Reading to Be Done Before This Discussion: : Gregory D. Squires and Charis E. Kubrin. 2005. Privileged places: Race, uneven development and the geography of opportunity in urban America. Urban Studies, 42: 47–68 (pdf file). Available from the Cyberhood.

Things to Bring to This Discussion: Your own notes on the articles and/or printouts.
Due in Discussion This Week:  Answers to questions below.
Due in Discussion Next Week: Answers to questions as usual

Concepts/Ideas/Places: segregation, uneven development, place, region, suburbanization, sprawl, gated communities, scale/how ‘race’ structures cities in the United States, spatial mismatch thesis, redlining, racial steering.

How is This Discussion Connected to the Lecture?  In lecture we discuss a number of urban models that seek both to describe the city and to suggest how it “ought to be”?  We also raise questions of public space, urban politics, the decline of community, and the role of racial, ethnic, gender, class, and sexuality differences in structuring our lives in urban and suburban places.  These are exactly the issues that the article you read this week raises as it summarizes the uneven distribution of opportunities based on race and class in the contemporary city.  

To Prepare for Discussion: To prepare for this week, be sure that you have carefully read the article and think about how it relates to what we have previously talked about in lecture and discussion.  Though they are sociologists, Gregory Squires and Charis Kubrin offer a very geographical look at the structures of opportunity in the contemporary U.S. city. They forcefully argue that inequalities based on race and income are related to differential opportunities available within different places in the city. Different neighborhoods have different constellations of opportunities. In the first part of the article they summarize these patterns of inequality. You may be surprised at some of the statistics that they cite. The second part of the article offers a summary of some of the many explanations for these patterns of inequality. Many argue that income and racial inequalities are rooted in differences in individual characteristics. In contrast, the authors argue that, "This state of affairs has not occurred simply or even largely due to differences among individuals in terms of their skills, abilities and other attributes. Key determinants of who gets what and why today are social realities associated with place and race" (Squires and Kubrin 2005:58). In the final section of the article the authors evaluate contrasting positions in debates over what to do about segregation and poverty and offer their own policy recommendations.

Questions Also to be Discussed:
·        Why is mobility important for the working poor?  Where are the majority of jobs for people with low skill levels located?  Are the job in the same places where the working poor live? Where do you find jobs in the consumer service sector? 
·         Gated communities are now the fastest growing type of suburb.  What do the gates mean for people on either side of them?  How do real estate and insurance concerns perpetuate the growth of such enclaves?  Is this a good thing? Why?
·        We live in a segregated region that is experiencing economic difficulties. What solutions to these problems does this article suggest for our own region?

Name: Honor Code:
Questions to be Answered and Tuned in at the Beginning of Discussion

1.  Why is place important for determining one's access to opportunities?

 

 

 

2. Why is it that racial minorities tend to live in diverse neighborhoods while Whites remain highly isolated (pg 50)? What accounts for the difference in rates of homeownership among Whites and Blacks?

 

 

 

3. What is the spatial mismatch thesis and what role does a spatial mismatch play in creating uneven opportunities?

 

 

4. How do high rates of segregation and disparities income between central city and suburbs affect the economic development of the whole city?

 

 

5. What are some potential policy responses that might contribute to severing the connections among race, inequality, and place? Why are regional responses necessary?

 

 

 

6. What is one issue or question from the readings that you would like to see discussed in Discussion?