Residential Sprawl in the Barcelona Metropolitan Region: Areas, Actors and Trends

This article focuses on residential sprawl in the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona (RMB) during the period 1996-2015 in order to account for the demographic impact caused by this phenomenon. This research takes as its starting point the analysis of residential mobility to low-density municipalities, considering its impact on the housing market, demographic structure and social composition. Municipalities with marked urban spread are identified according to lower net density and a higher percentage of isolated houses. The analysis is based on the calculation of residential mobility rates by age, rates of new construction according to building type, population growth, indicators of family structure and per capita income. Additional information from the Mobility Family Solidarity and Citizenship Survey in the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona, 2005 is also used. The results reveal the large residential attractiveness of disperse municipalities that weaken with the onset of the economic crisis. The incidence of immigration gives rise to equally intense construction rates that lead to unprecedented population growth, which profoundly modifies the population structure—rejuvenated by the arrival of young couples with small children— and transforms the social structure as a result of the arrival of a high percentage of middle- and high-income families. The conclusions reflect on the challenges faced by these municipalities undergoing rapid demographic change and on the future of the outgoing mobility to dispersed areas.