-income households with children, and low education for ages 30–59 refer to the subdistrict (delbydel) Bispevika. Statistics for Tøyen and Kampen were calculated based on data for subdistricts Nedre Tøyen, Enerhaugen, and Kampen. Data source for area size: authors’ analysis with geographic information systems (GIS). Data source for population: data from Statistics Norway 2017–2019 and authors’ analysis with GIS (for Sørenga). Data source for offenses: unpublished data from Oslo police. Offenses include all types of reported cases during the period 01 October 2016–31 December 2016. Data source for percentage of low-income households with children and low-education for ages 30–59: Oslo Municipality - living conditions indicators 2020–2021.

Table 2. Descriptive statistics.

Variables	N	Min/Max	Mean	s.d.
Dependent variable
Intentions to live longer in neighbourhood	1403	1/5	3.28	1.20
Activities in the neighbourhood
Doing sports locally	1215	0/1	0.13	0.34
Participation in cultural activities locally	1215	0/1	0.18	0.39
Participation in local religious and spiritual organizations	1215	0/1	0.03	0.18
Participation in local ethnic organizations	1215	0/1	0.01	0.08
Participation in local civil society organizations	1215	0/1	0.12	0.33
Participation in local political organizations	1215	0/1	0.08	0.27
Meeting friends and neighbours locally for informal activities	1215	0/1	0.43	0.49
No participation in activities locally	1215	0/1	0.40	0.49
Neighbourhood and dwelling variables
Feeling unsafe in neighbourhood	1395	1/4	3.15	0.87
Time living in current neighbourhood	1403	1/4	2.64	0.96
Owns dwelling	1400	0/1	0.87	0.34
Dwelling size (square meters)	1374	25/240	72.30	26.36
Neighbourhoods (resident of…)
Ensjø	1403	0/1	0.21	0.41
Sørenga	1403	0/1	0.12	0.32
Grønland	1403	0/1	0.32	0.47
Tøyen and Kampen	1403	0/1	0.35	0.48
Sociodemographic variables
Age (years)	1403	13/105	41.44	13.67
Female	1403	0/1	0.55	0.50
Not born in Norway	1391	0/1	0.12	0.33
Parents not born in Norway	1367	0/1	0.17	0.37
Household size	1401	1/10	2.17	1.16

Note: N for different variables differs due to missing data.

Table 3. Ordered logistic regression models of intentions to live longer in neighbourhood.

Variables	Intentions to live longer in neighbourhood
	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3
	B (95% CI)	B (95% CI)	B (95% CI)
Neighbourhood and dwelling variables
Feeling unsafe in neighbourhood (ref = never)
Often	−1.178*** (-1.673, −0.683)	−1.203*** (-1.708, −0.697)	−1.214*** (-1.721, −0.707)
Sometimes	−0.919*** (-1.222, −0.616)	−0.961*** (-1.284, −0.639)	−0.917*** (-1.242, −0.592)
Rarely	−0.281* (-0.513, −0.049)	−0.336** (-0.589, −0.083)	−0.333* (-0.587, −0.078)
Time living in current neighbourhood (ref = more than 10 years)
Less than 1 year	−0.350 (-0.743, 0.044)	−0.029 (-0.459, 0.400)	0.073 (-0.361, 0.507)
1-3 years	−0.601*** (-0.922, −0.280)	−0.384* (-0.747, −0.020)	−0.236 (-0.604, 0.132)
4-10 years	−0.442** (-0.738, −0.147)	−0.368* (-0.683, −0.053)	−0.303 (-0.620, 0.014)
Owns dwelling	0.765*** (0.436, 1.094)	0.616*** (0.264, 0.967)	0.597*** (0.244, 0.950)
Dwelling size (square meters)	0.008*** (0.003, 0.013)	0.007* (0.001, 0.012)	0.006* (0.001, 0.012)
Activities in the neighbourhood
Doing sports locally			0.072 (-0.261, 0.405)
Participation in cultural activities locally			0.031 (-0.272, 0.334)
Participation in local religious and spiritual organizations			0.235 (-0.413, 0.884)
Participation in local ethnic organizations			−0.113 (-2.303, 2.076)
Participation in local civil society organizations			0.517** (0.150, 0.884)
Participation in local political organizations			−0.022 (-0.440, 0.396)
Meeting friends and neighbours locally for informal activities			0.688*** (0.450, 0.925)
No participation in activities locally		−0.642*** (-0.871, −0.414)
Sociodemographic variables
Age (years)	0.070*** (0.060, 0.081)	0.080*** (0.069, 0.092)	0.085*** (0.073, 0.097)
Female	0.222* (0.018, 0.426)	0.168 (-0.053, 0.389)	0.158 (-0.064, 0.380)
Not born in Norway	−0.189 (-0.641, 0.263)	−0.186 (-0.667, 0.294)	−0.308 (-0.791, 0.174)
Parents not born in Norway	0.072 (-0.325, 0.468)	0.000 (-0.418, 0.419)	0.071 (-0.347, 0.490)
Household size	−0.041 (-0.147, 0.066)	−0.025 (-0.137, 0.087)	−0.027 (-0.140, 0.086)
Pseudo R-square
Nagelkerke R-square	0.349	0.377	0.389

Notes: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. 95% confidence intervals are shown in parentheses.

Table 4. Ordered logistic regression models comparing intentions to live longer in neighbourhood for different neighbourhoods.

Variables	Intentions to live longer in neighbourhood
	B (95% CI)
Neighbourhood (ref = Tøyen and Kampen)
Ensjø	−0.510*** (-0.795, −0.224)
Sørenga	−0.635*** (-1.019, −0.252)
Grønland	−0.610*** (-0.861, −0.358)
Neighbourhood and dwelling variables
Time living in current neighbourhood (ref = more than 10 years)
Less than 1 year	−0.350 (-0.743, 0.044)
1-3 years	−0.601*** (-0.922, −0.280)
4-10 years	−0.442** (-0.738, −0.147)
Owns dwelling	0.684*** (0.355, 1.014)
Dwelling size (square meters)	0.011*** (0.006, 0.016)
Sociodemographic variables
Age (years)	0.075*** (0.064, 0.086)
Female	0.171 (-0.032, 0.373)
Not born in Norway	−0.198 (-0.334, 0.454)
Parents not born in Norway	0.060 (-0.334, 0.454)
Household size	−0.053 (-0.158, 0.052)
Pseudo R-square
Nagelkerke R-square	0.340

Notes: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. 95% confidence intervals are shown in parentheses.

Table 5. Key differences between neighbourhoods.

	Neighbourhood type	Feeling of safety (mean)	No participation in activities locally (%)	Participation in local civil society organizations (%)	Meeting friends and neighbours locally for informal activities (%)
Sørenga	New and densifying	3.65	N/A	N/A	N/A
Ensjø	New and densifying	3.27	54 %	9 %	27 %
Grønland	Old and compact	2.79	40 %	10 %	46 %
Tøyen and Kampen	Old and compact	3.23	32 %	17 %	50 %

Note: N/A = Data not available.