Neighborhood Change Research Articles

Do disasters provide an opportunity for regional development and change the societal trend of impacted communities?: Case study on the 1995 Kobe earthquake

Extreme natural events have a significant impact on communities. Post-disaster demographic changes can be an indicator of societal changes in communities. These changes in communities would differ reflecting the societal situation of the pre-event, even though the impact of damage and reconstruction projects is similar. However, it is still not clear what societal changes are specifically caused by disasters and thus are distinguishable from general changes. This study conducted a case study of the 1995 Kobe Earthquake and assessed the variations in impacts on regional demographics through comparisons with other regions with similar neighborhood characteristics. This study set out with three tasks: (1) to quantitatively classify neighborhood characteristics across Japan; (2) compare the demographics of the damaged area with those of others; and (3) assess the relationship between damage, demographics, and housing investments in affected areas. The results of the analysis show that an event concentrated neighborhood changes and facilitated them in heavily damaged areas, based on preexisting demands. This implies that the disaster in Kobe (1995), did not create new development demand and suggests that reconstruction after disasters should not be considered a development opportunity to accelerate regional growth but is actually dealing with preexisting demands.

Neighborhood Change and Gentrification Near Three Urban Trails

This paper describes changes in indicators of gentrification in neighborhoods adjacent to recently opened multiuse trails in three US cities. We hypothesize changes are greater in abutting Census Block Groups (CBGs) than in CBGs further from the trails and use a case-control, pre-post design to report changes in gentrification status and related indicators three years after opening. We provide evidence of gentrification near each trail, but in two cases the majority of gentrifiable CBGs in treatment groups remained gentrifiable after three years. Rates and degree of gentrification associated with new trails differ depending on context.

The Role of Natio‐Ethno‐Cultural Difference in Narratives of Neighbourhood Change – An Arrival Area in the East German Context

AbstractThe article investigates the representations and perceptions of an arrival neighbourhood in the broader context of an urban society with a post‐socialist migration history. The study is situated in the East German city of Leipzig, which is characterised by a particular dynamic demographic development and a newly emerging plurality through immigration. By juxtaposing public media coverage about the neighbourhood and subjective perspectives of migrant homeowners and entrepreneurs, the paper approaches societal inclusions and exclusions that take effect through attributions of ‘natio‐ethno‐cultural difference’. The media and individual‐subjective narratives around the neighbourhood referring to the differentiated logics in dealing with migration reflect power hierarchies on different scales and are linked with the national East‐West relation.

Neighborhood poverty, allostatic load, and changes in cellular aging in African American young adults: the moderating role of attachment

ABSTRACT Attachment experiences are thought to contribute to physical health across the lifespan. Evidence suggests that attachment style may serve as a protective factor for individuals’ physical health by mitigating the negative effects of social and environmental risk factors. In the present study, we evaluated how attachment styles may moderate the link between African American adolescents’ exposure to neighborhood poverty and accelerated cellular aging in young adulthood. Analyses revealed that allostatic load at age 19 mediated the association between neighborhood poverty in adolescence and changes in cellular aging from age 20 to 27. Notably, attachment avoidance (but not attachment anxiety) moderated this association, such that allostatic load was only associated with faster cellular aging for individuals who were high in avoidance. These findings suggest that allostatic load may give rise to faster cellular aging, but these detrimental effects of allostatic load can be offset by young adults’ effective use of attachment figures.

Face Recognition with Local High-Order Principal Direction Pattern Based on “Gradient Face”

<p indent="0mm">Pointing to weak robustness caused by the noise sensitivity and feature redundancy of present face recognition methods with high-order features, a new method of the local high-order principal direction pattern based on “gradient face” is proposed. Firstly, the gradient face convolution operator designed is used to compute the sum of multi-directional gradient components of pixels to construct a gradient face. Then, the principal direction grouping strategy is introduced on the gradient face to characterize its high-order derivative features, and a principal direction feature map is formed according to the feature code of high-order derivatives direction changes in local neighborhood. Finally, block statistics and cascading of histogram features are made a vector to be input in to a support vector machine for multi-classification. Experimental results of several public face databases show that the proposed method is robust to changes in illumination, expression, and facial occlusion and has higher recognition efficiency.

