The Emerging Spatial Organization of the Metropolis: Zones of Diversity and Minority Enclaves in Chicago

Abstract

The rapid growth of Asian and Hispanic populations in urban areas is superceding traditional classifications of neighborhoods (for example as white, transitional, or minority). The “global neighborhood” that includes all groups (white, black, Hispanic and Asian) is one important new category. We examine the emerging spatial pattern of racial/ethnic composition in the Chicago metropolis, documenting an expansion of all-minority neighborhoods in the city and just beyond its borders, a shrinking set of all-white neighborhoods in the outer suburbs, and more diverse neighborhoods including whites mainly in between. The most novel element of this pattern is how large the zone of diversity has become and how far it extends into suburbia, upending the old dichotomy of “chocolate city” and “vanilla suburbs.” In addition to comparing the distance of different kinds of neighborhoods from the urban core, we also analyze their adjacency to neighborhoods of the same type or other types. There is a strong tendency toward spatial clustering of each neighborhood type and also for transitions on the boundaries of clusters either to expand or to contract their territory.

From Census Tracts to Local Environments: An Egocentric Approach to Neighborhood Racial Change

“…Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, the third most populous metro area, has diversity scores that approximate the means for our sample as a whole, with Es in the .30s and .40s (see Table 1). According to the gap between the two profiles, Chicagoans' local environments of all radii were one-fifth to one-fourth more diverse in 2000 than 10 years earlier, consistent with a pattern of expanding clusters of 'global' (multi-ethnic) neighborhoods fueled by Hispanic and Asian growth and white decline (Zhang and Logan 2017). Much greater change can be seen in the Figure 2 panel for Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, where exposure to diversity jumped from Chicago to Los Angeles levels between the two censuses in response to dramatic minority population gains.…”

Integrated Approach towards Participatory Development of Urban Neighborhood Spaces: Chennai, India

“…The multicultural communities living in a "global neighborhood" is a prime example of a major new category that includes a significant presence of non-Hispanic whites and blacks along with newer Hispanic and Asian minorities [20,21]. The spatial structure of change has implications for the role of spatial proximity and diffusion in contemporary neighborhood racial change.…”

“No Way! Like Only Hispanics are Illegal”: Examining the Racialized Psychosocial Development of Migrant “Illegality” Across Immigrant Groups in the United States

“…With 2.71 million people living in the city, the largest ethnic groups are (Non-Hispanic) White (33.3%), (Non-Hispanic) Black or African American (29.6%), Hispanic or Latino (28.8%), and (Non-Hispanic) Asian alone (6.6%) (Bureau, 2019). Considered one of the most segregated cities in America particularly for Black communities (Semuels, 2018), increasing diversity is marked by a growing expansion of all-minority neighborhoods and ethnic enclaves mainly developed by relatively new Latina/o immigrants (Zhang & Logan, 2017).…”