The Spatial Dynamics of Neighborhood Inequality in the 21st Century Metropolis

Gregory K. Sharp, Pennsylvania State University

Neighborhood inequality, in terms of concentrated affluence and concentrated poverty, has been steadily increasing over time in urban areas. Using the index of concentration at the extremes (ICE), researchers have demonstrated the relationship between neighborhood inequality and a variety of outcomes. This study uses Census data from 2000 and the American Community Survey for 2005-2009 to explore patterns of neighborhood inequality in Chicago across time and space. Applying methods of exploratory spatial data analysis and spatial regression analysis, I examine the extent to which spatial effects in neighborhood inequality exist, and account for these effects in spatial models that assess how changes in Chicago’s neighborhood structural characteristics influence changes in neighborhood inequality. Preliminary results for 2000 illustrate the presence of spatial patterning in the ICE, and validate the importance of fitting spatial lag models for revealing diffusion processes of social behavior across artificial boundaries, such as census tracts.