Professional and managerial migration from core to periphery: the case of English migration to Scottish cities

The population of English-born persons living in Scotland has risen rapidly since 1971. The dynamics of the group are theorised in this paper relative to the escalator region hypothesis, in terms of the role of professional and managerial staff linking global cities with lower-order urban centres within their hinterland. A hierarchical log-linear modelling approach is taken in explaining the highly structured geography of English migration to Scotland's four largest urban centres. Links between place of birth, recent mobility, social class and car ownership are explored. It is argued that service class migration by the English to Scottish cities is representative of a much wider process found in other countries where economic and political integration has stimulated parallel types of skilled migration from core to peripheral urban locations.