Urban Mosaics: Multiracial Diversity and Segregation in the American Metropolis

Open Access
- Author:
- Farrell, Chad R.
- Graduate Program:
- Sociology
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- August 11, 2005
- Committee Members:
- Barrett Alan Lee, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Glenn A Firebaugh, Committee Member
Susan Welch, Committee Member
Marylee Carmel Taylor, Committee Member
Mark Hill, Committee Member - Keywords:
- suburban
race
housing
segregation
neighborhoods
urban - Abstract:
- Racial segregation in housing is a familiar feature of the urban landscape and continues to play a key role in race relations, urban politics, and economic and educational inequality. Past investigations of residential segregation have typically focused on black-white dichotomies that exclude rapidly growing Latino and Asian metropolitan populations. Moreover, most urban segregation research examines broader metropolitan areas but fails to look at how community (i.e., city and suburb) differences within these areas also contribute to overall neighborhood segregation. This dissertation presents theoretical and methodological approaches which incorporate a more representative mosaic of racial/ethnic groups and account for the multi-layered geographic structure of segregation. Using census data from 1990 and 2000 for the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the United States, I employ measures of multi-group diversity and segregation at different geographic levels to address the demographic realities of contemporary racial segregation. This research reveals a number of important patterns and trends: 1) suburban communities experienced pervasive gains in multiracial diversity during the 1990s but there persists a white/nonwhite, inner-ring/outer-ring divide; 2) most metropolitan areas became less segregated during the 1990s; 3) central city neighborhoods desegregated rapidly during this period, accounting for most of the overall declines in metropolitan segregation; 4) racial differences between suburban communities contributed to an increasing share of metropolitan segregation in 2000 compared to 1990, especially in the western region; 5) most white metropolitan residents experienced increasing exposure to multiracial diversity in their neighborhoods, though neighborhoods with high rates of white homeownership have been particularly resistant to change; 6) the number of homogenous black, Latino, and Asian neighborhoods increased but most minority residents live in more diverse areas; 7) immigration is associated with higher levels of multiracial diversity in communities and neighborhoods. These findings illustrate that the decade of the 1990s was characterized by increasing multiracial diversity in metropolitan neighborhoods and communities, a movement toward greater racial residential integration. However, these diversity gains have been incremental and many metropolitan areas remain bifurcated along white/nonwhite lines. Rather than resulting in a fragmented checkerboard of spatial niches and enclaves, immigration fuels multiracial diversity at the local level.