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| THE ORIGIN, CONCEPTS AND RESEARCH PROGRESS OF FILTERING THEORY |
| TA Na1, CHAI Yan-wei1, LIU Zhi-lin2 |
1. Department of Urban and Economic Geography, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China;
2. School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China |
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Abstract The filtering theory indicates that when high income groups move out to new houses, the houses left behind by them filter down to lower income groups. In this constant dynamic shifting progress, residents filter up according to their social classes, as houses filter down. The core of the theory is housing units and households. Filtering results from the interaction of life-cycle trajectories of housing units and those of households. The progress is complex because it is the intersection of economic and social forces related to housing and households over time. There are active filtering and positive filtering in act. The mechanism of filtering contains three dimensions including "qualities of households and housing units", "command over resources" and "location in social and geographic space". These dimensions influence the function of active and positive filtering, and reflect the process and results of filtering. Filtering theory relates to economic, social, geographic and other different fields. The origin and development of the theory is a mutually reinforcing process of academic researches and practice in housing market. The concept of filtering first appeared in Britain in the mid-19th century, but the study and applications of the theory are carried out mainly in the USA. Researches on filtering are divided into two major streams. One began in the late 1940s, focusing on housing units based on economic theory and models. The other began in 1980s emphasizing on households concerning residential mobility. In this kind of researches, the demographic model of filtering process contributes to elaborate a perspective on social stratification, and combines filtering with social problems. The geographic perspective of filtering theory can be traced back to the sector model developed by Homer Hoyt in 1930s. From this point of view, the concept of filtering is of crucial significance, as it provides an explanation of the relationship between residential mobility and urban social spatial structure. Filtering theory has three important applications. The first is to provide suitable houses for low income groups and to improve their living conditions; the second is to explain spatial structure development at the micro and macro levels; the third refers to the analysis and interpretation of the housing market-related social problems.
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Received: 04 March 2010
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2011, Vol. 26 
