Residential Mobility during the Middle Period of Retirement: a Determining Spatial Frame Related to Local Social Structures

This article compares residential mobility at the middle of the retirement period with mobility observed at the beginning of retirement. The survey covers four specific sites in order to characterize the impact on the retirement mobility of rural versus urban settings, and of tourist places versus others. We examine the reasons given by 286 persons who moved between ages 55 and 84 and we then focus our discussion on retirees who moved between ages 70 and 84 to explore strategies at play in various settings. We also show that some mobility patterns are related to characteristics of the new living environment of retirees, both in terms of housing and of 'living space'. However, mobility patterns are not only influenced by the spatial context, but are also related to local social relations (family, friends, neighbourhood, etc.)