The global urbanization driven by the rise of young professionals has resulted in the emerging solo living trend. In addition to this, it has been highlighted four fundamental socio-demographic drivers for the trend: the issue of marriage, economic instability and women’s economic power, and value changes in the society. One of the reasons for the increase in living alone is the decline of marriage. It is natural that a number of one person households will increase when people of the typically marriageable age avoid or postpone a wedding. The rate of marriage has declined particularly in industrial societies, regarded as a significant demographic social change of our time (Mason and Jensen, 1995, Lesthaeghe, 1995). In the case of the US, the annual rate of marriage among women aged 15 to 44 began to decrease significantly since 1970 (Goldstein and Kenney, 2001), and the number of newly married adults was 4.21 million in 2011 – a much lower than the 4.51 million estimated in 2008 (Fry, 2014).
Marriage is gradually being replaced by one-person households or cohabitation, and this tendency is expected to continue in the near future (Fry, 2014, Davis, 1983).
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This phenomenon of avoiding marriage and living alone is globally dominant in urban areas, and it seems to be highly associated with the rise of young professional people in city centres.
According to Klinenberg (2012), the rate of avoiding marriage is higher in cities of advanced countries in 2011, e.g. 48% for Washington DC and 30% for London. Furthermore, according to Davos International Economic Forum in 2008, the number of highly educated single person households is increasing worldwide, and especially 20-30 year old single women are the new main subject of culture and consumption (Byun, 2010). Thus, the increase in professional women singletons is highly related to the rising rate of unmarried women in the urban area.
The second driver for being a singleton in the city centre is economic instability. As seen in the characteristics of young professionals, they tend to prefer to choose solo living. However, many the young professionals are forced to choose the solo life by negative economic circumstances (Lewis, 2005). Since the economic crisis occurred after Subprime incident in US of 2008, many North America, Asian countries, and Europe experienced a great recession (Giannone et al., 2011, Eaton et al., 2011). These kinds of economic problems lead to decreasing number of jobs, lower wages, and unemployment (Rothstein, 2011). It is actually hard for many young marriageable adults to prepare a wedding on their own and to buy a house (Bell and Blanchflower, 2011, Schaller, 2013). In this economically pressured situation, therefore, the young professionals tend to avoid or postpone marriage, then to choose a lifestyle of solo dwelling.
Thirdly, emerging women’s economic power is also important driver to increasing solo living
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households. The increase in women’s economic independence is related to the rise in living alone (Falkingham et al., 2012). In the past, women’s economic dependency on men was more common because most women could not afford to live alone. However, the rise in women’s economic participation in society and enhanced relative incomes has given rise to decrease economic returns to wedding (Becker, 1981). According to Leong (2012), in modern society people tend to be looking for a partner who has similar socioeconomic status. The traditional
“Cinderella story” has been replaced by a story more akin to Sex and the City – instead of waiting for a prince to save them, proficient and self- sufficient females are now enjoying their single life (Leong, 2012). Therefore, the rise of women’s socioeconomic status causes the rate of living alone in the city to increase.
Finally, in addition to the rise of women’s economic power, their value change on roles and lifestyle in the society is a significant driver behind the decrease in marriage and the increase in living alone. Women’s liberation, individualization and post-materialism have caused the increase in living alone and the delay of marriage (Van de Kaa, 1987, Lesthaeghe, 1995).
Researchers claim that in the modern society, marriageable people tend to postpone and avoid a wedding because of the perceived economic burden and loss of individual freedom when they get married. Klinenberg (2013) argues that due to the prevalent cult of individuality, more people are avoiding marriage all around the world. Another commentator also claims that the marriage culture is disappearing fast and free relationships through cohabitation are becoming the normal culture in some Europe countries such as the UK and Sweden (Raley, 2001). Also, women’s liberation supported by their economic independence makes them less susceptible to
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pressure from nursing and housework, and be able to pursue careers. They could choose to marry and have children when they want, and even divorce should they want (Heller, 2012).
Therefore, the rise of women’s freedom in the marriage culture and the decline in marriage inspired by ideational changes such as individualization and self-actualization have naturally caused the single living atmosphere.
To sum up, the rise of young professional single person households is one of the major demographic trends in global city centres. It has been driven by both socio-demographic and economic drivers. The next section will explore important cultural issues in the city centre, which are highly related to the trends of city centre living and solo dwelling.