In the late 20th century, new urbanization patterns became evident across many American cities, as a new appreciation emerged for urban lifestyles and a focus was placed on the revitalization of urban cores. This reversed a trend evident through much of the post-World-War-II period, which was characterized by urban decentralization coupled with the decline of inner cities as a result of urban disinvestment. Decentralization persists, as metropolitan populations disperse further into urban peripheries but, simultaneously, there are also new efforts to redevelop downtown-and-area neighborhoods. A number of explanationsöeconomic, cultural, and demographicöhave been advanced to explain the trends for reinvestment back into urban cores.One explanation focuses on the depreciation of land values in the inner city, facilitated by post-World-War-II suburbanization. The key concept here is that of thè rent gap', the disparity between the potential ground rent if the property was redeveloped at its best use, and the actual ground rent under the existing use (Clark, 1995;Smith, 1979;1996). The investment focus on the suburbs during the postwar decades widened the inner-city rent gap by devaluing ground rent in neighborhoods experiencing decline, which eventually encouraged reinvestment back into the city.Another explanation for urban reinvestment focuses on new lifestyle demands which can be met by the higher density and mixed-land-use activity nodes within inner cities. After decades of seeking privacy in large single-family homes in the suburbs, a growing segment of the US population began to develop a new appreciation for cultural amenities, ethnic neighborhoods, entertainment facilities, and general consumption options offered by the urban setting. This was coupled with the emergence of the high-tech and specialized services economy; the agglomeration effects associated

This study uses a new approach to assess the impact of different neighborhood characteristics on blood lead levels (BLLs) of black versus white children in metropolitan Detroit. Data were obtained from the Michigan Department of Community Health and the US Bureau of the Census American Community Survey. The Modified Darden-Kamel Composite Socioeconomic Index, bivariate regression, and the index of dissimilarity were used to compute neighborhood BLL unevenness by neighborhood characteristics. Neighborhoods with lower socioeconomic characteristics and high racial residential segregation predicted higher average childhood BLLs. This reveals a social spatial structure that will aid researchers/policymakers in better understanding disparities in childhood BLLs.

Childhood lead poisoning in the United States remains a persistent, prevalent environmental public health problem, especially for children living in central-city neighborhoods. These neighborhoods typically are racially segregated, are in proximity to current and/or legacy lead emission sources, consist of older housing, and contain disproportionately African American or black children of low-income families. This research had two aims: (1) to determine whether average blood lead levels (BLLs) in children in the Detroit metropolitan area are related to the socioeconomic characteristics of the neighborhoods where they live and (2) to determine the estimated effect residential differences in the socioeconomic characteristics of neighborhoods have on average BLLs in non-Hispanic black and non-Hispanic white children. Data on pediatric BLLs were obtained from the Michigan Department of Community Health, and racial and socioeconomic data were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (2006–2010). The modified Darden-Kamel Composite Socioeconomic Index, multiple regression, and difference-of-means tests were used to determine the effect residential socioeconomic characteristics of neighborhoods have on average BLLs. Black segregated neighborhoods with lower socioeconomic characteristics were predictors of higher average BLLs in the children who lived there. When black and white children resided in neighborhoods of similar socioeconomic characteristics, the black-white gap in BLLs lessened. Significantly, after stratifying black and white children by age, living in the same neighborhoods of the lowest socioeconomic characteristics negated the black-white racial gap in BLLs entirely, but increasing levels of socioeconomic characteristics exacerbated the divide.

The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual taxonomy of marginality resulting from two counterposed structural conditions within laissez-faire on the one hand and controlled markets on the other. Marginality is a complex condition of disadvantage that individuals and communities may experience because of vulnerabilities which may arise from unequal or inequitable environmental, ethnic, cultural, social, political and economic factors. A typology of marginality is based on two primary and two derivative forms. The primary forms are contingent and systemic. The derivative forms are collateral and leveraged. Contingent marginality is a condition that results from competitive inequality in which individuals and communities are put at a disadvantage because of the dynamics of the free market whose uncertain and stochastic outcomes affect them adversely. Systemic marginality is a socioeconomic condition of disadvantage created by socially constructed inequitable non-market forces of bias. Collateral marginality is a condition experienced by individuals or communities who are marginalized solely on the basis of their social and/or geographic proximity to individuals or communities that experience either contingent or systemic marginality. Leveraged marginality is a contingent or systemic disadvantage that people/communities are made to experience when their bargaining position in free markets is weakened by dominant stakeholders like transnational corporations which are able to leverage lucrative concessions by using the threat of alternative, often cheaper and marginalized (contingent or systemic) labour pools to which they can potentially take their business.

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