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Dividing America? the role of 'division streets' in residential segregation

Residential segregation is an issue where multiple variables such as race, class, and income converge. Identifying the remaining variables contributing to the continuation of residential segregation is what remains in order to understand the issue completely. A possible variable that has yet to be considered is the effect that the name of a road has on the surrounding area. The objective of this research is to identify the relationship between Division Streets and residential segregation. Although this relationship may not be causal, the existence of any tie between labels as apparent as 'division' on a road where residential segregation is prominent has many implications. Although it has proven difficult to explain the origin and intent of the name of a road, this research looks to more deeply investigate the situation. Residential segregation is a multifaceted topic and the effect of road labels on society's perception of an area is an untapped resource in defining the situation of residential segregation. Working within the framework that was set up by Massey in the early 1990s this research strives to create a complete picture of residential segregation. Data were collected online from the map application on the website Google. With this technology the largest 100 cities in the United States were searched and as not every city had a Division Street the pool of potential cities to be analyzed diminished. Forty of the 100 largest cities had Division Streets in their city limits. Utilizing the program SimplyMap it was determined that of these 40 Division Streets, only eleven roads served as boundaries for block groups as collected by the United States Census Bureau. These eleven roads were analyzed to determine if there were differences in levels of racial residential segregation on either side. Findings will reveal the relationship between the names of roads and areas of residential segregation.; This research does not offer any suggestions on how to eliminate or remedy residential segregation; rather it identifies areas of concern. Ultimately, this data will contribute another layer of understanding about residential segregation.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:honorstheses1990-2015-2269
Date01 May 2012
CreatorsGriffin, Kate
PublisherSTARS
Source SetsUniversity of Central Florida
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceHIM 1990-2015

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