Conceptualising gentrification: relevance of gentrification research in the Indian context

The concept of gentrification, originally proposed by Ruth Glass on the basis of her observations of neighbourhood change in London, has been reconceptualised as well as criticised by scholars over the years. Though the concept has travelled over time and space, it still remains a very anglophone concept, and the extent of its applicability in the global South has been questioned. Especially in a country like India, where urban development takes place in an uneven way, it may not always be sufficient in itself to understand these urban changes and the dispossessions they lead to. This article aims to throw light on the main gentrification theories and debates and engage with the issue of differences over conceptualisation of the term itself. It then evaluates the relevance of the concept of gentrification in India by examining the restricted use of the term by Indian academics and Indian print media, and explores alternate/complementary frameworks to capture diverse instances of urban dispossession.

Centering environmental justice: Gentrification beliefs, attitudes, and support of park development in a shrinking city

In shrinking cities, with large populations of low-income and people of color, redeveloping vacant lots can improve access to the benefits of greenspace, but also spur or accelerate gentrification. Understanding people’s viewpoints on gentrification and vacant lot redevelopment in shrinking cities is important, especially as these perspectives may differ depending on people’s socioeconomic conditions and proximity to these spaces. One common development of vacant lots is into parks. As such, we assessed people’s beliefs and attitudes about gentrification, their levels of support of park development in low-income areas, and differences based on presence of vacant lots in their neighborhood, through an online survey of residents in St. Louis, Missouri—a shrinking city (N = 521). We found that respondents valued investments in their neighborhood, including park development. Specifically, respondents supported signs of gentrification from those investments, but also supported preserving neighborhoods—a potentially contradictory viewpoint. When comparing by proximity to vacant lots, we found some differences in respondents’ views. Further, respondents’ beliefs and attitudes about gentrification influenced their support for different types of development, particularly building parks in formerly vacant lots, if there were not vacant lots present in their neighborhood. Among residents living near vacant lots, beliefs about neighborhood change were unrelated to their attitudes toward gentrification or support of park development—suggesting that abstract beliefs about neighborhood change are not salient to their attitudes and support. These findings have implications for urban planning and community engagement, particularly in shrinking cities where legacies of environmental racism endure.

“We Roll our Sleeves up and get to Work!”: Portraits of Collective Action and Neighborhood Change in Atlanta's West End

Collective action is one strategy urban neighborhood residents use to address community issues. However, collective action dynamics in rapidly changing urban neighborhoods are not well understood. This study used photovoice to examine perspectives on collective action and neighborhood change among residents of an urban neighborhood experiencing redevelopment in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Residents indicated that place attachment motivated and reinforced participation in collective action efforts to address neighborhood issues and to reconstruct narratives that challenged place stigmatization. Findings suggest that residents have heterogeneous perspectives about neighborhood change and local development, and simultaneously balance desires for neighborhood improvement with concerns about displacement, gentrification, and equitable development.

Unhealthy lifestyles, environment, well-being and health capability in rural neighbourhoods: a community-based cross-sectional study

BackgroundNon-communicable diseases are a leading cause of health loss worldwide, in part due to unhealthy lifestyles. Metabolic-based diseases are rising with an unhealthy body-mass index (BMI) in rural areas as the main risk factor in adults, which may be amplified by wider determinants of health. Changes in rural environments reflect the need of better understanding the factors affecting the self-ability for making balanced decisions. We assessed whether unhealthy lifestyles and environment in rural neighbourhoods are reflected into metabolic risks and health capability.MethodsWe conducted a community-based cross-sectional study in 15 Portuguese rural neighbourhoods to describe individuals’ health functioning condition and to characterize the community environment. We followed a qualitatively driven mixed-method design to gather information about evidence-based data, lifestyles and neighbourhood satisfaction (incorporated in eVida technology), within a random sample of 270 individuals, and in-depth interviews to 107 individuals, to uncover whether environment influence the ability for improving or pursuing heath and well-being.ResultsMen showed to have a 75% higher probability of being overweight than women (p-value = 0.0954); and the reporting of health loss risks was higher in women (RR: 1.48; p-value = 0.122), individuals with larger waist circumference (RR: 2.21; IC: 1.19; 4.27), overweight and obesity (RR: 1.38; p-value = 0.293) and aged over 75 years (RR: 1.78; p-value = 0.235; when compared with participants under 40 years old). Metabolic risks were more associated to BMI and physical activity than diet (or sleeping habits). Overall, metabolic risk linked to BMI was higher in small villages than in municipalities. Seven dimensions, economic development, built (and natural) environment, social network, health care, demography, active lifestyles, and mobility, reflected the self-perceptions in place affecting the individual ability to make healthy choices. Qualitative data exposed asymmetries in surrounding environments among neighbourhoods and uncovered the natural environment and natural resources specifies as the main value of rural well-being.ConclusionsMetabolic risk factors reflect unhealthy lifestyles and can be associated with environment contextual-dependent circumstances. People-centred approaches highlight wider socioeconomic and (natural) environmental determinants reflecting health needs, health expectations and health capability. Our community-based program and cross-disciplinary research provides insights that may improve health-promoting changes in rural neighbourhoods.

