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This dissertation presents an integrated framework that was developed to examine trajectories of neighborhood change, mechanisms of suburban diversity, and the relationships between neighborhood change and employment accessibility. First, this dissertation extends the study of neighborhood change to a greater time and spatial span, systematically examining the trajectories of neighborhood change at the census tract level. The results show that neighborhood change is complicated and exhibits various trajectories. The dominant patterns do not always conform to classical models of neighborhood change, providing counterpoints to some long-established assumptions. This dissertation also provides evidence of the mechanisms through which metropolitan and suburban characteristics influence suburban diversity. Most importantly, it highlights a remarkable increase in suburban diversity with respect to neighborhood composition. Finally, this dissertation investigates the relationships between neighborhood change, spatial transformation, and employment accessibility in the North Carolina Piedmont region during the last three decades. Spatial patterns of the neighborhood distributions suggest that job accessibility varies by neighborhood typology. A detailed analysis of the trajectories of neighborhood change shows interesting patterns in both central city and suburban ecological succession and transformation. These geographical shifts of neighborhoods were shown to be associated with changes in job accessibility to a certain extent. In sum, by introducing an integrated framework including social, spatial, and employment factors, this dissertation develops a more balanced understanding of neighborhood change in the United States. / Ph. D.

Objective: To examine associations between neighborhood characteristics and diet and physical activity in those of differing socio-economic status. Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted among US adults living in a small Southeast community, including individuals at lower income levels. Physical activity was self-reported and objectively measured with a pedometer. Diet, self-efficacy, and perception of neighborhood friendliness were self-reported. Main outcome measures: Minutes of physical activity, self-efficacy towards physical activity, where residents exercised, and perception of neighborhood friendliness towards physical activity. Statistical Analysis Performed: Associations between where participants exercise and their minutes of daily exercise were analyzed by independent t-tests (p < 0.05). Income level and minutes of daily activity were analyzed with t-tests and later with UNIANOVA, controlling for age. Income and where participants exercise was analyzed using Chi square. Distance to the park and minutes of daily activity was analyzed with Pearson's correlation (two-sided, p < 0.05). Results: Income was not associated with daily minutes of physical activity or where a person chose to be active. Age was the biggest predictor of physical activity. Living on a street with a hill was positively correlated with self-efficacy for physical activity but negatively correlated with perception of neighborhood friendliness towards physical activity. Conclusion: Both high and low SES residents, within the same neighborhood, having access to the same recreational opportunities, did not differ in levels of physical activity. Both income groups met the current recommendations for physical activity suggesting access to parks with walking/biking trails, as well as other facilities, increases actual energy expenditure, independent of SES. Applications: Health officials and urban planners could work together in creating more recreational opportunities, especially in low SES neighborhoods, to increase national levels of physical activity. / Master of Science

Thesis advisor: Lacee Satcher / This study explores the role that institutions of higher education play in gentrification in the cities they occupy. I use Northeastern University and the Roxbury neighborhood in the city of Boston as a case study, specifically with the expansion efforts of the institution over the past decade, to examine universities as potential drivers of gentrification. Using publicly available data, Google Street View data, and semi-structured qualitiative interviews with long-term Roxbury residents, I find notable neighborhood change occuring in the area in relation to Northeastern University, including changes to racial/ethnic and SES demographics, as well as changes to the neighborhood's physical environment. Moreover, interviews with the residents of Roxbury revealed the mixed reactions to the univeristy expanding into the neighborhood and the concerns of the community who want a say in the changes occuring. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Morrissey School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology. / Discipline: Departmental Honors.

Thesis (M. U. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Also available in print.

The steady raise in childhood obesity is a major public health problem nationally and globally. Childhood obesity is primarily caused by an imbalance between caloric intake and caloric expenditure. The increase in childhood obesity rates over the past 3 decades suggested involvement of environmental and behavioral factors in the obesity epidemic. While childhood obesity is considered a public health crisis in the United States, only limited research is available about the potential impact of neighborhood-level factors such as access to healthy food, neighborhood safety, and risk-free outdoor playgrounds. The purpose of this study was to examine if any relationships existed between childhood obesity and type of diet, level of physical activity, and neighborhood-level risk factors and childhood obesity. This study accessed the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) 2009-2014 data sets. Chi-square tests and multivariate logistic regression were used to evaluate the associations between independent and dependent variables. The Wald test was used to assess the effects of each individual predictor, while adjusting for other predictors. The findings of this study showed no significant associations between childhood obesity and neighborhood safety; parental educational level; presence of parks, playgrounds, or open spaces; neighborhood walkability; neighborhood safety and support; and gender. Low physical activity levels, however were a significant risk factor for increase obesity. This study may lead to positive social change, enhancing individual lives and whole communities, by drawing the awareness of public health officials and policy makers to the importance of neighborhood factors associated with high body mass index.

Master of Arts / Department of Economics / Tracy M. Turner / Obesity is a growing problem in the United States today. This study provides an econometric analysis of the relationship between child overweight status and neighborhood quality by using nationally representative data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) the 2002 PSID Child Development Survey, and Census data. In this study, the probability of a child overweight status is modeled as a function of neighborhood quality, child age, race and ethnicity, and parent obesity status, income, marital status, and education level. Next, the possible endogeneity between neighborhood quality and parent health is controlled for. Auxiliary regressions, modeling neighborhood quality and parent health on factors such as parent income, education, and marital status, are used to generate predicted values for neighborhood quality and parent health, which are then substituted into the child overweight equation to control for the aforementioned endogeneity. Census track and county level factors that might affect parent health or neighborhood quality are also controlled for. Based on a sample of 1917 children, this study finds evidence that neighborhood quality affects child overweight status.