2009 February «

Work on scenes goes international

February 18, 2009 at 11:46 am | Posted in conference, scenes | Leave a comment

Work by Terry Nichols Clark and colleagues on scenes is going international! “Scenes” are specific elements of urban or neighborhood life that encompass physical structures such as libraries, shopping malls, and theaters; demographics such as race, class, gender, and education; and activities such as attending a concert. Clark is moderating a panel at this year’s Urban Affairs Association meetings on Saturday, March 7, 2009 in Chicago featuring scholars from around the world who will describe new developments in this fascinating field of research.

Session 107 Neighborhood Cultural Scenes: How Do They Work? What Are Their Impacts? (Colloquy Session)
Renaissance Chicago Hotel
1 West Wacker Drive
Chicago, Illinois 60601
Saturday, 8:45 AM–10:10 AM, Gold Coast (3rd Floor)
Moderator: Terry Clark (University of Chicago)

Stephen Sawyer (University of Paris)
Clemente Navarro (Universidad Pablo de Olavide)
Filipe Carreira da Silva (University of Lisbon)

For more on this conference, seee http://www.udel.edu/uaa/annual_meeting/index.html.
Check out the blog http://www.tnc-newsletter.blogspot.com/ for more information on scenes.

Urban Affairs Association Meetings – Panel of Interest

February 18, 2009 at 10:29 am | Posted in conference, non-profits | Leave a comment

We are pleased to announce that several urbanorgs members will be featured on a panel at this year’s Urban Affairs Association meetings on Saturday, March 7, 2009 in Chicago. Organized and moderated by Heather MacIndoe, these talks represent exciting new directions in the study of nonprofit institutions in urban contexts.
Renaissance Chicago Hotel
1 West Wacker Drive
Chicago, Illinois 60601
Panel 123 New Roles for Urban Nonprofits
Saturday, 10:35 AM–12:00 PM, Bucktown A and B (3rd Floor)
Moderator: Heather MacIndoe (University of Massachusetts Boston)

Nonprofits and the City Bureaucracy: Opportunities for Immigrant Political Incorporation, Els de Graauw, Harvard University

Civic Engagement by Local Community Nonprofits: Bringing New Voices into Urban Governance? Susan Ostrander, Tufts University

Charter Schools, Urban Nonprofits and Neighborhood Revitalization: A Comparison of New York City and New Orleans, Charisse Gulosino, Brown University

Sector Mobilization: Public Policy Initiatives of Nonprofit Membership Associations, Heather MacIndoe, University of Massachusetts – Boston & Sarah Hogue, University of Massachusetts – Boston

Scenes, Nonprofits, and Urban Development, Terry Nichols Clark, University of Chicago & Eric Rogers, University of Chicago

For more on this conference, visit http://www.udel.edu/uaa/annual_meeting/index.html.

New piece by King and Haveman sheds light on early institutions and antislavery activism

February 17, 2009 at 9:33 pm | Posted in churches, social movements | Leave a comment

A new piece in the September 2008 issue of Administrative Science Quarterly (Volume 53, Number 3) highlights the role of churches in the rise of antislavery efforts in the 18th and 19th centuries. “Antislavery in America: The Press, the Pulpit, and the Rise of Antislavery Societies” by Marissa D. King of Columbia University and Heather A. Haveman of the University of California – Berkeley analyzes how communications networks and social institutions influenced the growth of the antislavery movement in the U.S. from 1790 to 1840. As the abstract explains, “Communications networks fueled by print media transmitted news about the movement to the public and so helped mobilize a broad base of support. Among social institutions, churches were especially supportive because their emphasis on morality and community was conducive to antislavery activism. Our analysis focuses on the founding of antislavery societies, the formal organizations that underpinned this movement, and makes three contributions to our understanding of social movement organizations in general and antislavery societies in particular. First, we show that the impact of mass media was strong as far back as the early nineteenth century, and that the growth of magazines spurred antislavery society formation. Second, we demonstrate that theology, specifically an orientation toward this world or heaven, determined whether religious resources were available to antislavery organizations. This-worldly religions supported abolition organizing, while other-worldly religions undermined it. Third, we resolve an important causal ambiguity in debates about antislavery by showing that the development of the media was the cause, not merely a consequence or companion to growth of antislavery organizations.”

New paper finds that fast food restaurants in neighborhood may increase child obesity

February 17, 2009 at 8:38 pm | Posted in amenities, food deserts, neighborhoods, obesity, what to read | Leave a comment

“The Effect of Fast Food Restaurants on Obesity,” by Janet Currie and her colleagues, was recently released by the NBER. Using a massive dataset, the authors find a strong association between proximity to a fast food restaurant and obesity levels among school children. From the abstract: “We investigate the health consequences of changes in the supply of fast food using the exact geographical location of fast food restaurants. Specifically, we ask how the supply of fast food affects the obesity rates of 3 million school children and the weight gain of over 1 million pregnant women. We find that among 9th grade children, a fast food restaurant within a tenth of a mile of a school is associated with at least a 5.2 percent increase in obesity rates. There is no discernable effect at .25 miles and at .5 miles. Among pregnant women, models with mother fixed effects indicate that a fast food restaurant within a half mile of her residence results in a 2.5 percent increase in the probability of gaining over 20 kilos. The effect is larger, but less precisely estimated at .1 miles. In contrast, the presence of non-fast food restaurants is uncorrelated with obesity and weight gain. Moreover, proximity to future fast food restaurants is uncorrelated with current obesity and weight gain, conditional on current proximity to fast food. The implied effects of fast-food on caloric intake are at least one order of magnitude smaller for mothers, which suggests that they are less constrained by travel costs than school children. Our results imply that policies restricting access to fast food near schools could have significant effects on obesity among school children, but similar policies restricting the availability of fast food in residential areas are unlikely to have large effects on adults”

Have you thought about Contexts?

February 17, 2009 at 1:06 am | Posted in ASA, what to read | Leave a comment

Are you looking for an outlet to publish a social scientific piece on urban organizations that is geared to a larger audience? Check out Contexts magazine.

An exploration of the Context magazine website reveals several blogs, a podcast, and electronic versions of many of the print articles. Despite the fact that its target audience is made up of non-academics, feature pieces are peer reviewed.

As its producers explain, “Contexts, published by the American Sociological Association and edited by a team in the sociology department at the University of Minnesota, offers a smartly written, thought-provoking take on modern life in our communities—it’s an indispensable guide to understanding our dynamic society.”

The website and magazine can be great resources for us, and we wanted to call them to your attention.

Check it out: http://contexts.org/