Showing papers on "Metropolitan area published in 1975"

Residential preferences and population distribution.

Abstract: Public opinion research has revealed decided preferences for living in rural areas and small towns, and proponents of population deconcentration have interpreted this as support for their policies. This study, based on a national sample, yielded similar results, but when we introduced the additional possibility of a preference for proximity to a larger city, then the rural areas preferred were found, for most respondents, to be those within the commuting range of a metropolitan central city. Although persons wishing to live near large cities were found to be looking for the same qualities of living sought by those who prefer a more remote location, these findings are not, in general, consistent with the argument that public preferences support strategies of population dispersal into nonmetropolitan areas. Instead they indicate that most of those who wish to live in a different location favor the peripheral metropolitan ring areas that have, in fact, been growing rapidly by in-migration.

The Urban World

Abstract: Part One: Focus and Development 1. The Urban World 2. Emergence of Cities Part Two: American Urbanization 3. The Rise of Urban America 4. Structure and Organization of American Cities 5. Urban Political Economy David A. Smith and Michael F. Timberlak 6. Metropolitan and Edge City Growth Part Three: Urban and Suburban Life 7. City Life-Style 8. Social Environment of the City: Strangers, Neighbors, Crowding, Crime, and 9. Changing Suburbanization Pattern 10. Ethnic Diversity: Ethnics, African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Asian American 11. Women in Metropolitan Life Part Four: Problems, Housing, and Planning 12. Introduction 13. Housing and the Community 14. Planning in the United States and Elsewhere Part Five: World Wide Urbanization 15. Less-Developed Countries 16. Asian Urban Patterns 17. African and Middle Eastern Urbanization 18. Urbanization in Latin America Part Six: Conclusion 19. Toward the Urban Future Bibliography Name Index Subject Index

Competition, Monopoly, and the Organization of Government in Metropolitan Areas

Abstract: often suggested that governments, by virtue of their being democratic, can be treated as if they were perfectly competitive suppliers of public output. By contrast, there are other strands of thought suggesting that governments are captured by and operated for the benefit of self-interested bureaucrats, and are more appropriately viewed as monopolistic suppliers of public output, or at least as potential monopolists.' This paper examines these alternative perspectives on government, using as a vehicle an examination of the budgetary consequences of certain types of changes in the organization of government in metropolitan areas. There are two primary structural features of the organization of government in metropolitan areas. One is the fragmentation of governments, and the other is the overlapping of governments. The fragmentation of governments refers to the provision of the same service or services by a multitude of governments. Fragmentation means that such services as police, fire, and recreation will normally be provided by a large number of mutually exclusive municipal corporations. Similarly, educational services will normally be provided by a large number of school districts.2 Governmental fragmentation would seem to be substantial. For instance, over one-half of the metropolitan areas with population exceeding 250,000 according to the 1967 Census of Governments contained more than 100 units of government. The overlapping of governments refers to the independent supply of separate components of public output by different units of government. Hence,

