Sociological Analysis of Residential Mobility in Mashhad

Residential mobility is an important ecological mobility which, besides physical impacts, has contributed in shaping or reshaping of urban social milieus. The analyses of results related to a sample of 17510 households inhabiting in 40 regions of Mashhad indicates that 46.9 percent of them had experienced a residential relocation during a period of ten years, the maximum of which (62.8 percent) being inter-regional. In about half of the regions in Mashhad, the number of emigrants is greater than the number of immigrants. 61.8 percent of residential displacements in Mashhad has been horizontal, 16.4 percent downward vertical, and 21.8 percent upward vertical. Although five simultaneous structural features—that is, the amount of value resources, inequality of resources, social segregation, social diversity, and residential density—have been responsible for 64.9 percent of residential displacements, the impact of inequality of resources and social segregation has been greater than the other features.