Mapping Connections between Neighborhoods in Response to Community-Based Social Needs

Abstract

Geographic proximity might not be the only factor influencing the connections between neighborhoods within the same city. Most likely, the community’s needs and behaviors play a role in facilitating or hindering any connections between these urban areas. Accordingly, relationships between communities may differ or be similar based on their respective characteristics. This paper aims to demonstrate that communities are close based on the needs they share, regardless of their ethnicity or geographic location. In this study, a time series analysis of neighborhoods’ needs is explored to gain a deeper understanding of the communities’ network. The study takes into account the co-occurrence of complaints/reports from residents regarding the same issue. The dataset was retrieved from the Boston Area Research Initiative (BARI) and the 311 system that describe the features of neighborhoods regarding non-emergency issues. Subsequently, the connection between neighborhoods in the City of Boston was analyzed using a mixture of PCA, K-means, association rule mining, and a network creation tool. Moreover, clustering coefficients and degrees of centrality were used as significant factors in identifying the members of groups and marking crucial nodes in the network. A series of graphs were generated to show how the neighborhoods are linked based on their socioeconomic concerns. The results prove that even geographically disconnected neighborhoods within Boston have similar social needs, despite their distance from one another. Furthermore, it revealed that some neighborhoods can act as linking bridges for other neighborhoods, while others may be isolated within the network graph. This study has increased awareness of urban aspects. The authorities may consider other dimensions than the traditional ones regarding neighborhood development and addressing problems. Finally, it helps to identify common characteristics between neighborhoods, which facilitates the policy making process.