Are cycling and walking good for all? Tracking differences in associations among active travel, socioeconomics, gentrification, and self-reported health

IntroductionWhile the health benefits of cycling and walking have been well established, questions remain about whether these benefits hold in varying socioeconomic contexts, including across demographic groups and in the context of neighborhood change. This study examines this relationship, identifying associations between cycling or walking and self-reported health, whether socioeconomic status moderates these associations, and whether gentrification influences the potential moderating effects. MethodsThis study uses the 2017 US National Household Travel Survey, subset to adults who lived in central cities (n = 91,541). Weighted logistic regression models with interaction terms were fit to estimate self-reported health status separately for cycling and walking. Gentrification was measured using an indicator based on previous research using US Census data. ResultsCycling in the previous week and each additional walking trip were associated with higher odds of reporting better health. Socioeconomic status moderated the positive associations between active transportation and health for a few variables. Cyclists of color had smaller health effects from cycling for utilitarian trips, while race and ethnicity had only a marginal moderating effect on the association between walking and health. Gentrification was an insignificant moderating factor in general. ConclusionsFindings suggest planning efforts that continue to support programs that promote cycling and walking are crucial tools in the public health toolbox. The health gains from active transportation might be experienced in a variety of neighborhood contexts. Nevertheless, infrastructure investments and policy must be attentive to inequities across neighborhoods.

Longitudinal associations of neighborhood environment features with pediatric body mass index.

It has been posited that policies to promote child health and prevent obesity should target neighborhood environments but evidence on the impact of neighborhoods on child weight is conflicting and longitudinal studies (which have benefits for causal inference) are scarce. We used electronic health records (2007-2016) from an urban, pediatric integrated delivery system and linked children (N=51,873, ages 6-19 years, 77% African American) to neighborhood-level data to investigate how changes in neighborhood environments relate to changes in body mass index (BMI). Measures of neighborhood environment were resources for healthy foods and physical activity ('resources'), greenness, violent crime rate, perceived safety and social cohesion. Fixed effects models estimated associations between changes in neighborhood environment exposures and changes in BMI z-score and whether effects differed by sex, baseline age, neighborhood socioeconomic status and population density. Approximately 22% of the cohort was obese (BMI z-score ≥ 95th percentile). In adjusted models, increases in neighborhood greenness and perceived safety were associated with decreases in BMI z-score (mean change in BMI z-score for 1-SD increase for both: -0.012; 95% CI= (-0.018, -0.007)). Increases in neighborhood safety had a stronger effect in children ages 6-10 years than in older children. Increases in social cohesion were associated with increases in BMI z-score (mean change: 0.005 95% CI = (0.003, 0.008)) especially in boys. Increases in food and physical activity resources were not associated with changes in BMI. This study suggests that increasing neighborhood greenness and safety are potential approaches to reduce children's BMI.

