Natural amenity-driven segregation: Evidence from location choices in French metropolitan areas

•Conditional and mixed logit models are estimated in two metropolitan areas.•Preferences for natural amenities differ by households' size and social status.•Simulations show a significant impact of natural amenities on segregation.

Casual observation and numerous studies in economics and psychology suggest that households care about the natural environment of their living places. This paper investigates the role played by natural amenities in the formation of segregated residential patterns with respect to household size and socio-professional status. We estimate residential location choice models for large household samples in two metropolitan areas in France: Grenoble in the Alps, and Marseille on the Mediterranean coast. In a second step, we perform counterfactual segregation analysis using Monte Carlo simulations, to compare segregation outcomes “with” and “without” preferences for natural amenities. Our main result is that households' search for natural amenities has significant impacts on residential segregation. It most often contributes to strengthening segregation, but can also be a factor attenuating segregation.