Groups' contribution to shaping ethnic residential segregation: a dynamic approach

Some have argued it is possible to infer different groups’ contributions to ethnic residential segregation from their individual neighborhood preferences. From this perspective, natives tend to be more segregation-promoting than non-natives, since they prefer neighborhoods where they are the majority. It remains unclear, however, whether this holds when one evaluates their contributions to segregation within a dynamic perspective. Using register data from Statistics Sweden, I define and model ten different groups’ residential behavior based on their ethnicity and family composition. I thereby simulate the residential mobility of the full population of Stockholm municipality residents from 1998 to 2012. Even though my results at the micro-level are consistent with previous studies, the simulation results show that foreign singles’ mobility patterns are more segregation-promoting than any other groups, since this group shows a greater in-group feedback effect regarding choice of new neighborhoods, an effect that increases their flow from low-to-high segregated neighborhoods progressively. My results suggest that (1) integration initiatives would be more efficient if focused on this particular group and (2) a proper evaluation of micro-behaviors’ implications for macro-patterns of segregation requires a dynamic approach accounting for groups’ heterogeneous behaviors and their main interdependencies on shaping segregation over time.

New residential perennial floras reflect distinctive decisions of residential developers and new homeowners

Urban patterns reflect the people who build and manage urban space. However, most field research on residential vegetation focuses on household or neighborhood preferences, norms, or socioeconomic drivers of observed patterns and plant traits. Very few urban ecology researchers have studied residential real estate developers, who configure the space and establish the initial plant communities. How do the landscaping decisions of developers and homeowners shape residential perennial floras? To answer this question, I collected a stratified random sample of perennials at 60 newly built and sold homes in the Seattle, WA area. Through field sampling, conversations with new homeowners, and archival research, I assigned each individual perennial to one of three origins: remnant, planted by developers, or planted by homeowners. After describing landscaping decisions using plant traits (as presented in gardening literature), I evaluated whether planting decisions of developers and homeowners were heterogeneous and whether urban form or economic drivers influenced planted species richness. I also tested whether homeowner yard and plant buying preferences could be linked to planted richness. Given that developers and homeowners have different incentives, I hypothesized that they would choose different types of perennials and that urban metrics related to area and economics would increase species richness. I also predicted that homeowner preferences would be linked to species richness patterns. Developers planted most of the trees, shrubs, and graminoids. Homeowners planted fewer woody and more herbaceous perennial species. Parcel planting area, wealth related metrics, and parcel density increased species richness for some perennials. However, homeowner preferences were stronger predictors of their planting behavior than urban metrics. Because assembly of residential perennial flora communities is heterogeneous, future investigations in other urban ecosystems should incorporate preferences of developers and homeowners, site-specific constraints, and broader scale influences. More work is needed to understand developer incentives and preferences.

Unmet Demand for Walkable Transit-Oriented Neighborhoods in a Midsized Canadian Community: Market and Planning Implications

Understanding neighborhood preferences remains a key focus for planners. While many studies document the effects of either neighborhood design or neighborhood preference on health and travel behavior, few have explored their combined effect in smaller regions. Using a sample of 2,597 adults in the Region of Waterloo, Ontario, we found an unmet demand for walkable neighborhoods. Results suggest that walkable neighborhoods are independently associated with less vehicle travel after adjusting for sociodemographic and residential preferences. Our study highlights the importance of combining the effects of walkable neighborhoods and preferences for them when addressing health and sustainability goals in suburban communities.

Bioinformatics analysis quantifies neighborhood preferences of cancer cells in Hodgkin lymphoma

MotivationHodgkin lymphoma is a tumor of the lymphatic system and represents one of the most frequent lymphoma in the Western world. It is characterized by Hodgkin cells and Reed-Sternberg cells, which exhibit a broad morphological spectrum. The cells are visualized by immunohistochemical staining of tissue sections. In pathology, tissue images are mainly manually evaluated, relying on the expertise and experience of pathologists. Computational quantification methods become more and more essential to evaluate tissue images. In particular, the distribution of cancer cells is of great interest.ResultsHere, we systematically quantified and investigated cancer cell properties and their spatial neighborhood relations by applying statistical analyses to whole slide images of Hodgkin lymphoma and lymphadenitis, which describes a non-cancerous inflammation of the lymph node. We differentiated cells by their morphology and studied the spatial neighborhood relation of more than 400,000 immunohistochemically stained cells. We found that, according to their morphological features, the cells exhibited significant preferences for and aversions to cells of specific profiles as nearest neighbor. We quantified differences between Hodgkin lymphoma and lymphadenitis concerning the neighborhood relations of cells and the sizes of cells. The approach can easily be applied to other cancer [email protected]

Housing Choices as School Choices: Subsidized Renters’ Agency in an Uncertain Policy Context

Previous scholarship on the federal Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program has found that HCV renters are less likely than other households living below the poverty line to live in neighborhoods with high–performing schools. These findings are troubling because HCV renters have some choice about where they live, yet aggregate data linking HCV renters’ neighborhoods with school performance shows that renters tend to be concentrated in impoverished areas with poor schools. To better understand whether and how schools factor into HCV renters’ neighborhood preferences when searching for a home, semistructured interviews with 17 HCV heads–of–household in the St. Louis region were conducted. Findings from this project reveal that some HCV renters prioritize school choice when deciding to move, sending their children to schools that may or may not be located within their neighborhood. A minority of families in this study actually enrolled their children in the school district indicated by their address. Three families had intentionally moved to unaccredited districts to take advantage of a transfer law that allowed students in unaccredited school districts to attend an out–of–district school. Although not a direct counterpoint to previous scholarship, these findings lend some balance to the idea that HCV renters are compelled to live in districts with lower property values and thus lower performing schools than other households receiving government assistance. HCV renters encounter many constraints on their choice of housing and neighborhood, and legacies of racism, housing discrimination, and predatory landlords may indeed limit renters to poor neighborhoods with underperforming school districts, but as interviews with 17 participants with school–age children demonstrate, their children may not be attending their neighborhood schools after all. These findings help contextualize HCV renter concentration in low–income neighborhoods, while further research is needed to address the education and housing policy ramifications of this work on a national scale.