Social Monitoring Frankfurt Airport and Region (SFR)

Social monitoring observes the socio-spatial structure of the Rhine-Main region and its development in order to enable statements to be made about the socio-economic effects of Frankfurt Airport on its surrounding area. The aim is to show which economic, social and spatial participation conditions the population in the Rhine-Main region has and how the airport influences these structures.

For this purpose, settlement areas are observed on the basis of a limited number of indicators. The development of the indicators primarily takes into account data on the social structure, such as income and receipt of minimum security benefits, the social composition and migration of the population and its household structures, the participation of children and young people in education, employment in the place of work and residence according to sectors and quality of employment, building development and land use, the financial situation of the municipalities and the value added in cities and municipalities. The study focuses on questions about participation opportunities and risks of labour force participation in the municipalities, about changes in the composition of the resident population due to in-migration and out-migration as well as segregation tendencies in the region.

Area types are formed on the basis of meaningful indicators. These are merged with existing data on aircraft noise pollution, which were collected in the context of aircraft noise monitoring. The results then show whether noise pollution and disadvantaged socio-economic living conditions are concentrated in the same areas or distributed independently of each other.

As part of in-depth socio-spatial analyses in selected areas, expert discussions are held with the municipalities and communities included in the social monitoring, in particular on the data on inner-city sub-areas. In this in-depth investigation, the statistical area descriptions are compared with perceptions and assessments on the ground. In addition, group discussions - so-called focus groups - will be conducted with selected persons, in which the intended survey instruments will be examined.

Finally, interviews with residents will be conducted in order to record the effects of settlement patterns and air traffic connections on the quality of life of the population. For this purpose, sub-areas will be selected that represent the different socio-economic area types but differ in their noise exposure. This will answer questions about the perception of the airport and aircraft noise, the perceived quality of life as well as motives for choosing a place to live and intentions to move away.

The project will thus develop the basis for monitoring communities and sub-areas according to a common regional approach, with a focus on the influence of the airport. The aim is that, based on the results of the project, regular monitoring can be introduced which, as an instrument of communal social planning, provides an information basis for decisions of communal social policy and urban development planning.

The client of the social monitoring is the Environment and Neighbourhood House, a subsidiary of the State of Hesse and managing actor in the Forum Airport and Region (FFR). The project is being carried out in cooperation with the Sociological Research Institute Göttingen (SOFI) e.V. and the Bochum University of Applied Sciences.

Further information on social monitoring can be found on the Internet at www.sozialmonitoring.de.