Gentrifiers Settling Down? Patterns and Trends of Residential Location of Middle-Class Families in Amsterdam

Abstract

Based on data for Amsterdam, the Netherlands, this paper presents new evidence of a strong increase in the number of middle-class families in the city. By presenting the spatial patterns and trends of middle-class families in selected Amsterdam neighbourhoods, the paper shows that central neighbourhoods in particular attract middle-class families. In addition, new-build areas, both central and peripheral, offer a residential environment for middle-class families as a compromise between inner city and suburb. This paper links these patterns and trends with gentrification literature. Middle-class family neighbourhoods are classified in a typology that perceives neighbourhoods as fields that are accessed by means of capital, and operate as a stage for the accumulation of various forms of capital, which are associated with various habituses of the middle class.

Keywords:

• Housing choice
• neighbourhoods
• gentrification
• families
• middle class
• time-space

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the editors of Housing Studies and three anonymous referees for their useful comments and suggestions.

Notes

¹ Family households include single-parent families, married and unmarried couples with children (source CBS, 2008).

² €1144 (1995) and €1389 (2001).

³ Amsterdam municipality, 747 290 (2008) inhabitants, comprises the central city in the metropolitan area (2.1 million) and some of the suburban areas. Most of the suburbs, however, are municipalities in their own right.

⁴ Neighbourhoods are defined as buurtcombinaties. On average a buurtcombinatie in Amsterdam has 7784 inhabitants. Although these units are quite large, they are fairly homogeneous in terms of housing, ethnicity and class.

⁵ Data are based on the WIA sample. 1995: N = 6076; 2001: N = 12 148; 2007: 14 019; 95% confidence intervals are: 1995: 3.1–4.1%; 2001: 4.8–5.6%; and 2007: 7.3–8.1%

⁶ Average house value is determined by the value ascribed according to the Wet Onroerend Zaakbelasting 2007 (Real Estate Tax Act). A mortgage for a €300 000 property requires an annual household income of approximately €80 000, which represents the highest income quintile in the Netherlands (CBS, 2008).

⁷ In 2006, 84 per cent of the households in Museumkwartier were highly educated; net annual household income was 60% higher than the city's average. Source: WIA (2007); O&S (2008).

⁸ As cycling is the most common mode of transport in Amsterdam, distance is often calculated according to cycling time.