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Places with perceived high environmental quality and distinctive culture are globally attracting amenity migrants. Today this societal driving force is particularly manifest in mountain areas, and while beneficial for both the new comers and locals, is also threatening highland ecologies and their human communities. This book describes and analyses the challenges and opportunities of amenity migration and its management, and offers related recommendations.The book's chapters cover the subject through case studies at international, regional and local levels, along with overarching themes such as environmental sustainability and equity, mountain recreation users, housing, and spiritual motivation. A crucial issue addressed is the relationship of amenity migration to tourism, and migration motivated by economic gain. The introduction and concluding chapters bring all of the information and analyses together strategically, summarising in a manner of theoretical and practical value for both academics and practitioners.

Rural amenity migration, or the relocation for quality of life purposes as opposed to monetary enhancement, has been occurring for decades and has been particularly pronounced in the American West where the phenomenon peaked in the 1990s. Researchers have illustrated that some places are more attractive for migrants than others and that certain regional amenities hold considerable influence on where migrants relocate. Increased migration levels typically result in increased economic growth indicators, making amenity migration an attractive rural development strategy. But comprehensive econometric analysis focused on amenity migration in the American West has been lacking. To address this, we conducted an econometric analysis of attributes that influenced migration to rural Western counties from 1980 to 2010. Over 20 potential amenity supply categories were collated for 356 rural counties from 11 Western states, with a focus on public lands. Descriptive statistics and OLS regressions were estimated and interpreted. Traditional amenities of climate, water area, and regional access were highly associated with migration levels, while designated natural amenities of Wilderness and National Monuments were the most influential public lands for migration to rural Western counties. Farming and oil and gas dependency were negatively associated with migration levels. Increasing the amount of protected areas, and branding campaigns based on natural amenities, can be a critical development strategy for rural communities.

Using a hedonic property price approach, we estimate the amenity value associated with proximity to habitats, designated areas, domestic gardens and other natural amenities in England. There is a long tradition of studies looking at the effect of environmental amenities and disamenities on property prices. But, to our knowledge, this is the first nationwide study of the value of proximity to a large number of natural amenities in England. We analysed 1 million housing transactions over 1996–2008 and considered a large number of environmental characteristics. Results reveal that the effects of many of these environmental variables are highly statistically significant, and are quite large in economic magnitude. Gardens, green space and areas of water within the census ward all attract a considerable positive price premium. There is also a strong positive effect from freshwater and flood plain locations, broadleaved woodland, coniferous woodland and enclosed farmland. Increasing distance to natural amenities such as rivers, National Parks and National Trust sites is unambiguously associated with a fall in house prices. Our preferred regression specifications control for unobserved labour market and other geographical factors using Travel to Work Area fixed effects, and the estimates are fairly insensitive to changes in specification and sample. This provides some reassurance that the hedonic price results provide a useful representation of the values attached to proximity to environmental amenities in England. Overall, we conclude that the housing market in England reveals substantial amenity value attached to a number of habitats, designations, private gardens and local environmental amenities.

Rural communities throughout the post-industrial world are in the midst of a significant transition, sometimes referred to as rural restructuring, as traditional land uses, economic activities, and social arrangements transition to those associated with \"post-productivist\" or \"multifunctional\" landscapes. Amenity migration, the movement of people based on the draw of natural and/or cultural amenities, can be thought of as both driver and implication of this transition, resulting in significant changes in the ownership, use, and governance of rural lands, as well as in the composition and socioeconomic dynamics of rural communities. In concert with other social, economic and political processes, amenity migration is contributing to the fundamental transformation of rural communities throughout the world. This paper presents a review of the social science literature related to the concept of amenity migration, focusing on the ways in which it has been conceptualized, theorized, and documented by different communities of scholars. We then profile and summarize diverse perspectives on drivers and socioeconomic impacts, highlighting emerging challenges and opportunities related to this type of migration occurring at multiple scales and in multiple sites. The paper also identifies and discusses particular areas where further research is needed.

Many biodiversity-ecosystem services studies omit cultural ecosystem services (CES) or use species richness as a proxy and assume that more species confer greater CES value. We studied wildflower viewing, a key biodiversity-based CES in amenity-based landscapes, in Southern Appalachian Mountain forests and asked (i) How do aesthetic preferences for wildflower communities vary with components of biodiversity, including species richness?; (ii) How do aesthetic preferences for wildflower communities vary across psychographic groups?; and (iii) How well does species richness perform as an indicator of CES value compared with revealed social preferences for wildflower communities? Public forest visitors (n = 293) were surveyed during the summer of 2015 and asked to choose among images of wildflower communities in which flower species richness, flower abundance, species evenness, color diversity, and presence of charismatic species had been digitally manipulated. Aesthetic preferences among images were unrelated to species richness but increased with more abundant flowers, greater species evenness, and greater color diversity. Aesthetic preferences were consistent across psychographic groups and unaffected by knowledge of local flora or value placed on wildflower viewing. When actual wildflower communities (n = 54) were ranked based on empirically measured flower species richness or wildflower viewing utility based on multinomial logit models of revealed preferences, rankings were broadly similar. However, designation of hotspots (CES values above the median) based on species richness alone missed 27% of wildflower viewing utility hotspots. Thus, conservation priorities for sustaining CES should incorporate social preferences and consider multiple dimensions of biodiversity that underpin CES supply.

