David Manley

Neighbourhood Effects Research: New Perspectives

Over the last 25 years a vast body of literature has been published investigating neighbourhood effects: the idea that neighbourhood characteristics can have a significant effect on residents’ life chances over and above the effect of their individual characteristics. There is little doubt that neighbourhood effects exist, but we know little about the causal mechanisms which produce them, their relative importance compared to individual characteristics, and under which circumstances and in which places these effects are important. This chapter discusses some of the main theoretical and empirical challenges in neighbourhood effects research, related to the identification of true causal effects. An over emphasis on statistical techniques to overcome the problems related to modelling selection bias had distracted us from a much more important issue: the theoretical and empirical identification of potential causal pathways behind neighbourhood effects. This chapter offers seven ways forward for neighbourhood effects research: development of clear hypotheses; empirically testing explicit hypotheses; investigating neighbourhood selection; integrate models of neighbourhood selection and models of neighbourhood effects; investigate various spatial scales; development of better longitudinal data; and the use of mixed methods research.

Neighbourhood Choice and Neighbourhood Reproduction

Although we know a lot about why households choose certain dwellings, we know relatively little about the mechanisms behind their choice of neighbourhood. Most studies of neighbourhood choice focus only on one or two dimensions of neighbourhoods: typically poverty and ethnicity. In this paper we argue that neighbourhoods have multiple dimensions and that models of neighbourhood choice should take these dimensions into account. We propose the use of a conditional logit model. From this approach we can gain insight into the interaction between individual and neighbourhood characteristics which lead to the choice of a particular neighbourhood over alternative destinations. We use Swedish register data to model neighbourhood choice for all households which moved in the city of Uppsala between 1997 and 2006. Our results show that neighbourhood sorting is a highly structured process where households are very likely to choose neighbourhoods where the neighbourhood population matches their own characteristics. We find that income is the most important driver of the sorting process, although ethnicity and other demographic and socioeconomic characteristics play important roles as well.

Mixing housing tenures: is it good for social well-being?

Mixing tenures is now a widely accepted policy designed to tackle problems of social exclusion in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. However, the evidence base for mixing tenures is fragmented and ambiguous. With few exceptions, studies of mixed-tenure effects have been small, one-off investigations of individual communities, providing only a rudimentary basis for comparative evaluation. In attempting to address these issues, a national-level, ecological analysis of mixed tenure in Great Britain was conducted, using aggregate data from two decennial censuses and geocoded vital registrations. Asking the question whether mixing housing tenures is good for social well-being, the objective of the research is to establish under what, if any, circumstances tenure mixing is positively related to indicators of the social well-being of an areas population. The findings provide little support for positive outcomes and lead the authors to question the efficacy of mixing tenures as a policy for improving social well-being.

Scales, levels and processes: Studying spatial patterns of British census variables

Abstract This paper is based on the assumption that there may be scale effects at all levels of areal data and that they vary both within areal units and between areal units. Spatial distributions are based on processes taking place in geographical space. A mapped pattern may reflect several distinct processes, each of which may affect a different area and operate at a different scale. The challenge for the spatial analyst is to identify these processes and evaluate their importance from the spatial pattern observed. Here the well known modifiable areal unit problem is not really a problem but a resource. Data at different scales can help us identify processes operating at different scales. We build on models and methods described by [Tranmer, M., & Steel, D. G. (2001). Using local census data to investigate scale effects. In N. J. Tate, & P. M. Atkinson (Eds.), Modelling scale in geographical information science (pp. 105–122). Chichester: John Wiley and Sons], which facilitate the identification of processes occurring within areal units. The method is extended using concepts from multi-level modelling and spatial autocorrelation, through the application of local statistics applied to what may be termed area effect estimates. It is illustrated with respect to two very different census variables and three different study areas.

Intergenerational transmission of neighbourhood poverty: An analysis of neighbourhood histories of individuals

The extent to which socioeconomic (dis)advantage is transmitted between generations is receiving increasing attention from academics and policymakers. However, few studies have investigated whether there is a spatial dimension to this intergenerational transmission of (dis)advantage. Drawing on the concept of neighbourhood biographies, this study contends that there are links between the places individuals live with their parents and their subsequent neighbourhood experiences as independent adults. Using individual-level register data tracking the whole Stockholm population from 1990 to 2008, and bespoke neighbourhoods, this study is the first to use sequencing techniques to construct individual neighbourhood histories. Through visualisation methods and ordered logit models, we demonstrate that the socioeconomic composition of the neighbourhood children lived in before they left the parental home is strongly related to the status of the neighbourhood they live in 5, 12 and 18 years later. Children living with their parents in high poverty concentration neighbourhoods are very likely to end up in similar neighbourhoods much later in life. The parental neighbourhood is also important in predicting the cumulative exposure to poverty concentration neighbourhoods over a long period of early adulthood. Ethnic minorities were found to have the longest cumulative exposure to poverty concentration neighbourhoods. These findings imply that for some groups, disadvantage is both inherited and highly persistent.