The Effect of School Desegregation on Housing Prices

Abstract: SINCE 1954 nearly all vestiges of legal segregation of public schools in the South have been eliminated. But, at the same time, the suburbanization of white households in Southern cities has contributed to the de facto "resegregation" of some schools. Just as the Tiebout hypothesis (1956) suggests that households locate according to their preferences regarding local public goods, there is some evidence to indicate that preferences for segregated schools may have contributed to this resegregation. Glantz and Delaney (1973) found that, by one measure, metropolitan residential segregation increased more during the 1960's in Southern metropolitan areas -where city schools were substantially desegregated than in the Northern metropolitan areas studied. And for some organizations, a primary reason for supporting recently ordered metropolitan desegregation plans which would effectively combine city and suburban school systems is the belief that desegregation of city schools alone merely contributed to "white flight" from the city.' But, because there are other factors which may also cause suburbanization of whites, such as employment decentralization and the growth of Negro ghettos, it is not clear whether school desegregation has had an independent effect on the demand for housing by white households. This paper presents an analysis of housing prices to determine whether desegregation has an independent effect on the price paid by whites for housing. Since the supply of housing is relatively inelastic in the short run, an effect of this kind would support the hypothesis that desegregation affects white households' demand for housing. While shifts in demand will result primarily in price effects in the short run, quantity changes and locational rearrangement will be most important in the long run. In order to determine if shifts in demand have accompanied desegregation, this paper will examine such price effects. The metropolitan area studied is Atlanta, Georgia, a Southern city which experienced school desegregation and apparent "white flight" during the 1960's. In 1960, a year before desegregation was begun, 37.2 % of the students in the city school system were Negro. By 1970 this figure was 67.1%. During the decade the proportion of Negro families in the city rose from 34.0% to 47.7%o. These changes reflect a number of different locational trends, one of the most important of which was a rapid growth in the city's Negro population. In order to assess the independent effect of school desegregation on white housing demand, it is above all necessary to separate the effect of school racial composition from that of neighborhood racial composition, as well as other supply and demand factors affecting housing prices. The analysis presented in this paper uses data on housing prices and characteristics drawn from 1960 and 1970 census tract reports for Atlanta. The comparatively rapid end to de jure segregation in that city during the decade of the 1960's provides a unique opportunity to separate the effects of neighborhood and school integration. The empirical analysis supports the hypothesis that school desegregation does have a significant effect on housing prices, independent of neighborhood racial change. Section I discusses the use of housing prices in determining the effect of public service characteristics on housing demand. Sections II and III describe the data and the empirical findings. Section IV summarizes the analysis. Received for publication December 3, 1973. Revision acaccepted for publication July 30, 1974. * I am grateful to Professors Martin Feldstein, John Kain, Richard Freeman, and Gregory Ingram, members of the public finance and urban economics seminars at Harvard, and referees for this Review for comments on earlier drafts of this paper. Financial support was provided by the Ford Foundation. 1 See, for example, the testimony of William L. Taylor, Director of the Center for National Policy Review in hearings before the Senate Select Committee on Equal Educational Opportunity, November 30, 1971, p. 10475 or Junie Brown, "City School Case: No End in Sight," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, December 31, 1972, pp. IA, 6A.

The Urban-Suburban Investment-Disinvestment Process: Consequences for Older Neighborhoods

Abstract: The pattern of suburban growth and decline of older neighborhoods within metropolitan areas is often seen as inevitable. However, these processes are shaped, in a significant way, by a relatively small number of private sector actors, including institutional investors, developers and mortgage bankers. Because of their ideologies and their perception of the economic realities, these interests invest increasingly in large scale developments on the suburban fringe and choose not to invest in older urban and suburban neighborhoods. These investment decisions have significant negative impacts on these older, middle class neighborhoods which are struggling to remain viable. With the withdrawal of these traditional sources of real estate investment capital, such neighborhoods face a concentration of foreclosures and abandonment of housing. Because these investment decisions are so important to the future of older neighborhoods, it is appropriate that there be public intervention to assure that there is an adequa...

On the spatial structure of organizations and the complexity of metropolitan interdependence

Abstract: In the United States and other highly industrialized, or postindustrial, countries the economy is dominated by large private-sector and government organizations that are normally composed of a number of functionally differentiated and spatially separated units. A variety of statistics indicates that the relative and absolute economic: power of such organizations has been rapidly expanding in recent decades (Pred [43]). Insofar as these organizations dominate the economy they are the most important generators of flows of goods, services, information, and capital. In other words, in an economically advanced system of cities large multilocational organizations are the major source of intermetropolitan and interurban interdependencies. Despite this fact, relatively little is known of the spatial characteristics of the citysys.tem interdependencies created by the intraorganizational and interorganizational relationships of major business corporations and government activities. The aims of this article are threefold: 1. To conceptually outline the characteristics of metropolitan interdependence arising from the spatial structure, or intraorganizational linkages, of major jobproviding organizations. 2. To present empirical materials pertaining to the spatial pattern of intraorganizational and interorganizational interdependencies associated with specific metropolitan complexes and to ascertain whether or not these interdependencies are consistent with those assumed in the author's model of the process of city-system growth and development in advanced economies. 3. To consider very briefly the regional planning implications of the spatial structure of large private and public organizations. Before these objectives can be dealt with directly, it is necessary to sketch the aforementioned model and to say something more precise of the growing role of large multilocational organizations in shaping the overall pattern of metropolitan interdependence.