Walkability has been linked to quality of life in many ways. The Walk Score is one of several methodologies aimed at assisting people in evaluating walkability. Despite the validation of this method, the amenity schedule around the day and the occupancy percentage in each amenity are not included in the calculation of the Walk Score, resulting in reduced accuracy. The research aims to improve the Walk Score methodology by inserting the amenity schedule around the day and the occupancy percentage in each amenity in the calculating method of the walk score, as the amenities do not have the same occupancy throughout the day. The research proposes a new method to calculate the Walk Score according to the time and occupancy for each amenity at the residential neighborhood level in Egypt. The research uses Salam New City as a case study to apply the new method to a residential neighborhood using the Urban Modelling Interference (Umi) plugin. Finally, the research proposes the Walk Score Model of Salam New City to calculate the Walk Score around the day. The new Walk Score model helps urban planners improve urban space design and the distribution of amenities.

How cities can become more conducive to sustainable travel patterns is a pressing matter in urban research. In the built environment–travel literature, several features potentially promoting sustainable mobility remain under-researched. One concerns the precise role of local accessibility – in terms of the number, variety and specific types of amenities – in promoting the slow modes of walking and cycling and in reducing car use. Another is the possibility that the standard assumption of a linear relationship between density and (un)sustainable travel is flawed. To fill these gaps, we explore specific local amenity supply types that stimulate a large share of residents to walk or cycle, avoiding long drives, to accomplish their daily activities. In a case study of the Västra Götaland region in Sweden, we analyse a combination of high-quality micro data from registers and the national travel survey using a stepwise statistical approach. We find evidence of non-linear discontinuities and significant geographical variation in how local accessibility affects travel behaviour. While more neighbourhood amenities contribute to more walking/cycling, the effect of establishing additional amenities varies amongst neighbourhood types and travel variables. Local everyday services, for example, grocery stores and preschools, are critical in triggering change. The findings inform urban planning by showing how a basic supply of essential amenities could contribute to better prerequisites for walking or cycling and reduced car dependence by inducing residents to choose local options. 城市如何为绿色出行模式创造有利的环境，这是城市研究中的一个紧迫问题。在建筑环境—出行文献中，几个潜在能促进绿色出行的特征仍未得到充分研究。其中一个问题是，当地无障碍设施（数量、种类和特定类型的便利设施等方面）在推广步行和骑行模式以及减少汽车使用方面的确切作用。另一个问题时，密度和绿色/非绿色出行之间线性关系的标准假设可能是有缺陷的。为了填补这些空白，我们研究了一些具体的当地便利设施类型，这些类型可以刺激大量居民在日常活动中步行或骑行并避免长时间驾车。透过瑞典西约塔兰省 (Västra Götaland) 的一个案例研究，我们使用逐步统计方法分析了来自各种登记资料和全国旅游调查的高质量微观数据组合。在当地可达性对出行行为的影响方面，我们发现了非线性不连续性和显著的地理变化的证据。虽然更多的街区便利设施有助于实现更多的步行/骑行，但建设额外便利设施的效果因街区类型和出行变量而异。当地的日常服务（例如杂货店和幼儿园）在引发变化方面至关重要。我们的研究结果表明，基本生活设施的供应有助于改善步行或骑行的先决条件，并通过引导居民选择本地选项来减少对汽车的依赖。这些研究结果为城市规划提供了参考。

One out of three people in India is urban. In 2011, there were about 53 urban agglomerations larger than 1 million population as against only 35 in 2001. Much of this urban expansion has been occurring in the country’s largest metropolises including the National Capital Territory of Delhi which has expanded horizontally and vertically both. This has also added to overall decline in its already dilapidated housing stock and quality of life. Delhi, a historical hub for regional, national, and international commerce, and a place for the socio-political elites, has failed to provide basic life amenities to its average citizens. This research critiques the (un)sustainable elements of Delhi’s urbanization and concomitant decline in basic amenities pertaining to quality-of-life by examining the growth and expansion of its urban-built-up areas during 2001–2011–2020 and provides nuanced insights into its ‘livability’ by examining select quality-of-life attributes. The LANDSAT imageries for 2010 and 2020 are used to measure NDB-Index that assesses its built-up area and change, which are later corroborated with Census household data to examine change in its ‘livable’ and ‘dilapidated’ housing structures. Significant sub-regional disparity exists in the availability of good and livable homes, with almost 20–30% of several districts still without drinking water source inside premises. However, significant progress is also noted for basic amenities like lighting, latrine and bathing facilities, and majority of Delhi’s built-up area has expanded along newer developments and transportation corridors. This calls for goal-oriented strategic interventions by policymakers to help achieve the SDG-11 on Sustainable Cities.

This article brings together the concepts of shrinking cities—the hundreds of cities worldwide experiencing long-term population loss—and ecology for the city. Ecology for the city is the application of a social–ecological understanding to shaping urban form and function along sustainable trajectories. Ecology for the shrinking city therefore acknowledges that urban transformations to sustainable trajectories may be quite different in shrinking cities as compared with growing cities. Shrinking cities are well poised for transformations, because shrinking is perceived as a crisis and can mobilize the social capacity to change. Ecology is particularly well suited to contribute solutions because of the extent of vacant land in shrinking cities that can be leveraged for ecosystem-services provisioning. A crucial role of an ecology for the shrinking city is identifying innovative pathways that create locally desired amenities that provide ecosystem services and contribute to urban sustainability at multiple scales.