Striking the Balance between Neighborhood Change and Income Diversity Lessons from Metropolitan Atlanta

Abstract

Modeling much of my framework and analytical methods off those used by Talen in her 2006 study, I analyze changes in ten socioeconomic and housing variables at the census tract level from 2010 to 2015. Multiple regression analyses and spatial analyses are used to identify both explanatory and spatial relationships regarding income diversity and neighborhood change throughout Metropolitan Atlanta. The ten county region is used the for the regression analysis while the core five county region (632 census tracts) is used for income diversity index calculations, income diversity spatial visualizations and for the final quartile calculations used to identify neighborhoods that defy expectations for neighborhood change. Neighborhoods defying these expectations are referred to as ﾓchange outliersﾔ, although this is not identified through statistical means.