The First Year Impact of Wisconsin School Finance Legislation, 1973, on the Equality of Educational Expenditures in Twenty-Two Metropolitan Milwaukee School Districts.

Abstract: THE FIRST YEAR IMPACT OF WISCONSIN SCHOOL FINANCE LEGISLATION, 1973, ON THE EQUALITY OF EDUCATIONAL EXPENDITURES IN TWENTY-TWO METROPOLITAN MILWAUKEE SCHOOL DISTRICTS Thomas C. Ripley, Ph.D. The change in the equality of per pupil expenditures of twenty-two metropolitan Milwaukee school districts before and after the implementation of the State of Wisconsin's new power equalization formula for school finance is investigated by this study. The equality of per pupil expenditures for line items that comprise the current operating expenses of a school district are computed using the traditional standard deviation statistic and the Gini coefficient. The values of these statistics are compared for the two years that straddle the implementation of power equalization, 1972-73 and 1973-74. The results demonstrate that the equality of per pupil expenditures increased for most of the line items and for total current operating expenses after the implementation of distiict

Racial Segregation: The Persisting Dilemma

Abstract: Although moderate to high social and economic heterogeneity are typical of suburbs as well as central cities, the black population has become highly segregated residen tially. This segregation has little economic base, but is based primarily on racial discrimination. The military images used to describe black "invasion" of neighborhoods and white "flight" from central cities express racial conflict and distort our per ception of metropolitan trends. As a one-in-eight minority na tionally, blacks are not numerous enough to "take over" many central cities. The high concentration of blacks in a couple dozen cities ensures that blacks will remain a small minority in 200 other metropolitan areas. Demographic data since 1970 indicate a reversal of the centuries-long process of increasing metropolitan concentration and a sharp diminution in the flow of black migrants to large cities. To date, there is no evidence of sharp shifts in the residential isolation of blacks. Black suburbanization in some metropolitan a...

Predicting demand for publicly dispatched ambulances in a metropolitan area.

Abstract: A model to predict demand for publicly dispatched emergency ambulance service in Los Angeles County is constructed using 1970 census tract and land usage data and 1973 population and utilization data. Although data were not available for many communities within the county, results indicate that the mode, which uses four socioeconomic variables, can accurately explain actual variations in ambulance demand for individual communities in Los Angeles County and for larger regions within the county.

Patterns of Population Densities in the Tel-Aviv Metropolitan Area

Abstract: This paper deals with an empirical investigation of the applicability of two well-known functions—the Clark and Newling functions—for the description of the patterns of population densities in the Tel-Aviv metropolitan area. The density pattern is examined in a temporal cross-section in order to trace systematic changes in it. The fitting of the two functions is done by two different methods in order to find out the influence of the method of measurement on the type of pattern generated. The findings of the investigation enable several hypotheses to be developed concerning the factors involved in structuring the density pattern of the population in the Tel-Aviv metropolitan area.