Immigration, segregation and neighborhood change in Berlin

Even though the issue of immigrant-native segregation in Europe has been continuously researched for the last thirty years the attempts to illuminate the changing levels of ethnic segregation in the European city in the 21st century leave the case of Germany largely unexplored. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the evolving patterns of segregation and neighborhood change in Berlin in the 2010s (2007-2016). The traditional indices of segregation and the neighborhood typology are used to assess changes in the levels of segregation and patterns of residential intermixing, respectively. We also employ the sequence analysis method to investigate full trajectories of neighborhood change, and a regression tree for the sequences of neighborhood transitions is used to evaluate the effect of urban structure on ethnic neighborhood change. Despite considerable immigration, in total, immigrant-native segregation in Berlin declined over the last decade. Three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, along with the selective spatial effects of international immigration, the spatial division of Berlin into the inner- and outer-city appears to be a decisive factor in the evolution of the local patterns of immigrant-native residential intermixing.

The power of a simple index of neighbourhood change: Challenging the perception that there is no such thing as simplicity in creating indexes

While academic research on neighbourhood change has developed over the past 30 years, its measurement is often technical and complex, hampering knowledge translation of academic research to wider audiences. Based on our research on neighbourhood change in Atlantic Canadian cities, we have developed two “simple” indexes of neighbourhood change. We document the steps to creating the simple indexes and discuss what decisions are made along the way. We then compare results of the two indexes with a mean‐centred index that is commonly used for academic audiences. This is done to assess how simpler methods perform compared to one that is considered more sophisticated. Using the 2006 and 2016 Canadian Census data, we apply each of these neighbourhood change indexes to four Atlantic Canadian cities. Results indicate some similarities between the simple indexes and the mean‐centred index. We discuss the methodological and practical implications of the results to help facilitate knowledge translation of academic research for urban planners and NGOs.

Development of an instrument to measure perceived gentrification for health research: Perceptions about changes in environments and residents (PACER)

Despite a myriad of potential pathways linking neighborhood change and gentrification to health, existing quantitative measures failed to capture individual-level, self-reported perceptions of these processes. We developed the Perceptions About Change in Environment and Residents (PACER) survey to measure the gentrification-related neighborhood change experienced by individuals relevant to health. We employed a multi-stage process to develop PACER including a scoping review, question refinement, content validity, and cognitive interviews. Content validity and cognitive interviews were assessed within the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP) and for residents of different tenure in both gentrifying and non-gentrifying neighborhoods to ensure PACER considers the complex nature of neighborhood change for different people within different urban contexts. We piloted the instrument to a sample from the resident panel BeHeardPhilly to assess acceptability and data quality. Finally, we assessed internal consistency, dimensionality, and criterion-related validity using Principal Components Analysis (PCA), descriptive statistics, and correlation coefficients. Testing showed good internal consistency for PACER questions, as well as for each of four resulting factors (Feelings, Built Environment, Social Environment, and Affordability). Correlations between factors and other context measures demonstrated strong criterion-related validity. PACER offers an unprecedented tool for measuring and understanding resident perceptions about gentrification-related neighborhood change relevant to health. Rigorously tested and tailored for health, PACER holds utility for application across different settings to examine changes from events that may impact and shift neighborhoods.

Exposure, timing, and vulnerability: The role of public transport in inducing gentrification

Gentrification is an increasingly common phenomenon in many urban neighbourhoods. While cities invest in more sustainable travel options for their residents, there is limited literature on its connection to gentrification of the surrounding areas. Understanding whether these investments induce gentrification is essential to ensure the positive impacts of public transport are not undermined by the displacement it may create. This paper presents a multi-analysis approach to studying gentrification, defined by a bi-axial definition of neighbourhood change which considers the negative components (displacement) and positive components (neighbourhood upgrading) of gentrification. We focus specifically on the extent to which exposure to public transport induces gentrification-like changes in neighbouring communities, the influence of time on the kind and magnitude of changes, and whether disinvested communities are most vulnerable. We analyse neighbourhood changes in Manchester, UK, in response to the introduction of the Metrolink tram network, and conclude that there is evidence of gentrification in areas with access to new light rail. We conclude that the length of exposure has a significant impact on the magnitude and direction of change for certain indicators of gentrification. We find mixed results regarding the susceptibility of disinvested communities to gentrification.

