Study finds Chicago low-income black neighborhoods lack supermarkets
November 13, 2008 at 10:00 pm | In amenities, food deserts, neighborhoods, organizational density, supermarkets, what to read | No CommentsDaniel Block, Noel Chavez, and Judy Birgen find that low-income black neighborhoods in Chicago cities and suburbs have lower access to supermarkets than other neighborhoods. Their work adds to a growing literature on “food deserts,” neighborhoods with a scarcity of supermarkets and other suppliers of fresh or healthful foods. For the report, click here.
ASA 2009 session on organizations and urban inequality
November 13, 2008 at 2:17 pm | In ASA, conference | No CommentsThe 2009 ASA conference in San Francisco, CA will hold a session on “Formal Organizations and Urban Transformations,” organized by UrbanOrgs.org network members Nicole Marwell and Michael McQuarrie. Session description:
In recent years, there has been a resurgence in urban sociologists’ interest in the role of formal organizations in cities.In contrast to William Julius Wilson’s much-cited thesis that cities, especially their poor neighborhoods, have become characterized by a vast lack of formal organizational resources, in the last ten years a growing number of urban sociologists has produced empirical work that takes formal organizations as their central object of inquiry.This work has included ethnographic studies of organizations in urban environments (e.g., McRoberts 2004, Marwell 2007), quantitative analyses of the variations in organizational density across neighborhoods (e.g., Rankin & Quane 2000, Small 2006), and historical discussions of urban organizational environments (e.g., McQuarrie 2007). Organizations are key holders and distributors of resources to individuals, families, and communities. Organizations also participate in the structuring of opportunity at the meso and macro levels, through their interactions with other organizations in neighborhoods, cities, and beyond. For both these reasons, urban scholars are increasingly documenting the role that organizations play in urban economic, political, and social realms. This session aims at bringing together a set of papers by scholars doing cutting-edge research on the intersection of organizations and various urban issues and transformations.
New book by Ramakrishnan and Bloemraad
September 29, 2008 at 10:14 am | In immigrants, new books, what to read | No Comments
Civic Hopes and Political Realities, edited by S. Karthick Ramakrishnan and Irene Bloemraad, examines the role of community organizations in the political engagement of immigrants. From the publisher: For many Americans, participation in community organizations lays the groundwork for future political engagement. But how does this traditional model relate to the experiences of today’s immigrants? In Civic Hopes and Political Realities, experts explore how civic groups are shaping immigrants’ quest for political effectiveness. Civic Hopes and Political Realities shows that while immigrant organizations play an important role in the lives of members, their impact is often compromised by political marginalization and a severe lack of resources.
Our new address!
August 28, 2008 at 8:26 pm | In Uncategorized | 1 CommentTags: website
We have finally moved—our new address, is www.UrbanOrgs.org. (Please update your bookmarks.) The site contains information on writings, data, news, and upcoming events. A work in progress. Let us know what you think!
Two upcoming sessions at ISA RC-21, Tokyo, Dec ‘08
July 7, 2008 at 7:26 pm | In RC-21, conference | No CommentsThe sessions, titled “Stratification by Place: The Spatial Distribution of Organizational Amenities across Urban Neighborhoods,” are being organized by Joe Galasciewicz. See the ISA-RC21 Tokyo conference website for details.
Session I:
- Guadalupe Margarita Gonzalez Hernandez & Jose Roberto Gonzalez Hernandez. “Unequal income distribution and urban structure: Mexican case study.”
- Naoko Takeda. “Urban space and amenities for female workers in Tokyo 1: The Case of an Urban Commercial District”
- Noriko Tateyama. “Urban space and amentities for female workers in Tokyo 2: The case of residential district in the suburban area”
- Mario L. Small. “Are the poor worse off in the suburbs? Organizational density and neighborhood poverty in metropolitan areas.”
- Mayu Nakamura. “Polarizing child care services in suburbs of Tokyo: Struggles of existence among kindergartens.”
Session II:
- Jose Vargas-Hernandez. “Environmental and Economic Development Shrinkage of Atenquique”
- Zhu Qian and Bing Sheng Wu. “Urban spatial distribution without zoning: The case of three neighbourhoods in Houston”
- Haruna Miyagawa Fukui. “Developing outskirts of rapidly growing cities in the U.S. southwest.”
- Yanmei Li. “Neighborhood amenities, perception, and satisfaction of theforeign-born population in the U.S.”
- Kong Chong Ho. “The sociable amenity.”
Terry Clark’s research on ammenities in the news
January 30, 2008 at 6:00 am | In amenities, neighborhoods, news | No Comments
“Bohemian Rapsody,” a long feature in the newspaper New City examines Terry’s work on the role of amenities in the migration of hipsters.
New paper on organizational density in poor neighborhoods
January 15, 2008 at 6:00 am | In neighborhoods, organizational density, what to read | No CommentsMario Small’s “Is There Such a Thing as `The Ghetto’?” published in City, questions the theory, advanced in Loic Wacquant’s Urban Outcasts, that poor neighborhoods exhibit low organizational density. Earlier draft.
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