On communities size and remoteness: The attractiveness of small and remote communities in Iceland compared to the larger and more central ones

There are quite a few examples in Iceland of people living in
isolated and sparsely populated communities, both along the coastline and in
inland valleys. Those who live elsewhere, particularly in larger and more
successful communities, have sometimes maintained, or at least insinuated, that
those people must be trapped in their traditional environment. But can we be sure
of this? According to Roback (1982) people’s migrations and choices of
residence are influenced by amenity value and quality of life. It is a well-known
fact that we do not all have the same tastes, needs and wishes. Therefore, the
municipalities or individual communities within each country should differ, as
Tiebout (1956) argued. Such theories might, for example, indicate that a strong
desire or need for close proximity to a varied, wild and untouched natural
environment pulls people towards remote and sparsely populated communities
and prevents them from moving away.
In this article, we investigate the different wishes and priorities of people
inhabiting different regions in Iceland, focusing on residential conditions with
special emphasis on the difference between inhabitants of remote and sparsely
populated regions and those who live on the fringe of the capital area. The
analysis is based on data from a survey of more than 6,000 respondents
conducted in 2016 and 2017.