Trends in Science and Conflict Coverage in Four Metropolitan Newspapers

Abstract: Through the environmental movement, it would appear that scientists have been more heavily involved in social controversies than ever. Nuclear power, the Supersonic Transport (SST), pesticides and the mercury scare, just t o name a few, are subjects of recent controversies. Environmental and conservation groups have enlisted the assistance of scientists, bringing about a new brand of pluralism within the scientific community, new groups which, because of their very nature and ideological orientation, bring scientists-advocates in conflict with other scientists. The creation of a new federal agency, the Environmental Protection Agency, with a mandate of restoring and protecting the environment, brings new government scientists in conflict with other scientists representing government or industry. While the environmental sciences are relatively new fields, there are others suggesting that the scientific community has become more diverse. For example, scientists and engineers did not move in large numbers into the field of space technology until the late 1950's when the United States began its all-out attempt to surpass the Soviet Union. The science ' G A Donohue. P J . lichcnor. and C N Olicn. \"Ma\\\\ Media tunctionr. Knowlcdec. and Scrial Control.\" J o i Y U I i \\v 91 ~ a r b ~ l ~ . W 6 5 2 9 (Winter 1972).

The Politics of the Ibadan Peasantry

Abstract: After the end of the Kiriji wars and the imposition of colonial rule on Ibadan in 1893, demobilized warriors and others sought land to farm in the hitherto uncultivated forest lands to the south of the city. The development of transport and marketing facilities stimulated farmers to adapt existing resources and institutions to meet the metropolitan demand for cocoa.

Migrant Fertility Adjustment and Urban Growth in Latin America

Abstract: Policy-makers and scholars alike have expressed concern over the high rates of urban concentration or "metropolization" of the Latin American population in recent decades. Causation of a substantial, though variable proportion of this phenomenon is attributable to urbanwards migrations from smaller centers and rural areas. The purpose of the present paper is to examine two interrelated sub-questions generated by the massive movement of people into large metropolitan areas of Latin America. First, we will be concerned with investigating fertility differentials between natives and different groups of migrants as an exercise in the study of the adjustment of migrant behaviour to life in larger cities. Secondly, we will concentrate on ascertaining the direct and indirect contribution made by migrants to metropolitan city growth in selected Latin American cities.

The Journey to Work of Rural Industrial Employees

Abstract: In previous research on the journey to work several variables have consistently emerged as correlates of distance commuted. Unfortunately, virtually all previous analyses have been confined to metropolitan areas. Thus, there is a question of the generalizability of these findings to less urbanized regions. The present research examines the commuting patterns of 959 white male employees of a large manufacturing facility in rural Illinois. Hypotheses regarding the impact of (1) SES, (2) age, and (3) length of employment upon distance between place of residence and place of work are tested by least-squares analysis. The results indicate no support for any of the hypotheses derived from the model of metropolitan commuting. Further, the composite effect of the independent variables accounts for only one percent of the variation in distance traveled to work. These findings strongly indicate that the model of metropolitan commuting is not applicable to nonmetropolitan regions. Previous research on the journey to work has shown several variables to be consistently related to distance traveled. These relationships demand further empirical treatment for two reasons. First, since the gross nature of available data has limited most analyses to zero or low order partial correlations (e.g., Wheeler, 1967) there is the danger of spuriousness. Second, since virtually all studies of commuting are confined to metropolitan areas and large cities, the question arises whether these findings can be generalized to less urbanized regions. Catanese (1970), Duncan (1956), Goldstein and Mayer (1964a), Kain (1962), Lansing and Mueller (1964), Schnore (1954), Wheeler (1969) and others have been constrained to interpret their findings within the contaminating influence of metropolitan structure. Thus, their analyses are only the first steps toward a grounded explanation of the journey to work. If a viable theory of the separation of home and work is to be forthcoming its empirical parameters cannot be limited to one particular type of population arrangement-even one as important as the metropolitan community. This paper examines the extent to which the variables associated with the model of intrametropolitan commuting can be used to explain the journey to work in nonmetropolitan areas. Specific attention is paid to the work-residence separation of industrial workers. *Several unidentified referees made many helpful comments on an earlier version. Research supported by the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison; NIMH-PHS Research Grant MH 19689 and the Office of Economic Research, Economic Development Administration, Grant OER-417-6-72-7.