On the Individual and Social Determinants of Neighbourhood Satisfaction and Attachment

Abstract

Abstract\n This paper explores the personal and social determinants of individuals' perception of neighborhood quality. We put forward a framework that emphasizes the nexus between two distinct but correlated dimensions along which individuals evaluate their neighborhoods: satisfaction, which is traditionally viewed as a cognitive judgement based on the attainment of some standard or aspiration, and attachment, which relates to individuals' affective evaluations. Individual responses are assumed to depend on a number of endogenous, exogenous and contextual factors acting at the neighborhood level. We test our framework by means of bi-variate probit techniques, using data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). Endogenous effects captured by the average degrees of neighborhood satisfaction and attachment emerge as crucial determinants of individual responses. Importantly, we show that satisfaction and attachment display substantial correlation, thus suggesting that both criteria tap unobservable cognitive and affective aspects of perceived neighborhood quality.