Diversity is core to what makes many cities vibrant, dynamic, adaptive and strong. Recently, Boston has gotten much more racially diverse, evolving from being only 20 percent people of color back in 1970 to 56 percent of color today. However, there's a way in which the rich tapestry of the city has eroded: Boston is rapidly losing families with…

As downtown Phoenix experiences a wave of new residential and commercial construction, Phoenix Elementary School District #1 (Phoenix #1) is at the center of the largest local demographic change in decades. Phoenix #1 educates more than 6,000 students at 14 schools, from preschool through eighth grade, with many families living in older, historic…

Sewall County, located in metropolitan Atlanta, and its public school system experienced significant demographic change between 2000 and 2010. The population doubled, reaching more than 200,000 residents, and its percentage of White residents fell by 25% to just more than 55%. Its public school system is now considered majority-minority. Using the…

Although Black and Hispanic congressmen managed to overcome redistricting of urban areas and maintain or increase their seats in the House, demographic trends remain a threat to minority representation. There are two solutions: (1) a break-up of de facto residential segregation, and (2) increased willingness of White majorities to elect minority…

Analyzes the scale and size distribution of U.S. metropolitan areas from 1910-95. Before World War II, the population became increasingly concentrated in the largest metropolitan areas in the top decile of size distribution. Since 1950, there has been loss of population share for these areas. This is not counterbalanced by increasing share among…

Revision of a paper prepared for discussion at the Columbia University Seminar on Population and Social Change, December 1967.

This series of maps shows how Japanese-American communities developed and changed in Los Angeles over the past century. The geographical changes, the population growth, and the locations of businesses and institutions are shown for five communities. (VM)

This paper describes and tests a series of hypotheses about the effects of locality characteristics upon the growth of nonmetropolitan urban places. In the cross-sectional analysis of this study, the potential effectiveness of resource-based development seems limited as a factor in urban growth except in the North Central region. On the other…

The number of people moving away from the standard metropolitan statistical areas is greater than the number moving to them. Economic factors, demographic trends, and social values responsible for this change are discussed. Economic functions, the physical environment, and the government of the new, emerging metropolis are examined. (RM)

While there exists considerable sentiment about the older urban areas of the United States, little empirical work dealing explicitly with the problems of these areas has been done. This study is a preliminary investigation into the use of urban age as an independent variable. Preliminary results indicate that: (1) racial transition is not related…

Considers changing urban demography, its impact on urban education, and the recommendations of other authors in this journal issue. Calls for greater commitment by colleges and universities to improve urban school systems. (GC)

Discusses implications (in general and, specifically, on education), of the rapid demographic changes that are transforming the racial, regional, and age characteristics of the nation's population. Considers urban policy issues generated by these demographic trends. (GC)

Investigated in this article are several factors that affect the annexation by central cities of urbanized areas to retain decentralized populations. A multivariate model of the responses of central cities to over- and underboundedness is presented and evaluated. (Author/EB)

This research study explores changes in the geographic dispersal of social classes in Philadelphia over a 20-year period. Discussed are the changes which occurred between the central city and its suburbs and those which occurred among suburban municipalities. Descriptions of several hypothetical models about the changes are tested. (EB)

Data for 318 metropolitan areas confirm the Burgess model's positive relationship between social status and residential distance from the urban core. Over time, all categories of metropolitan areas moved in the predicted direction of status distribution, with stronger associations for older, larger, and more industrial cities. Contains 53…