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Ray Hall

Bio: Ray Hall is an academic researcher from Queen Mary University of London. The author has contributed to research in topics: Population & Demographic transition. The author has an hindex of 10, co-authored 13 publications receiving 988 citations. Previous affiliations of Ray Hall include London School of Economics and Political Science & University of London.

Papers
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the demographic contingencies of reurbanization in four European cities: Leipzig (Germany), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Bologna (Italy) and Leon (Spain).
Abstract: During the last three decades, the countries of the developed world have been engulfed by the 'second demographic transition', which involves new family relations, less and later marriage, declining fertility rates, population ageing, postponement of child-bearing and smaller households, among other trends. It is being increasingly argued that such population dynamics are having a powerful transformative effect on the inner city, by diversifying and redensifying its social landscapes, and creating a 'splintered' urban form. Based on the findings of a recent EU Framework 5 research project, this paper investigates the demographic contingencies of this process-also known as reurbanisation-in four European cities: Leipzig (Germany), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Bologna (Italy) and Leon (Spain). Analyses of census and municipal registry data, as well as on-site questionnaire surveys and interviews, have revealed that the reviewed cities are being populated with, and fragmented by, multiple migration trends and new h...

268 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The household has become the focus of a wide range of sociodemographic processes, including the destabilization of traditional patterns of marriage, cohabitation and divorce; the growing fluidity of ties of kin and friendship; and increasingly complex transitions through the life course as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: During the last three decades, the household has become the focus of a wide range of sociodemographic processes, including the destabilization of traditional patterns of marriage, cohabitation and divorce; the growing fluidity of ties of kin and friendship; and increasingly complex transitions through the life course. However, these dynamics - which are often summarized under the common heading of the `second demographic transition' - have been marginalized in the mainstream geographical literature. In this paper, we draw attention to the extensive, albeit fragmented, body of sociological, economic, feminist and geographical insights into the changing social geometry of the household. Recent developments in these domains have affirmed the pivotal role of the household in shaping the geographies of gender, home and everyday life. We underline the importance of households as agents of urban transformation, arguing in favour of the further incorporation of household demography into the interpretation of cont...

191 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine overlaps and differences between reurbanization and the concept of gentrification, arguing that, although they are partly driven by similar dynamics, the two processes are, in a qualitative sense, distinctive.
Abstract: European inner city areas are increasingly regaining their residential attractiveness after years of decline. Although the demographic dimensions of such residential shifts are gradually being acknowledged by urban scholars, they still remain under-researched, especially with regard to the role of household-driven processes in the stabilisation of inner-city neighbourhoods and the reshaping of residential perceptions, wants and needs. Given this background, our paper looks at the underlying dynamics of reurbanisation processes in different European cities. Reurbanisation is understood as a process of populating and diversifying the inner city with a variety of residential groups of different ages and socio-economic backgrounds. We discuss why and how reurbanisation is changing inner-city districts, while arguing that the demographic or household-related view can lead to an improved understanding of current urban change. We demonstrate that ??? in contrast to a prevailing tendency to understand reurbanisation as an expression of a ???back-to-the-city??? movement ??? it relates more to city-mindedness as a housing preference rather than to the actual return of suburbanites to the city. A typology of reurbanisation processes (distinguishing between different driving forces, and respective impacts on inner-city area and housing markets) is provided, and the role of both social and demographic factors discussed. In particular, the paper examines overlaps and differences between reurbanisation and the concept of gentrification, arguing that, although they are partly driven by similar dynamics, the two processes are, in a qualitative sense, distinctive. Copyright ?? 2009 John Wiley \& Sons, Ltd.

168 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed data for France's 10 largest cities for the period 1975-90, with particular reference to their central areas, showing that up to 75 per cent of households in central cities consisting of 1 or 2 persons.
Abstract: The past two decades have seen profound changes in European patterns of demographic behaviour, family formation and household structure. One aspect of the 'second demographic transition' is the appearance of new and more varied household forms, especially in the large cities. Data are analysed here for France's 10 largest cities for the period 1975-90, with particular reference to their central areas. While some continue to experience population decline through out-migration, for most the 1980s saw a reversal of their demographic fortunes, thus adding further evidence to the hypothesis of reurbanisation observed elsewhere. Analysis of household change shows large increases in numbers in most cities, even where overall population is declining. Households are becoming smaller, with up to 75 per cent of households in central cities consisting of 1 or 2 persons. The increase in 1-person households, to which particular attention is paid in this paper, has been rapid. The paper also demonstrates the decline in ...

