ABSTRACT
The attractiveness of cities as places to live determines population movements into or out of them. Understanding the appealing features is fundamental to local governments, particularly for cities facing population decline. Pull and push attributes can include economic aspects, the availability of amenities and psychological constructs, initiating a discussion around which factors are more relevant for migration. However, such discussion has been underexplored in studies of shrinking cities. In the present study, we contribute to the discussion by identifying pull and push factors in Portuguese shrinking cities. Data were collected using a face-to-face questionnaire of 701 residents in four shrinking cities: Oporto, Barreiro, Peso da Régua and Moura. Factor analysis and automatic linear modelling were used to analyse the data. Our results show that the economic activity is the most relevant feature for retaining residents. However, characteristics specific to each city, related to heritage and natural beauty, are also shown to influence a city’s attractiveness. The cause of population shrinkage was also found to influence residents’ assessments of the pull and push attributes of each city. Furthermore, the results show the relevance of social ties and of place attachment to inhabitants’ intention to continue living in their city of residence.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
ORCID
Maria Helena Guimarães http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6904-3696
Luis Catela Nunes http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8115-6223
Ana Paula Barreira http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5816-3361
Thomas Panagopoulos http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8073-2097
Notes
1. The stratification did not account for possible differences between neighbourhoods within each case study. However, by considering the distribution of households by parishes and household type, the sample is presumed to cover the diversity in the preferences of inhabitants.
2. The respondents of the questionnaire were inhabitants residing in each city at the time of the survey; therefore, we asked those residents about perceived push factors (i.e. what could make them leave the city). The questionnaire does not capture the views of inhabitants who have already left the city.