Beyond Residential Segregation: Mobility-Based Connectedness and Rates of Violence in Large Cities

Abstract

A longstanding finding is that neighborhood racial segregation is linked to violence. In this paper, we look beyond neighborhoods of residence to consider the everyday mobility of urbanites in their daily rounds. Analyzing estimates of neighborhood mobility from largescale social media data in the 50 largest American cities, we find that residential segregation by race is not only associated with higher violence but also lower equitability of travel across neighborhoods and a lower concentration of visits to common hubs. Further, the interaction of equitable and concentrated mobility is significantly associated with rates of violence, controlling for both racial and income segregation, education, city size, and density. There is little evidence, however, that patterns of everyday mobility mediate the influence of residential racial segregation. Both dimensions of the structural connectedness of cities—one rooted in place of residence, and the other encompassing interneighborhood exposure based on travel throughout the metropolis—are implicated in violence.