2000115-Strengthening-Communities-with-Neighborhood-Data

344 Strengthening Communities with Neighborhood Data
These seven equations attempt to summarize the currently accepted
scholarly wisdom about the factors affecting indicators and behaviors of
interest. That is, equation 1 represents a definitional statement that the
neighborhood is a multidimensional package of attributes, some created
endogenously by residents, other created by exogenous institutional or
political forces, others bequeathed by nature (Galster 2001). Equation 2
is partly a tautology that the aggregate profile of a neighborhood during
a period will be determined by the starting population and mobilityproduced
changes in that population (including births and deaths). But
it also includes the possibility that the character of the residents may be
shaped endogenously by the neighborhood itself through one or more
neighborhood effect mechanisms (Galster 2012). Equation 2 suggests
that a given set of neighborhood characteristics will have differential
power depending on the characteristics of the residents (such as age,
gender, and ethnicity), but also by how long a person is exposed to the
environment and how stable that context is over time (Galster 2012).
Equation 3 posits that the nature and intensity of social relations in a
neighborhood will be determined by the characteristics of the residents
and the stability of those residents, as well as by the context established
by aggregate neighborhood characteristics and behaviors and by social
institutional infrastructure. Equations 4 and 5 constitute the residential
mobility equations and are founded on the notion that neighborhoods
compete for residents with other neighborhoods that offer closely substitutable
residential packages (Galster 1987; Rothenberg et al. 1991).
Current residents of a particular neighborhood evaluate its context in
comparison to the contexts of what the household perceives as feasible
alternative neighborhoods, with relative evaluations being shaped by
individual characteristics as well as metrowide forces that can exogenously
alter the hierarchy of neighborhoods according to expense and/
or attractiveness. The current neighborhood social context may be influential
in shaping the out-migration decisions of current residents, but
it will typically be less important to potential in-movers because they
cannot assess prospectively the social climate and/or accurately predict
how they will respond to it once in residence. Existing social relations
(i.e., having friends and family in a neighborhood) may, however, be
important to in-movers (Hedman 2013). 2 Equations 6 and 7 complete
the framework by noting how both the consistency of the residential
context over time and the duration of the residents’ exposure to it will
be shaped by their mobility behavior, both individually and in aggregate.