Ethnic Community Development: A Spatial Examination

Abstract

: In terms of spatial distribution, ethnic community development is affected by the ethnic group's unique socioeconomic and ethnic charateristics, as well as the urban structure within which it forms. The different, but important, role each of these variables plays cannot be documented easily. Therefore, studies on the internal and external diversity of ethnic communities face serious limitations. The study reported here illustrates the difficulty in understanding the residential distribution of certain immigrants and presents a technique which can rectify this problem. Using this methodology, the residential distribution of Russians, Iranians, Koreans, and Vietnamese in Los Angeles and Orange counties is analylzed. Significant spatial differences are revealed when socioeconomic and ethnicity factors are considered.