Richard Florida, an urban studies theorist and best known for his concept on the creative class, points to a new study by the geographer Elizabeth Delmelle. Her study takes a detailed look at how American cities and their neighborhoods have changed in the last decades. It is mostly a data-driven study that identifies types of American neighborhoods, the changes they faced and in which types of neighborhoods predominate in different metros.
Delmelle’s study focussed on grouping neighboorhoods by type in fifty of the U.S.’ largest metros, using advanced clustering and mapping algorithms. 18 key variables were identified as drivers for neighboorhood change between 1980 and 2010, this includes race, housing type along with other socioeconomic conditions.
As our perception on urban neighborhoods is often overshadowed by news of rapid gentrification processes, this study points out something different. Surprisingly, the most common identified neighborhood type is one that has experienced limited change. The study took all the data to match types of neighborhoods in metros. Some types are more prominent in metros or metros are dominated by a particular combination of neighborhood types – ultimately the study identifies seven groups of metros based on the trajectories of their neighborhood change.
Richard Florida points out the value of the neighborhood study lying in the visualisation of trends that are shaping U.S. metropolitan areas. It points out concentrations of socioeconomic disparities of people which signals “the perpetuation of clusters of concentrated racial advantage and disadavantage.”
CityLab
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