Population Dynamics in Dudelange

Présenté par : Bonomi Bezzo (University of Milan and INED)) ; Discutant : Lionel Kesztenbaum (INED)

We study the consequences of a big wave of economic-led migration across 150 years and the extent to which it modifies urban dynamics and characteristics at the population level. We look in particular at the installation of a new steel factory in 1872 in Dudelange (Luxembourg), which led to the development of a new industrial sector and reconfiguration of the entire economic structure of the city. We exploit genealogical data across 150 years (from the 1800 to 1950) and use social network analysis to assess, in the first place, changes to the city dynamics and relationships. We find that that the opening of the steel factory brought a shock to the urban population dynamics. We observe a sharp increase in population number but it seems like the city network becomes less homogeneous, more “connected” at its core and more “fragmented” at its borders. Nonetheless, such shock does not last over time and is gradually reabsorbed, as in the 1950 the characteristics and the level of integration of the urban network come back to pre-factory opening levels. In a second step, we explore the characteristics of those who are more central, in different ways, to the network at the different time points. We use as outcomes three measures of network centrality and study the extent to which parental country of birth (ethnicity) and industrial sector and social class all contribute to make individuals more central or not. Overall, Dudelange passed from being an agriculture-based to an industrial-based society. This was reflected in the urban network of actors, as those whose ethnic background and economic activity represent the interests of the time seem to be more central to the city’s social structure at each time point.