The METROmosaic project is funded by the CARIPLO Foundation within the XNUMX Call for proposal "Social and Humanistic Research for a changing society", as part of the strategic objective "Demographic challenges: experimenting with new responses for a changing society".

The METROmosaic project has a duration of 30 months and involves 4 research units: CNR-IRPPS, Politecnico di Milano(PI Alessandro Coppola), Sapienza University of Rome and Bicocca University of Milan.

METROmosaic aims to explore the main current and emerging drivers and patterns of households' residential mobility and their complex impacts on socio-spatial diversity, inequality and cohesion at a variety of scales and in a variety of local contexts in the urban regions of Milan and Rome.

METROmosaic intends to bridge a knowledge gap with respect to the phenomenon of residential mobility – or intra-urban mobility – allowing:

(i) to build a picture of the evolution of the phenomenon over the last twenty years in Rome and Milan urban regions;
(ii) to investigate the drivers of residential choices at a macro, meso and micro levels;
(iii) to study the social and demographic effects of residential mobility at the local level;
(iv) to consider the future scenarios of residential mobility, also in light of the effects of the pandemic on the settlement attitudes of families.
These aspects are analysed, considering some elements that distinguish "metropolitan mosaics" in different urban regions, such as the differences in the models and determinants of residential mobility dictated by ethnicity.

The CNR-IRPPS research unit is specifically engaged in the following activities:

– systematic review of the literature on the subject of "intra-urban residential mobility";
– collection, organization and harmonization of stock and flow databases relating to the urban regions of Rome and Milan;
– analysis and identification of settlement patterns and residential mobility in the two urban regions;
– definition of a taxonomy of neighbourhoods/municipalities in the two urban regions based on residential mobility trends and the socio-economic characteristics of the areas;
– planning and organization of a Survey on the reasons for the residential mobility of residents in the two urban regions;
– planning, organization and execution of a qualitative study on the decision-making processes of the population with a migration background in Rome.