Understanding Neighbourhood Dynamics: New Insights for Neighbourhood Effects Research

Non-random sorting of residents into neighbourhoods provides neighbourhood effects researchers with a major challenge: The neighbourhoods which people ‘choose’ reflect their incomes, and as a result neighbourhood characteristics are endogenous, causing bias in models of neighbourhood effects. So understanding neighbourhood choice and neighbourhood dynamics is at the heart of a better understanding of neighbourhood effects, but is also crucial for literatures on residential mobility, segregation, and neighbourhood change. This chapter offers a state-of-the-art overview of literature on neighbourhood dynamics. First, a range of theories regarding neighbourhood dynamics are discussed. Second, the chapter offers an extensive summary of the 11 other chapters in this book, with empirical contributions from the United Kingdom, Australia, Sweden, The Netherlands, and the USA. Through this overview, this chapter offers insight into the latest developments in research on neighbourhood dynamics.

Neighbourhood Effects or Neighbourhood Based Problems? A Policy Context

The introduction of this edited volume explores the links between neighbourhood effects research, perceived neighbourhood problems and the policy responses that local and national governments have pursued to ameliorate the impacts on individuals. We consider why the neighbourhood is frequently used as a site for local interventions and discuss the motivations that multiple national governments have put forward in making the case for area based policies. Previous research has been far from conclusive about how and where neighbourhood matter for individual outcomes: sometimes the neighbourhood context can be a key influence, in other cases it can appear to be relatively insignificant compared with individual characteristics. As a result, a persistent key question that regularly surfaces in discussions about neighbourhood effects and neighbourhood-based policies is whether or not place-based policies remain relevant if there is little conclusive evidence that neighbourhood effects exist. In response to this question, we suggest that even when casual neighbourhood effect are small or insignificant, there is still be a case to be made for investments in neighbourhoods to provide social facilities for communities and as an effective way to target spatially concentrated communities. However, drawing on a recent comprehensive review of place- and people-based policies in the UK there is an apparent disconnection between person- and place-based policies.

Choice-based Letting, Ethnicity and Segregation in England

Choice-based letting (CBL) has been widely introduced to the social housing sector in England to give applicants more freedom in where they live. Concerns have been expressed that giving people more choice in residential locations has the potential to increase neighbourhood segregation. It has also been argued that a lack of real choice, not self-segregation, might be a cause of social and ethnic segregation. In social housing, real choice might not be available and the most vulnerable are likely to access the easiest housing options: often in deprived and segregated neighbourhoods. This paper analyses the probability that households applying for social housing using different allocation systems end up in deprived or ethnically concentrated neighbourhoods. Using unique data representing lettings made in the social housing sector in England, it is shown that ethnic minorities, and especially those using CBL, are the most likely to end up in deprived and ethnic concentration neighbourhoods.

Constructing data zones for Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics

This paper outlines the construction of a new zone system for Scotland to be used for the publication of Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics. After a discussion of the background to the project, the criteria for the construction of zones are described in detail. A brief review of the zone construction programs currently available is presented to demonstrate why it was necessary for a specific aggregation program to be written for this project. The need for human intervention in the aggregation process is also highlighted in the context of the subjective nature of the data zones presented here. The results are analysed to discuss some of the issues faced in the construction of a set of zones to present neighbourhood statistics.

Mutual misunderstanding and avoidance, misrepresentations and disciplinary politics: spatial science and quantitative analysis in (United Kingdom) geographical curricula

One consequence of the fragmentation of their discipline and the consequent lack of awareness amongst human geographers of what is being done by many of their colleagues is misrepresentation of certain types of work – in textbooks, for example. Amongst the areas often misrepresented in recent years are those commonly categorised by such terms as ‘spatial science’ and ‘quantitative analysis’. Critics of these areas often write as if the type of work undertaken in the 1960s–1970s still characterises them today, with little appreciation of contemporary activities. This article responds to such claims by presenting the current nature of work in those areas – very different from that of several decades ago – and makes the case for their inclusion in curricula so that students (most of whom will not proceed to research in the areas) can appreciate the underlying principles of quantitative analyses and their important role in the formation of an informed citizenry in data-driven, evidence-based policy societies.