Urban Agglomerations and Demographic Mobility: The Case of Campinas, Brazil

Abstract

This paper analyzes the complexity of the migratory dynamics of a large urban agglomeration. This complexity can be seen both in the different types of movements involved and in the individual and collective characteristics of the migrants themselves, as well as in the structural elements that may affect them. Based on data from a household survey for the metropolitan area of Campinas (RMC) held in 2007 and from the 2010 Demographic Census, we examine the residential mobility characteristics in many dimensions, especially in terms of the characteristics and motivations of the actors involved. Even with the reduction of external migration into the region, we can identify the existence of a significant potential of internal population redistribution due to people mobility within the RMC. Nevertheless, unlike other metropolitan areas, external migration to a large extent still flows directly into the periphery within this region. The analysis of the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of moving (and not moving) people suggests the existence of a coherence between what we would expect to observe for a migration conditioned by the economic factor and the RMC's positioning in the national and São Paulo state scenarios, as well as by the region´s process of production of space. The selectivity of migrants, in general, and of intrametropolitan migrants, in particular, suggests different motivations according to which, though still not dominant, the housing issue arises as a significant matter. The study also shows that, contrary to what was observed in the past, the metropolitan periphery has been diversifying and incorporating more and more high-income individuals and families.

Keywords:
Internal migration; Intrametropolitan migration; Residential mobility; Motivation for migration; Metropolitan Area of Campinas-Brazil