Assessment of the natural environment—A determinant of residential preferences?

The reconstruction of the determinants of residential preferences represents a major problem of behavioural studies on intra-urban migration and mobility. In research on this topic, two approaches may be distinguished. One of these tries to deduce these determinants from the analysis of already realized decisions and the other employs the direct measurement of preferences by means of interviews. The determinants discussed mostly refer to variables related to distance, facilities of infrastructure, residential characteristics and facilities, social attributes of the neighbourhood, and aspects of the natural environment. A survey of the relevant literature shows that this last group of variables has been treated insufficiently so far although there do exist a lot of studies that stress the importance of attributes of the natural environment as one criterion of decision-making when assessing the qualities of alternative housing sites. After discussing various problems of methods and measurement, the paper presents some proposals which should help to avoid the shortcomings of several previous studies. Finally the paper reports on some preliminary results of an investigation on residential preferences in Salzburg, Austria, which was carried out according to the given proposals. The results confirm the postulated influence of the natural environment as an important determinant of residential preferences.