Neighborhood

Neighborhoods are a central institution in the organization of residential space in cities. They function simultaneously as institutional, sociological, economic, political, and geographic entities at multiple levels. At the scale of the individual and the family, neighborhoods exert a major influence over property values and the webs of social relations that tie people to those who live in close proximity to them. Neighborhoods, for example, are important to the spatial organization of friendships, the circulation of information and gossip, social support networks, and the socialization of children. Neighborhoods are important political actors in municipal governance, advocating for the rights of their residents through neighborhood associations of homeowners, coordinating decisions about public goods and services (e.g., tree planting, traffic lights, streetlights, sidewalks), the monitoring of crime, and the enforcement of zoning codes or covenants (e.g., regarding mandatory architectural details). In general, property values tend to be more similar within neighborhoods than among them.

Neighborhoods are both subjective and objective entities. Typically, neighborhoods consist of individuals who share some degree of social similarity in terms of their socioeconomic status, income, class, ethnicity, and (often) stage in the family life cycle. Thus, residents of neighborhoods frequently have similar worldviews and ideologies, political values, and perceptions about the world. Proximity to like-minded neighbors is a significant part of the presentation of self and the construction of identity. Neighborhoods are psychological as well as socioeconomic entities, one means among several by which individuals are sutured into a community. The degree to which this unity of opinion occurs, of course, varies widely over time and space.

However, neighborhoods function in ways that are neither independent of nor reducible to the psychology of their inhabitants. Neighborhoods are a domain in which people may act as citizens—not simply consumers—and be involved in civic society (e.g., charity work, volunteering). Politically, neighborhoods are a major means through which local opposition to unwanted land uses is mobilized, for example, NIMBY (“not in my backyard”) groups that may seek to prevent a land use deemed undesirable (e.g., a toxic waste dump, a home for mentally retarded people) from being located near their houses.

A classic perspective on neighborhoods articulated by Louis Wirth maintained that urban residential space was organized around three fundamental axes. First, neighborhoods reflect a common socioeconomic dimension. Their residents tend to belong to the same class and to have similar or related occupations, similar educational levels, and incomes that are not too different from one another. Through their ties to the urban division of labor, residents face similar restraints on housing affordability (whether high or low) and, having been socialized along similar lines, have similar preferences in terms of housing age, style, size, and location. Second, neighborhoods reflect similar stages in the family life cycle. For most people, the demand for residential space varies predictably with age. For example, young adults in the pre-child stage may prefer apartments, young parents typically require more room for young children and may desire single-family homes, and parents in the post-child stage may opt for smaller living quarters. Moreover, incomes often vary in tandem with family life cycle stage and thus affordability of housing.

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