ABSTRACT
Environmental factors and the role of the neighbourhood have been widely discussed in the literature as factors fundamental in decisions leading to residential change. Early attempts to theorise or explain residential mobility, more generally, saw movement as a result of rational decisions based upon both personal and environmental factors (Rossi 1955). The ethnic cluster, or traditional area of core settlement, has been well documented in European literature; however, less has been written about the effects that these neighbourhoods and indeed personal differentials of those who live there have on forming residential choice. The literature has tended to focus more on the pull factors or advantages of the ethnic community and cultural facilities (Peach & Smith 1981; Sanders & Nee 1996; Aldrich, Cater, Jones & McEvoy 1981) or on the negative aspects of ethnic concentration in terms of its association with poverty and limited opportunities (Smith 1989; Schill 1992; Morris 1987; Peach 1992; Massey & Denton 1993; Phillips 1998) or with its role in preventing integration (Independent Review Team 2001; Home Office 2001). It has focused less on the ways in which the core as a dynamic neighbourhood creates an impetus, acting as a push, for some households to move. In this instance, the area of core settlement and the social network there were found to act as both a pull factor and, less commonly discussed, a push factor in influencing residential decisions.