Light Rail and Neighborhood Change: Comparative Perspectives of Residents, Local Media, and Other Stakeholders

Rail transit impacts on adjacent neighborhoods are contested. Through the lens of New Urbanism and sustainable urban development, this article offers a critical analysis of different perceptions of neighborhood changes occurring after the opening of a new light rail line in Charlotte, North Carolina. We conducted 15 interviews with representatives in planning, transportation, and real estate; 11 focus groups with 75 residents living close to a light rail station; and a content analysis of 86 local news articles. Although the various stakeholders do not represent homogeneous groups, light rail investments and associated neighborhood changes are typically viewed positively by planners, developers, and local media but have received mixed responses from residents. We tie this into a broader discussion about putting New Urbanism into practice. Besides furthering academic discussions, this article can inform local planning and policy in areas of transportation, housing, and economic development.

Analyzing the relationship between major public investments and neighborhood change in Atlanta

As many of our residents can attest to personally, Atlanta’s population growth, from about 420,000 residents in 2010 to over 500,000 residents today, has been accompanied by demographic neighborhood change. In the Neighborhood Change Report released by the City in February 2021, we explore how major public investment and design goals are related to changes in where low-income and non-low-income residents live in the city.

Analyzing the relationship between major public investments and neighborhood change in Atlanta

As many of our residents can attest to personally, Atlanta’s population growth, from about 420,000 residents in 2010 to over 500,000 residents today, has been accompanied by demographic neighborhood change. In the Neighborhood Change Report released by the City in February 2021, we explore how major public investment and design goals are related to changes in where low-income and non-low-income residents live in the city.

The Scopic Feast of Heritage and the Invention of Unthreatening Diversity in Neoliberal Cities

This article explores the role that heritage might play in the representation of ‘difference’, within the context of neoliberal cities. The case is a large-scale urban change in the former working-class neighborhood of Gamlestaden, Sweden. Interviews and on-site observations revealed how authorized heritage practices can enable the celebration of particular social and cultural values, while naturalizing the erasure of others. People’s cultural diversity, and diverging interpretations of the past, have been guided by the power of heritage into a process of subjectification, according to which only ‘unthreatening’ forms of cultural diversity were celebrated and revealed legitimate. The ‘fetishized’ difference and particular historical records have served to conceal the political interest at stake in its’ production and maintenance, and led to a politicised representation of cultural diversity through what Annie Coombes’ terms ‘scopic feast’. All this was made possible through BID, the first neoliberal business improvement district model in Sweden, and its investment in a deeply rooted process of heritageisation. Uncritical engagement with difference in the context of heritage management and neoliberal urban development, make it appear almost natural to erase the cultural values that fall outside the authorized narrative of value.

Machine learning-assisted imaging analysis of a human epiblast model.

The human embryo is a complex structure that emerges and develops as a result of cell-level decisions guided by both intrinsic genetic programs and cell-cell interactions. Given limited accessibility and associated ethical constraints of human embryonic tissue samples, researchers have turned to the use of human stem cells to generate embryo models to study specific embryogenic developmental steps. However, to study complex self-organizing developmental events using embryo models, there is a need for computational and imaging tools for detailed characterization of cell-level dynamics at the single cell level. In this work, we obtained live cell imaging data from a human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-based epiblast model that can recapitulate the lumenal epiblast cyst formation soon after implantation of the human blastocyst. By processing imaging data with a Python pipeline that incorporates both cell tracking and event recognition with the use of a CNN-LSTM machine learning model, we obtained detailed temporal information of changes in cell state and neighborhood during the dynamic growth and morphogenesis of lumenal hPSC cysts. The use of this tool combined with reporter lines for cell types of interest will drive future mechanistic studies of hPSC fate specification in embryo models and will advance our understanding of how cell-level decisions lead to global organization and emergent phenomena. Insight, innovation, integration: Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have been successfully used to model and understand cellular events that take place during human embryogenesis. Understanding how cell-cell and cell-environment interactions guide cell actions within a hPSC-based embryo model is a key step in elucidating the mechanisms driving system-level embryonic patterning and growth. In this work, we present a robust video analysis pipeline that incorporates the use of machine learning methods to fully characterize the process of hPSC self-organization into lumenal cysts to mimic the lumenal epiblast cyst formation soon after implantation of the human blastocyst. This pipeline will be a useful tool for understanding cellular mechanisms underlying key embryogenic events in embryo models.