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This dissertation examines the overlap of the racial composition of a neighborhood and the existence of a dual mortgage market in which prime and subprime lenders serve different neighborhoods and borrowers. Does subprime lending represent the democratization of credit or does it serve to track people by race? This dissertation employs Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Data, U.S. Census Data and the HUD Subprime Lender List to identify subprime loans. I use Hierarchical Linear Modeling to predict the likelihood of subprime for a borrower in Philadelphia, Baltimore, San Francisco and Alameda County California. The findings demonstrate that blacks and borrowers in black neighborhoods have a higher likelihood of originating a subprime loan than whites or borrowers in white neighborhoods. Further, blacks borrowing in largely white neighborhoods have an even higher likelihood of originating a subprime loan compared to their white neighbors than do blacks borrowing in largely black neighborhoods. These findings indicate that subprime lenders not only serve different neighborhoods, but also different borrowers regardless of the neighborhood in which they are borrowing and support the existence of a dual mortgage market that is defined by race. The results from the analysis examining the consequences of subprime lending for neighborhoods indicate that after controlling for neighborhood characteristics, the positive relationship between earlier and later rates of subprime lending disappears. Also, while higher rates of subprime refinance lending were associated with a decrease in neighborhood median income in 2000, subprime lending was associated with positive changes in median house value and percent of homeowners that are black in the neighborhood, although the effects of subprime on median house value disappeared after controlling for neighborhood conditions. The study points to the continued difficulties that black borrowers and borrowers in black neighborhoods face in obtaining a fair loan. As lending practices are reformed, it is important to keep in mind the need to ensure that minority borrowers who are in the position to afford a home loan maintain the ability to get a loan, but increased care must be taken to ensure that they obtain the ability to do so on fair terms. / Sociology

In light of the rapid spread of sprawling development, a better understanding of local efforts promoting open space preservation is needed. This comparative case study focused on creating narratives to provide a deeper understanding of how suburban residents in the Philadelphia region value open space. Logan and Molotch's "Growth machine hypothesis" and Michael Taylor's alternative choice theory provided a framework for the study. Survey respondents who were more liberal and affluent, had higher levels of education, access to and use of open space, were more supportive of open space preservation efforts. Survey and interview respondents and local officials were more likely to value local open spaces for their use, rather than exchange values. Interviews provided narratives of how residents valued open spaces primarily for a variety of use values, secondarily for their exchange values, and as a reaction against growth itself. Local municipalities by engaging in public education to increase resident understanding of the economic value of open space and the value of growing smartly can work to improve local quality of life by simultaneously preserving open spaces and accommodating growth for the community's advantage. / Urban Studies

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Laszlo Kulcsar / Retirement age migration is not new. However, it has recently been garnering the attention of both researchers and local policy makers. Older migrants present the possibility of economic stimulus without creating additional pressure on the labor market. That said, a majority of works on retirement migration come to the same conclusions. Conventional theories state that older people move to places based on natural amenities and recreation opportunities. Further, these findings are often utilize a binary dependent variable based on whether a county has achieved a certain level of growth from inmigration of all people age 60+. I argue that this view is too narrow. Older age migrants move for a variety of reasons. These motives also vary across different age, sex, and race-ethnicity characteristics of the migrants in question. Further, not all counties that attract older migrants have bountiful natural or recreation amenities. Not only have these unconventional retirement destinations (URDs) had different historical trajectories, they also possess a different kind of amenities that appeal to older people who have relocated to the area. Finally, a focus on binary retirement classifications misses both diversity in retirement patterns and fails to explicitly account for the influence of space in county desirability. The goal of this work is to address these issues. First, I discuss the history and theories of retirement migration. Second, I develop models accounting for variation across older age migrant groups with varying demographic characteristics. Third, I identify and describe URD counties. Fourth, I present the results of a small-scale survey, community leader interviews, and a new model with additional variables to get at what other kinds of things should be labeled as “amenities.” Finally, I examine the role of space in migration research. My analysis demonstrates that there is much to be learned from looking at spatial models, micro-regional effects, and relative advantage between neighboring counties. Results indicate that conventional theories of retirement migration, while not necessarily wrong, are at least incomplete. The addition of diversity, new amenities, and space may greatly enhance our understanding of older age migration and migration research as a whole.