Places of Inequality, Places of Possibility: Mapping “Opportunity in Geography” Across Urban School-Communities

Abstract

For decades, research on geography of opportunity has indicated that where people live impacts their access to opportunities, especially education. Most research on geography of opportunity has focused on spatial inequality between low and high opportunity neighborhoods, which has unintentionally fostered narrow perspectives about low-opportunity neighborhoods that often obscure the assets within them. As such, the purpose of this study is to examine what I call opportunity in geography, which is a conceptual and research approach that reconsiders low-opportunity, urban communities of color as not only places of inequality, but also places of possibility. To illustrate the approach, this study uses Geographic Information Systems to map institutional assets across the two lowest opportunity neighborhoods in Detroit, Michigan, according to poverty and educational attainment rates. Asset-based community development is used to conceptually frame this study and to guide the analysis. Findings indicate that, collectively, the two lowest opportunity neighborhoods in Detroit have a total of 85 institutional assets, including: 48 places of worship, 19 schools at the K-12 level, 11 community centers, 4 hospitals, 2 libraries, and 1 university. The study concludes with a discussion about the tensions in this work as well as implications for policy and future research.