Residential conditions and Quality of Life among locals and immigrants in two Norwegian neighbourhoods

Abstract

The housing circumstances and neighbourhood aspects (residential conditions) under which an individual lives can influence his/her Quality of Life. Residential conditions are considered a significant indicator of Quality of Life and well-being. Identifying the residential conditions under which the population lives in Norway is a concept worthy of attention due to its position on worldwide Quality of Life indexes. More specifically, and due to the Norwegian migrant situation, the interest not only relies on how residential conditions influences Quality of Life but if this impact is different among the local and immigrant population. As in many European countries, migration has been one of the main justifications of development, change and transformation of urban areas in Norway, a factor of urban and social transformation, specifically since the 60s, and more attenuated during the last decade. Two urban neighbourhoods are selected due to their high share of immigrants (20%): Storhaug (in Stavanger) and Grünerløkka (in Oslo). While Storhaug and Grünerløkka differ in terms of demography, dimension, housing layout, physical and environmental aspects, and transport infrastructure, local and immigrant residents have been interviewed in both neighbourhoods (238 participants in total) and these populations groups are being compared. This study considers the neighbourhood level as the most optimum scale to carry out this research, being more adequate for collecting data of residents living in the study areas as well as for carrying out a spatial registration within certain limits. To achieve an understanding of the influence of residential conditions on both population groups, the following research question is explored: How do residential conditions affect perceived Quality of Life for local and immigrant populations in Storhaug and Grünerløkka? Objective and subjective information has been gathered to obtain a complete framework of the residential conditions of the research areas, together with participant’s satisfaction with certain dimensions, i.e., physical, mobility, social and psychological. This PhD dissertation focuses on urban, social and environmental issues where a compound of different methodologies are applied: spatial analysis, questionnaires, desktop research, GIS and statistical analysis. Among the different methodologies, this dissertation enforces and develop subjective mapping as a method for linking activities and place perceptions to spatial and physical referents. It enables us to be responsive to people’s needs when studying at a neighbourhood level and combining objective and subjective components. This research determines that certain housing and neighbourhood conditions can impact on perceived Quality of Life. It identifies that the immigrant population lives under worse residential conditions than Norwegians do, despite living in the same neighbourhood, i.e., they are less satisfied with their residences, their neighbourhood conditions and their Quality of Life in general. However, when comparing results in Storhaug and Grünerløkka, results show that the perceived Quality of Life among the participants is similar in both research areas, despite their different demographic, physical and environmental characteristics. Results are expected to help Norwegian authorities respond to new developments and concerns, to provide a setting where governments can compare policy experiences, seek answers to demographic and urban problems, identify good practise within urban domains and work to co-ordinate domestic and international policies.