The New Gentrifiers: The Role of Households and Migration in Reshaping Melbourne's Core and Inner Suburbs

Abstract

This article focuses on the core and inner suburbs of Melbourne, Australia and argues that, through decisions about migration and residential mobility, people living in particular household forms are the new agents of gentrification. Specifically we ask: Is the mobility of people in particular household types dominating the social and demographic changes in the ‘new-build’ inner core and the ‘revitalised’ inner suburbs? How does household type compare with household income in the in- and out-migration streams from two gentrifying areas? Do recent (2001–2006) migration patterns differ between these two gentrifying inner areas and, if so, in what way? This analysis draws on a customised migration matrix from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006 Census to analyse the characteristics of in-movers and out-movers from Melbourne's core and inner suburbs. The results show that the new-build inner core gained disproportionately in two groups—young adults living alone or sharing, and young childless couples. In contrast the inner suburbs experienced net losses among most household groups apart from young singles living in non-family arrangements. Relative to the population base, international migrants were more likely to locate in the new-build inner core than in the inner suburbs. The article concludes that contemporary gentrification processes require an understanding of new household forms and their migration behaviour.

Keywords:

• Gentrification
• living arrangements
• Melbourne
• population mobility

Notes

1. The ‘second demographic transition’ is the term used by demographers to capture the mid-20th-century socio-demographic changes that followed the declines in fertility and mortality associated with the ‘first demographic transition’ in Western countries from the 18th and 19th centuries onward. By the 1950s, it was clear to demographers that fertility levels were continuing to drop and were accompanied by high divorce rates, rising rates of remarriage, older age at first marriage; growing proportions of single people, widening diversity in living arrangements other than marriage and increased longevity at older ages (Lesthaeghe & Surkyn, 2008).