106 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Examination of one-person households during the 1980s in England and Wales and France set within the broader context of household change in Europe as a whole finds increases in numbers are a result of both compositional changes in the population and an increasing propensity to live alone.
Abstract: This paper examines the increase of one-person households during the 1980s in England and Wales and France set within the broader context of household change in Europe as a whole....One-person households vary geographically by age with younger one-person households found especially in larger urban areas; older one-person households have a more varied distribution although rural and traditional retirement areas have particular concentrations. Increases in numbers are a result of both compositional changes in the population (increasing numbers of divorced and never-marrieds as well as increasing numbers of elderly) and also an increasing propensity to live alone especially among younger age groups. (EXCERPT)

73 citations


Cited by
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TL;DR: The symposium includes articles from 10 urban analysts working on 30 cities around the globe whose collaborative work aims to understand different types of city shrinkage and the role that different approaches, policies and strategies have played in the regeneration of these cities.
Abstract: Urban shrinkage is not a new phenomenon. It has been documented in a large literature analyzing the social and economic issues that have led to population flight, resulting, in the worse cases, in the eventual abandonment of blocks of housing and neighbourhoods. Analysis of urban shrinkage should take into account the new realization that this phenomenon is now global and multidimensional — but also little understood in all its manifestations. Thus, as the world's population increasingly becomes urban, orthodox views of urban decline need redefinition. The symposium includes articles from 10 urban analysts working on 30 cities around the globe. These analysts belong to the Shrinking Cities International Research Network (SCIRN), whose collaborative work aims to understand different types of city shrinkage and the role that different approaches, policies and strategies have played in the regeneration of these cities. In this way the symposium will inform both a rich diversity of analytical perspectives and country-based studies of the challenges faced by shrinking cities. It will also disseminate SCIRN's research results from the last 3 years. Resume La decroissance urbaine n'est pas un phenomene nouveau. De nombreux travaux ont analyse les problemes sociaux et economiques conduisant au depart de populations et resultant dans les pires des cas a l'abandon d'ilots d'habitat et de quartiers entiers. Cependant, l'etude de la decroissance urbaine doit aujourd'hui tenir compte du constat recent selon lequel ce phenomene est desormais global et multidimensionnel, tout en restant peu apprehende dans toutes ses composantes. Ainsi, alors que la population mondiale est de plus en plus urbaine, les conceptions classiques du declin urbain meritent d'etre reexaminees. Ce symposium inclut des articles de dix chercheurs travaillant sur trente villes a travers le monde. Ils appartiennent au Shrinking Cities International Research Netwok (SCIRN), dont le travail collectif a pour objectif d'analyser differents types de decroissance urbaine et le role que les multiples approches, politiques et strategies ont joue dans la regeneration des villes touchees par ce processus. Ce numero s'appuie sur une diversite d'approches et sur l'etude de contextes urbains varies, ayant pour point commun d'etre concernes par les enjeux de la decroissance urbaine. Il permet de diffuser les resultats des recherches menees au sein du SCIRN au cours des trois dernieres annees.

570 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present the results of pioneering work designed to overcome these problems by combining cross-sectional census data with spatially reaggregated longitudinal census data (the Longitudinal Study).
Abstract: The use of aggregate data to understand the linkages between gentrification and displacement has been considered problematic because of a lack of refinement or closeness to the nature of these processes as well as lacking the ability to 'track' displacees. This paper presents the results of pioneering work designed to overcome these problems by combining cross-sectional census data with spatially re-aggregated longitudinal census data (the Longitudinal Study). Using established approaches to measure gentrification, via proxy measures, and devising others for its potential displacees, the work demonstrates a displacement effect clustered around gentrified wards. Attempts are made to quantify flows of displacement relative to city-wide changes over the decade. The paper concludes that, although replacement and displacement are difficult to distinguish, displacement appears prevalent for certain groups and this requires further research initiatives to explore a process that is socially and psychologically ha...

399 citations

Book
01 Aug 2003
TL;DR: This chapter maps out the middle classes in a global city and makes sense of 21st century gentrification.
Abstract: Chapter 1 Marking out the middle classes in a global city Chapter 2 Gentrification: a middle-cass coping strategy? Chapter 3 Spatial and strategic middle-class activity in the City Chapter 4 Mapping the neighbourhoods Chapter 5 A Class in and for itself? Chapter 6 Home and household Chapter 7 Children, schooling and social reproduction Chapter 8 Making sense of 21st century gentrification Chapter 9 Conclusions Bibliography

373 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: New-build gentrification has been the subject of renewed attention of late as discussed by the authors, with a new questioning of whether this, or any, contemporary form of gentrification produces significant displacement concerns.
Abstract: New-build gentrification has been the subject of renewed attention of late. The impetus was Lambert and Boddy, who asserted that inner-city new-build developments in British city centres should not be viewed as a form of gentrification. While the term has long been generally accepted, Lambert and Boddy, and, more recently, Boddy, argue that the demographic transformations stimulated by city centre new-build developments are relatively innocuous. They do not cause population displacement, and are not associated with the rent-hike and eviction processes of gentrification proper. Indeed, within a move to rethink the workings and consequences of gentrification more generally (e.g. Butler), there has been a new questioning of whether this, or any, contemporary form of gentrification produces significant displacement concerns. In this paper, we address these new debates. We begin by tracing the histories of new-build gentrification, highlighting its long-standing presence, and then we move on to look at its trajectories, focusing our lens on London to demonstrate the diversity and complexity of this process in just one city. We outline the presence of displacement – both direct and indirect – as a complex and nuanced process (not just a spatial moment), but one that has nevertheless had a real-life impact on real people. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

325 citations