Geographic Mobility in the Detroit Metropolitan Area (Michigan).

This is a study of the characteristics and the motivations of people moving within and away from the Detroit, Michigan, metropolitan area (defined as Macomb, Oakl and , and Wayne Counties). Census data document changes in the size and characteristics of the city and suburb populations since 1950. The selective nature of migration streams leaving the city and the suburbs is examined. The bulk of the analysis uses survey data to investigate five (not mutually exclusive) mobility streams: moving at all, leaving the metropolitan area, leaving Michigan, moving from Detroit to the suburbs, and leaving Detroit. The mobility streams are defined using questions on intention to move for 2,499 respondents from the Detroit Area Study, 1978-1981. The main analysis techniques are cross tabulations and logit regression analysis. Three groups of variables are found to be related to mobility. Economic variables affect long distance moves; people move to take advantage of better job opportunities in other labor markets. The group of race related variables suggest that some mobility, particularly mobility out of the city of Detroit, is motivated by whites' desires not to live near blacks. The group of community ties variables affects both long distance and local mobility. These variables represent the attachments to a particular location. Reluctance to break such attachments strongly inhibits mobility. The study also demonstrates that instead of an integrated unit, the Detroit metropolitan area has become increasingly differentiated on the dimensions of residence and race. Many suburb residents have very little contact with the city itself. Within Detroit, black residents are more likely than white residents to have a positive attitude about the city and to spend leisure time there.Ph.D.DemographyUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/159773/1/8402317.pd