Counterurbanisation: why settled families move out of the city again

After decades of massive family suburbanisation, we have observed a steady increase in family households in various European capitals, including Amsterdam. Currently, the number of Amsterdam families is still increasing, however the number of families leaving the city is also growing and again on the rise. How can we explain this change, particularly for settled families that used to avoid outmigration? Empirical results are obtained from a qualitative study of urban middle class parents with children of primary school age who have recently moved out of Amsterdam. The results reveal that the shortage in the supply of family housing at a reasonable price for all families is the prime incentive to move. Underneath shared financial argumentations, however, we can distinguish three types of families that have specific motivations to move: pragmatic movers, displaced families and happy movers. The motivations to move are strongly related to different parental narratives of a ‘good childhood environment’. The results reveal further that the current displacement patterns are not only class-driven but include highly educated double-income family households. This paper ends with a short discussion of how to prevent cities from becoming homogeneous, rich non-family places.