Dissertation by Thomas Niedomysl, IBF and Department of Social and Economic Geography, Uppsala University:

Migration and Place Attractiveness

Geografiska regionstudier NR 68.

What is it that makes some places appear more attractive than others to live in? Does it depend on the particular characteristics or situation of the persons considering the attractiveness, in what phase of life the persons find themselves in, or are there some common features, perhaps place characteristics that are viewed positively by all, independently of context? The present thesis sets out to examine place attractiveness from a migration perspective.

In six self-contained papers place attractiveness and migration in Sweden is examined. The two first papers look at Swedish municipalities' place marketing campaigns to attract new residents, discussing whether these campaigns are successful or not. The third paper explores the effects of tourism on migration, whereas the fourth examines migration motives more generally. The fifth paper focuses on residential preferences by exploring what place attributes people would consider important in case of migration. In the sixth and final paper a conceptual framework is presented in order to facilitate a better understanding of place attractiveness.s